Anime piracy exists because the anime industry has a service problem .
Legal sites cannot provide a large number of anime because of licensing issues. And when they do - regional blockages prevent fans from watching their favorite series.
This is the reason why fans turn to pirated websites.
At Disney's last step, they obtained an injunction from the Delhi Supreme Court to block 118 pirate sites.
Of these 118 pirate sites:
- KissAnime
- 9Anime
- GoGoAnime
- Horriblesubs
- Niya.si
And many pirated anime sites will be blocked in India.
This means that anime fans in India, a country where anime has little visibility and it is difficult to watch an anime legally, will have few sources to enjoy the anime they love.
Crunchyroll is blocked by region in India. So the Indians cannot use it.
And Funimation is also not available in India.
A few years ago - Animax TV was also retired (the same with the UK), and Netflix only has conventional anime. Or in other words - a small number of anime.
With this latest move from Disney, more pirate sites will appear in response to Disney's ban on sites like KissAnime.
After all, India doesn't have many options, and when you stop someone from doing something, they just find a way around it.
There is an online resource called AnistreamIN. It lists the anime that is available legally on different platforms in India.
Of course - this list is limited to typical sites like:
- Amazon
- Netflix
As for pirated sites? We can expect more of them to appear over the next 12 months.
India has few or no options.