One of Anime’s Biggest Piracy Sites Has Been Taken Down

It seems as if the pirate sites that have existed for years in the forms of Kiss Anime and Kiss [...]

By Evan Valentine

It seems as if the pirate sites that have existed for years in the forms of Kiss Anime and Kiss Manga respectively have been permanently shut down, potentially pointing toward a campaign that could result in similar cancellations for countless other similar sites currently residing on the internet. The sites, which were linked to one another and offered free, albeit illegal, anime and manga series presumably began in 2012 and have since been thought of as the premiere sites for piracy in the two respective mediums. With the sites being shut down earlier today, it's clear that there might be some big changes in the works when it comes to anime and manga piracy.

The news came earlier today when the discord servers for Kiss Anime revealed that the sites were taken down as a result of "Japan's stricter copyright laws", targeting sites that were illegally posting entire anime and manga series for users to access at their leisure. With the likes of Crunchyroll, Netflix, Funimation, and several other streaming services giving fans the opportunity to access scores of anime series, as well as the likes of Viz Media offering cheap plans to access their library of manga series, there are definitely legal channels to access countless franchises.

Anime Outlet AniRadio+ shared the Discover Server posts from those currently running the two sites, letting the world know that both KissAnime and KissManga are most likely shutting down their servers permanently in the face of Japan's stricter piracy initiatives:

Japan's stricter copyright law has just begun. FULL STORY: 'KissAnime' and 'KissManga' were taken down forever, Japan's...

Posted by AniRadio+ on Friday, August 14, 2020

The quotes read as such: "Our beta server have been taken down, this could lead to the closure of the website. We will make more announcement after we have the decision. All files are taken down by copyright owners. KissManga and KissAnime will be closed forever. Thank you for your supports... Thank you to those years."

Most likely, this might act as the opening salvo for a number of other anime and manga pirate sites to be taken down, with Japan having gone on record about how piracy sites have negatively impact manga sales for quite some time. Though the "stricter piracy laws" were set to be enacted in 2021, it's clear that the ball is currently rolling when it comes to the illegal outlets.

What do you think of the closing of Kiss Anime and Kiss Manga? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime!

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