HiAnime: Site Safety and Legality | All You Need to Know

While discussing anime with fellow enthusiasts on a subreddit and the YouTube comment section, I have always been recommended HiAnime as one of the most reliable sites to stream anime. This made me curious, and I did my bit of investigation to learn more about HiAnime.

As much popularity HiAnime has for offering anime shows for free streaming, it is equally notorious for its domain takedowns by anti-piracy groups. I compiled this guide highlighting HiAnime, its official mirror sites, its legal standings, and whether it is safe to use this site for streaming anime.

Disclaimer: This guide only aims to provide information to the readers. DigitBin does not promote piracy, nor does it encourage using pirated platforms for streaming content. Use the sites mentioned in the article at your risk. Always use legal platforms for streaming content.

What is HiAnime?

It is a website on which you can stream anime shows for free. Currently, the primary domain of HiAnime is hianime[.]tv and hianime[.]to.

In its early days, Hianime went by the brand zoro[.]to and rebranded itself to aniwatch[.]to when anti-piracy groups tried to take them down. Their dabbling in piracy continued as they further rebranded themselves with *.to domain.

I was informed about Hianime mirror sites from other anime enthusiasts who have extensive experience with streaming on Hianime and its proxies.

Someone even remarked that these days hianime[dot]to often fails to play video and may show some video playback error. So, they switched to one of the many official mirror sites of Hianime.

When I asked them to list some of the known Hianime mirror sites, they mentioned these sites: hianimez(.)is. hianimez(.)to, hianime(.)nz, hianime(.)bz, hianime(.)pe, hianime(.)cx, hianime(.)do

NOTE: DigitBin cannot verify the legitimacy of these mirror sites. Access these sites with caution. Also, it is impossible to keep track of mirror sites as they keep going down, coming back, and changing frequently.

Is HiAnime Legal?

Hianime allows streaming of content that is copyrighted by others, such as production houses that have created the anime series. This qualifies as piracy.

Due to actively following piracy, HiAnime has been chased after for a long time by anti-piracy groups. Clearly, the way HiAnime operates is not legal, but that won’t affect you as a user.

Normally, the legal repercussions are borne by the team managing piracy streaming websites, which is HiAnime in this case. But you can also face consequences, as streaming such content is piracy, and you can face fines or even prison terms.

You can use any of the Hianime sites/mirrors to stream anime, and you should not worry about any legal issues. I would, however, suggest you check with your local broadcasting/digital copyright infringement/piracy laws.

In some regions, the viewers may also be liable to punishment for partaking in piracy by viewing the content.

Legal Complications with HiAnime

The cat-and-mouse chase between anti-piracy groups and HiAnime has been going on since 2023.

It all started in June 2023, when Motion Pictures Association of America and ACE met with the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam to single out Zoro(.)to which was the brand HiAnime operated on from Vietnam.

First forward to the next month of the same year, people behind Zoro(.)to got the hint of trouble and swiftly rebranded the domain to aniwatch(.)to. True to their worry, Zoro(.)to domain was seized by ACE soon after.

In Q4 of 2023, ACE continued to pursue the operators behind streaming piracy and obtained legal orders to find the people managing Aniwatch. Following this, in March of 2024, a blocking injunction was issued against Aniwatch, leading to a swift rebrand from Aniwatch to HiAnime.

MPA continued to chase after HiAnime group by reaching out to the United States Trade Representatives and reporting about the new domains of HiAnime and how much traffic they are getting on the pirated content, affecting the business of the copyright holders of the content.

Towards the last quarter of 2024, ACE obtained new directives from the court to take down HiAnime’s primary domain hianime(.)to and various mirrors that it operated. That sort of worked because in some regions, the hianime(.)to URL may not be accessible unless a VPN is used.

Is HiAnime Safe?

I scanned the primary domain of HiAnime, hianime(.) I wanted to know how safe website security checkers and security vendors have marked it for visitors. Here are the results of that.

Coming to its proxy sites, HiAnime keeps changing its mirror domains. If you plan to access any of the mirror sites, I suggest using the above site checkers to scan for safety.

HiAnime is not working: Fix

Given HiAnime’s long history of legal issues with the US government and anti-piracy groups, most of its domains may not be available unless a VPN is used.

While streaming, if you encounter an issue in video playback on HiAnime, change the servers mentioned below the video player. You may refresh the page and restart streaming the video.

HiAnime Alternatives

If HiAnime’s primary domain or most of its mirrors are down, there are plenty of HiAnime alternatives you can use to stream anime for free.

Miruro (Unofficial)

If you prefer free streaming services specifically for anime shows, Miruro could be a good option. It has a vast library of shows, and you can even download the episodes for offline viewing.

Netflix

Netflix has a lot of popular, old, and new anime titles under its anime section. If you prefer legitimate streaming platforms, nothing could be better than Netflix. With Netflix, you will mostly have a seamless streaming experience without any lag.

Crunchyroll

For anime-specific legitimate streaming platforms, Crunchyroll could be a great option. They even have their own anime shows like God of Highschool and Onyx Equinox, apart from the popular titles like Dragonball Z, Naruto, or Sakamoto Days, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the Official Domain of HiAnime?

The current official domain of HiAnime is hianime(.)tv and hianime(.)to

How to know which HiAnime mirror sites are real?

You can get a complete list of official Hianime mirror sites on hianime(.)tv

Is HiAnime Legal?

NO. HiAnime faces domain take-downs due to unauthorized streaming of content, making its operation illegal.

Is HiAnime Safe?

It is not possible to claim that a free streaming site is entirely safe. Though it may look clean but ads and malicious links are hidden can pose security risks.

Is HiAnime Free?

YES. You can stream anime on HiAnime completely free of cost.

Does HiAnime have an app for smartphones?

NO. HiAnime does not have an official app for smartphones.

HiAnime: The Streaming must go on

While it has been subjected to constant takedowns for piracy, it doesn’t look like HiAnime is going out of the streaming biz anytime soon. Challenging all the take-downs, they respawn in no time with new domains. Go ahead and stream anime on HiAnime if you trust the platform and have been a regular viewer.

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