Another year in “da can.” Did you know Anime Sickos started in 2019? A different world in a real way! We’ve been at this nearly four years. Astonishing to think what a different person I was back then. Could we have created this show as we are now? Much to think about. In any case, we made it through this year and so have all of you (apologies to those who didn’t and aren’t reading this as a result). Hopefully we can do it again.
2023 for the Anime Sickos was not the best, purely in terms of numbers. I don’t want to be a downer but unless some big developments are in store for us, the show is officially Past Its Peak and is now In Decline. I wish I could say this comes as a shock but for a while we’ve been pretty strained creatively. Joe’s awful job wrings almost every drop of productivity out of his brain and I’m just fuckin tapped out from having to think up topics and interesting observations and shit.
Oh well. We’ll keep recording these suckers anyway. I’m not too stressed—we’ve felt tapped out before and rallied, we can do it again.
TOTAL 2023 NUMBIES
This year we had 88,600 downloads.
Last year we had 83,385. That means we got 5215 more downloads this year, a 6.25% increase in the total. Now of course an increase is good. We like increases! But consider: the increase from 2021 to 2022 was 65%, and the increase from 2020 to 2021 was 227%. In terms of year-over-year growth I feel like we’ve hit the cap.
Since the show debuted on August 28, 2019, we’ve had 240,141 downloads total.
This means that 36.9% of our downloads came in 2023. That seems to make sense on its face—we’ve been going for three years and change, makes sense we’d do a third of our downloads in one of those years. But compare it to 2022—at the time, over half our lifetime downloads came in that year. Again—the time of rapid(ish) growth appears to be behind us.
So, how many episodes did we end up doing in 2023?
Taking them all together, we released 41 episodes—three more than last year. However, keep in mind that six of those were Sicko Shock 2 (we’ll cover that later), which you could argue is a totally separate beast from standard Anime Sickos. If we don’t count those, we only released 35 episodes. If you further don’t count episode 163: The Making of Sicko Shock 2, that’s just 34. This is a marked decrease from last year, where we released 38 episodes.
Consider: the average downloads per episode released in 2023 is 1250, significantly more than the average of 1063 for the episodes released in 2022. If we had released nine additional non-Sicko Shock 2 episodes, matching the 43 episodes we put out in 2021, it stands to reason we’d have 12,500 additional downloads this year. That would bring us to 101,100 downloads, which would kick big ass on account of being six digits. It probably would be even more since that average downloads per episode number is actually lower than it should be (we’ll cover that later). All of which is to say: as much as I mope, things aren’t that bad.
MONTH TO MONTH NUMBIES
Pardon the shittiness of this graph. I can’t figure out how to make Libsyn label all the months, on account of it is a bad website.
As you can see, the line is not trending up. Whoops. I can explain. In September and November we released 2 episodes each. And then in June and October and December we released 3 episodes each. Turns out in podcasting you’re supposed to release episodes.
Of course, you can clearly see that July is high as hell and our best month ever. This kicks ass but not as much as you think (we’ll cover that later).
Let’s look at the monthlies for the show’s entire run. You may recall that in 2021 we entered the “Sicko Zone” and then in 2022 entered the “Big Dick King Zone.” 2023, by these metrics, can only be called the “Decent Zone.” Not bad, but again: we’re trending downward, something which has not happened before. Case in point: in 2022 we did not have a single month with less than 7,000 downloads. In 2023 we had multiple (September, November, and December).
2023 RELEASES
In 2023 we released 35 normal Sickos episodes.
This means we took sixteen Sicko Breaks (the week of Sicko Shock 2 does not count as either a normal episode or a Sicko Break). Thus, we took a Sicko Break 30.7% of the time.
Now I will not apologize for taking Sicko Breaks—when we take them, it’s because we have to. But I do admit I feel concerned about how often we have to do this.
