This post organizes my current ACG and music management plan.

This kind of content is different from Movie & TV. Films and shows are well suited to one unified media library: files, scraping, posters, subtitles, and playback can all converge around Emby. ACG is much more scattered. Anime involves seasonal subscriptions and subtitles; comics involve chapter updates and reading across devices; novels involve sources and reading progress; games involve installers, platforms, and devices; music spans several streaming platforms.

So the core goal is not to force everything into one tool. It is to handle each content type separately:

  • for ongoing content, prioritize timely updates;
  • for completed content, prioritize stable archiving;
  • for content worth keeping long-term, move it back to the NAS or cloud drive when possible;
  • isolate adult content from the normal library;
  • divide music work by platform so playlists and collection entries stay clear.

After organizing it this way, ACG is no longer a pile of things scattered across cloud drives, readers, download folders, and browser bookmarks. It becomes a few relatively stable workflows.

Anime

Anime is basically split into “completed” and “ongoing”.

For completed anime, the focus is collection quality. Sources may come from Dmhy, PT, or other archives. After downloading or transferring, I first save the files remotely in 115, then use 115desk and mpv to verify playback. Subtitles are handled separately: if embedded or external subtitles are incomplete, I fill them from U2, A-site subtitle sources, and similar places, then use subrenamer to align file names.

The workflow is roughly:

Find source
  -> download or transfer
  -> save in 115
  -> playback check with 115desk / mpv
  -> fix subtitle names with subrenamer
  -> import into Emby

Completed content does not need to be fast. Version, subtitles, and naming stability matter more. The most common anime problems are subtitle files not matching video files, or seasons, episode numbers, and OVAs being named inconsistently across subtitle groups. If this is cleaned up early, Emby will not scan the show into a pile of loose episodes later.

For ongoing anime, automation matters more. I mainly use ani-rss to subscribe to Mikan, pulling new seasonal releases as automatically as possible. Then openlist, 115, 115desk, mpv, and subrenamer handle playback and organization. Seasonal anime updates weekly, so manually finding sources quickly becomes repeated labor. Subscriptions and automatic transfers are the main path.

The ongoing workflow looks more like:

Mikan subscription
  -> ani-rss monitoring
  -> openlist / 115 integration
  -> 115desk / mpv playback
  -> subtitle correction with subrenamer
  -> Emby display

BDMV, anime films, and Chinese animation are handled separately. They are not always suitable for full seasonal-subscription automation. More often, I look for suitable versions from cloud drives, HDlive, drive search, or PT. This is closer to filling the library: find a version worth keeping, manually confirm quality, subtitles, audio tracks, and size, then archive it.

Adult anime does not enter the normal library. It goes directly into an independent NAS library. The focus here is not automation, but boundaries: separate directories, separate libraries, separate permissions, and no participation in the normal anime library’s homepage recommendations or search.

Comic

The core of comic management is reading across devices.

On iOS, I mainly use Keda Reader and Tachimanga. On Windows, I use Rulia and Suwayomi. On Mac, I use Keda Reader plus Suwayomi. After this split, each device has a suitable entry point: phones and tablets are good for following updates, computers are good for organizing and filling old chapters, and NAS plus WebDAV handles completed content.

Completed comics are for archiving.

This usually goes through WebDAV plus Keda Reader. After a comic is downloaded or organized, it is placed on the NAS and mounted into the reader via WebDAV. Old chapters can be filled from cloud drives, Xianyu, PT, or websites, then synchronized to the NAS after cleanup. The benefit is that comics do not depend on a single online site. As long as the NAS remains, the library remains readable.

Completed comics are best organized by work:

Comic/
  Title/
    Vol.01.cbz
    Vol.02.cbz

Or by chapter:

Comic/
  Title/
    Chapter 001.cbz
    Chapter 002.cbz

The key is not to mix volume editions, chapter editions, and scan versions in one directory. Otherwise, reader sync can easily produce duplicates, skipped chapters, or broken sorting.

Ongoing comics and adult comics are better handled through online subscriptions. Tachimanga manages site subscriptions. Older chapters are synced from cloud drives or Xianyu to the NAS, while the newest chapters are read directly from online updates. This preserves old chapters without requiring every update to be downloaded manually.

Comics are not a good category for excessive tool unification. Sources, scanlation groups, volume/chapter naming, and image quality vary too much. If following updates is easy, completed works can be archived, and different content types stay separate, the system is already stable enough.

Novel

Novel management is lighter than comics, but it depends more on sources and reading progress.

