The generic "Is this a bootleg" thread
 

There have been many requests asking if a DVD release is legitimate or if it's a bootleg. This post is aimed to help identify potential bootlegs.

• Spot check on how to tell if a DVD is a bootleg or not
  Region 0
  Chinese and English subtitles
  6+ episodes per DVD
  Low Cost (under $4 per episode)

There are many exceptions of course but the best policy is to assume it's a bootleg if any of the above apply. Thereafter you will need to investigate further. There are many, many on-line shops selling bootlegs, in some cases they are unaware of the issues, in other cases they simply do not care, so just be careful!

If there are any posts making such requests, then they will be simply merged into this generic "Is this a bootleg" thread. One of the rules we have in the AnimeSuki forums is that you may not ask for, nor post links to, bootleg anime. If there are any links posted to a potential bootleg site, then they shall be removed or the post / thread deleted.

For details on where to find legitimate DVDs, then please have a look at the The "Where do I buy..." sticky located in the DVD & Licensed forum. And just to reiterate, here's the guide from that thread on how to spot bootlegs :) You can't be to careful!

How to spot bootlegs:

• Offering unlicensed anime on DVD or VCD with English subtitles. (The occasional Japanese release does have English subtitles)
• English and Chinese subtitles available.
• Large number of episodes per disc. (6 is rare on an official release, 7+ is highly dubious)
• Suspiciously low price. (This one is a lot harder to spot)

(NOTE: These are general guidelines. In some rare cases official releases may fit some of these criteria, or some bootlegs may not fit any of them. Please be careful)
For information regarding how to identify an official Region 2 Japanese Disc, see these posts by kj1980 or AvatarADV.

xris
Now we return to the original post...
---
Importing?

Does Anyone have any experience with

< -- bootleg link removed -- >

I am looking to buy the first 21 episodes of Naruto there:

< -- bootleg link removed -- >


I've done some googling and the product appears to be legit but I've not been able to find reliable reviews of the site itself. Also even though it appears to be legit I don't want to end up with some chineese bootlegs. A girl I know at my college's anime Club bought fruits basket the packaging looked realy official but the subtitles where horrible. they where out of sink and had the funniest mispellings: 'it' was mispelled as 'ti'

Cheers


Nyall

Too bad. They are bootlegs. :p

It says "region free". No need to look to Google to tell you these are NOT legit.

Thanks for the info

There is a videogame store by my house that has a huge anime section for rentals, the owner gets alot of his anime off this site and has Naruto. My friend watched it in the store and said the subbing was pretty much as you just described for Fruits Basket. But I think there are some off that site that are good quality, for example I rented the FLCL series from him about a year ago and it was really high quality and im pretty sure (not positive) that he got it off that site also.

My general experience with bootlegs is that while there are some really good ones out there, you are usually better off waiting for a legit release. My Ghibli set is really good, but I was also burned on some other stuff. Also, be very careful what you pick up if you actually do get bootlegs as I have seen many cases where they pull a bait and switch (usually with a like named product). I just wait for the legitimate releases now so that I know that I will atleast get a decent product.

Actually, region free doesn't always mean that it is a bootleg. I have seen some legit DVDs that are region free. I have also seen some that come up as both region 1 and region 2 (with english subs no less). However, this is hardly the way things usually are. If it says it is region free chances are that it is not legit.

The Ghibli set is good because the bootleggers directly ripped the R2 Japanese DVD's. The Studio Ghibli DVD's are one of the few R2's that already have english subtitles.

Also, another thing. It would be nice if Amazon would even make a half hearted attempt at not affiliating with the bootleg sellers (and there are a lot of them).

I have little doubt that the Ghibli set would be a direct rip of the R2 disk. However, I didn't remember the R2 disk having R1 AND R3 subtitles. (also, there is a subtitle error that pops up in atleast one movie that I don't remember seeing in my R2 copy). The video might be a direct rip, but my bootleg set is older than my R2 set (the R1 releases are not nearly as nice, but I have them as well).

Gundam Seed box set?
 

Does anyone know where you can find the Gundam Seed Box Set because my friend just ordered it and i wanna know where it is.

There's no legitimate SEED boxed set.

It's not even complete on DVD in Japan yet, let alone legitimately in English. Your friend bought a crappy bootleg.

Yes your brought a bootleg so you know what that means. God will send Domo-kun to kill 5 little kitties and we don't want that to happen again do we.

If god doesn't kill the little Domo-kuns or the kitties, I WILL!

;P

Are you guys sure that it is a bootleg? I've seen boxsets, but I guess it wouldn't matter for now even if there were because I would need a DVD player without region coding or at least region coding for japan.

Here's a few simple clues:

No one will get a boxed set before Japan does.

Japan has not had all of SEED released.

No one will get all of SEED on DVD before Japan.

Therefore: No SEED boxed sets are legit.

check cdjapan.co.jp and search for Seed.
Really do you think that Bandai has already subbed the full series in less than 3 months and not dub a surefire hit.

I've actually bought this box set. Of course it's a bootleg, but it's not crappy at all. The subs are very good and the video quality is certainly decent too. Just a tad bit under DVD quality.

*sigh*, even if the boxed sets are almost DVD quality and almost perfectly translated, you're still not getting the real thing and the producers of the show still aren't getting any support from you. I've started seeing things on eBay where people in the US and making their own bootlegs and selling them, claiming "perfect English grammar" -_-

Except for this one distributor in Singapore, I don't know of any distributors outside of Japan and Korea in Asia that do legitimate releases. Just a caution though, there are legitimate region free DVDs, but they are free. (I believe some of the Animeigo DVDs were region free).

If you want to import legitimate DVDs from Japan, I'd recommend someplace like www.amotokyo.com or www.cdjapan.co.jp or us.yesasia.com. Beware though, legitimate DVDs are gonna cost more than bootlegs, AND R2s cost a lot XD

Great Lupin you are living up to your name.

Now Domo-kun has to kill 5 more little kittens. Tis a shame.

No one will ever convince me to even look at another HK bootleg for as long as I live. I saw a few episodes of GTO and Hunter x hunter on bootleg and I wanted to cry because the subtitles were so bad. I'll stick to fansubs and professionally localized anime. Thanks.