MyAnimeList Anime & Manga Intelligence Scraper

Export structured anime and manga catalog intelligence from MyAnimeList through the public Jikan v4 API.

Search titles, monitor top rankings, collect seasonal anime, or enrich exact MyAnimeList IDs with characters, recommendations, and reviews.

No MyAnimeList login, cookie, API key, browser, or proxy is required.

What does MyAnimeList Anime & Manga Intelligence Scraper do?

This Actor turns MyAnimeList catalog data into clean JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, and Parquet exports.

Use four collection modes:

• 🔎 Search anime or manga by title or keyword.
• 🏆 Top export current top-ranked anime or manga.
• 📅 Seasonal collect anime from a year and broadcast season.
• 🎯 IDs enrich exact MyAnimeList catalog IDs.

Every row preserves the canonical MyAnimeList URL and the context that produced it.

Who is it for?

Recommendation app builders

Create seed catalogs with scores, genres, themes, studios, and related-title recommendations.

Catalog and media data teams

Normalize anime and manga identifiers, multilingual titles, dates, formats, and status metadata.

Entertainment analysts

Track score, rank, popularity, member count, and favorites across scheduled runs.

Fan and research projects

Export reproducible seasonal or genre-oriented datasets without maintaining a custom Jikan client.

Why use this Actor?

• ✅ One input contract for anime and manga.
• ✅ Stable normalized fields instead of deeply nested source JSON.
• ✅ Built-in pagination and exact maxItems control.
• ✅ Rate-aware requests with retry and backoff.
• ✅ Optional deep enrichment only when you need it.
• ✅ Native Apify datasets, schedules, webhooks, integrations, and API access.

What MyAnimeList data can I extract?

Group	Fields
Identity	recordType, malId, url, title
Titles	English, Japanese, and alternate title variants
Classification	format, source, status, rating
Progress	episodes, chapters, volumes, airing status
Dates	start date, end date, season, year, broadcast
Audience signals	score, scored-by count, rank, popularity, members, favorites
Editorial	synopsis and background
Organizations	studios, producers, licensors, serializations
Taxonomy	genres, explicit genres, themes, demographics
Media	poster images and trailer URL
Enrichment	characters, voice actors, recommendations, reviews

Choose a discovery mode

Keyword search

Set mode to search, choose anime or manga, and enter query.

Search is useful for franchises, topics, title fragments, and catalog discovery.

Top rankings

Set mode to top to export current ranked titles in source order.

Repeat the run on a schedule to compare ranking and audience changes.

Seasonal anime

Set mode to seasonal, then provide year and season.

Seasons are winter, spring, summer, and fall.

Exact MAL IDs

Set mode to ids and provide numeric MyAnimeList anime or manga IDs.

ID mode uses the full-detail endpoint and is ideal for enrichment pipelines.

Input

Example keyword search:

{
  "mode": "search",
  "recordType": "anime",
  "query": "cyberpunk",
  "maxItems": 25,
  "sfw": true
}

Example seasonal export:

{
  "mode": "seasonal",
  "recordType": "anime",
  "year": 2025,
  "season": "spring",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Example exact manga lookup:

{
  "mode": "ids",
  "recordType": "manga",
  "ids": [2, 13, 25],
  "maxItems": 3
}

Optional enrichment

Enable only the nested data your workflow needs:

• enrichCharacters adds characters and anime voice actors.
• enrichRecommendations adds related titles and recommendation votes.
• enrichReviews adds recent review text, scores, tags, users, and reactions.

Each enrichment makes one additional Jikan request per title.

Use maxCharacters, maxRecommendations, and maxReviews to bound row size.

Output

Each dataset item is one normalized title.

{
  "recordType": "anime",
  "mode": "search",
  "malId": 52991,
  "url": "https://myanimelist.net/anime/52991/Sousou_no_Frieren",
  "title": "Sousou no Frieren",
  "titleEnglish": "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End",
  "format": "TV",
  "status": "Finished Airing",
  "episodes": 28,
  "score": 9.26,
  "rank": 1,
  "popularity": 15,
  "genres": [{ "id": 2, "name": "Adventure", "url": "..." }],
  "studios": [{ "id": 11, "name": "Madhouse", "url": "..." }],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-13T00:00:00.000Z"
}

Nullable fields remain explicit when MyAnimeList does not publish a value.

Optional enrichment properties appear only when requested.

How much does it cost to scrape MyAnimeList?

The Actor uses pay-per-event pricing: a $0.005 one-time start fee plus one Title record event for every dataset row saved.

Apify tier	Price per title	1,000 titles plus start
Free	$0.000077744	about $0.083
Bronze	$0.000067604	about $0.073
Silver	$0.000052731	about $0.058
Gold	$0.000040562	about $0.046
Platinum	$0.000027041	about $0.032
Diamond	$0.000018929	about $0.024

Enrichment requests do not create extra result events; they enrich the same title row. Platform compute is included in PPE billing.

Step-by-step guide

1. Open the Actor input page.
2. Choose a discovery mode.
3. Select anime or manga.
4. Fill the mode-specific keyword, IDs, or season.
5. Set a conservative maxItems while testing.
6. Enable optional enrichment if required.
7. Click Start.
8. Export the dataset or connect an integration.

