by Even if anime fans have the premium membership of Crunchyroll and Funimation, accessing the entire catalog of anime is next to impossible. What do fans do then? They look for unofficial means to watch anime (not recommended).
Many illegal pirate websites and apps are making a profit from providing access to anime content. Many of these illegal anime apps recently reported that they had received a copyright notice from Funimation Group. Copyright notice states that you either shut down the illegal service or take further action against yourself.
Why is Funimation sending copyright strikes now?
Recently, the Funimation Global Group bought Crunchyroll. Now both Funimation and Crunchyroll are owned by Sony. The company. Sony is known for issuing vast amounts of copyright strikes to pirate content websites.
Production companies are investing a lot of money in producing anime. So, they would want to protect their content. That is why Funimation hired CoSearch, which started sending these warning messages to anime apps and websites.
Anime apps that got a DMCA notice
It is not yet clear how many anime apps have gotten DMCA notice, but some apps have openly admitted that they received a message from CoSearch to shut down. These apps include Taiyaki, Anime Glare, Shiro, Project Kamyroll, and Yukino.
Taiyaki DMCA takedown
Taiyaki is one of the first that got a notice from CoSearch to either shut down or face further charges. Below is the screenshot of the notice received:
The app is not taken down. The operator of the app wrote:
“This app is now closed. Unfortunately, it was hit with a DMCA by the monarchy company known as Funimation”
Shiro
Another anime app, “Shiro,” also reported that they received DMCA takedown from Funimation Global Group via CoSearch. The notice included that failure to comply with this notification will result in further activity against you.
Shiro developer said: “I just received a DMCA takedown notice from Funimation, and I’ll therefore cease all development on the Shiro app. All other developers should probably private their sh*t asap as this company [Corsearch] is hired specifically for DMCA notices.”
Anime Glare
Another app, “Anime Glare,” informed its users that they would be shutting down because of copyright notices. Here is what they wrote on their platform:
“Everyone must be wondering why AnimeGlare is not working and why can’t they reach us, well, I don’t know how to tell you this bad news, but AnimeGlare recently received a letter from’ Cease & Desist ‘from’ Funimation Global Group, LLC’, which means that we are forced to close all trades immediately.”
Future of ILLEGAL anime apps and websites
Now, if you are wondering, “Will other apps and websites be taken down as well?”. The short answer is no, but if these DMCA takedowns continue, life will be difficult for these pirate apps and websites.
1 year ago, one of the largest pirate websites was taken down due to copyright strikes from Japan.
Watching anime from unofficial means hurts the big companies and the authors of the series as well. We should support the original author by watching from legal websites. Many anime Youtube channels are providing free anime to fans. They are constantly increasing their catalog as well.
