Interesting article on anime bootlegging
 

http://www.westword.com/Issues/2006-...news/news.html

I thought this part was hilarious

"That's why Morse has never dealt in bootlegs and is taking shots at Henderson's operation. Early on, he put an educational display of a bootleg DVD in his store with labels instructing customers on how to recognize a fake. But that backfired after too many fans asked if they could buy the movie."

As long as they continue to charge $30 for a 3-episode DVD in mediocre conversion quality, I could care less about the anime industry. Anime has already ruined cartoon programming in the USA, so if they are "hurt" and have to dub less shows for our market, I'm totally fine with it.


edit - Understand I like stuff like Big O, Slayers and Cowboy Bebop, unique stories. But we don't need 1000 episodes of Dragonballs, or crappy shows like Bobobobobobobo and Hamtaro (and there are many more where those came from). Japan is all about quantity, not quality. The USA lately thinks "old is bad" so we see less Bugs Bunny and more Japan junk. This I cannot stand.

I don't think anime is ruining the cartoon schedule at all. Anime is just much better and always have been. Better story telling and better animation. Crappy animation and terrible dialogue is an American artform. On the whole, 99 percent of it stinks. Anime has taken over and will continue to do so. Millions of people love it. That's saying something. I don't like the fact that you have to pay $30 for 3 episodes. That's bullcrap. Especially if the show has 200 episodes. It will take 50 years till they complete the series. [}:)]

I like ADV the best. They are reasonably priced around 19.99 and they give you 5 or 6 episodes.

In Japan, you pay $30 and only get 1 episode. [:u]

Don't get me wrong, I love all the old cartoons and some of the new ones. I just think anime is better. Just my opinion. [:x)]

Take care

good opinion...I've never really liked it though the animation is good, I don't like the way it's animated(can't really explain why)...and something about the voices I can't stand either....thats just my opinion. :)

There's just something slightly creepy about all the males in anime looking like twelve year-old girls that I can't get past.That and the style just isn't pallatable to me.I'll always prefer good old american style,saturday morning cartoons.I tried to get into anime and although I own 5-6 films that's about the only ones out of 20 or so I watched that I liked.The rest just seemed formulaic and crappy.To each his own.

hmm ,... the only eye candy ,.. i can think of comes from ,... dada ... JAPAN .... the only great art ,i seen from AMERICA was Spiderman Mtv ... modeled after Japanese cartoon style .

Japans style has always been ,... natural endings (good guy can die ), and Lotsa EYE GRABERS (color and Art).humor is not their strong suit either.

Americas style has always been ,... optimistic endings (good guy prevails!), and terrible art. but FUUUUNNNY ,.. GRAB YOUR BELLY HUMOR !!!

so all in all i love the two ... there is no better to me ,.. just different moods .

but if you talk art ,.. you have to be blind ... to think that USA's art has proven superior to Japan.

it's 2 am and i'm drinking a Heineken ... does that make me a DRUNK ? or just darring ?

LOL!!!

There's a lot of great american artist lol ! Japan & US are equal in that department.

I enjoy anime . Certain styles. Some of japanese anime all look like bug eyes lol !
When I watch anime , I look similar styles like ; Vampier Hunter D, Akira , Bubble Gum Crisis, The Big 0, Witch hunter Robin, pyscho driver, Steamboy, and Metropolis to name few. I like animation with a lot of details , American & japanese.


2 am heinenken hmmmmm.....Could be your bowels talkin too lmao ! :P

I am not against entirely the booting of anime. In some cases (that I'm interested in) a lot of the older "go nagai" toons have not/probably will not ever get a proper US release (such as the original Mazinger Z, Getter robo g (starvengers here), etc). And in those rare times is when I fully appreciate the HK bootlegging. Not only are they usually direct rips (pressed) of the Jap disc (in many cases dual layered), but they add in removable english subtitles. In general I approve of bootlegging if it provided a version of the film/series that is not available otherwise.

hi, i DO NOT like anime. i also don't like toons like south park. just like music, you don't have to have cartoon characters cursing etc for laughs. give me a good ole tom & jerry and i'll laugh all day. i would take bugs & the gang and other CLASSIC toons over anime any day. just my opinion. we need more toons from back in the day. even if it is only toons from the 90s like life with louie. some say that anime & the newer toons like south park are what kids want. my kids don't. they like the old toons. i was transferring some life with louie one day and the kids wanted to know what cartoon that was, because they had never seen it. they like it as well as i do. one of the newer toons i like is spongebob. those to me are like classic toons. thanks

Agreed. And the older toons had more class, they did not need to sink to the bottom of the barrel for laughs. Bring back those older toons or even the toons of the early-mid 80s. Where cartoons were not mainly about sex, cursing, or other f'ed up situations (not saying most of the toons today are like this, but I just see an underlying theme in most of them)

I am actually glad that the HK's is avaibile, if it wasn't for them I wouldn't of got into shows like ultraman, kamen rider, super sentai, tokusatsu, godzilla and anime. Between buying the HK's to the toeis dvd's, i prefer the HK's mainly due to the cost and it has english subs.

If toei dvd lowered their cost and did english subs, like they did for the first time on their ultraman next release. then they would get alot more customers, not everybody can afford $50 per a dvd with so little to offer for it.

I am in support of the HK's as i get to watch the series at a low cost and feel my money is worth the enjoyment and not feel its a hole in the pocket for so much little.

It's the same with USA/UK retail dvd, i am all about supporting the industry itself. But I don't buy the anime as its not worth spending £20 for just 1 dvd with only 4 episodes. thats £5 a episode, its a total rip off in my eyes.

I actually have to wait for the sales untill i can get any of the dvd's themselfs. This guy is complaining why people get the HK's instead of supporting the industry. simple reason is they are cheap, and you get value for your money.

perfect example is how sonic X is released in the UK, you have to pay about £10 a DVD just for 2 episodes. Personally that's just a waste of money if I am getting so little. i could buy the complete Inhumoniods for that amount of cash.

If they lower their prices to £15 per a dvd and did 5 episodes a DVD, then yes i would start buying them. But to me its jut to expensive and will cost 100's of pounds just to get a complete series.

I do enjoy Cartoons & anime, but anime has a better chice to offer nowadays then cartoons does. I do think the older cartoons from the 80s and 90s should be back on, which would be nice to see.

I just find some cartoons nowadays are just recycled storys from the old days and it sometimes gets to predictable. No ofensive to anyone in the USA, but the simple reason they look to anime is because they are original storys and not recycled trash.

They have simply run out of ideas for new cartoons to put on, so they turn to the Anime market and other countries. Nowadays not many cartoons being shown are orignally created in the USA market.

If they stop thinking about how much money they can make and do cartoons that has a proper storyline, then perhaps they could get some better series done. I have no problems with Anime being shown, but I would like it better if they can create some better cartoons with a decent storyline.