Technology

What Happened to Nyaa? Best 100% Working Alternatives

NYAA Anime Torrents

If you are an anime fan, you’ve most probably already heard about Nyaa. This torrent site is home to a vast library of anime shows that you can download. Not only does it have the latest anime series and movies, but it offers a collection of older and more obscure ones too.

Unfortunately, just like all popular torrent sites, it is not without any controversy. In 2017, several of the site’s domains were unreachable to the public. Thus, many speculated on why Nyaa is down.

However, in 2020, it made a comeback in the torrenting community. And while it’s still not safe from copyright claims, it’s clear that Nyaa is a mainstay for anime lovers around the world.

Let us guide you on how you can download anime from this torrenting site while keeping yourself safe from cyber attacks. What’s more, we even have the best alternatives that you can access in case you ever run into issues with the Nyaa anime torrenting site.

What is Nyaa Anime Torrent?

Nyaa is one of the most well-known websites for torrenting anime. It houses both dubbed and subbed Japanese content for free. It also boasts a library of music videos, manga, and live-action series and movies. The website also caters to content from countries like China and Korea.

Besides English translations, the site also has a wide variety of content that are subbed or dubbed in other languages. Additionally, users can also find a number of software and video games on it.

Nyaa’s database is user-generated, meaning that its community of dedicated fans are the ones uploading content onto it. Take note that all media files available on this site are work-safe. As such, this means that you can’t find any pornography or violent and graphic content of any kind.

However, it does have a not safe for work (NSFW) counterpart called Sukebei Nyaa. Here, you can find Nyaa hentai and other NSFW videos. Although, keep in mind that the moderators still urge uploaders to follow their strict rules when uploading anime porn content onto the Nyaa Sukebei site.

What Happened to Nyaa?

What Happened to Nyaa
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

After the Nyaa SE domain went offline in 2017, site moderators didn’t release an official statement on the matter. It was later revealed, though, that it was the owner themself who took the main and Nyaa proxy sites down. These included the Nyaa EU and ORG domains. Many speculated that this was due to copyright issues that the site was facing at the time.

Just a few months later, though, the Nyaa.eu site was up and running once more. However, this was not the doing of the original team. Turns out, after the .eu domain was placed back in the registry, a third party group bought it. A similar scenario happened to the EZTV.eu site wherein scammers snatched the domain, hoping to get users to download cybersecurity threats such as malware.

Even after the reemergence of a new official Nyaa site under the IS domain, the anime-centric torrent site still wasn’t out of the woods.

In 2018, Cloudflare terminated its services to the anime torrent site for alleged abuse of its copyright systems. For those unaware, Cloudflare is a Content Delivery Network (CDN), that handles ten percent of the world’s internet traffic. This includes the likes of official government websites and torrent sites, just like Nyaa.

What’s more, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) sent out cease-and-desist letters against the site in 2020. This was after the association’s members claimed that they did not grant the site to distribute any of their works.

Despite these, though, the Nyaa Torrents site is still up and running. Thus, this allows all of their millions of daily visitors to still torrent anime and other East-Asian shows and movies.

How to Use Nyaa Safely

Nyaa torrents home page.
Screenshot grabbed from nyaa.si

The current Nyaa domain is Nyaa SI. However, before you start torrenting the best anime shows, you will need to install a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Using the best VPN for torrenting will shield your identity from your internet service provider (ISP) and any other prying eyes on the internet. Additionally, it will also help you in accessing the site if ever you find it blocked in your location.

Admittedly, most of the top-notch VPN options do come with a premium price tag. However, there are still the best free VPNs for torrenting worth checking out that can keep yourself anonymous while browsing the net.

After installing a VPN and making sure your device’s anti-virus program is up to date, you can now head on over the Nyaa Torrents website.

From here, this anime torrent site is easy to navigate thanks to its very user-friendly interface. It’s easy to look for the content you want. Take note that since it is a community driven index, you have to be extra wary of the files you download. It’s not uncommon to encounter fake torrents uploaded onto the site. As such, it’s important to only download verified content.

The moderators of the site are doing their best to combat this, though. The site utilizes a color-coded system for users to know which ones are legit and safe torrent files.

