KissAnime

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KissAnime
Video-on-Demand - website
languages English
operator Gransy, sro
Registration optional
On-line October 25, 2012 (currently offline)

KissAnime was a video-on-demand website that went online in 2012 and was taken offline in August 2020 due to the tightening of Japanese copyright law . The site was mainly known in the English-speaking world. In the United States alone, KissAnime was among the 250 most visited sites in 2017. KissAnime and KissManga were both part of a larger group of "Kiss" websites that illegally provide various types of media.

The site offered anime television series and anime films in the original language with English subtitles or with English dubbing for illegal download . Both video files from legal streaming services and fansubs were uploaded and embedded on KissAnime. KissAnime was a sister site of the also illegal website KissManga , which was switched off at the same time. KissAnime has been described as one of the largest anime streaming sites in the world. Ernesto Van Der Sar wrote in an article for the TorrentFreak blog that the site had millions of visitors and that KissAnime was the most visited piracy site in the world. KissManga had around 35 million website visitors in July 2020.

On August 14, 2020 it was announced that both KissAnime and its sister site KissManga had been shut down as part of the tightening of the Japanese anti-piracy law. KissAnime went online in 2012 with the top-level domain .com and launched a domain ending in .ru in 2016. In 2017, the site was the target of a subpoena initiated by FUNimation in the United States . In Australia , the page has not been available since 2018.

According to the worldwide Alexa ranking , KissAnime was last in 531th place. A judgment of the EUGH in April 2017, which went out in favor of the copyright holder, confirmed that both visiting the site and using the offer of such sites as KissAnime are illegal because the content is made accessible without the consent of the rights holder. Users also ran the risk of being redirected to virus-contaminated websites through the displayed advertisements .

The KissAnime operators also released an app for Android and iOS devices. However, there are various mirror pages that can still be accessed.

Reactions

In the six months prior to the website shutdown, KissAnime had 95 million page visits. Of this, about 26.5 percent were recorded in the United States , followed by the Philippines and India in second and third place with about 12.6 and 5.8 percent respectively. In the East Asian region and India in particular , a large part of the fan scene stated that they did not agree to the website being switched off. This is associated with the limited offer to consume anime and manga legally . For example, only 120 of the Crunchyroll catalog, which includes more than 1,000 titles, are available in India; on Netflix there are 160 and on Amazon Prime around 30 titles. In Southeast Asia , on the other hand, about 250 films and series are available on the pay-TV channel Aniplus Asia ; On the Youtube channels of Ani-One and Muse Asia together another 100.

Aleksandra Olszar wrote in her post on Gamereactor that KissAnime, despite its illegality, was the better alternative to many legal streaming sites for many fans and made this clear using the example of the two largest legal providers Crunchyroll and Funimation . While Funimation makes content unavailable for site visitors outside of North America by means of geoblocking , Crunchyroll offers its media in different countries around the world, although the offer differs radically from country to country. Olszar hopes that new legal platforms will be set up in the future and that the offer will not be restricted regionally, as this could drive the fan scene again to illegal streaming sites.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Kissanime.com. Whois.com, accessed August 16, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Robin Hirsch: Piracy site »KissAnime.ru« permanently closed. Anime2you.de, August 15, 2020, accessed on August 16, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b Haris Odobasic: Illegal streaming: court order against KissAnime partner obtained. Anime2you.de, June 2, 2017, accessed August 16, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b Henner Townlove: Both KissManga and KissAnime are The Latest Victims to 2020's Onslaught, but Many Will Follow. Medium.com, August 15, 2020, accessed August 18, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Crystalyn Hodgkins: Piracy Anime, Manga Sites KissAnime, KissManga Shut Down. Anime News Network , August 16, 2020, accessed August 16, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b c Si Jia: Pirate Streaming Sites KissAnime & KissManga Shut Down Permanently As Japan Cracks Down On Piracy. Geek Culture, August 15, 2020, accessed August 16, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b Nyi Nyi Thet: KissAnime, longstanding pirate anime streaming site, is 'closed forever'. Mothership.sg, August 15, 2020, accessed on August 16, 2020 .
  8. ↑ a b c Ernesto Van Der Sar: Piracy Giants KissAnime and KissManga Shut Down. TorrentFreak.com , August 15, 2020, accessed August 16, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Reuben Baron: KissAnime Is Dead - and It Deserved to Die. Cbr.com, August 17, 2020, accessed August 18, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Kaitlyn Kubrick: Piracy site "KissAnime.ru" permanently closed. Somagnews.com, August 15, 2020, accessed August 16, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Kissanime.ru. Whois.com, accessed August 16, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Ernesto Van Der Sar: FUNimation Targets 'Pirate' Streaming Site KissAnime. TorrentFreak.com, June 1, 2017, accessed August 16, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Billy: KissAnime, AnimeFreak And Other Streaming Sites Blocked By ISPs In Australia. One Angry Gamer, December 22, 2018, accessed August 16, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Micha: Illegal streaming website KissAnime.ru closed. Sumikai.com, August 15, 2020, accessed August 16, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Gregor Elsholz: Kissanime : Streaming Anime for Free - Legal or Illegal? Kino.de , June 17, 2020, accessed on August 16, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Martin Maciej: KissAnime : Watch anime online for free - is that legal? Giga.de, October 20, 2017, accessed on August 16, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Kim Morrissy: Southeast Asia, India Fans Disproportionately Affected by Pirate Site KissAnime Closure. Anime News Network, August 19, 2020, accessed August 24, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Aleksandra Olszar: KissAnime and KissManga have gone offline forever. Gamereactor , August 19, 2020, accessed August 24, 2020 .