Anime’s Piracy Hunt Expands with U.S. Case Against Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer Leakers

Piracy is a crime that never stops. For centuries now, the world has seen piracy take different forms. From thieves on the high seas to digital pirates, the practice always finds a way to survive. A good bit of piracy is now dedicated to entertainment including industries like anime and manga. And with a recent rise in online leaks, the anime industry is doubling down on its anti-piracy stance with a massive U.S. case.

The case was brought to light in Japan by Anime Anime, a popular site dedicated to all things otaku. It was there legal paperwork surfaced that anime licensors and/or distributors were making legal moves against leakers in the United States. A court stateside has issued an order to X (Twitter) to share the personal information of several users who allegedly leaked information about Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Jujutsu Kaisen.

What Is This New Piracy Case About?

Now, you might be wondering why this latest pushback on piracy is making headlines. This case marks the first time the U.S. court system has involved X (Twitter) in the ordeal, and the site is a massive breeding ground for leakers. From My Hero Academia to Kagurabachi, tons of manga titles have been leaked on the site. The same goes for anime, and now, two Japanese production companies have managed to rope X (Twitter) into the debacle. After all, the two brands that petitioned the courts are Toho Co. and Aniplex Inc. These two companies are giants in the industry, and they are impacted by leaks quite often.

As for how the leakers were caught, Toho and Aniplex says there are three ways they tracked the 12 accounts subpoenaed. The first method was tracking X (Twitter) users who shared unreleased images of an anime episode before it was launched. The second method was by tracking users who posted episode credits; Several of the pages mentioned would list the staff tied to an episode, but the credits were incorrect. The information was shared intentionally to catch leakers, and for the third method, the companies relied on watermarks to hunt down pirates.

Piracy Has Been a Problem in Anime for Ages

Of course, this latest piracy crackdown proves the industry is set on culling the crime. For decades now, piracy has been commonplace when it comes to anime and manga. There was a time that these mediums weren’t accessible to fans outside of Japan, and the global market responded with piracy; However, much of that accessibility problem has been solved. While it still exists in select regions or with specific projects, streaming has made anime easy to find. The same goes for manga, and yet, piracy is still a major issue for the industries.

When it comes to anime, there are countless sites across the world loaded with unlicensed anime, and many of those piracy services are making bank through ad revenue. Companies like Toho and Aniplex are eager to shrink the piracy ring haunting anime, but such a fight takes time. To start, the companies need to raise awareness about its crackdown, and this latest legal case has done just that. From personal leakers to piracy websites, the anime industry is coming down on everyone tied to the illicit crime. The only question now is whether this strike will pan out. After all, the longer an industry is alive the harder it is to kill. It seems three piracy services pop up in anime for every one that gets struck down. So please, give your support to official anime licensors like GKIDS and HIDIVE and Crunchyroll whenever you can. 

What do you think about this latest piracy crackdown? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.