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The initial government announcement presented the action as the removal of two of Brazil’s largest digital anime-piracy sites. A later account from the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) supplied the fuller scale: 13 closures connected to investigations, 18 negotiated closures, and five voluntary shutdowns.
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The distinction between those phases is important. The campaign involved Brazilian law enforcement, Japanese rights holders, court orders, technical blocking, search-engine and social-media removals, and direct negotiations with operators. The evidence supports a landmark crackdown, not a claim that Brazil permanently eliminated anime piracy.
Key takeaways
- CODA’s 2023 account counted 36 Japanese-anime piracy sites closed during Brazil’s February–March 2023 Operation Animes campaign.
- Brazilian authorities’ original February 2023 announcement referred to two of the country’s largest anime-piracy sites but did not identify either site by name.
- According to CODA (2023), the affected services received approximately 83 million combined monthly visits from December 2022 through February 2023, based on SimilarWeb estimates rather than audited visitor counts.
- CODA’s 36-site total comprised 13 closures linked to investigations, 18 closures reached through direct negotiations, and five additional voluntary shutdowns.
- CODA reported 15 more Brazilian-facing Japanese-anime piracy sites closed through direct negotiations in São Paulo on December 4, 2024.
- Brazil’s reported 2024 Operation 404 total of 675 blocked or suspended sites and 14 illegal streaming applications covered digital piracy broadly, not anime alone.
What happened when Brazilian authorities targeted the country’s largest anime piracy sites?
Brazilian authorities targeted the country’s largest anime piracy sites in February 2023 through Operation Animes, but the broader February–March campaign closed 36 Japanese-anime piracy sites serving Brazilian and Portuguese-speaking audiences. The original announcement named no sites, and some closures followed negotiations or voluntary shutdowns rather than police raids.
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- English dub, Japanese language, English subtitles
Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security described Operation Animes as a specialized action inside the wider Operation 404 anti-piracy framework. The initial February 8, 2023 announcement said that two of Brazil’s largest digital anime-piracy sites had been removed from the internet. The ministry described court-ordered website blocking or suspension, search-engine de-indexing, social-media removals, and the seizure of computing equipment, but it did not publish the names of the two sites.
Reporting on the initial police phase placed activity between February 8 and February 14, 2023. A search-and-seizure warrant was executed in Arapiraca, Alagoas, against a 22-year-old university student suspected of operating a large anime-piracy site. Brazilian reporting on the warrant confirms the seizure and investigation, but the available record does not establish that the student operated either of the two unnamed sites described by the government as the country’s largest.
How did Operation Animes reach a total of 36 site closures?
The 36-site figure comes from a later account by the Content Overseas Distribution Association, or CODA, rather than from the initial Brazilian announcement. CODA said Japanese rights holders Toei Animation, Toho, and Bandai Namco Filmworks filed criminal referrals in November 2022 against four Brazilian piracy sites. Investigators found that two of those four sites were operated by the same person or group.
Beginning on February 8, 2023, raids and related investigations led to 13 closures: the four sites named in the criminal referrals plus nine related sites operated by the suspects. CODA then conducted direct “knock-and-talk” negotiations with operators of another nine sites. Those discussions resulted in the closure of those nine sites and nine affiliated sites, adding 18 closures. Five other Brazilian anime-piracy sites shut down voluntarily after the campaign began.
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The breakdown matters because the phrase “36 sites were raided” is inaccurate. The total included police-linked closures, negotiated domain shutdowns, and voluntary decisions by operators.
| Closure category | Number | What the number represents | How the closure occurred |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investigative closures | 13 | Four referred sites plus nine related sites | Raids and related investigations involving the suspects |
| Negotiated closures | 18 | Nine sites plus nine affiliated sites | Direct CODA-supported “knock-and-talk” negotiations |
| Voluntary shutdowns | 5 | Five additional Brazilian anime-piracy sites | Operators voluntarily closed after the campaign |
| Total | 36 | All Japanese-anime piracy sites counted by CODA | 13 investigative, 18 negotiated, and five voluntary closures |
CODA’s April 2023 release therefore provides the strongest public explanation of the campaign’s final scale: 31 sites connected directly to police action or CODA-supported negotiations, plus five voluntary closures.
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Were Goyabu and AnimeYabu the two largest sites?
No. Goyabu and AnimeYabu can be identified as documented examples of sites closed during the wider campaign, but the available evidence does not prove that they were the two unnamed sites described in the original Brazilian announcement as the country’s largest.
