The largest Anime Database, MyAnimeList, Reportedly Hacked

MyAnimeList’s website reportedly got hacked, and several users are reporting that they cannot access the website.

MyAnimeList is a website which gets more than 40 million visitors per month and is considered the largest database of anime, where users can keep track of their favourite anime series.

Several MyAnimeList users reported that something weird was going on with the anime titles on MAL, where all the anime titles were replaced with “LET’S ALL LOVE LAIN”.

In case you are not familiar with the term “Let’s All Love Lain”, it is a phrase taken from anime series titled “Serial Experiments Lain”, which is a cyberpunk-themed show. “Let’s All Love Lain” has been used by fans to show their appreciation for the series and its main character.

Serial Experiment Lain anime series was released in 1998. It explores complex themes such as identity, reality, and communication in the world of emerging internet and computer technologies.

MyAnimeList Hacked

MyAnimeList, also known as MAL, has reportedly gone down (not accessible) for many users. After the anime titles were changed to “Let’s All Love Lain”, many users believed it to be a harmless prank done by either a MAL staff or a user.

After all, on April Fool’s Day, MAL played a prank on their user by tweaking the cover images of the anime series and putting images of cats in front of the anime covers.

However, the MyAnimeList website has now gone down altogether now with an error of “403 ERROR The request could not be satisfied.”

MyAnimeList social media channels have not been updated on the situation at the time of writing.

Update 1: MyAnimeList has updated their homepage, which is no longer showing “404 Error”, and showing a message that the website is currently in maintenance.

Update 2: MyAnimeList published a notice of emergency on their help page, revealing more information. According the article, this was a cyber attack that occurred on the morning of May 10, 2023.

A malicious user not only modified the anime titles to “Lets All Love Lain” but also inserted a code which displayed a popup whenever a user visited their profile or lists during the attack.

About the users’ personal information, MyAnimeList revealed that they have stored the information in a way which meets government regulations and according to their information so far, no data breach of users’ personal information has been found.

Currently, MyAnimeList team is working to find and resolve all the methods used by the hacker for the attack. They are not sure when the website will be online and out of maintenance mode.

MyAnimeList Not Opening For Users

Fans took to Twitter, asking if they are the only ones who can not access the website or if is it the same for everyone else. After all, many anime fans use MAL to keep track of their anime, and if something were to happen, years of their profile could be lost.

Hopefully, MyAnimeList will be up and running again in no time. For the time being, fans are expecting an update on the website’s social media accounts.

MyAnimeList was created in 2004 and has grown into one of the largest anime and manga websites. What are your thoughts on this “hack”? Do you think its just a harmful prank or someone is trying to take down the website? Let us know your opinion in the comment section below.