Bootleg Anime – How to Spot It

A bootleg is an illegal reproduction of a copyrighted DVD, and it is a problem that anime fans commonly run into. Bootlegs of anime are different from fansubs; while both are illegal, fansubs are available for free, while bootleggers charge money for the anime and market it as the official product. The problems with bootlegs are that they are of a much lesser quality than officially licensed DVDs, and that they effectively take money away from the industry, which has been faltering as of late. Most anime fans have found themselves tricked by bootleggers at some point, but if you keep an eye out for some key signs you’ll be able to avoid being ripped off.

Anime Bootleg Box: Chinese Characters, too Few Discs

Many of the more professional looking bootlegs are made overseas, typically in Hong Kong or Taiwan. Because of this the DVD boxes will often have Chinese characters next to English words and will be subtitled in Chinese as well as English. There will also be an incorrect number of discs. The video is of a lower quality and so the bootleggers can cram more episodes onto a disc–this will result in a series having only 3 or 4 discs, while the official English release would have 6 and the Japanese release even more. Also, the box art will usually be missing the official logo of the American distribution company.

The Price–It’s Really too Good to be True

Unfortunately a good deal of bootlegs are sold online wither through disreputable online stores or websites like Ebay or even the Amazon Marketplace. Here the people selling the bootlegs use official art from the anime box covers, tricking the fan into thinking he’s buying the real thing. But there are two indicators here that can let you know if it’s a bootleg. First there is the price. Bootleg box sets for shows like Trigun or Hellsing can be seen online for as low as $30, which is quite literally a steal. Bootlegs are often sold at a much lower price than the official release–they’re stealing the series, after all, so the bootleggers don’t have to pay for overhead like production, licensing or voice acting.

The other indicator is full series box sets. While it’s not rare to see a full series set for anime that are only 26 episodes long, it is almost unheard of for longer series, such as Inu Yasha. It is also most likely a bootleg if an anime that has not been released in the United States is being marketed as an official box set with English subtitles. Just a couple of years ago Amazon was berated for listing the “official box set” of Sailor Moon Stars, which had never been released in America and was only released as individual discs in Japan.

Bad Translation of Japanese

If you have purchased a DVD and are still unsure if it’s a bootleg or not, the final thing to check is the translation. Often the translation is very shoddy so that it’s obvious even to those who don’t speak Japanese. This is due to the fact that the dialogue is translated from Japanese, to Chinese, and finally to English. This isn’t always the case, however, as some bootleggers will actually rip the information off the official discs and then make their own copies of the official translation.

In the end, the best way to protect yourself is to educate yourself. If you are aware of what companies sell anime in America you can easily look up what series they are currently distributing and the method in which they are being sold, whether it’s individual discs or full box sets of the anime.