Anime has progressed over the years and is now a worldwide trend. However, it is not always available to stream in every country or state; officially, that is. This is where the role of pirating anime websites come in.
These pirate websites let users upload anime and other content and stream them mostly free of cost, without any regional restrictions.
Bilibili (bilibili), also known as B site, is the biggest video sharing Chinese website. The website first originated in 2010 and has since evolved from a pirate anime streaming website to what it is now.
On 9th April, Sony, the American corporation, invested $400 million as equity investment on the website bilibili.
Sony will own an approximate of 4.98% of the total shares of bilibili.
This deal will add more anime and content to the already giant website.
Sony has also invested in Funimation and Crunchyroll in the past, but it is an easier task to invest in already established websites rather than building one from scratch.
Although, how this investment and new measures will affect bilibili is yet to be seen.
Bilibili has gone through a lot of experiments to rise where they are now. After getting recognized as a pirating site, they had to face legal issues.
They changed the platform format to become a website for individual content uploaders and even tried using in-video advertisements, but it led to a decrease in users.
However, the site recovered after discovering and creating a range of promising content creators.
Other websites like GogoAnime or KissAnime have also been operating as anime pirating sites, and one can only wonder as to why these websites have not yet taken a step like bilibili, especially since their traffic is much more than official websites like Crunchyroll and Funimation.
The answer lies in the convenience of fans. The first and foremost advantage of these pirating sites is that they are free.
But apart from that, even if fans are willing to pay some amount to get access to anime without ads, many issues come with going official.
Other than problems like anime access, permission, and different politics, the biggest problem is the regional restrictions.
Fans would not want to pay for a website that does not give them access to most anime.
Source: Nikkei Website
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