Anime Questons..

[SasukeUchiha]

I am hoping this hasnt already discussed, but since I am brand new I have to ask. . .

I buy alot of Anime/Manga. Recently I recieved an obvious bootleg through one of the various anime online stores on the web. I was wondering if any of you knew of any Completely Legitimate sites that sell anime? I have a strict policy on not buying bootlegs, so i would greatly appreciate any help that anyone here could give me.

Also, I am wondering if anyone could tell me how many issues of the Ranma 1/2 manga as well as Cowboy Bebop Manga are out as of now? I thought someone told me that both of them are not releasing any new issues. So basically I am wondering if there are going to be any new issues of either of these mangas and how many are currently out for each?

Thank you to anyone who can help me with this :D

Preston

[Ani_Freak]

[COLOR=darkblue]Well, I mostly buy anime DVD's at [URL=http://www.dvdempire.com/]DVD EMPIRE[/URL] and they have a huge selection of anime titles.

These stores offer from anime videos, imports, memorabilia, in short, anything that you can think of. Check them out and see what are the best prices at each of them.

[URL=http://www.animecornerstore.com/]Robert's Anime Corner Store[/URL]

[URL=http://www.animenation.com/]Anime Nation[/URL]

[URL=http://www.rightstuf.com/]The Right Stuf[/URL]

Those are the sites I visit most for all my anime needs. They have very good prices too. I hope I could help. If you need anything else, just let me know.[/color]

[size=1]oops, yes, sorry, I forgot that advertising isn't allowed. Well, I was just trying to help. Thanks for the reminder AzureWolf![/size]

[AzureWolf]

I don't think it's an issue of where you buy - it's more of an issue of [I]what[/I] you buy. Even legitimate stores sell illegitimate things. Those are the Chinese/Hong Kong versions of the DVDs, where there is no real legitimate copy in the first place due the Communist regime. At least, that's what I've been told.

You can usually spot illegal versions a mile away. Yes, in recent years, they have been getting more sophisticated and more professional-looking, but even then, the packaging should be a dead giveaway. If an entire series is sold in one-three DVDs, you know it's not legitimate because companies always want to squeeze every penny from you. If there's a blurry line between that, then you can always fall back on the pricing.

Let's take the .hack series for an example:
Each DVD is roughly around 20 bucks, right? There's 6 DVD encompassing 26 episodes, so that's .hack for 120 bucks. Now, if you can find a version that has all 26 episodes on 1-3 DVDs, and for only 20-40 dollars, you know something has to be illegitimate about that deal.

Of course, there are places that have very nice discounts and other ways to save. So, you can expect 40% off of something that's over $100, but you should raise suspicion if it's anything more.

[size=1]psst... Ani_Freak, advertising isn't allowed.[/size] :sweat:

[SasukeUchiha]

Yeah, I am not so smart apparently. I thought that since alot of the DVDS that i saw on those stores were inported, I did not realize that those sets were illegitimate. I am so thankful all i bought was that Naruto DVD. So all dvds that come in sets like that are bootleg? Because I know over here the translated anime is sold in humungous box sets, but I have seen imports not come like that. I dunno, It is very confusing to me. Is there anything else that you know of that can help me to tell if the DVD is a bootleg? I now know what AzureWolf has told me, But I have also seen DVDS sold in huge sets that are bootlegs according to people. But I still do not understand how they can tell. But later on i found out the store that was selling them had all bootlegs.

Anymore advice out there for a Newbie Buyer ^^

[AzureWolf]

[quote]So all dvds that come in sets like that are bootleg? Because I know over here the translated anime is sold in humungous box sets, but I have seen imports not come like that.[/quote] Well, if a DVD has over 5 episodes, it's almost a guarantee that it's a bootleg. While a DVD can hold a lot of data, it can't hold much more than 5 episodes because there's no image compression when an official version is released. So yeah, you could say all DVDs that come like that are bootleg.

Box sets are a different story. [I]To my knowledge[/I], bootlegs don't make box sets, so that's another surety. [quote]Is there anything else that you know of that can help me to tell if the DVD is a bootleg? I now know what AzureWolf has told me, But I have also seen DVDS sold in huge sets that are bootlegs according to people. But I still do not understand how they can tell. But later on i found out the store that was selling them had all bootlegs.[/quote] You could always fall back on [url]www.animenfo.com[/url] and see if there's even an official release for the US at all. Take the Naruto DVDs: Naruto (the anime) hasn't been brought over to the US, so there isn't a real version of the DVDs to buy yet. So, every DVD you see people selling online are most likely bootlegs.

My biggest recommendation is just run to eBay and see for yourself the difference between authentic and bootleg. Compare the prices, compare the # of DVDs, and compare the pictures. For Naruto, there are authentic Japanese DVDs (which are useless to you since I'm assuming you don't know Japanese) and they will only contain 1-3 episodes per DVD. By contrast, bootleg versions will boast around 26 episodes per DVD.

Oh, and biggest giveaway for a bootleg: if one of the supported languages or subtitles is Chinese.

Hope that helps. :) If you have any other questions, or are unsure of a specific purchase, don't hesitate to ask.

[SasukeUchiha]

Thank you so much, that site was exactly what I was looking for, You ahve been a huge help to me ^^ And I do know alot of Japanese thats why I am semi-concerned about the bootlegging. Ooo and the chinese Subs Give it away, That also helps alot. Well, Now I know.

You have been so mush help. Thank You ^^

Preston

[Qukey]

If you need more reading about spotting bootlegs, here is a good link
[url]http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html[/url]

BTW, I don't think communist has a lot to do with getting legitimate, licensed anime in Hong Kong. There are official licensed animes in HK but most of them are dubbed in Chinese. Anime has been very popular in HK for almost 30 years where there is constant demand for fansubs. The shows broadcast on TV are always in Chinese, not the original Japanese. Also, many TV stations hold the rights; if they are not going to release the shows, no one else can. Slowly, there are some legitimate DVD released in the market in R3.

[SasukeUchiha]

Thank You very much Qukey. That site also helps alot. I appreciate you takign the time to answer my question ^^ (That also goes to everyone else who answered if I have not thanked you yet :D

[XxmagentaxX]

All I buy are bootlegs... because 1 the series hasn't been bought her yet or 2 it's too expensive...

but go to Amazon.com
they have everything and it's decently priced...

Also most sites have sections for American releases and Hong Kong Dvd's

[SasukeUchiha]

Yeah, But I like the special features and things from the official DVD's. I am wierd like that :D