We need to talk about Anime
Hey everyone,
We really hate having to make this post, but we need to tell you what's going on with the Anime channel & what that means for Demon Slayer / Hunter x Hunter moving forward.
Right now, the Diegesis Anime channel has two active copyright strikes that came directly from Sony Music Entertainment Japan.
These are not the normal copyright claims we've dealt with a million times as reaction creators that are within the platform. Copyright strikes are actual DMCA takedowns, so an actual legal request of removal under federal copyright law, meaning under YouTube's own policy they must federally comply with this request. Reaching three active copyright strikes can put not only that channel, but associated channels at risk of termination as well.
So another strike doesn't just affect our Anime channel but puts others potentially at risk too.
Meaning it can potentially put Diegesis as a whole at risk.
Every anime upload forward would be a gamble.
Which really fucking sucks.
We have genuinely had a lot of fun building an anime community with everyone. We love anime, and we loved getting into Demon Slayer, and the few the previous shows we covered. So this is not happening because we all of the sudden don't want to watch anime anymore.
The reality for us is that anime has been some of the most difficult content we've ever tried to safely share on YouTube.
We’ve found that anime reactions can be heavily edited, cut down significantly, handled more carefully around the source material, and structured so that our continuous commentary stays at the center of the video... ALL THAT and they can still be claimed regularly. We can accept that. We can even accept that the majority of these videos may not be monetized over time, which was largely our experience with Attack on Titan.
What we cannot justify is asking an editor to dedicate substantially more time and care to these projects, above what is already a high editing standard across our other content, only for us to still end up with an actual copyright strike against the account. At that point, all of that additional work still doesn’t protect the channel from the much bigger risk we’re trying to avoid.
At this point, we cannot support projects that carry this level of risk onto to everything else we do.
So for now, we are stopping uploads on Diegesis Anime.
What happens with Demon Slayer?
We have officially finished Season 1 of Demon Slayer on Patreon.
The Season 1 Full-Length Watch Alongs and Early Access reactions (what is left of them) that we've already produced are there, but we will not be continuing Demon Slayer beyond Season 1.
There will not be a Season 2 from us for the foreseeable future, unless Sony reaches a point where they are willing to allow creators to share, discuss, and build community around their work in a transformative way without putting entire platforms at risk.
We know that's probably really disappointing for those of you who were watching along with us, and it's really disappointing for us too. We obviously did not start this series expecting that we wouldn't be able to finish it. We are no strangers to demonetized videos, and honestly, we would not mind continuing a series even if some uploads couldn't earn revenue. We deal with that all the time. But multiple full copyright strikes against the channel are an entirely different level of risk, and that is simply too much for us to responsibly keep gambling with.
At that point, we're not talking about losing ad revenue. We're talking about DMCA takedowns directly from Sony Japan, potentially losing our channels, being sued, or worse. Both. And that is incredibly frustrating when our intention was never to reproduce or replace the original content. We created these reactions as transformative commentary and as a space for people to watch, discuss, and build community around something we all enjoy.
What happens with Hunter x Hunter?
We will finish Season 1 of Hunter x Hunter on Patreon as Full-Length Watch Alongs for everyone who has already been following that series with us.
However, we will not be producing edited YouTube reactions for Hunter x Hunter, and once Season 1 is finished, we will not be continuing further for now.
We wanted to at least finish out the season in full-length form for the people who have already been watching it with us rather than just disappearing halfway through.
So what are we watching instead?
We're not slowing down! ❤️
Ted Lasso, The Bear, Andor are just a few currently on the horizon and will be finding a place in our schedule over time.
New shows still operate like they normally do with Main Channel reactions + Patreon, including the content you guys are already used to getting from us.
And we're honestly REALLY excited about them!
We know that some of you found us specifically because of anime. Some of you joined Patreon because you wanted Demon Slayer or Hunter x Hunter. Some of you subscribed to this brand-new channel and were excited to see where we were going to take it.
We do not take any of the support we receive lightly.
We just have to say, thank you! Always! Wherever you're interacting with us we have so much gratitude to be learning and enjoying media with so many of you.
Thank you for watching with us, recommending anime, moveis, shows, anything to us, commenting, joining Patreon, subscribing to the new channels, and giving this whole experiment a chance to try to be something in the first place.
We really hope you'll find something you enjoy enough to keep hang out with us, even if anime was originally what brought you here!
And we also arent saying here that we will never watch anime again the current stikes on the account just have our hands tied.
