Netflix Faces Major Anime Crisis As Fans Freak Out Over Leaks

There’s a ton of cool Netflix anime coming out this fall, and a bunch of it just leaked early. Screenshots, blurry clips, and in some cases entire episodes appeared online early, leading fans to worry about spoilers and call on the streaming platform to release shows early. Days later, Netflix has finally acknowledged the breach but doesn’t sound like it’s changing its anime fall release plans at all.

“One of our post-production partners has been compromised and footage from several of our titles has unfortunately leaked online,” a Netflix spokesperson told IGN only several days after the leaks began. “Our team is aggressively taking action to have it taken down.”

While removing leaked content is one thing, the fight against online spoilers in YouTube thumbnails or TikTok videos pelting fans from social media algorithms is another thing entirely. According to IGN, the list of impacted shows is quite long and includes Terminator Zero, Heartstopper season 3, Ranma ½, Re: Zero season 3, Dandadan, Spellbound, Arcane season 2, and Plankton: The Movie, a SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off.

Nobody wins when stuff gets leaked. Doesn’t matter how hype you are for a series, just wait like everyone else man, you not special

— Endless (@EndelesKanraku) August 7, 2024

Arcane, the League of Legends adaptation about techno-infused class-warfare between the utopian city of Piltover and its fringes, was especially hard hit. Its next season will be its last but it doesn’t begin airing until November. In the meantime, five whole episodes of the steampunk action series have leaked online, with some fans taking the plunge and watching them despite the low quality and internal production watermarks.

Places like the Arcane subreddit have had to go on high alert banning posts and comments discussing spoilers for the upcoming season, but it hasn’t been enough. “This subreddit isn’t safe either,” one fan wrote today. “Be careful with comments. I hope to god that wasn’t a spoiler and just some lame ass troll but be extremely careful. I suggest not to scroll until the end of comments and do not tap to see comments with negative votes.”

https://twitter.com/embed/status/1821198612384149871

Fans of other shows like Ranma ½ and Heartstopper have also been frustrated by the leaks, calling on others to stop spreading links to clips or full episodes, both out of respect for one another but also the creators of the shows. “It took so many hours just to animate 1-3 seconds cut,” tweeted one person. “If animators can stand hours to make one episode, I hope anime fans can also wait patiently for it to be release in the best of quality.”

But others are engaging with the leaks anyway. Dandadan, the upcoming anime adaptation of a Shōnen manga about high school kids who use occult powers to fight aliens and fall in love, has already undergone a full cycle of discourse over its polarizing intro that won’t actually air until October. “Hating the Dandadan opening before it’s even airing is insane,” wrote one fan. “Stay off.”