I just want to stop forgetting Samurai Cat exists

June 6, 2018 12:26 PM

What's the best way to keep track of movies and TV shows that I have watched, am currently watching, and want to watch?

Currently, I'm using ICheckMovies for movies, FollowShows for English shows, and MyAnimeList for anime. But a lot of things fall through the cracks, especially more obscure or older TV shows; for example, neither the Netflix original "Legend Quest" nor the Japanese live-action show "Samurai Cat" show up on any of those sites. So a more comprehensive site, or a site that allows you to easily add movies/shows that aren't currently in the database, would be great.

I would also really love a single site to consolidate all this info. I've looked into IMDB but don't see an easy way to mark things as watched or keep track of things I'm currently watching. I like FollowShows because its tracker allows you to see what shows you're behind on, which episode to watch next, etc. I also like the "new episode just aired" emails but that's not critical. Does IMDB do something like this? Or is there something else that would fit my needs better?

My preference would be something that has both a website and an app, but a website that has a vaguely functional mobile site is also acceptable.

posted by brook horse to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

I've been a long-time user of Trakt.tv. Sounds like it might fit the bill.
posted by Otis at 12:40 PM on June 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I looked in the app I use on my Android phone, TV Time, and it has Legend Quest and two entries for Neko Zamurai (which is the Japanese title for Samurai Cat.) It does not have this intriguing show listed under its English title, but does have an anime called Samurai Pizza Cats listed.

It only does TV though, not movies.
posted by Squeak Attack at 12:55 PM on June 6, 2018

I've looked into IMDB but don't see an easy way to mark things as watched or keep track of things I'm currently watching.
For movies, I mark anything I have watched by rating it. I don't agonize between 6 or 7 stars. I use 1, 5, and 8-10. For me, the marking is more important then the ranking for most movies. I also use the watchlist for anything I want to watch. If you are signed in, you can add anything to your watchlist because it is already set up for you. They do have custom lists but they have changed the functionality quite a bit. It used to be called MyMovies and you had to add an entry to MyMovies before you could add it to a list. You could make your own Currently Watching list.
posted by soelo at 1:42 PM on June 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I use Letterboxd for this, but it doesn't have "currently watching." I don't know any site that does.
posted by rhizome at 2:01 PM on June 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I also use IMDB to rate things I've seen, I add things to the Watchlist if I want to watch them, and it's really easy to make your own lists to add things to, you could have a currently watching one. The app vs desktop functionality is a little different for adding titles to your own lists, on the desktop I think it's somewhere in the upper left by the title you click to add, and in the app there are 3 dots to the right of the title to add. You can also go into your account to find all your lists and view them, too.
posted by PaulaSchultz at 2:40 PM on June 6, 2018

I am probably a big nerd but I just use an Excel spreadsheet for this. It doesn't really have an app, though you could save it to google sheets which works on phones. Kind of.
posted by Athanassiel at 2:40 PM on June 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I use IMDb similarly to soelo.
posted by AFABulous at 4:54 PM on June 6, 2018

another trakt user here. they have netflix's "legend quest" and what i assume is "samurai cat".
posted by noloveforned at 5:07 PM on June 6, 2018

I would be lost without myepisodes.com for tracking both shows I'm currently watching and those I want to watch at some future point. You can mark off each episode as you watch it, and it automatically adds new episodes as they air. For a show you want to watch someday you can "ignore" it, which keeps it in your overall list of shows but not the episode-by-episode list. The UI is more functional than beautiful, and I don't think there's an app, but they do have Legend Quest and Neko Zamurai and I'm told that adding new shows is quite easy, though I've never had to do so.
posted by Ellen Alleyne at 5:49 PM on June 6, 2018