Forum - View topicAnswerman - What Do I Do With All These Bootleg DVDs?
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13583 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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I find what's even more interesting is if there was a fansubbed DVD of a public domain anime than a bootleg. Yeah, that's very seldom to occur.
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Paiprince
 Posts: 593 |
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I use bootleg CD's/DVD's as coasters. Be creative.
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GVman
 Posts: 729 |
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In case you didn't know (I can't tell if you're referring to just physical releases or that along with fansubs), Layzner and L-Gaim have been subbed, while Urashiman is actually legally streaming on Hulu with English subs. |
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Tempest_Wing
Posts: 305 |
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Justin mentioning this raised a question for me. I remember him saying many times before that Anime companies tend to misplace or simply lose original masters to many animes. If no other copies can be used or found, (assuming it's an anime that nobody bothered making copies of and selling legitimately), wouldn't piracy be the next best thing? Let's say for example that some entrepreneurial or bright individual decided to record an episode straight from the tv to a vhs or laserdisc, make copies and sell it. The show or an episode of the show gets cancelled, heavily censored, or just downright removed from all syndication and future home video releases for various reasons but certainly not including causing seizures. And now in the present day, the only reason anybody can watch this episode now is because of that one individual. I remember reading something similar online that a certain film (I can't remember which, maybe Metropolis), the master film reels were all destroyed due to age, a fire, or something, so the only way they were able to recover certain scenes that were removed, either due to censorship or something else, was from somebody who had the idea to record the film on a vhs tape at home, in Brazil or something that happened to have the missing scenes in it. Technically, what that individual did was illegal, but if they hadn't done that, then those scenes would have possibly been lost forever. The point of my comment is to say that Piracy is a necessary evil in certain situations. |
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DaisakuKusama
 Posts: 85 |
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Here's a bootleg story for anyone bored enough to read it, and it happened right here in good old Lost Angeles.
Around 2006-7, I was trying to score a copy of Secret of Cerulean Sand, because I'd heard good things about it. I found a dvd boxset online, ordered it, and a week later, it came in the mail and it was *gasp!* a bootleg. All of the discs were scratched and mauled and in terrible shape. I contacted the website's customer service and received no reply, no response, no answer, no nothing. After some Googling, I found that the company was based in a building downtown, very close to Little Tokyo. So I hopped in my car and jaunted in that direction. It was in the warehouse district, a really run-down building. I literally walked in the door as someone was leaving, and wandered around until I found myself in a giant room filled with nothing but anime merchandise. DVD's, plushies, wall scrolls, PVC's - all bootlegs. There were two guys frantically throwing stuff into boxes for shipment and taping it up, and one of them looked up in shock and shrieked, "How did you get in here?!?" I was tempted to say "In tru da winder," but answered honestly, "I just walked through the front door." I explained why I was there, how nobody contacted me back, and the gentleman, without a word, walked over to a nearby shelf, pulled another copy of the Cerulean Sea box set, handed it to me, and took the first (defective) copy from my hands. I inspected the discs. They looked fine. I attempted some small talk indicating thankfulness, which was answered by the gentleman with a terse "Are we done here?" Oh, yes, quite, indeed; bootlegs to ship, very busy, I understand. A week later, I went on a trip to New Mexico and brought the dvd's with me. I thought it would be fun to watch an anime set in the desert while being in the desert myself. The first disc stopped at episode 3 and would play no further. The remaining discs were only good as drink coasters, I'm afraid. I did manage to finally watch the episodes a few years later, through a friend who had downloaded them from somewhere. I never found out what happened to the pleasant gentlemen and their bootlegging. I'd like to think that, if I could find that warehouse today, there would be no trace of the men or their merchandise -- just an empty, dust-filled room...and a forgotten, damaged bootleg dvd box set of Secret of Cerulean Sand, somewhere in a dark corner just beyond sight. The End. |
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Lili-Hime
 Posts: 569 |
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I have a friend that knows where to get one.... no questions asked. |
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HyugaHinata
 Posts: 3505 |
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Personally, I think the best grave for bootlegs is in convention panels. It's easier to educate fans and raise awareness about bootlegs if you can show the audience what NOT to buy.
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Freyanne
 Posts: 216 |
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I generally frown upon buying bootlegs knowingly, although I know that for some series, especially for older, not-as-popular, and/or kids anime, there is a very low chance of getting a legal way to watch the series, so I can't fault people when it comes to that. Plus there was that huge Sailor Moon "drought" back then until Viz annouced they had the rights to release it.
