AniWave: How One of the Biggest Anime Piracy Sites Rose—and Then Disappeared

AniWave, formerly known as 9anime, was once one of the biggest free anime streaming sites on the internet. At its peak, it was getting around 170 million visits a month and offered thousands of shows and movies without any permission from the creators. For many fans, it was an easy—if legally questionable—way to keep up with their favorite series. For copyright holders 

 , it was a persistent problem. Then, in August 2024, it vanished almost overnight.

The site first appeared in 2016 as 9anime. For years, it operated as a file-streaming platform, hosting embedded links to pirated anime so people could stream or download shows for free. In 2023, whoever was running it rebranded to AniWave. According to reporting cited by Wikipedia, that name change was likely a tactical move—an attempt to ease pressure from copyright enforcement agencies and buy a little more time before the law caught up. But the new name didn't change what the site was. AniWave remained a piracy site, and it was closely tied to a network of similar platforms, including FMovies, with links to operations in Vietnam.

The numbers behind AniWave were significant. In October 2020, TorrentFreak called it "a major player in anime piracy" with more than 39 million monthly visits. By May 2023, that figure had reportedly jumped to 214 million visits a month, earning it the label "piracy behemoth." Estimates varied—one later report put it at 170 million monthly visits—but either way, AniWave was a dominant force in the anime streaming underground. Its .to domain ranked 164th globally in 2023, and more than 30% of its traffic came from the United States.

What kept people coming back wasn't just the catalog—it was how easy the site was to use. The Tech Report noted that it was free, had no ads, and offered handy features like favorites and watchlists, though it lacked a dedicated mobile app or download options. For viewers in places where legal anime services weren't available or were too expensive, AniWave filled a real gap. The Escapist pointed out that the site was "important to the anime community" precisely because legal alternatives weren't accessible to everyone.

On August 27, 2024, anyone visiting AniWave found a farewell message instead of the usual homepage. The site, along with several related platforms, had gone offline. The message looked back on the site's history and told users to switch to legal services to support creators, and it was accompanied by the music video for Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's "See You Again." Two days later, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) confirmed that it had helped Vietnamese police shut down AniWave and other connected sites, including FMovies.

The closure wasn't a total shock. ACE had gone after the site in 2022 and 2023, and its operators had been in the crosshairs of copyright enforcement for a long time. What stood out was the tone of that final message—there was no defiance, just a quiet acknowledgment that things had changed, along with a request for users to respect creators.

AniWave's disappearance left a vacuum—and a warning. Almost immediately, clone sites using the AniWave name started popping up, 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. For users, the lesson is clear: a familiar name doesn't mean a site is legit, and third-party streaming apps often come with risks that go beyond legality.

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

For the people who relied on AniWave, the advice from its final farewell is worth repeating: if you can, use legal services. They may not be perfect, but they're the only sustainable way to support the 

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