The Massive Anime Leak Goes Beyond Just Netflix Titles

On August 7, 2024, there was a major anime and animation leak. The heart of the breach is centered at Netflix, where DANDAN, Terminator Zero, Arcane‘s second season, Ranma 1/2, Plankton: The Movie, Spellbound, and somehow even more have all leaked. However, there are a few outliers—namely, Re:ZERO‘s upcoming third season.

Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World is one of the most beloved isekai series out there. Based on Tappei Nagasuki’s light novel series, Re:ZERO has spun out into countless manga series, OVAs, video games, and an anime series. It’s rather famously difficult for newcomers to figure out where to go start and what order to watch in, but that’s okay, we love it anyway.

The third season of the Re:ZERO anime is a huge deal. The anime kicked off in 2016 and hasn’t had a new season for three and a half years. The official premiere of the first episode is slated for August 30, 2024, and we found out at Anime Expo last month that the episode will be movie-length. They’re pulling an Oshi no Ko! Shit’s going to go down!

That’s all the more reason why the fact that there’s a leak is so disappointing.

So what happened?

The vast majority of the August 7 leaks came from Netflix. But Re:ZERO is primarily licensed by Crunchyroll. It’s notable that Re:ZERO is on Netflix in countries beyond Crunchyroll’s purview, but that doesn’t seem to be the cause of this particular leak.

Instead, the Re:ZERO leak bears the watermark from Japan Expo Paris, which took place last month, during the weekend of July 11. The film-length first episode of Re:ZERO‘s long-awaited third season was supposed to get an advanced first screening, but the screening was canceled.

Whether or not the leak is connected to the cancellation is unknown, but someone sure came away with something. Equally strange is the why, if the leaker had this episode a month ago, they wanted until this week’s massive deluge to unleash it. That seems to suggest that these leaks are all connected.

The official release of a series is something that the hundreds of people who worked on it actively look forward to. It’s disrespectful to rob them of that payoff for all their hard work. Not to mention that, as a fan, having to dodge spoilers online for something that isn’t even officially out yet is a huge bummer.

The first episode of Re:ZERO‘s third season will officially drop on Crunchyroll on August 30, 2024. Just three weeks away!