Manga Pirate Sites Have Cost The Industry $8.74 Billion Dollars, According to Japan

The manga and anime industry are on the HUNT more than ever when it comes to pirates, and shutting them down.

This has been a massive trend since the pandemic started more than any other time in the industry’s history.

From people being arrested, to companies being sued, there’s no end to the relentlessness of Japan’s goal to destroy piracy.

But is it worth the energy?

1 Trillion Yen Since 2021

According to a Toyo based association that focuses on these topics, manga pirates have cost $8.74 billion dollars to the industry, or 1 trillion Yen because of copyright abuse.

Japan has tallied up this number based on their own factors.

Apparently that’s an almost 5X increase since 2020, which is around the year when Japan started getting more serious.

Playing a game of whack-a-mole

“An estimated 900 pirate manga sites are still operating, the ABJ said. The 10 most popular websites had a combined 3.75 billion hits in 2021, up 2.5 times from the previous year.

Some pirate manga websites allow visitors to read manga on their web pages, while others offer downloadable content for visitors to peruse on their computers and other digital devices.

According to the AJB, the publishing industry suffered a 1.0019-trillion-yen loss in 2021 due to pirated manga viewing websites.”

900 manga sites pirating material has been estimated, but what’s the REAL number here?

It’s obviously a lot higher than that. There’s an endless amount of pirates in both the anime and manga industry, and no amount of aggression can stop it.

It does and may hurt the industry (even though it also helps it), but if the service isn’t improved simultaneously than it won’t do jack shit as far as making the industry better.

That said, associations and companies in Tokyo and Japan in general are intent on going the old fashioned route, which means playing whack a mole and losing the war despite winning a few battles.

Mangamura.
KissAnime.
Manga Bank.

And the endless list of pirates that have been shutdown or are being pursued still hasn’t changed the landscape.

And services like MUSE ASIA where FREE anime content on YouTube is provided still hasn’t made an impact, just like I said it wouldn’t when those services were first announced.

Lunatic and clickbait YouTubers didn’t see it that way though, since HYPE is the strategy.

All in all, expect that $8.74 billion to increase to $15 billion in the years to come. It’s gonna get ugly as F.

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SOURCE: Asahi

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