Matching

Matching

By default, the Agent will utilize the Media name (the name of the Show/Movie files) to search and match it against the Search results.

The way MyAnimeList is structured (and how the Jikan API returns the search results), it will return the "main title" as title in the search result even if you searched for a different tile. For example, when you search for the show "Attack on Titan" you will get the search result "Shingeki no Kyojin" instead. Since those two titles have too many deviations from each other, the resulting Match score is therefore quite small.

Plex itself will only pick a Search result if the Match Score is above 80%.

If you use a different Naming convention or use Applications like ShokoServer/FileBot/Sonarr/Radarr to rename (or you don't rename them at all) your Anime then the resulting name identified by the Scanner might not be compatible with how MyAnimeList knows about the show or how the Agent processes those names.

This means that when, as described above, use anything except the Main title for your files you will get incorrect or not automatic matches for your Anime.

But there are a few ways on how to "force" a match described in the following sections:

Force Match with Fix Match

You can use the "Fix Match" feature in plex and add the following notation to the search title so specifically search for the ID instead of the title. The notation is as follows:

[mal-<mal_id>]

Example:

• Your files are named Anime/Attack on Titan/Attack on Titan - 01.ext which wouldn't result in a Match
• "Fix match" ...
  • with Shingeki no Kyojin as title which will show all Anime that have this title (one way or the other)
  • with [mal-16498] as title and you only will get one result

Force Match with the files

While the Above solution is a good way to do it quickly through the Plex Interface itself, when anything happens with your Server (Library deleted, Database corruption etc.) then any changes you made through the "Fix Match" will also have to be done again.

To circumvent this issue you can add [mal-<mal_id>] to the Show/Movie folder directly. This requires the use of the Absolute Series Scanner to scan your libraries because it specifically includes the [mal-<mal_id>] in the title so that the Agent can process that information.

Example:

• Your files are named Anime/Attack on Titan/Attack on Titan - 01.ext which wouldn't result in a Match
• Your rename the show folder to Anime/Attack on Titan [mal-16498]/Attack on Titan - 01.ext and you now got a match to the correct show

Force Match with .match file

The above force match solution through the file name works only if you organize your files yourself and don't use the already mentioned Applications. The Problem with those applications are, that they don't know the MyAnimeList-ID and therefore would not be able to add it to the file title.

That is where the .match file comes in. The .match file is a simple text document that contains the information to force match the library item to the specific title or MyAnimeList-ID that is specified in that file.

You would put that file into the Show/Movie folder like this:

• Anime (your library)
  • Attack on Titan
    • .match
    • Attack on Titan - 01.ext

The Agent will read that file and check if two values are available, mal-id and title this could then look something like this:

title: Shingeki no Kyojin
mal-id: 16498

The Agent will prioritize mal-id when it is available because it is unique and more precise than the title.