CODA named Goyabu and AnimeYabu in its later account of the 36 closures. Independent coverage also discussed possible targets including Animes-Vision, AnimesOnline, and Better Anime. Those identifications were partly inferential or based on statements attributed to operators, not a complete official list matching every closure to the government’s original description. The careful wording is therefore “sites including Goyabu and AnimeYabu,” not “the two largest sites were Goyabu and AnimeYabu.”
How large was the affected anime-piracy audience?
According to CODA (2023), the 36 closed sites received approximately 83 million combined monthly visits during December 2022 through February 2023, based on SimilarWeb data. CODA also reported that 12 of Brazil’s 20 most-visited animation-infringing sites at the time were among those closed.
The 83-million figure is an estimated traffic total for a specified three-month measurement period, not an official census of unique viewers and not an audited audience number. Monthly visits can include repeat visits, automated traffic, and other measurement limitations. The figure nevertheless indicates why rights holders and Brazilian authorities treated the sites as a significant commercial piracy network rather than as a small collection of hobbyist pages.
Who participated in the Brazilian crackdown?
Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security, cyber-operations and integrated-policing structures, and state police agencies participated on the Brazilian side. Operation Animes operated within Operation 404, a Brazilian public-private and international framework for investigating and disrupting online intellectual-property violations.
Toei Animation, Toho, and Bandai Namco Filmworks supplied the criminal referrals described by CODA. CODA coordinated or supported the Japanese rights-holder side of the anti-piracy effort. The wider Operation 404 structure has also involved Brazilian law-enforcement agencies, the National Council for Combating Piracy and Intellectual-Property Offenses, international law-enforcement partners, and rights-holder organizations. The ministry’s description of Operation 404 shows why the anime action should be understood as one specialized campaign inside a larger enforcement system.
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How were the anime-piracy sites taken offline?
The operation used several forms of disruption at the same time. A domain could become inaccessible because of a court-ordered block or suspension, less discoverable because search engines removed infringing pages from their indexes, less visible because social-media accounts promoting the content were removed, or unavailable after an operator surrendered the domain.
- Search-and-seizure warrants: Police seized computers and other equipment that could help establish how the alleged infringement operated.
- Domain blocking or suspension: Court orders supported the interruption of access to websites.
- Search de-indexing: Removing infringing pages from search results reduced the sites’ ability to attract visitors even if infrastructure remained online.
- Social-media removals: Authorities and rights holders targeted profiles and pages used to promote unauthorized anime.
- Negotiated domain surrender: CODA’s account describes operators transferring or relinquishing domains, with visitors redirected to notices explaining that the sites had closed.
This layered approach explains why a closure count cannot be equated with the number of search warrants. Some sites were disrupted through infrastructure and discovery controls, while others closed after direct contact with their operators.
What legal consequences did operators face?
Brazil’s Ministry of Justice has cited Article 184, paragraph 3, of the Brazilian Penal Code as providing a penalty of two to four years’ imprisonment and a fine for certain forms of commercial or public online copyright infringement. Investigators may also consider allegations such as criminal association or money laundering when the facts support them.
Those legal provisions describe possible charges and penalties, not the outcome of every Operation Animes investigation. The available research does not establish a conviction or sentence for the 22-year-old suspect investigated in Arapiraca, and the article should not present an investigation, domain closure, or equipment seizure as a final judicial finding.
Can visiting anime-piracy sites create security risks?
Illegal streaming ecosystems can create security risks, but the public record does not prove that every site closed in Operation Animes infected visitors. In a broader later anti-piracy action, Brazil’s Ministry of Justice said some identified sites distributed unauthorized content while exposing visitors to malware, phishing, data theft, and credential-theft risks.
Anyone who entered a password or payment detail on a suspicious site should change the affected password from a trusted device, enable multifactor authentication where available, review account activity, and update the device and browser. A reputable tool to protect your device from malware can be part of a defensive check, but no security product is an endorsement by Brazilian authorities and no product can establish whether a particular Operation Animes site compromised a visitor.
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What happened after the 2023 Operation Animes closures?
The anime-specific enforcement campaign continued beyond the 2023 closures. CODA reported that on December 4, 2024, it conducted direct negotiations in São Paulo with operators of Brazilian-facing Japanese-anime piracy sites and confirmed the closure of 15 more sites.
According to CODA’s December 2024 release, the services used Portuguese subtitles, geoblocked Japanese users, targeted Brazilian viewers, and generated advertising revenue. Those details describe a distribution model built specifically around Brazilian demand rather than an accidental audience for sites aimed at Japan.
