Anime is like a big bowl of ramen that’s been simmering on the stove for decades. It’s got action, drama, and storytelling that’s as tasty as it is addictive. But as with any good food, there’s always someone who wants to steal it, and anime is no exception. Yep, I’m talking about the dreaded P-word – piracy. Many fans turn to illegal streaming sites and torrenting to access the latest anime shows and movies, despite the availability of legal streaming options.
Variety Intelligence Program and Muso (A Piracy Research Firm) shared an article a few days ago in which they shared the names of the most pirated shows in 2022, and some anime series made it into the list. Out of this list, Chainsaw Man & Bleach even made it to the top 10 most pirated shows.
Piracy is not a new word in the anime community, as most of the world watches anime and manga in pirated format. Reasons for this are either pricey packages offered by official streaming services or the unavailability of official streaming platforms in a specific country.
A few popular anime pirated sites have been shut down by official personnel, and official publishers even sued a pirated manga website’s owner for pirating their works. But when you close one of these websites, a few more pop out of nowhere and the same cycle continues.
In 2022, quite a few series, besides anime series, were viewed in pirated format. This list shows the most pirated shows in the U.S. in 2022:
| Name of Series | Piracy Percentage Demand |
| House of the Dragon Season 1 | 17% |
| Chainsaw Man Season 1 | 13% |
| Running Man Season 1 | 12% |
| Rick and Morty Season 6 | 12% |
| Moon Knight Season 1 | 9% |
| Bleach Season 1 | 9% |
| The Eminence in Shadow | 8% |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | 7% |
| Spy x Family Season 1 | 7% |
| The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 | 6% |
In 2022, a number of series, not just anime series, were viewed in pirated format, and the list shows the most pirated shows in the U.S. that year. Chainsaw Man and Bleach Season 1 made it to the list with significant Piracy Percentage Demand, which is deeply troubling.
It’s particularly surprising that Bleach Season 1 was on the list since it aired years ago, but the probable reason for this might be the comeback of Bleach’s “Thousand Year Blood War” Arc in 2022. This compelled some new anime fans to start this series, which skyrocketed the series on the piracy charts. 4 anime series in top 10 most pirated shows of the year is surely a record.
Variety VIP+ (a unique service offered by Variety Intelligence Program) reported that 60% of the people who gave a survey for this article had legal streaming services available in their countries. Still, they instead opted to watch pirated series. They also reported that Netflix loses 9.1 billion U.S. dollars yearly because of users’ password sharing.
Here at Anime Senpai, we advise our readers to use official streaming services to watch anime or read manga. Piracy is illegal and takes money away from the anime creators, who work hard to bring us the content we love.
It’s essential to support the anime industry by consuming content legally. Not only does it provide creators with the support they need to keep creating, but it also ensures that we get to see even more of the anime we love in the future. So let’s all make an effort to support the industry and stop piracy.
Source: Variety Official Website
Its free in japan because they air it on tv. As far as i know its not stealing when its still airing on tv as the torrents are just jacking the free tv network version.
Its only when streaming sites pay for exclusivity and released on bluray then it becomes piracy. toei took down all my kamen rider sites really mad about that.
I buy all the official anime merchandise so i support them in other ways. If you like the anime buy the bluray lets not support streaming sites.