Animixplay.to is a video streaming and download site for anime movies and shows. Anime is a category of animated movies produced in Japan. The site claims not to store any of the content on display in the site; it is from third parties:
While you can watch Anime safely, it raises the question whether it is legal. Anime fans on Quora think it is probably safe but illegal because animixplay.to does not have the content rights.
What’s more attractive is that the site is free from ads and pop-ups which are common in illegal video streaming and download sites! But here is the question, how does the site make money? What is their business model? Is it one of those rebel sites that are fighting dominance of big companies?
Let’s look at some clues.
Animix has two donate buttons at the bottom of the homepage, to the left. Donations are to be made in Bitcoin and Ethereum. This is the first clue that paints the site in a bad light. Regular payment methods can be traced in amounts and accounts to the individuals registered to the accounts. In most cases these transactions can be cancelled or reversed.
Cryptocurrencies on the other hand, being a decentralised system, poses a big challenge in tracing and recovering finds. That animixplay.to chooses cryptos as the way to accept donations tells me they want to stay anonymous.
The Twitter page for animixplay has 153K followers and it was set up in May 2020. This a high number of followers in a somewhat short time.
ScamAdviser’s automated website review tells the same story that the site is young but with very high traffic.
Trustpilot reviews are all in praise of animixplay.to about how fast, ad-free and full of animated movies, the site is. Web of Trust has 2 reviews also in praise of the vast content, ad-free and needing no sign up to stream.
There is no question that animixplay is a favourite among anime lovers and everyone thinks that it is safe to use. It is illegally allowing users to watch Anime without permission from content owners, a fact that has not stopped anime fans from using the site.
Here are some legit anime streaming sites: