Dramacool emerged in the early 2010s, catering to pirates with a love for Asian dramas. The operation eventually drew an audience of millions but, in true drama fashion, announced its own demise this week. The site's operators cite 'copyright' as the reason and recent domain name troubles and pressure from Hollywood studios likely played a role.
Founded over a decade ago, Dramacool became a go-to destination for pirated copies of Asian dramas and related content.
The site was originally started by a group of ‘students’ who wanted to share their passion for this entertainment niche. But what started as a hobby, eventually became a multi-site streaming operation with tens of millions of users.
Most recently, Dramacool operated Asianc, Watchasia, Dramanice, and Runasian. The domain names used by these sites switched regularly due to blocking efforts and other problems.
Updates on these domain changes, as well as news about the latest dramas, were disseminated through Asianwiki.co, which functioned as an unofficial communication channel for Dramacool followers.
Dramacool Shuts DownEarlier this month, several Dramacool domains ran into trouble again, becoming unreachable. Making matters worse, the Asianwiki.co information portal went offline too, leaving many users in the dark.
These issues didn’t come out of nowhere. The Dramacool sites have been under legal pressure for a while and yesterday, the site’s operators decided that they’ve seen enough drama.
“We are sorry to announce that we will be closing all 5 websites: Asianc, Dramanice, Watchasia, Runasian, Asianwiki. Due to the copyright, we cannot run the sites anymore. We apologize to every fan that always supported and loved DRAMACOOL,” the operators wrote on X.
Dramacool’s Farewell
The surprise shutdown came as a major disappointment to the many people who had made these sites a regular visit. This triggered an outpouring of responses on social media, mourning the sites’ demise.
“Oh nooooooo this is such a shame, because dramacool holds such an extensive archive of Asian media, it’s wonderful, stuff you couldn’t find anywhere else. I feel so sad that this will all be lost,” one fan wrote.
Responses
The shutdown message doesn’t provide any detail on the “copyright” issues, but there have been a few recent developments that likely played a role. For example, three months ago the Delhi High Court in India granted a dynamic blocking order (pdf) that affected several Dramacool domains.
Domain blocking orders are not new. However, Indian court orders have done a lot of damage this year, also internationally. In this case, the order was requested by Warner Bros, Disney, Netflix, and other major Hollywood players, which adds additional weight.
Following the order, local ISPs blocked domains including dramanice.la, asianc.sh, and runasian.net. The order also applies to all new domains these sites register going forward.
While the legal paperwork doesn’t mention domain registrars as a party, previous blocking orders have. As a result, even international domain registration companies such as Namecheap have suspended the targeted pirate domains.
It’s possible that something similar happened here, as many of the Dramacool domains were indeed suspended. The Watchasia.to and Asianwiki.co domains, for example, now use the blockedforabuse.pleasecontactsupport.com nameserver associated with previous Namecheap suspensions.
Blockedforabuse…
Dramanice.la, Runasian.net, and Asianc.sh, meanwhile, were put on “clientHold status“, which is another way for Namecheap to suspend domain names.
With Namecheap taking a clear stand, Dramacool’s troubles grew, which likely factored into their shutdown decision. There may be much more going on behind the scenes, but it’s a clear signal that legal pressure was building.
Many of the movie companies that obtained the blocking order are part of anti-piracy coalition ACE. While this group hasn’t taken credit for or shared any in-depth information about Dramacool’s demise, we are informed that it will continue to crack down on pirate sites in the region.
“The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment is aware of these developments and will continue to take firm action against operators running illegal streaming services across the region, including operators based in Vietnam,” a spokesperson said.