Updating the Pirate Anime FAQ

Joe Curzon writes "Over two years ago, I created what is now probably the most comprehensive and detailed guide to spotting bootleg and counterfeit anime/manga related goods - The Pirate Anime FAQ. A special version of the FAQ has also been published at numerous Anime Conventions around the USA. However due to commitments in the "real world" I have not been able to update FAQ almost a year. :( I would like to iron out any creases and update the whole thing in one go, so I was wondering what improvements would the Otaku readers of /. recommend? The DVD section and Fansub section are in need of the most attention and I plan to deal with that soon, but I was also wondering if there were any subtle changes I could make to improve the FAQ as well?"

Comments

Otaku

[Anonymous Coward]

It might help if you refrained from using the word "Otaku". To you, it may mean "enthusiastic anime fan", but to anyone who actually speaks Japanese, it means "pathetic loser with no life". If you're intending to inform people about a subject, you might want to avoid offending them.

Too Expensive, Blu-Ray

[MBCook]

I have recently discovered anime and like it alot, but I haven't seen too much. Most of what I have seen is the stuff that's aired on TV (Betterman, Dual, DB(Z), Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, etc) simply because it's expensive. The blockbusters of the world don't carry much (a movie or two like Akira and Princess Mononoke) but if I want to watch a series, I have to wait for it to be on TV.

I agree with you that anime is very expensive, but so are most other TV shows. Unfortunatly I think this is due to the DVD format it's self. It was designed for movies, and as such can only hold 4 or 5 episodes of a half hour show per disc. And with shows running into 6 discs for a single season for some shows (this is from Buffy season 2) at nearly $50 it's very expensive.

This all assumes you can even get it. The Cowboy Bebop collection is no longer sold, so I'd have to buy each disc individualy. The Betterman saga is something like $150 in a full set.

This is why I hope Blu-Ray discs and players appear soon. While they may not add to much for movies (full HDTV or something maybe) but for collection like series, they would probably reduce the cost a ton. Or you could fit all of the Starwars triligoy on one disc (episodes 4, 5, and 6) or any other trilogy. So even if it costs 5 times as much to make a blu-ray disc, it holds as much as about 7 DVDs, making it cheaper (not including the cost of packaging 7 DVDs, labeling them, running that many production lines, etc).

Blu-ray, where are you?

PS: I don't condone privacy. I could download entire series, but I don't think that's right. I'll wait untill I can afford them or they are on TV.

Re:Too Expensive, Blu-Ray

[Anonymous Coward]

As a sibling post states, pressed DVDs are under a dollar each to make. There's actually two factors why the cost of a season of a TV series (anime or otherwise) is so expensive.

The first is the DVD count are intentionally produced at a higher rate than necessary proportional to the number of videos involved (ie, putting only 3 episodes on a DVD instead of 4). This is done intentionally to inflat e the price, as consumers like you view more about the number of DVDs involved than the content of said DVDs.

The second factor is people are *willing* to spend the money to buy seasons of TV shows. In the US, TV shows which are often on don't normally sell well (there's less incentive to buy what you can always catch on TV). Of course, exceptions include "cult" classics. With anime, there is no syndication on TV, so you're stuck buying at whatever price they're willing to sell at. For that major reason, anime is even more insanely priced than US TV shows.

What do these two factors mean? For one, they mean you should consider buying the 3 DVD instead of the 4 DVD season set for some series, all factors being equal, especially since it should be $1 less.. Realistically, it means less DVD switching. Of course, at some level, it might mean less quality, but that's what reviews are for if you have the choice. There's also the possibility of endorsing opendivx (or ogg's one, whenever it becomes stable), as in general more will fit on the DVD at the same quality (it'd probably happen you could fit a whole season on a single DVD). Of course, showing how factor one to producers doesn't effect your buying habits, they might start producing single DVD seasons.

Why this really matters is buying a single DVD for a season removes the "stigma" of buying a box case. The result should be a steady increase in the supply of series, since it's so easy to produce (about as much physical printing and packaging as a movie). Producers will manufacturer more seasons to increase their profits. Buyers, then, seeing the flood of TV series available will start diversifying the price (they'll pay more for X-Files than Matlock, since the former is newer), which should drive down the price down to the price of movies (in reality, since tv series have until dvds survived solely on revenue from the actual tv shows, all profits on dvd sales are really "icing on the cake", so as people begin to realize this, tv series might even begin to sell for *less* than movies).

So, to me it's only a matter of time for enough people to realize that they not only want but can probably get several tv series as part of their library without it being unordinary.

Yeah...

[dethl]

Video Companies chose to ignore moral fansubbers for many reasons

One of the main reasons is because the Japanese companies can't get the people in America due to licencing laws. If its not licenced in America, its not illegal.

Now there are moral fansubbers who throw their fansubs away when said series becomes licenced, and go but a full quality DVD.

Re:Yeah...

[lunatik17]

What are you talking about? Japan is a signee of the Berne Convention, so their copyrights are perfectly valid in America.

fansubs rox

[Graspee_Leemoor]

I think you should update your pirate anime faq with more coverage of internet fansubs. Specifically you should have lots of ed2k and bittorrent links to good stuff like One Piece and Hikaru no Go.

