The “Netflix of anime” piracy site abruptly shuts down, shocking users

Thousands of anime fans were shocked Thursday when the popular piracy site Animeflix voluntarily shut down without explaining why, TorrentFreak reported.

"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Animeflix," the site's operators told users in a Discord with 35,000 members. "After careful consideration, we have decided to shut down our service effective immediately. We deeply appreciate your support and enthusiasm over the years."

Prior to its shutdown, Animeflix attracted millions of monthly visits, TorrentFreak reported. It was preferred by some anime fans for its clean interface, with one fan on Reddit describing Animeflix as the "Netflix of anime."

"Deadass this site was clean," one Reddit user wrote. "The best I’ve ever seen. Sad to see it go."

Although Animeflix operators did not connect the dots for users, TorrentFreak suggested that the piracy site chose to shut down after facing "considerable legal pressure in recent months."

Back in December, an anti-piracy group, Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), sought to shut down Animeflix. Then in mid-May, rightsholders—including Netflix, Disney, Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros.—won an injunction through the High Court of India against several piracy sites, including Animeflix. This briefly caused Animeflix to be unavailable until Animeflix simply switched to another domain and continued serving users, TorrentFreak reported.

Although Animeflix is not telling users why it's choosing to shut down now, TorrentFreak—which, as its name suggests, focuses much of its coverage on copyright issues impacting file sharing online—noted that "when a pirate site shuts down, voluntarily or not, copyright issues typically play a role."

For anime fans, the abrupt closure was disappointing because of difficulty accessing the hottest new anime titles and delays as studios work to offer translations to various regions. The delays are so bad that some studios are considering combating piracy by using AI to push out translated versions more quickly. But fans fear this will only result in low-quality subtitles, CBR reported.

On Reddit, some fans also complained after relying exclusively on Animeflix to keep track of where they left off on anime shows that often span hundreds of episodes.

Others begged to be turned onto other anime piracy sites, while some speculated whether Animeflix might eventually pop up at a new domain. TorrentFreak noted that Animeflix shut down once previously several years ago but ultimately came back. One Redditor wrote, "another hero has passed away but the will, will be passed." On another Reddit thread asking "will Animeflix be gone forever or maybe create a new site," one commenter commiserated, writing, "We don't know for sure. Only time will tell."

It's also possible that someone else may pick up the torch and operate a new piracy site under the same name. According to TorrentFreak, this is "likely."

Animeflix did not reassure users that it may be back, instead urging them to find other sources for their favorite shows and movies.

“We hope the joy and excitement of anime continue to brighten your days through other wonderful platforms," Animeflix's Discord message said.

ACE did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment.

Anime piracy site owners increasingly risk arrest

Animeflix shutting down comes amid an intensifying global crackdown on ever-increasing anime piracy.

In 2022, Muso—which provides anti-piracy services to the entertainment industry—reported that visits to piracy sites increased by 18 percent since the prior year, totaling 215 billion visits. It's difficult to parse the economic impact of all this piracy, Statista reported, but a 2019 study claimed that the US economy loses $29 billion per year due to global video piracy. And Muso found that spiking interest in anime only led to more piracy.

"Long-running anime titles with hundreds of episodes, combined with continued increased cultural demand for anime, is resulting in six out of the top 10 titles with US piracy audience in 2022 being Japanese or South Korean productions," Muso concluded.

As more anime fans seek pirated content online, regulators globally have taken notice. In April, Screen Rant declared that "the age of anime piracy could be ending" after Japanese authorities arrested and prosecuted China-based owners of "one of the biggest illegal anime websites," B9GOOD. That piracy site had attracted more than 300 million users, Screen Rant reported, and the arrest "set an important precedent," marking the "first time that a person outside of Japan has been jailed for distributing copyrighted anime."

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which tracks the most significant piracy sites, has also seemingly begun paying more attention to anime piracy. In January, the USTR added Aniwatch—which USTR said became one of the "most popular pirate streaming sites in the world" last year—to a watchlist previously focused on less-niche sites like The Pirate Bay.

Stakeholders had complained that "Aniwatch site provides pirated versions of popular movies and television, particularly anime," USTR reported, suggesting that stopping anime piracy had become a higher priority.

Within the past five years, anime has gone from being a fringe interest of dedicated nerds to mainstream popularity. As more major studios produce anime, takedowns will likely only increase. Complaints against Animeflix seemingly came from every major movie studio. According to the Lumen Database, which logs copyright takedown notices, Disney targeted Animeflix in April soon after releasing The Fable, which was based on a bestselling manga with more than 25 million copies distributed globally.

While Animeflix fans hope the piracy site with the Netflix-like interface might one day be resurrected, the USTR has said that preventing instances like that is why it has become so important for officials to begin arresting "piracy site owners and operators, in addition to shutting down the websites, in order to target the root of infringing content and illegal conduct."