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Originally Posted by Pat123
There are editions out in the US, but the reviews I saw were iffy, especially with respect to video quality. I decided to try something closer to the source. The first issue I got had great video.
Region zero is becoming more and more popular, especially among people seeking low-volume titles. (Anime in the US fits in this category). Often, because they offer only low- or moderate-revenue possibilities, agreements for region-specific versions are put on the back burner in favor of the much higher-volume titles and as a result, both the fans and the creators of the works suffer. Many of the more popular Japanese titles, like Maison Ikokku (1700 USD for the complete series) are available only in very small quantities, driving the price up or as used copies, meaning there is no revenue stream at all back to the creators. (This happens to British and other products, too.)
Region zero provides an option to sell a product direct to people all over the world and receive a much larger share of the profits than the restrictive zone system. While some zone zero products are probably bootlegs, others are legitimate. For example, you can now get the original British release of Harry Potter in a region free format from Amazon.com. You can also get Despicable Me 3D (if you really want to). It simply doesn't pay to make different region-specific discs when you can just make, stock, and ship one product.
There is political pressure to modify the zone arrangement. Also, Amazon.com sells a variety of multi-zone DVD players, so zone coding is becoming irrelevant. I think that in a few years, we will see more and more of the low- to moderate-volume releases with international interest released in zone zero formats. There are just too many arguments against the current system.
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In all seriousness, why would you pay for a bootleg if you could have easily downloaded the same anime and burn it yourself?
You are not supporting the creators of that anime if you buy a bootleg disc, but rather the person who burned the disc.
And you are already aware of the questionable quality of most bootlegs