Aniwatch, the infamous and free anime streaming website, no longer exists and navigates users to a new different domain name ‘HiAnime’, according to a new report by TorrentFreak.
It is estimated that it has over 100 million monthly visits around the world.
Apparently, Aniwatch.to, the anime streaming portal, has been rebranded to ‘HiAnime’. Users who are visiting the old Aniwatch.to domain name are now getting automatically redirected to the new domain and greeted with the following message:
“Aniwatch is being rebranded to HiAnime.
You will be redirected to the new HiAnime website in 10 seconds.
Or you can also click here to go to HiAnime now.”
The unexpected change that happened recently overnight has surprised Aniwatch users, with no explanation given about the latest brand switch.
Some users are also reporting seeing the ACE seizure page while trying to access aniwatch.to.
Zoro -> Aniwatch
For those unaware, Aniwatch.to, which is arguably the largest pirate site in the world, was operating as Zoro.to until earlier last year.
Zoro.to was the main target of anti-piracy groups like the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), who were looking to shut down its rogue operation.
However, before ACE could take over the domain name Zoro.to, the site rebranded to Aniwatch.to in July 2023 sporting an all-new branding and continued business as usual. Back then, a staff member mentioned that the site had been “acquired” by a new team.
“Everyone calm down, Zoro is acquired by a new dev team, they will now handle the whole website and social network accounts. Do not worry, all the data will remain the same, the old staff will keep supporting the server. Thank you,” the staff member explained.
Aniwatch -> HiAnime
While an explanation was provided last time when the rebranding was done from ‘Zoro.to’ to ‘Aniwatch.to’, this time, however, no explanation has been given for the move. However, users are assured that their information remains undamaged.
“All data and information shall be transferred and shall remain the same as before. User accounts and watchlist records shall thus remain unchanged,” a message in the site’s Discord reads.
Several users reacted to the rebranding, with one user writing, “Cool rebrand and all but…. You decided to pick Hanime I thought I was on a very different website for a minute..”
As of now, the only speculation behind the rebranding could be the recent dynamic+ blocking injunction issued by the High Court in New Delhi, India that requires local ISPs to block several pirate domains, including Aniwatch.to.
Since almost a quarter of the traffic comes from India, this order may have quite an influence on the site, prompting them to undergo a rebranding to evade advertising blacklists and site-blocking efforts, at least temporarily.
