Anyone who streamed anime for free online probably crossed paths with 9anime—the site later known as AniWave. At its height, it drew roughly 170 million visits every month and carried thousands of anime series and films, none of it licensed by the studios that created it. For viewers, it was a handy—if legally dubious—way to stay current with their favorite shows. For copyright holders, it was a recurring migraine. Then, in August 2024, it was gone almost overnight.

A New Name, Same Operation

The site started out in 2016 under the 9anime banner. For years it functioned as a file-streaming platform, hosting embedded links to pirated anime so people could watch or download shows at no cost. In 2023, the people behind it rebranded to AniWave. According to reporting cited by Wikipedia, the switch was probably a tactical one—an effort to slip past copyright enforcement agencies and stall the inevitable legal reckoning. But the rebrand didn't touch the underlying operation. AniWave was still a piracy site, and it sat within a tight network of similar platforms, FMovies among them, with links to operations in Vietnam.

The Size of the Thing

The figures behind AniWave were staggering. TorrentFreak called it "a major player in anime piracy" in October 2020, when it was logging over 39 million monthly visits. By May 2023, that number had reportedly ballooned to 214 million a month, which earned it the title "piracy behemoth." Estimates bounced around—a later report put it at 170 million monthly visits—but either way, AniWave dominated the anime streaming underground. In 2023, its .to domain ranked 164th worldwide, and more than 30% of its traffic came from the United States.

What drew people back wasn't only the catalog—it was how easy the site was to use. The Tech Report pointed out that it was free, ad-free, and packed with convenient features like favorites and watchlists, though it had no dedicated mobile app and no download option. For viewers in places where legal anime services were unavailable or too pricey, AniWave filled a genuine gap. The Escapist noted that the site was "important to the anime community" precisely because legal alternatives weren't within everyone's reach.

The Shutdown

On August 27, 2024, anyone visiting AniWave found a farewell message instead. The site, along with several related platforms, had gone dark. The message looked back on the site's history and urged users to move to legal services in support of creators, set to the music video for Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's "See You Again." Two days later, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) confirmed it had helped Vietnamese police take down AniWave and other connected sites, FMovies included.

The closure wasn't a total surprise. ACE had gone after the site in 2022 and 2023, and its operators had been in copyright enforcement's sights for a long time. What stood out was the tone of that last message—no defiance, just a quiet acknowledgment that the landscape had shifted, plus a request that users respect creators.

A Warning in the Aftermath

AniWave's disappearance left a hole—and a caution. Clone sites using the aniwave name started popping up almost at once, many with no connection to the original operators and potentially unsafe. The original operators reportedly said through community channels that any site claiming to be AniWave or 9anime after the shutdown was an impostor. The takeaway for users is simple: a familiar name doesn't make a site legitimate, and third-party streaming apps often carry risks that go beyond legality.

The wider anime community felt the loss. Distractify noted that the closure "left fans reeling," particularly as legal services kept raising prices and offered limited catalogs. But the shutdown also drove home a hard truth: piracy sites, no matter how popular, exist on borrowed time. AniWave's eight-year run was longer than most, but it ended the way these stories usually do—not with a dramatic raid, but with a quiet message and a song.

For those who depended on AniWave, the advice from its final farewell bears repeating: if you can, use legal services. They may not be perfect, but they're the only sustainable way to support the creators who make the read more