Matt Schley
July 31, 2014 
Estimating losses in the trillions of yen due to piracy of anime and manga, the Japanese government, plus a coalition of anime companies, will begin a five-month crackdown campaign starting in August.
The campaign will mostly focus on websites in China where anime and manga are uploaded without permission. The government and anime companies will begin sending takedown requests en masse, as well as launching a site where previously pirated works can be purchased legally.
The anti-piracy coalition, MAG, have posted a video of various characters saying “thank you” to fans for helping to stop piracy.
While Japan’s Cultural Affairs Agency estimates Chinese piracy has cost the industry 560 billion yen in the past year, some independent studies have concluded that piracy has very little effect on overall sales.
Some commenters have taken to Twitter claiming that before piracy, Japan’s animation industry should deal with problems like low wages for animators. Other studies have shown takedown notices have very little effect.
Anyway, we will check in after the five-month crackdown period and see what there is to be seen.
Source: Japan Times
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