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Product Notes
Real or Fake?:
Telling the difference between real items and copies:
This is here to help people determine whether or not what they have is a legit or pirated item. There are a lot of copies out there and sometimes
telling the difference is very easy and sometimes it takes a little more examination. The key things to look for or at is copyright info, its quality
and how they are made. There are also other things like those little company stickers which are helpful but shouldn't be all that you are looking for.
Copies are everywhere and if getting the real thing is important to you should know what to look for.
It helps to be able to see what you're buying first if you really don't want copies but some of the things listed here to look for should help
even if it's an on-line/mail order purchase. Then of course asking can be helpful as the retailer will usually know what's legit and what's not.
Although you should never grill them unless they are acting rather shifty about that topic. Mind you if they are acting like that it's probably not
the real thing, they know it, and are trying to hide that fact.
Page Headings:
Where these are coming from and how they can get away with making them:
Copyrights give people and companies legal grounds to protect their creations whether the copyright infraction occurred in the same country or on the
other side of the planet. Unfortunately there are a few exception countries, chief among them is China. What makes China, Taiwan and other such countries
exceptions is that they unlike Japan, Canada, the U.S. and most others are not signing members of the Berne Copyright Convention. This is what would allow
a company in Japan to sue a business or individual in North America if that business or person is producing copies of an anime and selling them with out
being licensed to do so. Although since China is not a signing member of the Berne Copyright Convention a business there can produce and sell as many
copies of any copyrighted materials without fear of legal repercussions. Now while it is technically legal to make and sell them there, if those
products exit the country and enter a country that is a signing member of the Berne Copyright Convention those products then become illegal and the sale
and possession of such items can result in charges being laid. Unfortunately a lot of this stuff slips through customs as they are unaware that these
items are illegal and as a result many of these items are available here. Since they are all illegal in a country that is a signing member of the
Berne Copyright Convention someone in possession of them could be charged just as a business selling them could be charged, whether you are or not
is another matter as the police have other concerns and likely will not recognize them as illegal.
Copyright info:
Complete copyright info must appear somewhere on a legit item and/or its packaging. If you have something that doesn't have any copyright
info anywhere on it, it's a copy. Small items like pins or magnets may not have it on the item itself but would have it on the packaging. Something like
a model also may not have it on the model itself but would have it on the box, instructions and usually on the plastic that the parts are connected to.
Often the copyright info will be clipped off of or blacked over on a copy item. Sometimes, like with cards or calendars the copyright info would be left
on so you should then look for other things as well if you think it could be a copy item.
Company stickers:
Many to most of the legit items out there from Japan will have
a small sticker identifying the main company that holds the copyrights
for that title. These are of many different shapes, colours and styles
and a company can change the type used over time or depending on the title
so the same company can have several different ones over the course of
many years. These can be helpful as they would appear on many of the
items or their packaging but one may not always be put on an item but
is still made legitimately.
We've received many different idol cards and pencil boards and
while most have a sticker, some don't. This doesn't mean they aren't
legit, it's just that one wasn't put on that item. Also with pencil
boards purchased second hand there can be the problem that sometimes the
sticker is put on the board and sometimes it's put on the plastic pocket
it comes in. This means that while in the possession of someone else the
pockets could have been shuffled among the boards. So it is then just as
possible to get a board with no sticker on either the board or pocket,
on both or the wrong one on the pocket. Another place the sticker may be
found is something most of you probably never saw, the ten pack packages
the pencil boards and idol cards come in from MOVIC. MOVIC sends these two
items out in plastic pockets where each pack has ten of an item and every
so often they have a sticker on them. It seems that if there is one on those
packages there usually isn't one on either the item or the pockets in the
case of the pencil boards.
Those little stickers can be handy but as not finding one on
your item does not mean it is a copy it should not be the only thing you
look for. There are other ways which can better confirm which that item is.
Here are some of the stickers you may come across. First the image is given then the
company name (if known) and then some titles you could find them on.
GAINAX
Neon Genesis Evangelion |
Kadokawa
Record of Lodoss War, Welcome to Lodoss Island |
Kodansha
3x3 Eyes, Ah! My Goddess, Ghost in the Shell, Magic Knight Rayearth, You're Under Arrest |
NHK
Card Captor Sakura |
Pierrot
Fushigi Yuugi |
SONY (old)
Rurouni Kenshin |
SONY (new)
Rurouni Kenshin |
TOEI
Cutey Honey, Dragonball, Sailor Moon, Mamotte SyugoGetten! |
(it may be another Kadokawa sticker)
NADESICO, Tenchi Muyo! |
Common copy items:
Here we've listed off some of the more common copy items you'll come across. Some businesses deal exclusively in these items, others mix and match so
be wary. What's even worse is that some try to market them as the real thing, "straight from Japan" they say when they know for a fact that is not true.
