Pirates on the Offensive; Billion-dollar Losses Claimed by Japan's Entertainment Industry

For many years, the Japanese entertainment industry has tried to limit the possibility of its products being pirated. As the popularity of manga and anime grows, so does the ingenuity of people - every now and then new services appear that offer bootleg materials. The report for 2021, published last Friday by a civic initiative, has raised alarms among experts.

The report covers the entire Japanese entertainment sector, and therefore includes video games in addition to manga and anime. It is estimated that among the $15 billion as much as 10.5 billion are losses solely on anime series. The remaining amount, averaged to $4.5 billion, includes losses on both manga and other media.

Japan's CODA (The Content Overseas Distribution Association) is inclined to assume that such a large increase in losses is primarily related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the restrictions, people spent more time at home using streaming services. However, given the plethora of platforms, there is a risk that people will reach for illegally shared material due to the high cost. As early as 2021, in cooperation with CODA Brazilian authorities shut down 36 websites that were reaching some 83 million views per month.

Of course, the report is only an estimate - in practice, the losses could be much higher. Japan's largest publishers have decided to cooperate with each other to fight piracy more effectively, and they are to be joined by Japan's official authorities.

• anime
• One Piece (franchise)