In the post-Miyazaki era, moviegoers are wondering which director can take the impossibly impressive mantle left behind. The poll website Goo Ranking decided to find out by asking 8,585 fans which anime director is their favorite now that Hayao Miyazaki has retired. Surprisingly, Miyazaki's son, Goro Miyazaki, was the number one choice despite mixed critical reception of his works Tales from Earthsea and From Up On Poppy Hill. The elder Miyazaki's friend, star in The Wind Rises, and renowned director of Neon Genesis Evangelion Hideaki Anno took second place followed by Mamoru Hosoda, director of Wolf Children and Summer Wars.
Also an interesting side note: No female directors made the list.
Top 20 Favorite Directors Post-Miyazaki
| Rank | Director | Works | | |
| 1 | Goro Miyazaki | Tales from Earthsea, From Up On Poppy Hill |  |
| 2 | Hideaki Anno | Neon Genesis Evangelion |  |
| 3 | Mamoru Hosoda | Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time |  |
| 4 | Mamoru Oshii | Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell, The Sky Crawlers |  |
| 5 | Katsuhiro Ōtomo | Akira, Steamboy, Combustible |  |
| 6 | Makoto Shinkai | 5 Centimeters Per Second, The Garden of Words, Voices of a Distant Star |  |
| 7 | Yoshiyuki Tomino | Gundam franchise original creator |  |
| 8 | Gisaburô Sugii | Astro Boy, Touch, Nine |  |
| 9 | Hiroyuki Morita | The Cat Returns, Bokurano |  |
| 10 | Gorō Taniguchi | Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion |  |
| 11 | Seiji Mizushima | Fullmetal Alchemist, Shaman King | |
| 12 | Tsutomu Mizushima | Genshiken, Blood-C, Girls und Panzer | |
| 13 | Akiyuki Shinbo | Madoka Magica, Monogatari series, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha | |
| 14 | Yutaka Yamamoto | Lucky Star, Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens, Senyū. | |
| 15 | Keiichi Hara | Shin-chan, Colorful | |
| 16 | Hiromasa Yonebayashi | The Secret World of Arrietty | |
| 17 | Junichi Satō | Sailor Moon, Aria the Animation, Kaleido Star | |
| 18 | Tatsuyuki Nagai | anohana, A Certain Scientific Railgun, My-HiME | |
| 19 | Hiroyuki Okiura | Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade, A Letter to Momo | |
| 20 | Other | | | |
Yara-on!