MAL Updater OS X

For the past two months, time permitting since I have a full time job and this is my side job I do during the weekends, we have begun work on the next versions of Shukofukurou and Hachidori.

Shukofukurou 3.4 for macOS will be a minor release adding macOS Big Sur and Universal Binary 2 compatibility and adding features from the iOS version. Shukofukurou 2.1 for iOS will primarily add some quality of life improvements. As for Hachidori, it’s the same deal, but the addition of new legal streaming site support, macOS Big Sur/Universal Binary 2 support, and the ability to reauthorize accounts.

The next few months will be big as Apple is set to release the first few Macs with Apple Silicon. Currently, we have our apps ready for Apple Silicon aka ArchARM64. While we haven’t tested them yet since I don’t have a developer transition kit, I plan to get a Mac stat uses these new processors when they come out with a new Mac mini. The Mac mini will serve as a dedicated developer machine that I can remote into or use locally.

Currently, the alphas for the macOS version of Shukofukurou and Hachidori are available for Patrons only. Once the apps reaches beta, it will be available to everyone. Monthly donations/support allows me to cover the development costs of developing all three apps, primarily the domain name, hosting (including the web services the apps uses), and Apple Developer Program membership. Besides gaining access to precompiled prerelease builds by becoming a Patron, you also unlock all the donor features, read weekly developer updates on upcoming new features, gain free updates to major releases of Shukofukurou and Hachidori, and access to TestFlight for beta versions of Shukofukurou for iOS.

In short, we should have all the releases out for macOS and iOS out this fall. With that, thanks for the support thus far.

At last, the light is at the end of the tunnel. The owners of MyAnimeList will open the API up for closed beta for certain developers soon, which I am a part of. Since the public cannot use the apps that use the API during the closed beta, there will be no public testing for any of the apps nor any public commits pushed to the public repos until it’s made public again. The open beta will happen in September, meaning that there won’t be any public beta builds until then.

However, I will be posting development updates exclusively for active Patrons. If you want to see the progress made with implementing MyAnimeList support for our apps along with some new major features, they will be posted on Patreon. By becoming an active patron, you can support the development of our apps, test new beta versions for Shukofukurou for iOS and unlock donor features on the macOS version of Shukofukurou and Hachidori. MAL Updater OS X will be discontinued as MyAnimeList support will be added to Hachidori instead. However, your MAL Updater OS X donor key will work in Hachidori.

With that Shukofukurou for iOS 1.4 will be released soon, which adds a few improvements including infinite search results and advanced search. After that, we will be working on Shukofukurou for iOS 2.0. Since we are not able to bring out the app with MyAnimeList support for public testing until September, we will be getting our app ready for iOS and iPadOS 13 during this time. We don’t know the agreement in regards to the MyAnimeList API yet for the closed beta, but to be on the safe side, we won’t be disclosing any code for 2.0, future versions of Hachidori 3.2/Shukofukurou for macOS 3.4 and Hakuchou until then. They will be made public when the MAL API reaches open beta. We will be committing all changes to a private GIT repository for the time being. Rest assured, we are not making our apps closed source in any way. The source code will be pushed out to the public repos in September 2019.

Shukofukurou for iOS 2.0 will drop support for iOS 11 and will require iOS 12 or later. All devices that run iOS 11 should be able to run iOS 12.

Shukofukurou for iOS 2.0 will be a free upgrade for all users who downloaded the app already. So feel free to get the app so you are ready when MyAnimeList support drops in Fall 2019.

With that, we hope to get everything up in running for MyAnimeList users who have to endure the long wait.

After almost a whole year with the MyAnimeList API being down, I received news that it will eventually come back, but in closed beta sometime in June. While I don’t know if end-users can use our applications when we implement the new api. If not, it will be limited to active patrons until the open beta to assist with testing and development.

First off, we will work on getting MAL Updater OS X working again. 2.5 will be the final release as MyAnimeList functionality will be moved over to Hachidori in 3.4 release once in open beta or the API is finally released.Once Hachidori 3.4 is released, you will be able to do multi-scrobbles with MyAnimeList as well. Regardless, MAL Updater OS X after the final 2.5 release will still receive updates and MAL Updater OS X donation keys will work in Hachidori. However, Hachidori donation keys will not work, but Patreon keys will. MAL Updater OS X donation keys will not go back on sale.

Shukofukurou 3.4 and Shukofukurou for iOS 1.4 or 1.5 will support MyAnimeList as well once I finish the MAL Updater OS X 2.5 release.

While this has been a long wait, the light is almost at the end of the tunnel.

As you heard, MEDIA DO HOLDINGS Co., Ltd has bought MyAnimeList

I’m super excited to announce – MyAnimeList has been acquired by MEDIA DO HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.（Media Do)! As an established eBook and Manga datastore and distributor, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, I believe Media Do is uniquely positioned to slingshot MAL into being the number one ‘all-things’ anime and manga platform.

What does this mean? In the short term, not a lot will change. A bunch of logistics and legal hurdles are still being worked out, so DeNA will continue the day-to-day maintenance for at least the next few weeks to come. In the less-short term, it means a new dedicated team, a new schedule of priorities, and a new vision for MAL’s future! Having chatted with the Media Do group a number of times now, I’ve been delighted to share in their excitement and enthusiasm for improving and growing MAL.

It’s been roughly four years since DeNA took the helm with MAL’s development, and they successfully guided us through a very difficult growth state. I will forever be grateful to DeNA’s team, and their tireless translators. We’ve come a very long way, and we wouldn’t be here without their care and support.

I have no doubt good things are in store for us this year! Thank you everyone for your support and continued involvement in our amazing community.

Given the bad experiences with DeNA with their lack of API development and broken promises, hopefully this change will be for the better. While we still don’t know when the API will be back. We hope the new owners will hopefully fix the lack of development of the API as we know, a lot of anime and manga fans still use MAL despite many switching to other services like Kitsu or AniList. However, once the MyAnimeList API return, we will work on adding MyAnimeList back to Shukofukurou and add support for it to Hachidori.

What will happen to MAL Updater OS X?

Depending on the changes to the final API, we will make the final version of MAL Updater OS X available once the API opens up again and implement some of the backend changes from Hachidori. As stated earlier, MAL Updater OS X won’t be developed any further afterwards and MyAnimeList support will be added to Hachidori. That way, it will be easier to maintain one code source. However, users who already have a MAL Updater OS X donation license will not have to buy a Hachidori donation license since it will accept it.