This is when the customer really needs to be informed so they can protect themselves and that is where this page comes in. Below we have short notes
on each as well as links to where in this page to find more info on that item specifically or in general.
Posters
Stickers
Poker cards
Wall scrolls
CDs
Garage kits
Clothing
Videos
Videos - Fan Subs/Dubs
Video CDs
Trading cards/Stickers
Key chains
Pencil boards/Shitajiki
Idol cards
Models
Lapel Pins
Figures
Calendars
Manga
Mouse pads
Posters:
Usually about 15" x 21" (38cm x 53cm) in size and laminated on both sides. These will have codes in one of the lower corners like At 2693,
SS1062 or 2926. Also see the headings "Quality" and "How they are made"
for more info.
Stickers:
Typically about 7" x 10" (17cm x 25cm) sheets and come in plastic packages that can be resealed at the bottom, have a blue bar at the top with
"sticker" written on the left side, a hole in the middle and what are most likely Chinese characters on the right side. Somewhere on the
sheets would be a code like P43 or C26. Also see the heading "Quality" for more info.
Poker cards:
Standard 3½" x 2¼" (8.5cm x 6cm) 52 card decks with 2 jokers that come in some form of storage case. The most common is a clear rubbery
plastic storage case that on one side of the case has one of each of the four suits in each corner. Images are typically taken from trading cards but
also come from calendars, posters, model kits and other sources.
Wall scrolls:
Wall scrolls are like large posters printed on a length of cloth with plastic rods on the top and bottom. They are rolled up and a small piece
of paper would be taped to one end of one of the rods then packaged in a long plastic bag. The piece of paper has a small picture of the image on the wall
scroll, at the bottom is the size in centimetres and a code like Z8 or CL214. See the heading "Price and
selection" for more info.
CDs:
The most common copy CDs are SONMAY CDs that are made in Taiwan. While there are supposedly some that have been licensed for sale even outside of
Taiwan most are not. The big SM should be easy to find on the back of the CD case. These will typically be sold from about $10.00 US to $15.00 US
but some may charge prices around those the real things would cost. If it's a mail order/Internet sale, ask first.
Garage kits:
Recasts from the original kit from different companies in the usual countries these often will be sold in a large plain box used for every kit that
has an image of the completed kit and/or a code glued on it somewhere. See the headings "Quality" and
"Changes to titles, character names, etc..." for more info.
Clothing:
These are usually items like t-shirts with heat and pressure transfers on them. Others are home made using an ink-jet fabric transfer sheet and
their printer. Licensed clothing items always to almost always have the images printed or sewn directly onto the item in question. See the heading
"Price and selection" for more info.
Videos:
Usually Chinese or English subtitled in clam shell cases with black and white photo copied covers. See the heading
"Price and selection" for more info.
Videos - Fan Subs/Dubs:
Different from the rest of the copies mentioned here these still are illegal as they were produced without the permission of the original copyright
holders and copyright laws are abided by all countries that are signing members of the Berne Copyright Convention which includes Japan, Canada, the U.S.
and most others. See "Price and selection" for more info.
Video CDs:
Videos encoded to Video CD MPEG-1 files and stored on a CD. These will usually have Chinese subtitles but some English subbed/dubbed ones are also
mixed in. One annoying problem is how well the packaging is made on some of these and how some people/businesses selling them market them as legal items
imported from Japan. See the heading "Price and selection" for more info.
Trading cards/Stickers:
Trading cards that typically are copied to sticker cards and often cheap prism cards. See "How they are made" and
"Quality" for more info.
Key chains:
Most of the copy ones are all character figure ones that likely were originally released by BANDAI, BANPRESTO or MOVIC. These can be tricky items as
they can be made rather well and some form of copyright info is often left on them from the original. This forces you to fall back on things like price.
Decent sized key chains of about 3" in height will usually cost about 450 yen to 650 yen retail (about $5.25 US but when sold outside of Japan would be
higher due to shipping and other costs). One other thing to look for is a tag or sticker on the ring that has the copyright info and other things on it.
This will normally be found on 3D character figure ones, flat ones are usually sold in small bags with a paper backing. Of course if sold used they may
not be included.
Pencil boards/Shitajiki:
Usually cardboard sheets 10¼" x 7½" / 26cm x 19cm in size with rounded corners that have a different colourful image on both sides and are laminated.