Scheduling a rankings monitor

Create an Apify schedule with mode: top and your desired result count.

Run daily or weekly, then compare rank, score, popularity, and members by malId.

A webhook can notify your pipeline whenever the run succeeds.

Integrations

Google Sheets

Send each completed dataset to a spreadsheet for editorial planning or trend charts.

Webhooks

Trigger a database import, recommendation rebuild, or notification after each seasonal refresh.

Zapier and Make

Route new title rows into no-code workflows, dashboards, or content queues.

Cloud storage and warehouses

Download CSV, JSON, Excel, XML, RSS, or Parquet from the dataset API.

JavaScript API usage

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/myanimelist-anime-manga-intelligence-scraper').call({
  mode: 'top',
  recordType: 'anime',
  maxItems: 100
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python API usage

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN')
run = client.actor('automation-lab/myanimelist-anime-manga-intelligence-scraper').call(
    run_input={
        'mode': 'search',
        'recordType': 'manga',
        'query': 'space opera',
        'maxItems': 50,
    }
)
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items)

cURL API usage

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~myanimelist-anime-manga-intelligence-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"mode":"ids","recordType":"anime","ids":[52991],"maxItems":1}'

Use with Apify MCP

Connect the Actor to Claude and other MCP clients through Apify's MCP server.

Claude Code URL:

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/myanimelist-anime-manga-intelligence-scraper

Example prompts:

• “Export the current top 100 anime with scores and studios.”
• “Find manga matching climate fiction and return genres and popularity.”
• “Enrich MAL ID 52991 with characters and recommendations.”

For Claude Desktop, add the Apify MCP server and pass the same Actor tool identifier.

Tips for reliable results

• Start with 10–25 items while designing your workflow.
• Use exact IDs when you already know the catalog entities.
• Keep enrichment off for broad ranking exports unless required.
• Schedule large refreshes rather than launching many simultaneous runs.
• Deduplicate historical snapshots with recordType plus malId.

Rate limits and performance

Jikan is a public community API with conservative rate limits.

This Actor serializes requests and waits between them.

A basic 100-title export usually needs only four list requests.

Enriching 100 titles with all three options requires roughly 300 additional requests and therefore takes much longer.

HTTP 429 and temporary 5xx responses are retried with bounded increasing delays.

Limitations

• Seasonal discovery is available for anime, not manga.
• Data freshness and completeness depend on MyAnimeList and Jikan.
• Jikan may temporarily throttle high-volume requests.
• Optional reviews are limited to the first source page and your configured cap.
• The Actor does not access private user lists or account-only data.
• It does not download videos, manga pages, or copyrighted media.

Troubleshooting

Why does search require a query?

query is mandatory only when mode is search. Use top, seasonal, or ids for discovery without a keyword.

Why is my enriched run slower?

Each selected enrichment adds one request for every title. Reduce maxItems, select fewer enrichment types, or use a smaller enrichment cap.

Why was an ID skipped?

The selected anime or manga record may not exist, or the ID may belong to the other record type. Confirm the MyAnimeList URL and recordType.

Why are some values null?

MyAnimeList does not publish every field for every title. Null preserves the difference between an unavailable value and a false or zero value.

Legality: is it legal to scrape MyAnimeList data?

This Actor accesses public catalog data exposed anonymously by Jikan.

You are responsible for your use of the data and for complying with applicable terms, database rights, copyright, privacy rules, and local law.

Do not use review text or user information for harassment, profiling, or unlawful redistribution.

Consult legal counsel for regulated or commercial reuse questions.

Data quality and provenance

Every row includes the canonical MyAnimeList URL and a scrapedAt timestamp.

The Actor does not invent scores, rankings, title translations, or review content.

Normalized arrays retain source entity IDs, names, and URLs where available.

For time-series analysis, store each run's dataset and compare stable MAL IDs.

Related scrapers

Explore other public-data tools from automation-lab for catalog enrichment, media discovery, and scheduled monitoring workflows.

Related actors are linked only after they are available in the automation-lab portfolio.

FAQ

Does this Actor need a MyAnimeList account?

No. It uses anonymous public Jikan v4 endpoints.

Can I collect both anime and manga?

Yes. Run the Actor once per recordType and combine datasets using recordType plus malId as the compound key.

Can I export more than 25 records?

Yes. The Actor paginates until maxItems is reached or the source has no next page.

Are duplicate titles emitted?

No. Results are deduplicated by MAL ID within a run.

Can I retrieve characters and reviews together?

Yes. Enable both enrichment toggles. Expect longer execution because each toggle adds one request per title.

Can I run it on a schedule?

Yes. Apify schedules are ideal for seasonal catalogs and ranking monitors.

Which export formats are available?

Apify datasets support JSON, JSONL, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, and Parquet.

Support

If a valid public title fails, share the Actor run URL, input, selected mode, and expected MyAnimeList record.

Avoid including private credentials or unrelated personal data in support reports.

The run log records retries, missing IDs, saved title counts, and completion context for diagnosis.