Anime/Video Game Purchasing Online

Scott

Here's the deal - I was talking to Firu a little and we came to the conclusion that it would be a worthwhile endeavor to set up a sticky so that people know where they can buy their (mostly imported) anime and be sure that it's not a bootleg and that the studios ARE getting their due. This will be an open thread for a bit, so please contribute if you've ever had a good experience/been burned, and I'll add it to the sticky here.

Good Importers
www.yesasia.com
www.animenation.com
www.lik-sang.com
www.videogamedepot.com
www.cdjapan.co.jp

Known Bootleggers
www.discountanimedvd.com
www.animepavilion.com

Qi

www.animenmore.com -- delivery took a bit (3 weeks) because of re-stock
www.gamemusic.com -- good shit

Fishbu

Is deepdiscountdvd.com bootleg?

xWonderboyx

www.deepdiscountdvd.com is not bootleg. all region 1. Just bought my final Hellsing disc. Gotta love free shipping.

Lucitania

damn, i was gonna buy from Discountanimedvd. figured they had to be legit since they've got boxsets. guess they just send you just the DVD's

Dr Mario Kart

I've found these guys to be good for importing games

http://www.ncsxshop.com/cgi-bin/shop

firu

So, I ordered some stuff from AnimeNation.com, and I feel the experience was somewhat mixed. Yes, they "had" what I wanted, but unfortunately it was not in stock, and this fact was not made evident at any point during purchase. They were, however, extremely good about keeping me informed of the fact that they had not, in fact, forgotten my order and would be getting me my stuff as soon as possible. Additionally, their estimate of wait time was fairly accurate. The items arrived in good condition via USPS. Overall, a B-, but keep in mind that this order may have just been an unfortunate confluence of errors.

Favlaud

www.ebay.com

BYToady

I've never had problems with www.animecastle.com

Dog

I know that www.cherrysquare.com has decent selection and free shipping but I don't know if their bootleggers, anyone?

Lurky McPost

Lucitania wrote:

damn, i was gonna buy from Discountanimedvd. figured they had to be legit since they've got boxsets. guess they just send you just the DVD's

They got boxes, and look flash enough, though I suspect there are many mistakes on the back covers that I can't read. In fact, I think its not even from the right movie.

The Deranged Hermit

I'm thinking of importing some DVD's as a fair amount of anime series don't get U.K. releases (or if they do they take ages), but what I need to know is, will my P.C. play DVD's from outside the U.K. or do I need a region killer or some such?

Janson

It depends on your dvd-rom drive, I bought mine knowing it was multi-region, or had the capabilities to be multi-region, and then I use DVD Genie to change the region (PowerDVD only allows you to change the region 5 times).

This year, many more series have been released on Region 2, the more popular series are definitely now available on Region 2. Try http://www.play.com for Region 2 releases, they have a large anime selection. For Region 1 importers based in the UK, http://www.up1.co.uk are excellent. Both give good service and are definitely not bootleggers.

The Deranged Hermit

Interesting, I'll switch my DVD drive over to Region 1 encoding then, so I can watch them on my t.v via s-video cable and use my Xbox to play Region 2 encoded DVD's.

Thanks for the info.

Aoi

GREAT anime dvd/ld/vhs/toys import should would be
www.animejungle.com
They're based out of Osaka Japan, they have VERY fluent speakers, have new, and a lot of EXCELLENT shape used stuff that's DEEPLY discounted, and just seriously fucking rock. If there's a title you're looking for that they don't have in stock, they will hunt it down new or used, and even find you disks with all the extras intact in gorgeous condition. Seriously amazing shop. I've delt with them several times and never had a problem, they even take international money order for anyone without a credit card.

90X Double Side

psiclopz wrote:

I know that www.cherrysquare.com has decent selection and free shipping but I don't know if their bootleggers, anyone?

The bootleggers at cherrysquare.com wrote:

No. of Disc: 3
Episodes: 1-13
Region Code: All code, region free
Dialogue: Japanese
Subtitle: English/Chinese

The Geek

GameMusic.com is the only place so far that I have discovered that will reliably sell non-bootleg game and anime sountracks.

Never, ever buy an anime or game sountrack off of Ebay. They are all, every single last one of them, bootlegs. I 100% guarantee it.