Secondary reporting added that Bakashi.tv was the third-most-visited Brazilian anime-piracy site at the time, based on SimilarWeb estimates. That specific ranking should be attributed to TorrentFreak’s 2024 report, not treated as an official Brazilian government count.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is Brazil still pursuing online piracy in 2026?
Yes. Brazil’s anti-piracy system remained active through broader Operation 404 measures and newer cooperation between audiovisual regulators, but the available public record does not establish a new anime-specific operation matching the 2023 campaign after CODA’s 15-site action in December 2024.
In September 2024, the Ministry of Justice reported that the seventh phase of Operation 404 had blocked or suspended 675 sites and 14 illegal streaming applications, alongside additional search de-indexing and social-media removals. The ministry’s 2024 release covered audiovisual, music, game, and other digital piracy, so its totals must not be added to the 36 anime sites as though they were part of the same anime-only operation.
ANCINE and ANATEL also advanced cooperation against unauthorized audiovisual services in 2025. ANCINE’s April 10, 2026 regulation provides for measures including blocking illegal streaming sites and applications and, where applicable, search-and-seizure or arrest warrants; ANATEL supports the technical blocking of access by telecommunications providers. The ANCINE–ANATEL cooperation announcement and ANCINE’s 2026 regulatory announcement place the 2023 anime crackdown within a continuing institutional trend.
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| Date or period | Development | Scope | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|---|
| February–March 2023 | Operation Animes and related CODA-supported actions | 36 Japanese-anime piracy sites closed | Permanent elimination of anime piracy in Brazil |
| December 4, 2024 | CODA direct negotiations in São Paulo | 15 additional Brazilian-facing Japanese-anime sites closed | A new named Operation Animes phase |
| September 2024 | Seventh phase of Operation 404 | 675 sites and 14 illegal streaming applications blocked or suspended across digital-piracy categories | An anime-specific total |
| 2025–2026 | ANCINE–ANATEL cooperation and ANCINE regulatory measures | Blocking and related enforcement against unauthorized audiovisual services | A publicly documented anime-only operation matching the 2023 campaign |
What are lawful alternatives for anime viewers?
The enforcement record does not identify a single replacement service available to every Brazilian viewer. Legal availability varies by country, title, season, subtitle language, and licensing agreement, so viewers should check official rights-holder or licensed-platform listings for the specific anime they want to watch.
For viewers who prefer to own a copy rather than depend on a streaming catalog, licensed anime Blu-ray releases are a lawful physical-media alternative when a title has an authorized release in the relevant region. The licensing status, subtitle options, region compatibility, and availability should be checked title by title.
The central lesson of Operation Animes is not that one raid permanently ended piracy. The campaign combined investigations, court orders, technical blocking, search and social-media removals, negotiated domain surrender, and voluntary shutdowns, and the 2024 follow-up shows that Japanese rights holders continued using that broader strategy in Brazil.
Frequently Asked Questions
Were Goyabu and AnimeYabu the two largest anime-piracy sites targeted in Brazil?
No. Brazil’s original February 2023 announcement did not name the two sites described as the country’s largest anime-piracy sites. CODA later identified Goyabu and AnimeYabu as examples of sites closed during the wider campaign, but the available record does not prove that they were the unnamed top two.
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CODA’s 36-site total included 13 closures linked to raids and related investigations, 18 closures reached through direct negotiations, and five additional voluntary shutdowns. Calling all 36 sites police raid targets would be inaccurate.
Did Operation Animes permanently eliminate anime piracy in Brazil?
No. The 36 closures were a major disruption, but neither the research record nor the later 15-site action establishes that anime piracy permanently ended in Brazil. Enforcement continued through broader Operation 404 measures and audiovisual-regulatory cooperation.
Were the 675 sites and 14 applications in Operation 404 anime-piracy targets?
No. Brazil’s September 2024 report of 675 blocked or suspended sites and 14 illegal streaming applications covered broader digital piracy, including audiovisual, music, and game content. Those figures are not anime-specific and should not be added to the 36-site Operation Animes total.
The Bottom Line
Operation Animes began with Brazil’s announcement that two unnamed major anime-piracy sites had been removed, but CODA’s later account documented 36 Japanese-anime piracy sites closed during the February–March 2023 campaign. Fifteen more sites closed through CODA negotiations in December 2024. Brazil’s broader anti-piracy enforcement remains active, although the available record does not show that anime piracy was permanently eliminated or that later Operation 404 totals were anime-specific.
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