Maybe and in the event that the copyright landscape around anime and anime reactions changes someday. Maybe we reach a point where we feel like we can safely share this kind of content again without putting the rest of Diegesis at risk we will happily dive back into these shows.
If that happens, we'd absolutely begin to revisit it.
But right now, we can't responsibly keep doing it.
Protecting the whole of the community and the spaces that allow us to share all of this content has to take priority.
This is definitely not how we wanted the Anime channel to be paused or end for now, especially this early into sharing, but we would rather make the hard decision now than learn what happens after strike number three.
Thank you guys for understanding, and thank you for continuing to watch with us ❤️
Maple & Arianna
Team Diegesis
Comments (71)
Did HxH get completely nuked? I can't find it anywhere.
I wish announcement posts like these are free to view. I literally only subscribed to patreon for HxH and now I can't see it anymore.
shit genuienly breaks my heart hxh is my favourite anime of all time so unfortunate this had to happen right when you started it i hope in the future maybe this can be resolved as the anime is honestly what i was enjoying the most
Thank god most anime fuckin sucks But I loved hxh I watched all that shit
We actually ended up liking anime a great deal! It’s definitely not for everyone, but the animation, characters, storytelling and insane amount of work that goes into a lot of these shows gave us a real appreciation for it. That’s honestly part of why having to step away sucks so much. But we’re glad HxH got you hooked 😂❤️
Any chance you could continue Hunter x Hunter watch alongs on Patreon? It's such a great show, it would be unfortunate for you guys to have to stop in the middle just because of Youtube.
Yes! We are still going to wrap up the Hunter x Hunter Full-Length Watch Alongs on Patreon like we mentioned in the announcement ❤️ We’re just working through the schedule as a team now to figure out exactly where that stopping point will be. We’ve talked about getting through around episode 26 at minimum, since that gives us a natural earlier stopping point, but we’re also seeing if we can make the schedule work through around episode 51 so we can give the series a much more substantial run before we step away. We just don’t want to promise the exact episode count until we’ve mapped everything out!
What are the odds of you being able to continue demon slayer on patreon? Really looked forward to it every Sunday
Unfortunately we just can’t confidently promise more Demon Slayer, even as a Patreon-only series. We received a formal copyright/legal notice from Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and just because Patreon doesn’t have the same built-in Content ID system that YouTube does doesn’t mean the underlying copyright risk disappears. At this point we really don’t feel comfortable continuing to put more pressure on that situation when Sony has already made their position clear to us. We hate it because we know a lot of you were looking forward to it every Sunday, but Demon Slayer is the one we really have to leave where it is for now. ❤️
Sadly not the first time this has happened, ever since Sony bought crunchyroll and merged it with Funimation in 2021 they have been exhibiting levels of copyright ruthlessness that would put Disney to shame
That’ is so sad there’s such a positive community that can grow around people sharing, discussing, and resharing stories together, and reaction content can introduce people to shows they may never have tried otherwise. It’s a real shame when there isn’t more room for that kind of transformative fan space to exist alongside the original work :/
Nooooo, please consider doing at least HxH S2 on Patreon also. Plenty of channels have Patreon only shows. Don't let YouTube deprive you of enjoying an awesome show.
We totally get this 😭❤️ we definitely are still going to wrap up the HxH Full-Length Watch Alongs we already committed to and are actually working out now how far we can realistically take them before stopping. The harder part with continuing into another season is that even a Patreon-only show still takes up filming slots, production time, storage, uploading, scheduling, etc. With a small team, every slot we dedicate to something that can only live on Patreon is a slot we can’t use for something we can share across Patreon and the main channel. 🥲 we’ve really enjoyed getting into it so this is not easy but the legal issue with Demon Slayer really tied our hands!
Are you guys going to react to the Avatar Aang movie?
We will soon!!
I mean, you watched pretty much the best of what is on offer anyway. HunterxHunter gets good, and then it ends without any resolution. The other stuff is far more niche. You're never watching a thousand episodes of One Piece. People would want you to watch stuff like JJK, but it has virtually no story. The only one that feels like a missed opportunity is My Hero Academia, I think there would have been lots of great reactions from that, especially the first three seasons. That said, hyped I'm getting an opportunity to rewatch Andor, really makes you wonder wtf they're doing with the rest of Star Wars when they can produce that quality.
My Hero was actually on our list too 😭 so that one hurts a little lol but Andor has been SO good, so at least we have that as a positive
Looking forward to Andor! Think Maple should watch the three original SW movies first though, imo. Is Lost on the list at all?