Six episodes featured a guest (including 162: GUESTO 2 GUESTO - Rayne and Medley feat. Jimble, which was exclusively guests), making up 17.1% of the year’s episodes. Last year we only had five guesto episodes and mourned how bad we had become at setting them up, pledging to do more in 2023. Well, we did do more. One more. The minimum amount of more—but still. We didn’t lie. If you reached out about being a guesto and have not gotten a response, it is because we are so sick with guilt about how bad we are at keeping a steady stream of guesto episodes and thus to respond would be to self-flagellate at length. I mean—when we take a ton of breaks it feels like we gotta come back with classic Sickos-only eps before we switch it up with a guest, so it falls by da wayside.
Oh actually! Wait! Seven episodes feature a guest! Jeff Stormer is a guest on 167: The Sickos Steal the Chrono Trigger - An Anime Sickos Adventure! However, he appears in a guest GM capacity rather than a classic “Guesto Mode Goer” so perhaps I was wise not to initially count this one.
Two episodes (5.7%) were about anime. This is the lowest this number has ever been. The episodes were 156: Guy Sword: Senior Operations Manager, which is about a manga idea that does not actually exist, and 159: The Sickos Manga Roundup Vol.2, which is about manga and comics, which are not actually anime. If you are specifically looking for instances where we talk, willingly, about animated television shows and/or movies that were produced in the country of Japan (i.e., “anime”) that shit simply did not happen in 2023 at all. Our name is the biggest lie of all time
2023’s TOP EPISODES
Behold the top episodes of 2023:
Unsurprisingly, all of them were released in 2023. We have two guesto mode eps with guests who are actually notable people (turns out Taylor Moore was right about that. Who knew!), both of which did great.
Devon Price is also a notable person but his appearance was less a standard guesto ep and more a gawking look at a circus sideshow as he shared mind-boggling bits from Duchess Goldblatt’s ridiculous book.
The Sickos Talk Final Fantasy also proves putting a big IP in the title helps a lot (this does not work if the IP is Avatar 2, Barry, or Asteroid City).
The Sickos Ponder Total World Shittification is simply true and very wise, however Cory Doctorow also talked about “enshittification” this year too—I don’t think I knew about this before the episode, but it is possible I saw a headline and thought nothing of it but then it got incepted into my head. I sure hope it wasn’t that and was just multiple discovery. Well, we’re both right.
The DS is a Public Good is also just strictly true and Cory Doctorow did not write about this one.
The rest are all posting episodes. Folks, uh oh!!! I took Twitter and Bluesky off my phone for brain reasons (I was so furious at how difficult it was for me to read, play games, exercise, because I would be fiddling with my phone and then look up to find my day was gone, my life stolen, unrecoverable). Turns out the phone is so much better without that shit on it. Also, on my computer I have the plugin that doesn’t show me the algorithm feed but just the people I follow. So I see a lot less insane shit and do not feel the toilet’s siren call anymore. I will NOT be changing this. To do so would be self-harm. But this is gonna make posting episodes real hard to come by. This is one of the things I mean when I say I am a very different person than the Tom who started this show.
LET’S TALK ABOUT SICKO SHOCK 2
OK, the elephant in the room. We spent a year and many thousands of dollars producing a six-hour audio drama miniseries. Most of our effort this year went to this. All six episodes were put out in one week. Unsurprisingly this was our best week ever, with 4051 downloads.
This also led that July to being our best month ever, with nearly 9,000 downloads.
However, as big as these numbies seem, not all is good news. I wish I could say this big spike was the result of Sicko Shock 2’s smashing success. No. This shit happened because we put out eight episodes in a month and that’s it.
The fact is, none of the episodes of Sicko Shock 2 even exceeded replacement level. Without exception every episode is well below our average downloads per episode. If you look at our top ten least-downloaded episodes of all time, well, there they are:
The placeholder is on there because Libsyn is a terrible website. The blacked-out episodes are guesto mode episodes with non-famous guests, I have redacted them since the episodes whip sack and don’t want to imply otherwise by including them on a negatively-coded list.
I think I really underestimated what a huge barrier to entry the miniseries format is—our last audio drama, The Tragical History of Modesty City, was a big hit. I thought that would happen again, but MORE so, because Sicko Shock 2 is like Modesty City—but MORE so!
Well, nope. I guess people have better things to do with their day than sit in a chair with headphones on for six hours. Maybe I should have foreseen that.
I also have to admit that perhaps our self-admitted shittiness at promotion and advertising is no longer an endearing, self-effacing, aw-shucks type of thing and actually a serious liability.
But despite all my whining, here’s the real truth: Sicko Shock 2 was a triumph. I moan about the numbers because I am a whiny freak who wants to have JRPG stats in real life. What matters is that it was an artistic success that achieved exactly what I wanted it to. I made the thing I saw in my head into a real show that was even better than I imagined it. It reached the people it needed to and resonated with them in a major way. I don’t regret a dang thing.
Well, I do regret that no one writes reviews of podcasts. It would improve my writing so much to have in-depth feedback on it, oh my god. Also: I want to say SS2 is critically acclaimed more than anything. God it would be so good. I want it so bad. “Tom Harrison, writer and director of the critically acclaimed miniseries Sicko Shock 2.” Doesn’t it sound so good? Doesn’t it feel right? But there are not any critics doing any acclaiming. Someone please write a review of Sicko Shock 2.
CONCLUSIONS
I don’t want this to sound like a bummer just because this was not a banner year for numbers. There are numerous reasons: one, we still did pretty good. Two, I think we both would admit the show was not as huge a priority for us this year as in other years. For me, most of my energy went to Sicko Shock 2. For Joe, it went to (you’ll never believe this) his pregnant wife (and eventually, his non-pregnant wife and infant son). And three, moaning about numbers is a move I want to avoid at all costs. It makes the people who did check the show out feel like, gosh, did I do something wrong? Did I not do enough? Are the Sickos mad at me? Etc etc. I never want to make anyone feel that way, especially the people who have given us so much support.
So why publish this? Why not just hide it all? Well, when we started doing these year in reviews, it was because we wanted to be as honest and open as possible with everyone because a lot of podcast stuff is obfuscated and vague. So we decided, keep it up. Also, it’s not like this should shock anyone. We were never gonna become celebs off of this.
So what’s next for the Sickos in 2024? When me and Joe discussed these numbies, we both agreed—it has felt a lot like Anime Sickos has been on a sort of autopilot for a while. Joe is so often run ragged by his job and his brain, and thus is limited in what he can do creatively a lot of the time. I often felt burnt out—I would often think, oh fuck do I have to come up with ANOTHER episode?? I can’t think of anything!!! I’m done!!! I’m tapped dry!!! No!!!
Therefore, we made the decision that if we want to have the show keep going (which we do) we are going to have to make it a priority to make time for us to have regular, collaborative creative meetings where we cook up random crap together. This is, and has always been, the key to Anime Sickos. When Joe and I start making piles of goofs, we eventually hit a point where the pile becomes so big that we notice, hey, these three goofs go together. Hey, they sort of suggest a theme. Hey, this theme lets us articulate something we both have been thinking. If we want a classic episode like that, we can’t just start at the end. We have to make time to get in da mud and make da mud pies.
Another reason we have to do this: I was getting to a point where I would resent it when Joe would send me a contextless goof. I would go, ugh, what am I supposed to do with this? Now I have to figure out some way to fit this in?? Bah! Needless to say—this is a bad way to be, and represents a breakdown of communication. Hence a renewed focus on collaboration for its own sake.
And while it’s still early days—I really think it’s paying off in a big way already. We got like numerous episode ideas cooking. I can’t remember the last time we had more than one episode idea at a given time. It feels very exciting again. I like it. I hope you will too.
Thank you all for supporting this odd, dumb project. We have an off-putting name that does not describe the show and often do things that are bad for the algorithm on purpose, but that’s what it takes for us to be the creative people we want to be. And it’s so nice to know people out there like it.
Anime Sickos Forever. Here’s to 2024. I can’t wait for episode 200.
I love you guys and the podcast you make so much, and I'm so relieved you've found a way to get your creative juices goopin together again. Don't let the numbies get you too down, we all know what kind of dogshit does get high engagement (Duchess Goldblatt tweets). You're out here making real art with passion as well as genuinely funny goofs. I will always be a proud Sickos Booster all the way