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Bootleg guide

What is Bootleg?

Bootleg are cheap rip-off of the original products. Unfortunally the anime community is a big victim of bootlegs. Sure bootlegs are cheaper, but they are often of horrible quality plus the people who worked for it, won’t get their money.
Try to imagine this; you work hard for your money but they send your paycheck to your cousin. So please, even if you think you have a great deal if you are buying bootleg, think again. Because it isn’t a great deal, not for you, and not for the original creators! But sometimes bootlegs are hard to spot, so that’s why you can find a guide how to spot ‘em, right one this page!



Bootleg DVDs
1. Anime DVDs from Taiwan or Hongkong are most likely to be bootleg. So watch out when you see IMPORTED FROM TAIWAN/HONGKONG on your DVDS!


2. Bootlegs DVDs often have English and Chinese subtitles! Even though there is a possibility that official licensers do have this option, it’s most likely they do not. I mean, think about it, why does a North American licenser want to have Chinese subtitles? The English subtitles on these kind of DVDs are also horrible! Reason is that they are translated directly from Chinese and then put in Google translator.


3. Bootleg often have no region codes. This means they can be played on every DVD player around the world. But just a little reminder; America is Region 1, Japan and most Countries in Europe have region 2.


4. Bootlegs are very cheap. Say you find a DVD box of a serie you love! And the price is 20 euros, while others offer it for 70 euros. This should ring a bell. Since bootlegs are cheap to make and they don’t pay money to the original creators they can offer them this cheap.


5. Bootlegs often have 12 episodes on one DVD. If you’ve been in the anime scene for a long time like me, you know that most anime come with only 3 till 4 episodes on one DVD. Even if they come in box sets, you still have 4 DVDs for 13 episodes.


6. Some well known bootleggers are; Animation Video, Anime Cartoon/Manga International, FX and Anime Studos. These are just a few of what might be hundreds of bootleggers!


Bootleg CDs
1. Two well know bootleggers in CDs are SonMay and EverAnime. If you spot a CD on your local convention, don’t be afraid to ask if they are real or not. (Trust me, some CD’s look amazing but others look very cheap, and that’s just because the company who sells them like it cheap!)


2. Again, watch out for Taiwan/Hongkong CDs!


3. It’s always to good to be true; if they are much cheaper than the original, then stay away from it! It’s most likely bootleg.


4. Japan has habit of releasing singles with only three or four numbers on them. If you find a CD with every single number of the anime on it, please watch out, it might be bootleg. But the other side is; CDs with over 30 songs do exist too, but most of them are OSTs which means they have the background music instead of the opening and ending songs.


Bootleg figurines
Yes, even figurines fall victim to bootleggers. And without the box, it's hard to spot if they are real or not. But if you know how the original looks like, then you can spot them. Bootlegs are more ugly than the original and the colors are most of the time off, or the pose of the figurine is different than the original. Also watch out for people offering you figurines that aren't released yet. Please check the manifacturer site for the offical release date!


Download
We prepared a special PDF version of the bootleg guide for you. Besides the info that is posted here, it also contains images and some extra info. You can download the guide here. Images, I mean, wow! Right?

 

Mataki

Bring & Buy

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