Forum - View topicOuch my wallet hurts!
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unhealthyman
 Posts: 306 |
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I went into town today and was browsing the anime section in HMV (just a normal store in the UK) looking for something to spend my money on. I looked at the prices, and EVERY 4 episode title was £19.99 (roughly $35+ for americans.)
*Puts on flame proof jacket* Most of my anime is borrowed or downloaded as fansubs, so I don't tend to collect full series at the moment, (I've been planning on starting to collect series' as I have a collecting gene and I love to own the actual full series so I can admire how cool my shelfs look,) but then I started to do the maths. For me to buy the full set of, for example, Samurai Champloo or Fruits Basket, (6 DVDs+,) would cost me £120 ($220.) Now I am under the illusion that it is cheaper in the US, but still, DAMN, am I being unreasonable, or is that just plain EXPENSIVE?? Not trying to ignite a 'Yarr! I'm a pirate' debate, and I know that 'in the good old days if you couldn't afford something you'd do without!' but how do people justify the expense? Or is it just more expensive in the UK? I know its a bit cheaper in the US and, for example, the French are far more into their anime and so prices are cheaper. I suspect I am treading into very dangerous hot water here, but I was just so put off by the prices. A normal film I can get for at least half the price with a bit of shopping around, is this the kind of premium I have to pay in order to support the anime industry? |
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Dargonxtc
 Posts: 4463 Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋 |
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Anime is expensive no matter where you go.
I suspect that those prices were MSRP, and if I were to buy Samurai Champloo at MSRP it would cost 210 dollars in the United States. You need to shop around a bit and you can find places that sell at way below MSRP. |
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Niceguy9418
 Posts: 82 |
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Two words: E - BAY.
Following are prices I've paid, for sealed DVD's: Full series (24 episodes?) of Chobits: under $20 (US) Full series (25 episodes) of Negima: under $20 Full Series (25 Episodes) Love Hina: Just over $20 IIRC. Season One (24 Episodes?) AMG: $30 Full series (51 episodes) of FMA: $20-$30 (Although THAT one ended up being a bootleg, unbeknownst to me. Not sealed, obviously.) Obviously some stuff is more than others ($50 for Kare Kano, complete series) but there are some good deals out there. Just watch out for the formatting, as most will be imports. (Of what I've bought so far, only LH even HAS an english dub track.) But I haven't had any format issues so far. |
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unhealthyman
Posts: 306 |
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I guess I'm just a bit scared of ebay. I've bought a few things off ebay and they tend to be a bootlegs/different from what I expected. I know it sounds a bit contradictory as I do engage in illegal downloading, but I'd far rather pay money to buy the real thing and at least try to support the industry - if I'm gonna pay for my anime, I certainly want to have the real deal. But I guess I should just try and look a bit harder. I think it is all a bit more difficult for people in the UK, but I can't just use that as an excuse. Now that I have job (I'm a student so generally I have no money,) I want to spend it on something worthwhile. I have a certain obsessive compulsive personality - if I am going to buy something it better be the right thing. Theres no pride in having a mixed up set, or even worse, a bunch of bootlegs.
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Fui
 Posts: 339 |
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Two words: Boot-leg. It's obvious since the full series of Negima isn't out yet. Actually, none of it is out on DVD yet for R1. I'm pretty sure FMA hasn't been completely released yet, either. Also, anything w/out the dub track is almost certainly not R1. You need to be careful with some sites (particularly EBay) since many offer bootlegs without hesitation. |
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Steventheeunuch
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If only Love Hina has a dub track (and even then, that's suspicious), then they're all bootlegs. I don't doubt there could be legit copies sold at that ammount on ebay, but if Chobits and AMG are sub only, and considering FMA and Negima haven't gotten a full release in the US yet, then you've bought bootlegs. |
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cheezisgoooood
Posts: 253 Location: Orlando, FL |
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Two words: no thanks |
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hagakure|returns
Posts: 407 |
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hey yall
A great way to save money is to shop online, preferablly from someone not in ur state so you don't have to pay tax. Recently, Deepdiscountdvd has a 20% off sale off their already low price on all DVD (the next sale will be in Nov). Samurai Champloo was about 120 dollar shipped (might be more if it's ship oversea). Anyways if you shop around, you should be paying about 20 buck per dvd, which imo is really fair. And don't buy off ebay unless you know what you're doing. There's thousand of clueless people (such as mr. niceguy above) buying bootleg off ebay every day and not realizing because of the "fancy" cover/packaging. Poor ignorant soul. People should really stop supporting bootleg. Last edited by hagakure|returns on Fri Jul 07, 2006 8:40 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Niceguy9418
Posts: 82 |