Maple is actually just diving in on Andor which we think will make the reaction really fun since Andor works so well as its own entry point. And Lost isn’t in the near-future lineup right now, but it’s definitely not a “never” so more of a note on our long-list eventual for us!
Damn The Man! (Thanks for keeping the channel safe, that's what's most important.)
Thank you PopeScooby we appreciate you!
Bummer, maybe I’ll comeback when you guys start back up again. I was looking forward to the Demon Slayer series and hopefully more.
Totally understand ❤️ We’re really sorry the timing worked out this way, especially for everyone who was here specifically for Demon Slayer. If the copyright situation ever changes enough that we feel safe coming back to anime, we’d genuinely love to. Thank you for watching with us while you were here!
I want to add my voice to the folks who are advocating for Patreon exclusivity. I know you don't want to do that, but I literally just joined for the anime, and now you're telling me you're not doing it anymore, so...
We’re really sorry we are still going to wrap up the HxH Full-Length Watch Alongs we already committed to, so those aren’t just disappearing at least We’ve definitely talked about Patreon-only anime, but unfortunately it doesn’t solve everything for us. In Demon Slayer’s case especially, we received a formal copyright/legal notice from Sony, so moving it behind Patreon doesn’t make us feel comfortable continuing to push that situation. And more broadly, Patreon-only shows still take the same filming slots, production time, storage, uploading, etc. from a pretty small team we have We just have to figure out what we can realistically sustain without burnout since we make a lot of content ❤️
Definitely disappointing but I get it from a business standpoint. But both series just get fundamentally better and more exciting as they go on, and the reaction potential only increases with both shows. I hope in the future if you guys ever get more time or resources you can continue, even if it's just on Patreon, though I understand that's not plausible right now :(
We really appreciate you understanding ❤️ we keep hearing how much both shows open up and how much great stuff is still ahead. We’re still going to wrap up the HxH Full-Length Watch Alongs we already committed to, and we’re trying to make sure we give a better more satisfying a stopping point as we realistically can. Demon Slayer is just the one we really don’t feel comfortable pushing any further after the formal legal notice from Sony. If we ever get to a place where the resources and copyright risk make even a Patreon-only anime sustainable without legal risk we’d likely consider a revisit
Do copyright strikes ever go away? Like say after one year. Does anyone know the answer? Very curious and I don't produce content, so I have no idea.
Anime: The Channel Killer
Can’t you just post full episode reactions complete with the video and post it on a friendly streaming site and just post the link on Patreon? I know at least one reaction channel that does this and the videos never get taken down, the channel isn’t harmed and it adds another positive for Patreon membership.
😭😭😭😭
This is unfortunate, I'm not sure why releasing watch-alongs on Patreon would be a problem. My guess (correct me if I'm wrong) is that you don't want to lose the value you get from putting them on YouTube instead, the time spent recording something is better spent on content that can go out to all platforms. I hope the YouTube revenue from that ends up outweighing what you lose from Patreon members who cancel over this. I genuinely mean that, I've really enjoyed watching with you guys, and I think I've been a subscriber for about three years now. That said, with this change, I'm out. Wishing you all the luck going forward.
Do you ever reach out to other reactors who cover anime and see how they deal with work arounds like this? I know recently Cinebinge got double dinged for their Attack on Titan reactions, and it's frustrating to watch them have to hunker down like they have around that series.
Sucks to hear but y'all got do what you can to keep the channel safe. Like others have mentioned they have a lot of other good stuff on the horizon. I hope they can react to Beef on Netflix eventually.
that sucks, so many other channels show like 90% of the content with little reactions and they have no issues, it's crazy either way, anime is a fun one, there's like 3 good ones but when the weebs get ya they won't let go, this is probably a blessing in disguise for you, or else you'd be stuck trying to appease weebs for the rest of your lives
im going to say a calm fuck you and move along
Honestly, I'm not bugging. I'm here for the ride at this point
Altered Carbon season 1 you wont regret it
First Tim Curry now this 🤮😢
Sad news but understandable - will always continue to show support & look forward to watching all of the shows coming to the channel!
Yeah im not surprised. Anime has been known to be heavily monitored by the studios, almost as equal to music. I mean i know its not anime but we still have animation like Invincible. So maybe rebrand as an animation channel and put your Pixar reactions and maybe do things like X-Men 97 and Vox Machina (and the spin-off Mighty Nein)
This is actually a great idea. Cause there’s so many other great animated shows or movies that aren’t anime. They could just avoid doing the ones made by Sony.
