And keep in mind, they're getting elaborate these days - it isn't just Hong Kong bootleggers now, we have US people doing it themselves - in which case you may get bootlegs that include the dubbed track, the great US quality, and the good subtitles - the only difference? Fewer dvds and different cases - and a lower price. The best way to know now if it's bootleg is still the pictures - if the picture shows the inside and the actual dvds you can usually tell from that. They will have pictures on the dvds which match the picture on the actual case *behind* the dvds - while US releases don't bother and just stick with black backgrounds. They'll also be the cheap fold out and glued plastic clear cases over the picture backgrounds.ryuu_hime13 wrote:Ah, crap. In that case, bootlegs they are.
It was easier when it was just the HK distributors - their boxsets were entirely in Japanese (with few exceptions). With the US bootlegs you get the entire thing in English - looking quite legitimate, and with english dub as an option. I wouldn't be surprised if they even took the cover pictures from the original US released dvd boxes. But so far the ones I've seen continue to use the cheap fold-out cases - and I haven't seen a legitimate US distributor use those.
In any case, I stick with pictures now. You can tell the HK bootlegs from the Chinese subtitle option - but US bootlegs are harder. They have everything, including the extras - only the boxes and number of dvds (and of course the price) differs. I almost feel sorry for the HK bootleggers - at this rate, they'll be put out of business. The US bootlegs offer everything plus better quality - at usually half the price of the official release. The only difference is that you have to wait till the anime is dubbed and made available before they get their hands on them - while the HK bootleggers can snatch it from Japan and get it out there a lot sooner.
Who knows, as the US bootleggers increase, maybe official prices will drop - once they realize people can buy the exact same thing for half the price and no loss of quality.
