Buying imports

I've been looking into buying some anime (specifically Trigun), and I've been noticing that the Japanese imported box set that I've found on Ebay and Amazon Marketplaces seem much cheaper (about $30) then the standard boxed set that most online places are selling (cheapest was $140 on Amazon) and only had 3 DVDs compared with 8. I was wondering if there was any sort of scam to watch out for, or if it might be pirated, or some other ethical issue? Supposedly the import should play on my Region 1 DVD player... All of the posts I've seen so far talk of Japanese imports being more expensive and such, so I was curious about the huge gap in price in the other direction. Thanks!

Michael Anderson

Those 3 disc box sets are illegal bootleg discs. They'll probably have both English and Chinese subtitles, and could even be directly ripped from the official Pioneer discs. You should get the more expensive one - admittedly it's quite a lot more expensive, but it's legal and the money goes to the creators etc. etc.

Andrew H

<<snip>>

Andrew's correct - they're bootlegs.

Rather than buy the boxset, it might be cheaper to buy the DVDs indivudually. That's because Geneon is in the process of repricing some of its older titles - including some of 'Trigun' - downwards. If you look for the 'Signature Series' versions of 'Trigun', you'll see that the MSRP has declined from $30 per disc to $20 per disc, which in practice means that a disc can be had for around $15. See here for instance -
http://www.dvdpricesearch.com/cgi-bin/dvdcalc2? cmd=calc&tmpCart=32126 http://www.dvdpricesearch.com/cgi-bin/dvdcalc2? cmd=calc&tmpCart=31221 http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/ wKgmwlD5HTNaOd6uFX/browse...

- dbm

Those aren't Japanese imports. They're probably from Hong Kong, and almost certainly pirated.

Here are some of the warning signs that an import DVD may be a bootleg:

* It's advertised as 'new' or 'unopened' and is a lot cheaper than the American release of the same series. (DVDs are more expensive in Japan than in the US.)

* 26 episodes on only 3 discs, or more than 7 episodes per disc. (Legitimate companies don't do that because it reduces the picture quality too much.)

* Chinese subtitles.

* Seller is in an Asian country other than Japan (e.g. Hong Kong).

* 'Region 0' or 'All-region'. (Most Japanese DVDs are region 2 only, and won't work in an unmodified region 1 player.)

* No copyright notice on the package; even if you can't read Japanese, you should be able to spot the international C-in-a-circle copyright symbol. (Obviously this isn't much good when shopping online, but keep it in mind if you're ever shopping at walk-in store or anime convention dealer's room.)

If you're not sure about something, try looking for it at a well-known Japanese retailer, like CD Japan <http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/>. If you can't find the identical product listed there, you can be pretty sure it ain't a Japanese import. If you do find it listed there, you'll be able to check the product description and Japanese retail price.

I don't need to look to know that they're bootlegs. The official Japanese release of Trigun was on more than eight DVDs, each DVD cost more than the equivalent US release, and none of them were playable on a Region 1 DVD player. If you're curious about specifics, take a look at the anime section of <http://www.cdjapan.co.jp> - as you can see from the URL, they're an actual Japanese company.

If you want to stay legal, the 'standard box set' is currently the least expensive way to get the series (unless it's currently on one of the cable channels). Staying legal has the advantage that some of your money actually finds its way into the pockets of the people who created the anime, thus giving them financial incentive to make more...

Thanks you guys for the info. I was suspicious, but didn't want to pass up the offer if it were any good.

Michael Anderson