Ongoing novels currently use the server edition of the reader for subscriptions. The focus for serial novels is update reminders and reading continuity. It is not suitable to manually search for TXT or EPUB every time. As long as the source updates steadily, the reader server can be the main entry.

Completed novels go back to Hill Reader and the NAS book library. Sources can be an existing library, Shuxiangmendi, Z-Library, Anna’s Archive, or cloud drives, Xianyu, Tieba, and similar places. When organizing, format and naming matter most: keep one main version of the same book when possible, and mark extras, refined editions, or physical-book editions in the filename.

My habit is to treat completed novels as a real library:

Novel/
  Author/
    Book title.epub
    Book title Extra.epub

This makes it easier to switch readers or migrate the NAS later.

Adult novels use a separate entry, mainly through website reading or independent archives. As with anime and comics, this content does not mix with the normal novel library. Once content types are mixed, search, recommendations, and sync all become annoying later.

Game

Games are less like a media library and more like source and installer management.

Official platforms remain the main entry. SteamTools fills in parts of the library experience, while Steam itself handles launching, updates, cloud saves, and controller support. If a game can go through a platform, prefer the platform, because future maintenance cost is the lowest.

Cloud-drive and forum sources are mainly supplements for non-platform content. Here I care more about whether files are complete, whether versions are clear, whether DLC is included, and whether the install path is easy to migrate. Unlike films, game archives cannot be judged by file names alone. Runtime environment, patches, saves, and launch method all matter.

BT sources are suitable for large, fixed-version game packages. After downloading, do not leave them scattered in the download folder. Archive them by platform and type:

Games/
  PC/
    Game title/
      installer/
      patches/
      saves-backup/
  Switch/
    Game title/

Switch is handled separately. Its installation, patches, saves, and device environment are all different from PC games. Mixing them into the same directory only increases organization cost.

The goal of game management is not to display things beautifully like Emby. It is to be able to find the installer, patch, save, or version notes when reinstalling or migrating later. For large games especially, redownloading is expensive, so directory structure and version notes are more important than cover art.

Music

For now, I am not building one unified local music library. I split the work by platform.

YouTube Music is good for anime, games, live performances, covers, and content with incomplete catalog coverage elsewhere. Many ACG-related tracks are not standard album releases, or only exist as videos, live versions, clips, or uploads. In those cases, YouTube Music is often easier to search.

NetEase Cloud Music is still convenient for Chinese-language collections, comments, and some domestic catalogs. It may not be the most complete music library, but for Chinese songs, ACG playlists, and user-curated playlists, it remains useful.

Spotify leans toward discovery and cross-device playback. Its recommendations, playlists, and client experience are stable, so it is good for daily listening and exploring similar styles.

Apple Music is better as a high-quality collection entry. Lossless audio, library management, album organization, and Apple-device integration are all relatively complete, making it suitable for albums I genuinely want to keep listening to long-term.

These platforms do not need to be forced into one system. A more practical division is:

YouTube Music: rare tracks, live versions, covers, and video sources
NetEase Cloud Music: Chinese context, comments, and user playlists
Spotify: daily recommendations and cross-device playback
Apple Music: high-quality collection and long-term album library

The biggest problem in music management is collecting a little on every platform until I no longer know which one is the main library. The current idea is: discovery can be distributed, but long-term collection should converge. I can mark a song anywhere when I first like it, but albums or playlists I truly want to keep should eventually return to one main entry.

Isolation and Long-Term Maintenance

After splitting these content types, the whole system becomes several lines:

  • Anime uses subscriptions, subtitles, 115, and Emby;
  • Comic uses readers, WebDAV, Suwayomi, and Tachimanga;
  • Novel uses a reader server, Hill Reader, and the NAS book library;
  • Game uses platforms, cloud drives, BT, and independent archives;
  • Music is divided among YouTube Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Spotify, and Apple Music;
  • Adult content uses separate directories, entries, and permissions.

The most important thing is not any single tool, but boundaries.

Anime and films can go into Emby. Comics and novels are better in readers. Games should be managed by platform and installer. Music is better left to streaming platforms first. Each content type has its own best entry point. Forcing all of them into one system only increases maintenance cost.

This setup already covers my daily needs: new content has subscriptions, old content can be archived, reading and playback work across devices, and special content does not pollute the normal library. If I keep optimizing later, the focus should be reducing repeated organization: unify naming rules, check NAS directories regularly, add version notes to game installers, and slowly converge important music collections into one main library.

ACG content is too scattered to organize perfectly in one pass. But as long as “following updates, archiving, reading, playback, and isolation” are separated clearly, the rest becomes much easier. It stops being a pile of temporary entry points and becomes a personal content system that can be maintained over time.