But seriously, you should point out that lots of fansubbers do better translations than the official ones, and that many people download fansubs because of the greediness of the official distributers, who often put out a dvd with just 3 eps on it, and since anime series tend to be at least 20 eps long that's a lot to pay per series.

You could also mention that official dvd releases of anime in Japan often have the cool extra value of a collectible figure.

Also you should highlight the shift from fansubs on vhs to fansubs on the internet, and how we don't have to put up with rubbishy quality anymore.

Maybe you'd like to include a bit about video codecs and how the Japanese are crazy for their realmedia format, and how xvid is taking over from divx in the west.

graspee

Re:Anime....

[Qzukk]

There are four complex anime plotlines that are generally understandable by Westerners:

1) Social Observation. Peer into the inner workings of society and interaction between humans in unusual situations or in the wake of a major social shift. Watch Serial Experiments Lain (can mankind make the shift to an online society? Should it?) or Evangelion (children are put into machines and ordered to kill, maim, and destroy. What is life like for those children?).

2) Coming of Age story: Typically a young female either in or approaching the early teens experiences an adventure, learns to rely on her self and her own skills, as well as to trust her friends around her, and emerges at the end an older, stronger, and wiser person. See Spirited Away (or almost any Miyazaki movie).

3) Tragic Romance (in the shakespearian vein). Sometimes its just not going to work out. Japanese seem to love watching people writhe in emotional agony. Especially same-sex parings. See Revolutionary Girl Utena (series first, then movie). See also just about every show targeted at older girls or young women in Japan.

4) Weird Shit Happens. Sit back and enjoy the ride. See FLCL (Fooly Cooly), Excel Saga, and just about anything you buy in R2 without English translations if you don't understand Japanese.

How to spot a bootleg and other things.

[Maul]

People mentioning BitTorrent and fansubs don't get the picture. Nobody sane downloading One Piece off of BT believes they are getting an official product, and furthermore they are paying $0.00 for it.

The problem with "pirated" anime is that bootleggers attempt to pass their bootlegged goods as the "real thing." Many anime fans, especially novice anime fans, believe that they are getting a real collector's item when they buy these products.

Of course, there are ways to spot bootlegs. If you are looking for official merchandise as a collectable, you should always be wary of deals that seem too good to be true, and always look out for the warning signs.

The anime itself:

Obviously, a series being sold on eBay as a VCD or CD-R is a bootleg. That goes without saying.

However, most bootleggers use DVDs nowadays, and have done an extremely good job making their product appear to be official. You can prevent yourself from being duped if you are keen on things.

Anything with subtitles in both English and Chinese is a bootleg.

Almost anything that is "region free" is a bootleg.

If the price is too good to be true, it is probably a bootleg. Region 1 (US) anime DVDs range between $20 and $40. Region 2 (Japan) anime DVDs are even more expensive. Someone offering all of Lain (which is released on 4 DVDs in the US) for $20 is either crazy or selling a bootleg.

You can also look to make sure that the DVD packaging displays the name of a known distributor (ADV, AnimeWorks, etc.) or conforms to the packaging displayed on the original web site.

Anime Sound Tracks:

This can be a little trickier. Taiwanese bootleggers like SM and EverAnime often do a great job of making their bootlegs look EXACTLY like the real deal. The CDs are stamped, the sound quality is equal to that of the real thing, and even the packaging and appearance of the disc look exactly like the real thing from Japan. The only real way to tell is by looking at the name of the distributor, and the price. You will almost certainly pay a premium for the "real" thing, which could cost you $30-$50+ depending. SM CDs, on the other hand, are typically $5-$15.

The strange thing about bootleg Taiwanese CDs is that sometimes even reputable, legit. businesses who otherwise wouldn't have anything to do with bootlegs sell them.

Merchandise

Merchandise can be tricky, because there is often so much of it that it is hard to keep track. Obviously, you want to look for the copyright somewhere on the merchandise. If it isn't there, it may be a bootleg. Many "wall scrolls," character cards, etc. are bootleg merchandise.
Ultimately, the only way to probably make sure that you are getting legit goods is to know that it came from a store in Japan (though I'm not sure if that is 100%, since there are doujin-type goods out there that are fan-made).

Comic Books:

I know that bootleg manga are out there as well, but since manga isn't all that popular in the US yet, there are very few manga distributors. Viz an Tokyo Pop are two of the biggest ones. I guess just check to see if the manga is published by an authorized distributor.

And while doujinshi is not "bootleg" material, techinically, many newbie fans buy doujin not realizing what it is. It complicates things if they've bought an ecchi doujin, which is likely since a lot of doujin is pornographic. They don't find out that what they've bought is a "fan comic" until they open it up and see their favorite anime character getting gang raped.

Doujin is usually easily spotted because the art style will be different. However, many doujin artists are actually very good (a lot of pros got their start as doujin artists, and some still make doujin under "pen names") and can copy the original style. Sometimes the artist will be nice enough to write a warning on an ecchi doujin. It also will typically be larger / differently shaped than the manga volumes.

Of course, doujin in itself can be collectable. But I know many people who accidentally bought H doujin from dealers or when they went to Japan for the first time. Many I know who still lived with their parents high got in serious trouble. ^_^;