Anime

Anime Ships Are Dominating Fanfiction’s Top Site, Says New Report

A new report regarding Archive of Our Own’s most-written ships of 2023 features anime series like My Hero Academia, Bungo Stray Dogs, and more.
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There are few things on the Internet better than fanfiction. Though once seen as something taboo, the fanfiction community has exploded in the past 15 years as geek culture has become mainstream. From film to television to everything in-between, your favorite series are often continued online by talented fanfic writers. And according to a new report, anime is taking charge of the Internet’s biggest fanfiction site.

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The update comes from Archive of Our Own as the user Randomist1031 pulled some numbers together. They looked at the top 100 pairings written for in 2023 on the site. It was there some curious data came to light, and it proves My Hero Academia has an army of dedicated fic writers.

According to the data, My Hero Academia ranked 3rd as its pairing of Izuku and Bakugo entered the top five. It ranked just beneath Stranger Things and Harry Potter. As for 4th place, the honor went to Bungo Stray Dogs. So if you want to check out the top ten list of Ao3 ships, you can find them from first to last below:

  1. Steve Harrington / Eddie Munson
  2. Sirius Black / Remus Lupin
  3. Bakugo Katsuki / Izuku Midoriya
  4. Dazai Osamu / Nakahara Chuuya
  5. Draco Malfoy / Harry Potter
  6. Alhaitham / Kaveh
  7. Edward Teach / Stede Bonnet
  8. Lan Wangi / Wei Wuxian
  9. Aziraphale / Crowley
  10. Castiel / Dean Winchester

As for anime and animation, Ao3 had a big showing. Genshin Impact brought anime gamers to life with several ships including Summer pulls such as Kaveh and Cyno. Beyond that, The Owl House made the cut along with Miraculous Ladybug, Trigun, Haikyuu, Naruto, Jujutsu Kaisen, and more. And as for My Hero Academia? Well, the anime took eight total spots on this list, so you can see the fandom is incredibly active with its fics. So if you are needing a new ship to sail, these hit pairings have tons to read!

What do you make of this latest fanfiction report? Did you expect anime to show up this hard…? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!