Danica Davidson
March 29, 2023 
A website based in China called b9good has been removed by Chinese authorities. And it’s not for censorship reasons like has happened before when the current Chinese government has decided it wants to crack down on art it doesn’t like. b9good was a major piracy site, and though it was headquartered in China, 95% of its viewers were based in Japan. Since anime comes from Japan, this is the country that already has the easiest access to it.
The Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) received requests from Toei Animation Co., TV Tokyo Corp., NHK, among others, to do something about the site. CODA sent multiple requests to b9good, asking it to remove its pirated anime. This didn’t do anything, so CODA also went to the Chinese authorities for help. This marks the first time Chinese authorities have worked with CODA to remove a piracy site.
b9good started in 2008, though it used a different name at the time. In 23 months during the last two years, it was accessed more than 300 million times by viewers. Authorities have gone after several people, with one in particular seeming to be the ringleader. All of the individuals are in their thirties. The individual who appears to be the ringleader had allegedly brought in 120 to 140 million yen for himself (which is between $920,000 to $1.07 million). And that’s not counting what other people involved have pocketed. All these earnings could have gone to creators and to people in the anime industry who are not making enough money as it is.
Toho announced that it will “continue to take a firm response to malicious acts of infringement.”
Taking down b9good will be “hugely significant that a site of b9good’s size aimed at the Japanese market has finally been exposed,” said Takero Goto, the CODA Representative Director, adding that it will “have an effect on improving international efforts to stop piracy.”
Source: Kyodo News
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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