anime dvd: an arm & a (boot)leg

[dani82]

i was in chinatown today, just looking around, when a saw a complete box set release by bandai, the price was $90 for 10 dvds, and it looked original*, but it seems to good to be true, are they?

i heard of hkdvd always reproduce dvd series, but never an exact copy before.

*my neighbor bought 2 dvd of the series, and they look really enough, from the dvd case, to the cd art, down to menu, chapters and audio options.

[bilu]

I would immediatly point you to this rules:


5) Do not spam. No blatant advertising.

6) No warez, cracks, serials or illegally obtained copyrighted content! Links to content of a questionable nature, asking for, offering, or asking for help/helping to process such content in any way or form is not tolerated.


But IMHO it seems you did not break none of these :)


Bilu

[dani82]

know where the line is drawn, and step on it. "the gray area"

it's an honest question, even if it's too good to be true, i don't want to pay $90 for fakes, even if there exact copies ($50 maybe)

[communist]

They are probably fakes. My brother has a "The Matrix"-DVD without CSS :p
Everything else on the DVD is just like the original including menus / DVD art / cover etc. .

[dvd_master]

They are known as HK DVDs. Some of them are rips of R1's. Most are rips of TV, or R2. Either way, they're all illegal, though they look very very professional,..... sometimes even more so then the actual DVDs.

[smiller667]

Originally posted by dvd_master
They are known as HK DVDs. Some of them are rips of R1's. Most are rips of TV, or R2. Either way, they're all illegal, LOL. Are you kidding me? The term "HK DVD" is commonly used to describe a DVD which comes from Hongkong (just as you would refer to a "US DVD" or "GB DVD"). And neither are all "HK DVDs" bootlegs or fakes, not even in the anime sector. Fact is, there are bootleg dvds coming from HK (and even more from Mainland China, I might add), but there are bootlegs coming out of the US as well.
Get your hk dvds from a reliable etailer & not from ebay, and you should be pretty safe from bootlegs. And if it sounds too good to be true, it is probably a fake.

[Michel de Nostra]

anime is sooo expensive.
having it on dvd is good but consider the costs.
i like to keep all my media on my ex-harddrive anyway.

[Sirber]

If you divide the cost by the length, you'll see it's not very expensive :)

[Kedirekin]

On the contrary, many anime titles are 60 minutes once you subtract credits and next-episode previews (three 23 minutes episodes), and they cost $25. So anime DVDs are half the length and $5 more expensive than most hollywood blockbusters - quite expensive.

I wonder how much longer anime will be a niche market, if it even still is. Someone is really making a killing on these aftermarket sales - they are after all children's television cartoons.

[mf]

Originally posted by Kedirekin
they are after all children's television cartoons.
Oo, buckle up in the flame seat, cause I just *know* people will react to that :D.

[Kedirekin]

Let the flaming commence. It'll be fun.

I stand behind my statement. Yes there are exceptions (theatrical releases like Ghost in the Shell and Akira), but most anime is made for TV, and the demographic in Japan is children (including teens).

I've read several posts on anime boards that a grown male in Japan admitting he likes DBZ or Sailor Moon would be like an American man admitting he likes Scooby Doo or My Little Pony.

[Nic]

(Completely OT: I'm 23 and love DBZ, Gabest is a fan too if I remember our IRC chats, and it's not like liking scooby doo, although it is obviously aimed at the young)

I've bought anime that was fake and real, and it is expensive. Really depends on how much you want it. There's every episode of "fist of the north star" on ebay right now while ill probably buy, hoping it's real.

-Nic

[unmei]

my guidelines are something like "leech when its aired/fansubbed, if missed borrow from friend (VHS/DVD) or buy the licensees DVD in the local bookstore including store fees taxes etc"

I really dislike the idea of investing my money in some obscure dealer or even professional pirates - either full amount to the producer/licenser or no money at all (and sure not ebay, but that's rather "religion") :)

We don't have that many china towns here, maybe it would be different if i ran over such offers on a daily basis =.=

[Kedirekin]

I have no problem buying second-hand DVDs. That just gives the person you are buying from money to go by more anime, thus contributing to new producers indirectly.

Or maybe you were talking about shadier sellers on e-bay.