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Re: Bootlegs
While it's certainly possible, but they sure looked like factory sealed packages to me. (Original inserts, art on the DVD, etc...) If it was a bootleg, it was a damned good one. This stuff wasn't printed out with a desktop printer either. (Well the FMA wasn't - that was three white DVD's with "Full Metal Alchemist" wirtten on them in ball point pen, in flimsy plastic sleeves. Doesn't take Batman to solve that mystery. I just didn't KNOW when I bought it that that was what I would be getting.) Plus I never said they were R1 for sure... On my Negima DVD, the covers are entirely in Japanese, and I don't see the number 1 anywhere. I know what you're thinking - but I was told by the guy at Best Buy that some players (including the brand I have) can read multiple formats. BS? Possibly... I'm no expert. But if this is a bootleg, theres speinding a lot of time and money to make it look legit. Fopr now I feel pretty safe about it. |
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Niceguy9418
Posts: 82 |
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Apparently, we were posting right about the same time. I can't say I appreciate your tone. But whatever - I have no way of knowing, and neither does ebay. Illegal? Perhaps, but not on my part. Immoral/Unethical? (In my part?) Doubtful. I don't knowingly buy bootlegs, and after an episode or two (whatever it takes ot get me interested) I even stop watching you-tube as well. |
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hagakure|returns
Posts: 407 |
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I'm not sure if you are aware what we mean by bootleg from china/hk. They take either tv-rip or r1 rip without permission and repressed them in large quanity from cheap factory. The packaging might be nice and all, the content itself was stolen. That's why people are easily fooled. I've seen guys brag about how they got 11 studio ghibli movies on 7 disc and when I told him that it was a bootleg, he totally got really mad at me and try to prove me wrong by showing me the color package it came with. A lot of us here are experience anime fan. WE know what's out there, and we know that if you can get 24 episode of negima subtitle for under 20 dollar, than it's likely a hk bootleg.
It's easy to tell: English and chinese subitle usually is a good clue. If it has English dub, it should be an R1 DVD, otherwise it was ripped. 3 disc for 24-26 episode is another indication. And import from Japan are usually 2 episode per disc with no English subtitle. There might be exception, but if you have Negima in English subtitle, it's likely a bootleg. Plus legit import will have a region coding so you wouldn't be able to play it on ur dvd player without unlocking it. But most bootleg dvd are region-free (zero) so they work on any dvd player. Last edited by hagakure|returns on Fri Jul 07, 2006 8:55 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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DaZ616
 Posts: 327 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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like i said before in a different thread,..
I buy all my anime dvds on E-bay for a cheapier price. i bought:
-Bubblegum crisis Tokyo 2040- complete set(madman) for Aust$60 -Gantz V1-3(madman) for Aust$50 -Gunslinger girl -complete set(madman) for Aust $47 all legit stuff but not sealed( 2nd Hand) -DaZ |
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unhealthyman
Posts: 306 |
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Indeed, it seems that if an anime is affordable, then it must be bootleged. I know how to identify a bootleg - Import (R0)/too many episodes per DVD/too cheap to be believable/dodgy art or packaging/chinese subs. Its just a shame that for me (in the UK) it seems incredibly hard to buy anime that isn't a.) a bootleg, or b.) just incredibly expensive.
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hagakure|returns
Posts: 407 |
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Well a lot of us have brought bootleg off ebay before without realizing it until someone point it out...including myself. Now that I know, I will never support bootleg off ebay again. That's why I said we need to stop the rampant ebay bootleg by spreading the word. Actually HK bootleg are worst than watching off youtube, because also you're help funding other illegal activies in asia. |
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Niceguy9418
Posts: 82 |
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OK. What you described on the Negima seems about right. (Eng/Ch sub only.) (On the other hand whenever you buy online - you never REALLY know...) (And my local Best Buy has a pretty thin selection.) (And Blockbuster? Fuggedaboudit.)
So in the end do I regret my purchase? Not really. No other choice. Watching for free on youtube doesn't net the original artist or production company any $ either. Don't get me wrong, I feel for the entertainment industry in general I really do. There's a lot of money invested in producing and distibuting TV Shows, Movies, etc... and that represents a big financial risk for them. Bootlegging and piracy are serious problems. OTH, if I CAN'T buy it anyway, or am being chanrged an unreasonably high price (do you know what the varible cost of making DVD's is? Almost nothing. And there all made in China ANYWAY!) I can only have so much sympathy. That might not be a popular stance, especially here, but it's the world we live in, and the one they choose to do business in. And like I said - I don't engage in piracy or bootlegging knowingly. I don't copy my DVD rentals, or download movies from napster or whatever. If it seems fishy, I don't go for it. But if "I'm not sure" - let's just say my suspision meter isn't set that high. |
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