The Anime Piracy Hydra Appears To Be Tiring
If the pattern holds and users do not quickly find a new top replacement, a meaningful percentage may finally migrate to legal services.
Key Facts
- HiAnime, a bootleg anime streaming site with an estimated 13-15 million monthly active users, shut down in March 2026.
- AniWatch, 9Anime, and Anime Kai, which spiked in traffic after HiAnime's closure, have all shut down within the last two weeks.
- The cause of the closures is unclear; possible factors include coordinated industry action, CODA's new enforcement center in Vietnam, or a data center fire in the Netherlands.
- The report's author did not observe a significant influx of new subscribers to legal services like Crunchyroll or HIDIVE after HiAnime's fall.
Reporting from 1 source: Anime By The Numbers.
After HiAnime shut down in March 2026, its successor sites AniWatch, 9Anime, and Anime Kai have all closed within the last two weeks, suggesting the usual whack-a-mole cycle may be slowing down.
When HiAnime, one of the largest bootleg anime streaming sites with an estimated 13-15 million monthly active users, went down in March, the usual migration pattern held: most users simply moved to the next most popular pirate sites. AniWatch, 9Anime, and Anime Kai all spiked in traffic. But in the last two weeks, all three of those successors have also shuttered. The cause is unclear-it could be coordinated action by industry stakeholders, CODA's new enforcement center in Vietnam, a data center fire in the Netherlands, or other factors. What is notable is that the author of the report did not observe the usual influx of new subscribers to legal services like Crunchyroll or HIDIVE after HiAnime's fall, suggesting that users may be cycling through pirate sites rather than converting. If no new dominant replacement emerges quickly, the calculus for some users may finally shift toward legal options.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Anime By The Numbers AnimeKai and the Piracy Apocalypse