Nyaa Torrent Colors Guide

  • Green entries — Files with a green highlight means the torrents are from by trusted users and are safe to download.
  • Red entries — These entries contain re-encoded files that use different file names or have missing or unrelated files into them.
  • Orange entries — Files with an orange highlight indicates that these are batch files uploaded onto the Nyaa index. This simply means that the user uploaded all the seasons of a completed show.
  • Gray entries — These refer to torrent files that moderators have hidden from users.

Nyaa also allows users to filter their search results to show only trusted torrent entries. Thus, you don’t have to worry about accidentally downloading a virus or malware onto your device.

How to Download Anime from Nyaa

How To Download Anime From Nyaa

  1. If you haven’t already, download and install torrent software onto your device. BitTorrent, uTorrent, and Vuze are considered by many as the best torrent clients available.
  2. Head over to the Nyaa Torrents site. Browse the endless titles of anime, best Korean dramas, and Chinese movies. You can also use the search bar to look up a specific title you have in mind. The site’s filtering system allows users to narrow down their search results with only their preferred category. As such, you have the option to only find translated anime or raw and untranslated live-action movies.
  3. Once you’ve found your desired torrent, click on it and this will redirect you to the file’s information page. Alternatively, you can just click on the direct or magnet download button next to its name. Although, we do recommend heading over to the file’s summary page to read all details pertaining to it. This is one of the preventive steps you can do to lessen the chances of compromising your device. What’s more, you can also browse the comment section to read feedback from other users.
  4. From here, you can click on the “Download Torrent” button to download the torrent file onto your device. Launch your torrent client and add the torrent file.
  5. If you want to add the torrent file directly onto your torrent client, select the Magnet download option instead.
  6. Afterward, your torrent software will prompt you to select a location to save your files in.
  7. Click on “Okay” and let your torrent client do the rest.

Nyaa Alternatives: Other Resources for Anime Downloads

There was once a time when finding anime content outside of Japan and Asia was a difficult feat. Nowadays, though, we see it in more mainstream platforms such as Netflix. There are even dedicated paid streaming services where you can get your anime fix, such as Crunchyroll and Funimation. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to spend money on premium subscriptions to watch the latest episodes of their favorite anime.

Because of this, we saw the rise of pirated anime streaming sites such as GogoAnime and the now defunct KissAnime. These two were the go-to for the majority of anime fans, or ‘Otakus‘ to watch and download anime free of charge.

However, if you would still prefer the stability of using anime torrent sites instead, here are the best Nyaa alternatives!

SubsPlease

Subsplease as an Nyaa alternative.
Screenshot from subsplease.org

Long-time anime fans would know how popular HorribleSubs was as an alternative to Nyaa. However, with the shutdown of the site in 2020 came a new anime torrent site in the community — SubsPlease. Nowadays, it has earned a reputation as a fantastic source of anime content.

Unlike Nyaa’s archive, though, users cannot upload their own content onto SubsPlease. Instead, there’s a dedicated team that rips off subbed content from legal anime streaming sites such as AnimeLab.

SubsPlease provides a schedule feature in the form of lists. Here, you can check out when you can expect the latest episode of your favorite show will be uploaded. The team behind SubsPlease tries their best to release episodes at least an hour after airing. Thus, you won’t have to wait for days before catching up on the newest anime shows.

Additionally, this anime torrent site doesn’t host any distracting online advertisements. So, you won’t have to worry about using an ad blocker against annoying pop-up and redirect clicks.

The downside of this anime torrenting site is that they only offer anime with English subs. This is because the SubsPlease team fully adheres to consistent and quick releases. According to the site’s team, uploading content with subtitles in different languages will affect this process.

BakaBT

Bakabt invite only anime torrenting site.
Screenshot from bakabt.me

Another popular torrenting site that centers on Japanese content is BakaBT. What makes it unique is the exclusivity that it offers to users. BakaBT is a private torrent tracker, and as such, you will need to sign-up to view and download their content. The process of registering for a BakaBT account isn’t the easiest, though.

You will need a BakaBT invite first if you want to access the 20,000 torrent files that the site has. Afterwards, you will also need to go through an interview via internet relay chat (IRC) with a site moderator.

