How to watch Anime online after Gogoanime & other free anime sites are banned in India?

According to a report by Indian Legal Bureau, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, Delhi High Court conducted a virtual session of the court and answered Disney Enterprises’ plea to ban domains that were illegally streaming its content. Along with the plea, Disney had also submitted a list of 118 pirated domains, which were illegally streaming high-quality animations produced by the company. The list also included the names of many anime websites such as GoGoanime, KissAnime, Kisscartoon, 9anime, Horriblesubs, and many other pirated websites such as YourBitTorrent2 and Nyaa.si are also covered under the wide umbrella of this ban. Hence, Indian anime lovers are in a pickle, and are confused about, “How to Watch Anime online?”

Read | GoGoanime Ban in India: Is the popular anime website banned in India? Find out

How to Watch Anime online? 

It is a known fact that a lion's share of India's anime fan base gets its entertainment from most of the above mentioned pirated sites. Anime fans were not left with many options when the Sony-owned channel Animax was discontinued on April 18, 2017. The best option for watching anime legally now is to get a subscription of Crunchyroll.

Crunchyroll is an American distributor, publisher, as well as licensing company, which focuses on streaming anime, manga, and doramas. It was founded in 2006 by a group of University of California, Berkeley graduates, and the company currently its channel and partnership program delivers content to 50 million registered users worldwide. Fans can also turn to OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hotstar. However, the selections of anime available on these platforms are very limited.

Read | Billie Eilish releases her new single 'My Future' featuring her anime version

Why are Anime Sites blocked in India?

The Indian Legal Bureau report, also mentions that, in its statement, the Delhi High Court said, "The plaintiffs are aggrieved by the fact that certain rogue websites are enabling the down-streaming of their creative work which includes films and other entertainment programs, albeit, without requisite licenses. The plaintiffs aver that they have the copyright in the content of their creative works. As the order favoured Disney, the next step will be taken by India’s Internet Service providers.

Read | Suspect arrested for deadly arson at a Kyoto anime studio

They will have to add these domains to their filtering systems. The Delhi High Court’s decision comes after Japan announced a blanket ban on leech websites that pirate anime, and impact the creative industry in June 2020. The HC's decision is a 'dynamic' injunction, meaning that the defendants of the plea are free to track, target, and ban any new domains which will emerge after the existing list of fishy anime sites are cleared by ISP's.

Read | Japan police arrest man in Kyoto anime arson that killed 36

Here is how Netizens reacted to the ban on Gogoanime in India