Basically, how they get away with it is the CDs are produced in a country that hasn't signed the Berne(sp) agreement and therefor doesn't respect international copyright laws. So, they are not technically illegal. But they are most definitely unauthorized.

The most popular bootleggers of game and anime music are EverAnime, SonMay, and Alion Records. They look professional and almost look like the real deal, but they are not the authorized publishers of that music. Some of them even go so far as to include "do not reproduce without authorization" messages on their own stolen music.

Nibble

Scott wrote:

www.videogamedepot.com

Note: bootleggers, as discussed in this thread.

TheRoadVirus

I bought my Trigun set from www.amazon.com . I had no problems with it, and somehow all 27 1-hour episodes were on 3 DVDs. I got the whole thing for like $25, then saw the whole set at the mall for like 200. What are the chances mine is bootleg?

Edit: My set came in a container that looked like . If you go Here, you can see it says 8 discs. It all works fine, so no harm done, i guess.

Legacy

TheRoadVirus wrote:

I bought my Trigun set from www.amazon.com . I had no problems with it, and somehow all 27 1-hour episodes were on 3 DVDs. I got the whole thing for like $25, then saw the whole set at the mall for like 200. What are the chances mine is bootleg?

Chances it is bootleg...hmm...

100 in 100? I dunno a great way to say 'It is' without just saying it is.

But...yeah. It is. Very much so. I have the same one.

TheRoadVirus

Legacy wrote:

TheRoadVirus wrote:

I bought my Trigun set from www.amazon.com . I had no problems with it, and somehow all 27 1-hour episodes were on 3 DVDs. I got the whole thing for like $25, then saw the whole set at the mall for like 200. What are the chances mine is bootleg?

Chances it is bootleg...hmm...

100 in 100? I dunno a great way to say 'It is' without just saying it is.

But...yeah. It is. Very much so. I have the same one.

I figured it was too good a deal to be authentic. Oh well. Works well enough for me.

Paladin

Yeah, it's actually a really good chance an anime bought off Amazon.com is a bootleg. If the price looks reasonable, stay away from it.

saint2e

I've found that:

http://www.rightstuf.com

Is pretty decent. Especially with "Shawne's Deals of the Day".

Zimmydoom

I've always had really good luck with http://www.animecornerstore.com/, although I've only ever ordered region 1 stuff. Good prices, shipped rediculously fast. They advertise a lot in Newtype USA, although that doesn't necessarily mean they don't bootleg. The only merchandise I've ever bought from anywhere that wasn't a @#$% bootleg was from Amazon, and that was the Cowboy Bebop movie OST.

Sam

http://import-anime.com is a known bootlegger. It's also a source of info on the varying quality of bootlegs, through their reviews section, should you ever decide to purchase a bootleg, which you should not.

Aberserker

Sorry to bump an older thread, but I've found that newegg now sells Anime, and for a very good price.
http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/DVDCategory.asp?Category=2200

Also, I bought the entire Hellsing series for 22 bucks at FYE (Used) on 2 disks. What are the odds it's a bootleg?

redstormpopcorn

Aberserker wrote:

Also, I bought the entire Hellsing series for 22 bucks at FYE (Used) on 2 disks. What are the odds it's a bootleg?

99%; the legit Hellsing box-set is four discs and at least $90.

Folken Fanel

I've had some success with www.bestprices.com. Decent music selection as well.

Drakmathus

what the heck happened to videogamedepot? I know lik-sang is gone, where do you guys buy your saturn games aside from the ebay? Is there any central store that sells games for every system anymore? I've looked at play-asia and NCS but the selections are very poor for older systems.

madstork91

TheRoadVirus wrote: »

I bought my Trigun set from www.amazon.com . I had no problems with it, and somehow all 27 1-hour episodes were on 3 DVDs. I got the whole thing for like $25, then saw the whole set at the mall for like 200. What are the chances mine is bootleg?

Edit: My set came in a container that looked like . If you go Here, you can see it says 8 discs. It all works fine, so no harm done, i guess.

I bought the same one off of discountanimedvd.com I suppose they are bootleg then ;-p

Oh well. I'm fine with it I guess. Whats the diff anyways?

Edit: Maybe it isnt a bootleg? My copy doesnt have near the quality complaints that a few of the reviews on amazon claimed... There is no focus problem. No glitches... No random artifacts... im really confused now.