Before the year 2016 ended, the American video streaming giant, Crunchyroll released a list of the 'most popular anime of 2016'. Surprisingly, "Re-Zero - Starting Life in Another World" stole the top spot from the fan favorite "Yuri on Ice" which became an instant hit to viewers since in premier last October.

The results are based on the collective data gathered by Crunchyroll from individual countries. Most of Europe, North and South America and Oceania favored the fantasy action anime over "Yuri on Ice" which is not too surprising as the 26 episode fantasy action anime gathered a lot of attention during its airing from April to September.

"Yuri on Ice" fell short and landed to number 2 spot with the most of its fans originating from Poland, Botswana and other parts of Asia. Though "Yuri on Ice" didn't lose to "Re: Zero" in terms of social media exposure, the sports-themed anime can't compete with Subaru-kun and the gang who already established a franchise.

Polygon explained that it's just a matter timing that leads to the ice skating anime's defeat. "The skating series only started airing in September, which is six months after fantasy anime premiered. Despite the gap, "Yuri on Ice" managed to garner a lot of viewers in places like Hong Kong, Poland, Botswana and many more," said a Crunchyroll representative.

Among the other popular animes that made the list are "Twin Star Exorcists," "Mob Psycho 100," "ReLIFE," "Noblesse: Awakening," "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - Diamond is Unbreakable," "Terra Formars Revenge", "AOKANA" and others. Each of them topped different countries which are determined by the unique viewers for the show's premier.

In other reports, the new promotional video for "Re: Zero - Death or Kiss" game showed us the main story line which resembled that of the anime's story. Siliconera reported that the new game will be available exclusively on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan on March 23, 2017.