An announcement was made today that the anime community didn’t see coming. KissAnime put out a statement that said that they would be shutting down forever. The exact message posted on their Discord server read as follows:
Our beta servers have been taken down, this could lead to the close of the website. We will make more announcement after we have the decision.
Followed by:
All files are taken down by copyright owners. KissManga and KissAnime will be closed forever. Thank you for your supports. :( Thank you for those years.
There is speculation as to why the site shut down. Many suggest that it is due to Japan’s new copyright laws going into effect in January 2021 where you will be charged and prosecuted for downloading any illegally acquired or uploaded anime/manga from pirating websites.
KissAnime, along with KissManga, was one of the biggest torrent communities on the internet. The announcement of their shutdown comes shortly after another site, Manga Rock, was forced to shut down as well.
Only time will tell but we could see more and more sites like KissAnime disappear with Japan continuing to crack down on piracy within the anime community.
