Anime reaction YouTubers are at war with copyright enforcers

Nicholas Light, a YouTuber with about 1.3 million subscribers, posted a video on September 6 warning that his channel might be deleted after he said Remove Your Media issued multiple copyright strikes against his content. In that video — and a follow-up posted September 8 — Light accused Remove Your Media and its CEO Eric Green of systematically targeting creators who mention or show clips from popular anime such as Bleach and One Piece. He later said YouTube had removed the strikes and confirmed his channel would not be deleted.

Light told The Verge he had more than 60 videos temporarily taken down after receiving over a dozen strikes tied to DMCA takedown requests from Remove Your Media. He and other reaction-channel creators argue their work is transformative commentary and can serve as free promotion for anime, especially outside Japan where, they say, official promotion is limited. Many of these channels blur or alter footage and rely on reaction formats that put the creator onscreen while copyrighted clips appear alongside.

Remove Your Media’s legal representative, Evan F. Stone, said the firm reports “thousands of allegedly infringing links every day” and listed Viz Media and Crunchyroll among its largest anime clients. Stone argued that much of the flagged content consists of full episodes or complete copyrighted works — some of which are behind paywalls — and that such uploads can harm the market for licensed versions. He also said the company sometimes acts on links forwarded by copyright owners and that creators can use counter-notices when they believe a takedown was issued in error.

The controversy is not limited to Light: other channels, including the Rice & Ginger channel run by Ron and Michelle Jackson, reported being flagged hundreds of times. Representatives for Crunchyroll did not respond to questions about whether they had engaged Remove Your Media, and Viz Media declined to comment on the record. The dispute underscores growing tensions between enforcement practices that can produce mass takedowns and creators who say those actions sweep up videos they consider legitimate commentary or promotion.