The Japanese producer and distributor Toho has requested the Northern California District Court, in United states, issuing a legal citation. This citation is addressed to the social network X (formerly known as Twitter) to provide information from social network accounts.
In the information found, it has been discovered that the measure seeks Identify those responsible for three anime accounts accused of sharing visual material. This material belongs to the franchises My Hero Academia: Watchmen and The Apothecary Diaries (d)Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) and was shared before time.
According to court documents presented by the legal representatives of the company Toho, These accounts would have broadcast screenshots and clips extracted directly from episodes. these episodes had not been released publicly in Japan or in the rest of the world. Therefore, the shared material has been classified as leaks of content that was considered confidential at the time. This poses a serious threat to copyright from both popular anime franchises.
leak detection My Hero Academia: Watchmen and The Apothecary Diaries
According to captures and legal documentation of the case that is being carried out Toho on United states, the accounts @shinobusdonutz and @AnimeSpostt_ had been responsible for filtering material from The Apothecary Diaries (d)Kusuriya no Hitorigoto). while the account @app1ecake She is responsible for sharing content ahead of time for the new spin-off of Japan’s most popular superhero franchise, My Hero Academia: Watchmen.
In fact, a shared image shows some content that would have infringed copyright. We can see how the official accounts are made in x (Previously Twitter) of each series.
Although it seems that all anime accounts, excluding the one of @AnimeSpostt, have been deleted or disabled. Quite possibly this movement would have occurred accordingly to a lawyer from Toho On April 3, he would have sent a request to remove material that violated the franchise’s copyright The Apothecary Diaries (d)Kusuriya no Hitorigoto). Subsequently, on April 22, another request was sent to remove material related to the superhero franchise. My Hero Academia: Watchmen.
Legal background in the anime industry
It should be noted that this is not the first time that the producer and distributor Toho You have submitted a citation request. In the past he has made multiple citations to stop the illegal distribution of anime content.
In fact, the company aniplex, who has recently entered Latin America, has also taken legal measures. Its objective is to find the identity of alleged filters of content related to their intellectual properties. These strategies include:
- Fake Credit Episodes: Manipulated versions of chapters are sent to certain platforms or stations, and if they are filtered, they can track the origin.
- Invisible watermarks: Small almost imperceptible modifications in the content that allow us to detect when and where it was copied.
- Social media tracking: active monitoring of platforms such as x, , reddit and Telegram to detect advance posts.
The anime industry allied in 2024 to stop leaks
This is not the first time that the company Toho Seek legal support in United states to protect its intellectual properties. On October 2024, the company, together with Kadokawa and the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), presented a Criminal complaint in Japan. This complaint was against the operators of a Japanese website that offered Extensive spoilers, screenshots, and even full summaries popular series, including Overlord III.
More recently, in May 2025, Japanese authorities They arrested a separate group of people behind portals dedicated exclusively to filtering anime content before its official broadcast. These actions make it clear that The anime industry is intensifying its legal measures to protect its content internationally.
Filtered Toho Animes:
The Apothecary Diaries
Based on the light novel Natsu Hyuga, this series has earned recognition. It has achieved this for its intriguing narrative and its historical setting. The series is produced by Toho Animation and officially broadcast through the streaming platform Crunchyroll for Latin America. It is available with dubbing and in its original language with subtitles.
My Hero Academia: Watchmen
a spin-off of the popular universe of My Hero Academia (d)Boku no Hero Academia), focused on unofficial heroes operating outside of the established norms. also produced by Toho and transmitted by Crunchyroll to Latin America With dubbing and in its original language with subtitles.
Leaking content from these series represents not only economic damage. It also implies a Alteration of the viewer experience. This is because the pace of official publication is broken and plot twists are exposed before time.
What does the Toho legal citation include?
With this citation, Toho look for what x Provide all possible information about users that are behind the infringing accounts. Specifically, request:
- IP addresses used
- Real names (if registered)
- associated emails
- Publication history
- Access data and account changes
- Internal communication between users (if applicable legally)
These data could allow you to toho take more severe legal action, both in United states like in Japan, depending on the location of those responsible.
