AnimeNewsNetwork Scraper - Anime & Manga Encyclopedia

Extract comprehensive anime and manga data from AnimeNewsNetwork (ANN) using its free public XML encyclopedia API. No authentication or API key required.

What does AnimeNewsNetwork Scraper do?

This scraper lets you extract detailed anime and manga information from AnimeNewsNetwork, one of the longest-running and most authoritative anime/manga news and encyclopedia sites. It uses ANN's official public XML API for reliable, structured data extraction.

Key features:

• Search for specific anime or manga titles by name
• Extract ratings (weighted and Bayesian scores), vote counts, genres, and themes
• Get plot summaries, episode counts, air dates (vintage), and cover images
• Find related works (sequels, prequels, spin-offs, adaptations)
• Optionally fetch extended details: full staff credits, voice cast (all languages), episode titles, production companies, opening/ending themes, and official websites
• Handles rate limiting and retries automatically
• Supports both anime and manga media types

Input

Field	Type	Description	Default
searchQueries	string[]	Anime/manga titles to search (e.g. "Naruto", "Steins;Gate")	Required
mediaType	enum	anime or manga	anime
maxListings	integer	Maximum results to return (1-5000)	100
scrapeDetails	boolean	Fetch staff, cast, episodes, credits	false
proxyConfiguration	object	Proxy settings (usually not needed)	-

Example input

{
    "searchQueries": ["Naruto", "Steins;Gate", "Attack on Titan"],
    "mediaType": "anime",
    "maxListings": 50,
    "scrapeDetails": true
}

Output

Each result contains the following fields:

Base fields (always included)

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	ANN encyclopedia entry ID
title	string	Main title
type	string	Media format (TV, movie, OAV, manga, etc.)
alternativeTitles	string[]	Alternative titles in various languages
genres	string[]	Genre tags (action, comedy, drama, etc.)
themes	string[]	Theme tags (time travel, mecha, school life, etc.)
plotSummary	string	Full plot summary
numberOfEpisodes	integer	Number of episodes (anime)
numberOfVolumes	integer	Number of volumes (manga)
vintage	string[]	Air date / publication date ranges
weightedScore	number	Weighted user score (0-10 scale)
bayesianScore	number	Bayesian average score (0-10 scale)
voteCount	integer	Number of user votes
relatedWorks	object[]	Related entries (sequels, prequels, adaptations)
imageUrl	string	Cover/poster image URL
url	string	ANN encyclopedia page URL
searchQuery	string	The search query that found this result
scrapedAt	string	ISO timestamp of when data was scraped

Extended detail fields (when scrapeDetails is true)

Field	Type	Description
staff	object[]	Staff credits (director, writer, animator, etc.)
cast	object[]	Voice cast with character, actor, and language
episodes	object[]	Episode numbers and titles (multi-language)
credits	object[]	Production companies and their roles
openingThemes	string[]	Opening theme songs
endingThemes	string[]	Ending theme songs
officialWebsites	object[]	Official website URLs

Example output

{
    "id": 11770,
    "title": "Steins;Gate",
    "type": "TV",
    "alternativeTitles": ["シュタインズ・ゲート", "命運石之門", "Врата Штейна"],
    "genres": ["adventure", "comedy", "drama", "mystery", "science fiction", "thriller"],
    "themes": ["butterfly effect", "conspiracy", "technology", "Time travel", "tragedy"],
    "plotSummary": "Rintaro Okabe is a self-proclaimed \"mad scientist\" who believes...",
    "numberOfEpisodes": 24,
    "vintage": ["2011-04-05 to 2011-09-13"],
    "weightedScore": 9.0325,
    "bayesianScore": 9.0287,
    "voteCount": 4916,
    "relatedWorks": [
        { "id": 15891, "relation": "related to", "direction": "previous" },
        { "id": 13542, "relation": "sequel", "direction": "next" }
    ],
    "imageUrl": "https://cdn.animenewsnetwork.com/images/encyc/A11770-1864351140.jpg",
    "url": "https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=11770",
    "searchQuery": "Steins;Gate",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-04-25T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Example output with details

{
    "id": 11770,
    "title": "Steins;Gate",
    "staff": [
        { "role": "Director", "name": "Takuya Satō", "personId": 593 },
        { "role": "Series Composition", "name": "Jukki Hanada", "personId": 16408 }
    ],
    "cast": [
        { "character": "Rintarō Okabe", "actor": "Mamoru Miyano", "personId": 10397, "language": "JA" },
        { "character": "Kurisu Makise", "actor": "Asami Imai", "personId": 9744, "language": "JA" }
    ],
    "episodes": [
        { "number": "1", "titles": [{ "lang": "EN", "title": "Prologue of the Beginning and End" }] }
    ],
    "credits": [
        { "role": "Animation Production", "company": "WHITE FOX", "companyId": 6989 }
    ],
    "openingThemes": ["\"Hacking to the Gate\" by Kanako Ito"],
    "endingThemes": ["\"Tokitsukasadoru Jūni no Meiyaku\" by Yui Sakakibara"]
}

Rate limits

ANN's XML API is free but rate-sensitive. The scraper automatically:

• Adds 1.5s delays between requests to be respectful
• Handles 429 (rate limit) responses with progressive backoff
• Uses exponential backoff on failures (up to 3 retries)

Use cases

• Anime databases -- Build comprehensive anime/manga databases with ratings, staff, and cast data
• Recommendation engines -- Use genre/theme tags and related works to build recommendation systems
• Industry research -- Analyze anime production trends, studios, voice actor careers, and genre popularity
• Content aggregation -- Combine ANN data with other sources (AniList, MyAnimeList) for richer datasets
• Seasonal anime tracking -- Monitor new anime releases and their scores using vintage date filtering
• Voice actor research -- ANN provides multi-language cast data (Japanese, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, etc.)

Tips

• ANN's search uses fuzzy matching with ~ prefix internally, so partial titles work well
• Enable scrapeDetails only when you need staff/cast/episodes, as it makes one extra API call per entry
• The ANN XML API returns both anime and manga in search results; use mediaType to filter
• Related works IDs can be used for follow-up scrapes to build franchise graphs
• ANN's Bayesian score accounts for vote count, making it more reliable for comparison than weighted score
• The API is free and public, so proxy configuration is usually unnecessary