Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs is pulling out the big guns in the fight against manga and anime piracy with a fresh, nostalgia-packed public service announcement that parades through decades of iconic heroes and heroines. Released this week in partnership with the long-running STOP! Manga Piracy campaign, the ad poses a poignant question "Will manga and anime save us in 100 years?" before answering with a resounding montage of beloved characters who have inspired generations. Check out the English video down below:
The video is a love letter to the medium's history. It flashes many famous and popular characters such as: Astro Boy (the original manga robot boy from 1952), Monkey D. Luffy stretching toward adventure in One Piece, the entire Joestar lineage striking poses across JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Shōtarō Kaneda roaring through Neo-Tokyo on his bike in Akira, Son Goku powering up in Dragon Ball, Ryō Saeba flashing his grin in City Hunter, the RX-78-2 Gundam standing tall in Mobile Suit Gundam, the cuddly Hamtarō scampering along, and Tanjiro Kamado wielding his blade in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba plus plenty more cameos from across eras. The message lands powerfully: these stories endure because creators, publishers, and fans keep them alive through legitimate support. "You, the readers and viewers, will save the future of manga and anime," it concludes.
This isn't the first time the STOP! Manga Piracy initiative has gone big. Launched in 2018 by major publishers Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shogakukan, and Shueisha, the campaign has run ads in newspapers across the US, Italy, Spain, and France most recently in July 2024 with messages thanking fans for choosing official versions over pirated scans or illegal streams. Those efforts highlighted the massive financial hit: pirate sites drain billions annually from the industry, hurting artists, translators, and everyone involved in bringing these worlds to life legally.
The timing of the ad feels deliberate. With piracy losses still estimated in the tens of billions yearly (some reports peg it at $55 billion annually for manga alone), and as AI tools increasingly get deployed to detect illegal sites, this ad reminds global fans that supporting official releases whether through Crunchyroll subs, Viz volumes, or legal streams directly fuels new stories. It's a call to action wrapped in celebration: manga and anime have shaped us for decades. Let's make sure they keep doing it for the next hundred years.
What are your thoughts on the ad? Which character in it was your favorite? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below!