[unmei]

nope, i meant ebay in general, but like i said its rather religious - i just don't buy things online. No credit card, no numbers to steal, no urge to visit porn sites :P

you know, even tho i spend alost my entire life in front of a computer, i'm still very old fashioned in other things :o

[mf]

This morning I was offered a bike for 5 euros. Should I have bought it ? :D

[Michel de Nostra]

Originally posted by Kedirekin
they are after all children's television cartoons.

haven't seen any japanese anime have you? only commercialized american sh*t.
Japanese anime can have tons of violence and killing in a single episode. some is for kids some mature audience

[Kedirekin]

You mean like Urotsukidoji? Sure, there are a few titles meant for the adult audience - I already mentioned that - but for every one of those there are dozens and dozens of titles like Dual, Jubie Chan, Tenchi, Love Hina, Little Snow Fairy Sugar.

A mature audience can enjoy them (and I do), but they aren't made for a mature audience; they're made for children and teens. And they're definitely made for TV - they're all approximately 23 minute episodes (sized for a ½ hour time slot), and they all have commercial exit/intro breaks about half way through.

Incidentally, my original point wasn't so much that they're made for children. My point was that they were made for TV, and probably realized a profitable return in their original airing, so profits on DVD sales is pure gravy.

[Michel de Nostra]

Originally posted by Kedirekin
You mean like Urotsukidoji? Sure, there are a few titles meant for the adult audience - I already mentioned that - but for every one of those there are dozens and dozens of titles like Dual, Jubie Chan, Tenchi, Love Hina, Little Snow Fairy Sugar.

A mature audience can enjoy them (and I do), but they aren't made for a mature audience; they're made for children and teens. And they're definitely made for TV - they're all approximately 23 minute episodes (sized for a ½ hour time slot), and they all have commercial exit/intro breaks about half way through.

Incidentally, my original point wasn't so much that they're made for children. My point was that they were made for TV, and probably realized a profitable return in their original airing, so profits on DVD sales is pure gravy.

All right i'll agree that lower ratings (G-PG13) are more popular in anime but even the lower ratings have adult innuendo.

Chobits=that cute anime about a robots (perverted college boy that dreams about porn)
Love Hina=cute comedy about college student (constantly being called a pervert+lesbian groping in the Love Hina Again eps)
Ranma1/2=again another cute anime for kids (shows tits, transexual main character, final oav naked girl)

then you have the borderliners:
Inu-Yasha=seems innocent enough, starts off a little rough (in several eps mass murder, inu-yasha kills hundres of people in single epps!)
Rurouni Kenshin=an anime about a retired samurai (when his past visits him people die, oavs are soo touching though, sob, sob)

And your downright mature:
Hellsing=about vampires, malice, et cetera
Gungrave=gang fights, guns to wicked creatures and professional killers

Is hentai considered anime...? That's another argument.

[Michel de Nostra]

whatever back to the main idea. i can understand the point of view of most anti-bootleggers (although i usually don't agree with it). but tv shows-come on peeps! this is rediculus! if i was to buy all the anime i want it'd cost me upward of $2000!!! damn
movies only about $300!!!

consider what your against before tatoo it on your brain and are so biased about your decision that you'd sell your soul before you change your mind.

oh yeah... i need more help on a topic i started about leeching please in general descusion

[Kedirekin]

I'm not one to say buying a bootleg is wrong. Anime is expensive. I've already bought nearly $2,000 of anime (60 or 70 disks, though some of it I've gotten second hand, so it's probably closer to $1,300). To buy every anime I wanted would probably cost me another $6,000 or $8,000.

But it's harder to strike a balance with anime than it is with music. With music it's easy - steal as much as you can and it'll barely make a dent in the label's current profits, let alone redress the balance of theft the labels have perpetrated over the past 25 years. With anime - steal too much and struggling studios go out of business.

In regards to your other question, have you tried googling flash decompiler? Or how about just recording the loops with your sound card?

[dani82]

it would probably cost me 2 years pay for all the anime i wanted; i love just about everything (maybe the gay stuff too, if i ever see one)

i prefer bootleg over original anyday, with the exception if Fushigi Yuugi, Utena, and maybe all the Ghibli movies (but not all of them have been oficially release yet)

[Kedirekin]

Fake is a gay title. I found it ever so slightly creepy. I guess I lead a sheltered life.