Heck, a few years back, I had considered buying a bootleg boxset of Monster Rancher on eBay, but decided not to. A few days later, Discotek announced they had the rights to the series, both English and Japanese versions. xD I only own three bootlegs - Sailor Moon Stars ( friend bought it for me years ago as a birthday gift), the live action Sailor Moon series (willingly bought that because there is a very slim chance of that ever coming out in the States), and the infamous popular movie Battle Royale (bought nearly ten years ago from Amazon directly, didn't know itnwas a bootleg until. I checked it out, and it was apparently a copy of an actual legit english-speaking DVD release). I wouldn't ever part with them because of the memories, and I actually did buy the legit U.S. release of Battle Royale a few years back (i have to thank "The Hunger Games" for that, considering. Lol!) and will buy VIZ's version of Sailor Moon Stars when it comes out. I remember back in high school, a friend got sooooo mad at me when I told her that the Chobits boxset her grandma bought for her was a bootleg (and I had said it in a non-threatening or insulting " Huh - I think this boxset is a bootleg - this has chinese subtitles" way.). The interesting thing about that bootleg was that it seemed to be a near perfect copy of the official ADV(?) set that they released, video quality included - only a few of the menus has a clear "photoshop/edit blur" on a small part of the main menus .
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vanfanel
 Posts: 1251 |
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I've bought exactly two bootleg CDs, and found out they were bootlegs when the editor of a magazine I reviewed one for told me. Ouch!
The guy who sold them to me used to turn up at all the local comic book shows with a table of VHS tapes; mostly Hong Kong action movies, Japanese monster movies, and a few anime. Oh, and the Star Wars Christmas Special and the never-released Roger Corman Fantastic Four movie! I knew the VHS were bootlegs with their crappy photocopied cover art, but the CDs looked absolutely professional, so I was fooled. I later learned that Son May records is or was a company set up in Taiwan that takes advantage of that region's unusual status -- de facto independence, but not recognized as a country because of China's claims on it -- to dodge international copyright law. One disk I've replaced with the real thing; the other I didn't like enough to do so, so I just trashed it. I heard through a comic shop friend several years ago that the guy had gotten busted by the FBI in a sting operation. I didn't think he had enough stuff to appear on their radar, but apparently there was a warehouse somewhere, and when he led a prospective buyer there, the guy had a badge. |
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CatSword
 Posts: 1489 |
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I have a complete (as in every episode, no movies/OVAs though I don't think bootleg of the original Naruto series. It looks like crap and only half of it plays.
Thankfully it was free. |
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CandisWhite
Posts: 282 |
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Until the mess surrounding 'Candy Candy' in Japan gets totally cleared up, I'm holding onto my Mexican, taped off tv, bootleg DVDs with a passion.
They're the only bootlegs that I own but I will lay my body across them. Even when hell freezes over and we finally get a legit release, Japanese or otherwise, I'll keep them around for the memories. Dub's not half bad, either. |
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brucepuppy
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I glued them on an old cabinet in my house's storage with the shiny part upfront in a styled simetric pattern. The shiny part faded over time though, probably because bootleg dvd used low quality material that couldn't hold against temperature and humidity outside the disk case for too long. So now they are not as pretty as they were back then.
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EyeOfPain
Posts: 312 |
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If you really feel the need to steal content, you might as well just go digital. At least then you aren't funding criminal organizations likely involved in the drug and sex trades.
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grooven
Posts: 1426 Location: Canada |
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Just wanted to say lots of places recycle CDs DVDs, and VHS tapes too. You don't have to throw them out.
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WingKing
Posts: 617 |
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My one and only bootleg is my copy of "The Vision of Escaflowne" that I bought brand new at Suncoast (even when you try to do the right thing...). I will hold onto that until Funi gets around to taking advantage of their rescue license and re-releases it someday, and then I'll happily buy a legit copy. I do buy anime DVDs off ebay, but it's something I'm always extremely careful about - I won't touch any listing that looks even the least bit suspicious - and so far I've never been burned yet.
Yeah, I run an anime club, and for one of our January meetings I asked my kids to bring in their anime-related Christmas presents to show off. One girl proudly brought in a complete Ghibli collection set someone had given her that was obviously a bootleg. I didn't want to spoil her moment or make her feel bad about her gift, though, so I just kind of vaguely went, "Oh, I didn't know anyone made something like that," and left it there. |
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