How to Spot a Bootleg

[Coaxel Ethereal]

You don't pay for fansubs. Nobody makes a profit there.

Bootlegs are different. Someone is out to make money.

I’m more of a new age anime fan, I own a massive wall of DVDs (all legit, I miss my arm and leg terribly) but I remember a time when anime was traded around like baseball cards, copied over and over on VHS, and passed around like blood turned wine among fanatics. That started fansubs of today and to me the only reason anime is accepted in the states. Don’t buy bootleg, it promotes quantity over quality, and we would all be lacking it the greatness that anime has become today, morals, and other such idealistic things... I cant believe a read every last post, gona get back to my quest for the holy grail (a social life) now, take it easy.

[Fate_Engine]

alright, i didnt see it mentioned here and it will probably be a stupid question, but id rather be safe than screwed

Domestic=clean correct?

[Kalium]

Domestic=clean correct?

Well, I suppose domestic bootlegin is possible, so it's not a guarantee, but it's less likely, I should think. As a rule of thumb, 'if it seems too good to be true, it probably is' applies. Just pay attention to price and episode per DVD counts, and you should be fine.

[Fate_Engine]

Danke

[J-0080]

I would like to point out that if something isn't liscenced in the US at all. Naruto for example. bootleg is the only way to get it.

Actually, I've heard of people managing to get good-quality raws of unlicensed shows, but I have no idea how to go about doing so.

Japanese cable subscription + TiVo?

Just a thought

[emopunk1]

That they don't support the actual creators and licensed distributors?

True, but then again, if you sell the domestic anime yourself (i.e. like here in the forum), and you're not a store, you profit directly instead of giving it directly to the distributors, correct?

I think its been said already, but I think the majority of people who buy bootleg is because the price, especially with the new R1 bootleg copies, because its closer to the original R1 at a better value. How many here can afford the retail price or with just a $2-5 discount, (of course before the state tax and s/h) and judging by some of the post I've seen, no one here would want to buy a used dvd (I'm not trying to say that everyone here is like that, but I sort of get that feeling), that leaves those otaku who can't afford it to buy bootleg, since they probably want something to watch on their dvd player and have art to look, since wating to download a fansub is a big hassle.

What about the guys in the US who sell bootleg on Ebay? Is fair for them to be critized by members here, since they just are trying to make a profit for themselves, especially if there not connected to Chinese mafia? What about the US sellers who sell used domestic dvds, since as I mentioned, that money they get for it doesn't go to the distributors/animators, but for their own profit?

just a thought.

[Kai Stromler]

Some clarifications:

With physical product and commercial contracts, there is always a money chain.

If you sell domestic anime titles (commercial media in cases), here or somewhere else, you must have bought them from somewhere. If you bought them from a store, they bought them wholesale from the distributor. If not, you bought them wholesale from the distributor. The distributor got the right to press those DVDs from the original producers, and paid them a consideration for the purpose. So when you buy a DVD at your local anime store, a portion of that $25 goes towards store profits, a portion to stocking fees, on the shelves and at warehouses, a portion goes to the US company that put it out (split between profit and cost of production), and a portion goes back to the licensors in Japan as royalty or license payments. If you resell that DVD, you'd be dumb not to add your own markup, or not to buy from the wholesaler so that you can put your own markup in place of the store's.

With bootlegs, the bootleg discs and bootleg packaging has to come from somewhere. People selling bootlegs on eBay buy them either from stores in Chinatowns, or direct from the same unscrupulous importers that the Chinatown stores use. Those importers bought the media from the concern that pressed them, which are usually allied to organized crime. As before, when you buy a bootleg, some of that $15 goes to the store that sold it for profit and stocking, some of the money goes to the importers, and some of the money ends up back with the gang that is operating the DVD-pressing plant back in Hong Kong. The lower price is created because that last step in the money chain, where the original producers get paid for their creative work, gets left out.

In the real world, we cannot yet magically create media out of raw matter the way we create information out of magnetic states on the digital side. Media cost money and in a commercial setting leave a clear chain of possession.

And why is there a perceived stigma against buying used? Granted, you don't get the newest or rarest stuff that way, but as long as the disc works, there shouldn't be a problem, and most stores will either accept returns of inoperable stuff or resurface the damn thing for $3.

--K

[Tomb]

Some people can't afford "Walls" of anime and I say f**k those greedy bastards ^_^ they make enough profit off the people who DO buy it. I just get it from friends though so I'm lucky ^_^

[Scintilla]

Some people can't afford "Walls" of anime and I say f**k those greedy bastards ^_^ they make enough profit off the people who DO buy it.

Then don't blame them when they can no longer afford to bring over the shows you want...

[Tomb]

I say again

Some people can't afford "Walls" of anime and I say f**k those greedy bastards ^_^ they make enough profit off the people who DO buy it. I just get it from friends though so I'm lucky ^_^