Anime is a treat. Given that the economy sucks and it's not that hard to download a treat (anime) for free, isn't it obvious that ordinary people would get their treats for free?
Doubly so because copying data doesn't destroy the original. "Piracy" in the sense of media piracy is copying, not theft.
I mean: with food, rent and entertainment costing twice as much as it did a few years ago, people are gonna cut their superfluous expenses to make ends meet. Why pay for Netflix, Crunchyroll, Appletv, Hulu and HBO if you can pay for a VPN?
And of course I support this 100%. Entertainment is a basic human need and people should fulfill it in whatever way they can.