Once you do get into this private anime community, the sky’s the limit with the amount of first-class content you can download. Moreover, BakaBT adheres to a strict set of rules and guidelines in order to provide its users the highest-quality release of shows possible.

It’s important to note that BakaBT users do have to follow a 2:1 ratio system. This means that for you to download 2MB worth of files, you will need to upload 1MB. This is the site’s way of making sure that all of their torrents are well-seeded.

AniRena

AniRena torrent tracker.
Screenshot from anirena.com

Don’t want the hassle of signing up for private trackers like BakaBT? Would you still prefer public anime torrent sites? If that is the case, then the next entry on this list is a great Nyaa alternative.

AniRena has been around since 2003, making it one of the oldest anime-centric BitTorrent trackers. Just like other great torrent sites, it has experienced some bumps in the road. Despite this, though, it is still a go-to for many users looking for their favorite anime shows.

AniRena offers a wide range of content on their platform. On the homepage alone, you can already choose from different categories. These include anime, raw content, music, and even hentai. With over 14,000 torrents available, you surely won’t run out of content to watch with AniRena. Additionally, you can also find anime shows and dramas subbed and dubbed in different languages. Thus, this makes it one of the most accessible anime torrent sites out there.

Moreover, what makes AniRena great is its active online community. If you want to engage with other avid anime fans, you can easily do so without the need of any kind of registration. The site has a chat feature that allows both casual users and registered members to discuss among themselves. You can also join their Discord channel to discuss with other users about the latest and best anime shows out there.

The Pirate Bay

The Pirate Bay torrent site.
Screenshot from The Pirate Bay

If you’ve been on the internet for a while now, then you already know The Pirate Bay (TPB). As a pioneer in the torrenting scene, TPB hardly needs any more introduction. However, unlike other entries on this list, it isn’t a dedicated anime torrent site. Nevertheless, it’s still a worthy mention since you can always find an endless amount of anime shows on its index. With that said, there’s certainly no shortage of anime torrents on The Pirate Bay.

If you’re ever having difficulty finding more obscure titles, try looking them up on TPB. Additionally, it’s also the one-stop shop for anime in multiple languages. This is thanks to its users from all around the globe. It also features a library of manga, making it a great MangaStream alternative.

Since it has millions of daily users, TPB download speeds are unbeatable. Its minimalistic interface that’s easy on the eyes is also a bonus.

A downside that comes with the notoriety of TPB, is that it’s blocked in a number of countries. However, visiting one any of The Pirate Bay proxy sites and using a VPN will fix this issue easily.

1337x

1337x anime selection.
Screenshot from 1337x

Can’t find the anime you’re looking for in any of the above mentioned sites? If so, check out the rich collection of anime titles that 1337x has to offer. Similar to TPB, it isn’t an anime-centric torrent site. It does feature a dedicated category for all the latest and older anime shows, though. The 1337x torrent site also features different subcategories that makes looking for dubbed or subbed anime content easier. You can also find raw and untranslated shows, as well as video files with dual audio.

Nyaa: A Staple for Avid Anime Fans 

It comes as no surprise whenever we see torrent sites like Kickass Torrents, or YIFY get shut down. After all, while torrenting isn’t necessarily illegal, the distribution of copyrighted content without paying proper fees is. However, despite the number of shutdowns that these types of sites face, it’s evident that torrenting is here to stay.

This is especially in the anime community. For many, it’s still the most preferred way to watch anime free of charge. While we don’t condone the illegal download of any copyrighted content, there’s no denying the convenience of the best anime torrents. This is especially when it comes to anime shows that are shared without proper distribution partners. As such, it’s up to the fans themselves to sub or dub them for viewers to watch and understand. Because of this, anime torrent sites like Nyaa will remain as the best place for anime torrents.

DISCLAIMER

We at CitizenSide do not promote, nor will we ever condone piracy or illegal downloads. To its core, downloading content without paying the just fees is illegal. The primary purpose of this article is to inform our readers about Nyaa and its similar sites of their contribution to the anime community. Additionally, CitizenSide will not be held responsible for any viruses you may encounter when using Nyaa or other anime torrent sites. We implore all of our readers to always patronize legitimate streaming services.