Unfortunate but I hope you guys can make the Mugen Train movie your final patreon only upload, it’s a great arc
Andor is one of the best shows I've ever seen. I can't wait
It's always Sony, it really feels like they are dead set on running their own company into the ground. If you follow the games industry they've been pissing a lot of people off in that as well.
These are their productions, they invested millions into it, and not for people to watch for free/pay someone else for it. Try being humble, 99% of "reactions" are theft oft material and these companies have allowed way more than anyone of you are entitled to. Buy it directly, to complain about anything else is ridiculous.
Girls, Thanks for the update. That is really sad. I had read that the worst offender for DMCA strikes was Paramount, which is why some reactor channels avoid films owned by them. Didn't know Sony was cracking down too :( On the bright side, looking forward to Andor, which is a fantastic show.
Well, that sucks. Demon Slayer was about to hit its peak and not slow down. But you got to do what you got to do. Too bad it won't be kept as a Patreon-exclusive, watch-along-only, but understandable.
Why not making anime reactions a patreon exclusive only ?
We definitely considered that! The issue is that it’s not only editing time but our filming schedule and production capacity are limited too. If we dedicate a reaction slot to an anime that can only ever live on Patreon, that’s a slot we can’t use for a series that can be shared with both Patreon and the wider YouTube community. We’re a pretty small team, so right now we have to prioritize projects that can actually be supported across the whole platform ❤️ We’re still finishing what we already committed to on Patreon as far as the remaining WA for Hunter Hunter S1, but for now we just can’t keep starting anime knowing we can’t safely share it publicly.
Man completely understandable it took you guys years to build this absolutely not worth the risk cause sony are idiots, hopefully someday we'll return to hxh, that said ANDOR AND THE BEAR we'll be eating pretty good still. And hopefully Widow's bay and Silo soon after. Can't wait to see what the future brings❤️
We are looking into Widows Bay and then Silo has been on our list as well!!
More of The Bear? I watched 2 episodes and got exhausted with that show. And Andor... great show, but have they seen all the Star Wars movies???
More Bear is coming! We actually just uploaded a bunch since it’s filling the Sunday spot for now! And Andor is coming too. Maple has actually not seen Star Wars but Andor was intentionally made so you don’t need any previous Star Wars knowledge to understand it the creator has even said it can be your entry point into Star Wars. So that should be a pretty fun perspective 😂
Dam, I don't even watch anime, but that blows, there are whole reaction channels dedicated to anime, so hopefully people are loud and Sony eases up. Whatever you guys pivot to I'm sure will do well, sending good energy team Diegesis way
seriously do not know how they do it 😭😂 but full respect to the anime reaction channels that have managed to navigate all of this long-term. Hopefully things get easier someday also thank you so much for your support ❤️
That sucks, effing copyright strikes. :( I vote ANDOR! Andor in blocks of 3 eps.
We’ll probably stick to our usual once-a-week schedule rather than doing blocks of 3, just to keep it consistent with our other shows... but yes, Andor is definitely on the way eventually 👀❤️
Right before mugen train hurtttssss was really looking forward to that today, totally understandable tho do what you gotta do 😕
For realll its so unfortunate
I understand. Sad about Hunter and demon slayer. Luckily I have Dark to look forward to bcuz Ted, bear and andor don’t really do it for me
Dark has been incredible!!! And totally fair! We’re loving the other shows too, so if watching with us is enough to make you give one of them a try, you never know but no pressure at all. Thank you for still hanging out with us for Dark!
Very unfortunate but expected. There has been a massive copyright wave hitting the Bleach Reactions. Really a genuine shame. But looking forward to Andor!!
Is Bleach another Sony one too? 😭 That’s so sad. I really hope the bigger anime-specific reaction channels are doing okay through all of this. And yes, we’re really excited for Andor!!
Please react to "From" at some point in the future it's mysterious, addictive and awesome!
We actually have From on our list!! We’ve had so many people mention it, definitely one we want to get to eventually ❤️
It's a shame but it's 1000 percent not worth risking. Looking forward to Andor though 😁
we are so excited for Andor it has been on our list for awhile and then maybe after Maple van move onto Starwars as a whole!
Sorry for the anime viewers but seeing that andor is on the horizon is too exciting
Literally. I squealed when I saw that. They’re gonna love it
Hey, completely understandable. That sounds like a pain in the ass, but selfishly, I’m glad there’s more room for other TV shows!!! Let’s freaking gooooo!!! Pumped for what’s on the horizon. Thank you, ladies and the rest of your team. You guys rock!