Magazine insert ones are also made this way but they will have copyright info on them. See the heading
"How they are made" for more info.
Idol cards:
Typically images on wallet sized photo paper and then laminated. See the heading "How they are made" for
more info.
Models:
Recasts of the original kit, they will usually come in the same type of box but the art tends to be faded and blurry. If it is a BANDAI kit the
red BANDAI logo would be just a red square or is renamed to something else. See the headings "Quality" and
"Changes to titles, character names, etc..." for more info.
Lapel pins:
Like textile items lapel pins (classified as jewelry or false jewelry) have high duty rates and can also have other taxes added to
their cost when imported. This means that the only way to sell them really cheaply is if they were dirt cheap to begin with. Anything below
about $4 US to $5 US would be something you should look at. MOVIC ones will usually be put on a backing and placed in a small plastic pocket
as well.
Figures:
Figures will almost always be put in some form of packaging. Copies may be sold loose, also when packaged they may change the name of the
character, title or both. Also see the headings "Quality" and "Changes to titles,
character names, etc..." for more info.
Calendars:
These will either be copies of the original calendar from Japan or they will take different images, put them on a page with a calendar on it
somewhere and print them out. See the heading "How they are made" for more info.
Manga:
Like videos copied manga will usually be pretty easy to spot. A common way of copying manga is just by using the ol' photo copier.
Mouse pads:
These are often home made items people make using ink-jet fabric transfers and those cheap fabric covered mouse pads. Most to all mouse pads that
have an image on them do not print the image on a fabric covered mouse pad but will put it on a plastic sheet, give it a clear cover to protect the image
and put a soft pad on the back. If you want to put your own image on a mouse pad there are ones that allow you to put a photo or print out under a clear
plastic sheet, this way you can change it whenever you want. See the heading "Price and selection" for more info.
Changes to titles, character names, etc...:
Sometimes when an item is copied the title, character name or the colourations of a character are changed. This is most common with character figures,
models or similar items, is obviously rather easy to spot and looks rather pitiful. Another change you may see is a change in the company of manufacture
name. BANDAI gets this a lot where the box art is the same but the red square BANDAI logo is now a solid red box or even changed to some other name.
Quality:
The reason we're calling pirated items copy items is that they are copies. Knowing this can help in determining
if it's the real thing or a copy. Whenever something is copied the copy will always be of less quality than the original. Things to look for would be
fuzzy lines that should be crisp, blurred or smudged colour, etc... With things like those laminated posters certain things can be noticed. As
the images are often taken from pencil boards which are a good bit smaller so little things like dust, hairs and other such things are
blown up several times over making them rather obvious on the end product. Another thing that will often happen is that while clipping
things out of the original or when the original image won't properly fit on the end product things will be cut off of the edges. This would
show up when character's faces are cut off or more obviously when text is not quite complete that should be. A similar error is that due to lower
quality control systems items like copy cards will be slanted, not arranged very well or cut out improperly. On things like the copy stickers for instance it can look very obvious that the images used on them were
just clipped out from other images like if you were to cut up photos which were pasted onto a page.
With items like models or garage kits the instructions can be just photocopied sheets of paper that were stuffed into the boxes. Also
as they were made by making moulds from the parts of an original model the parts on a copy don't always fit together properly. Copies of
figures with moving parts can also have the same problem resulting in arms that fall off rather easily as they don't fit together quite right. With
items like figures and models where everything but the item itself isn't that important the box art will often look very poorly done or just be
exchanged for a standard box that's used for all the available characters of that item and then have an image of the completed character on it
and a code pasted on the box.
Remember, the images used for legit posters, books, box art, etc... came from cels, images made on computer or other forms of templates. This way
everything can be sized and fitted to the item properly, new images or text can be added, etc... The end result is an image that effectively works
with the item it will be put on. With copies they just scan in the image from a legit item and then put it on various other items. The image often will
not fit quite right and the scanning bed is not always clean so the result is less than perfect.
Age and format of the title:
Finding legit items made a while back (over three years ago) for older titles gets harder and harder over time. After about the four to five year
mark it can come down to just being plain lucky to get it without having to buy from someone that bought it in Japan when in production or a second
hand shop. Production runs of items by Japanese companies can be short lived as they may just make them once and be done with it. Only if they proved
to be very successful does it seem that they will give an item more production runs which would be even smaller. Now different companies have different
policies but this seems to be the way it's done in Japan. While it is possible for a retailer to stumble upon some old stuff, it's not that easy (we've
been able to get some stuff made six years back for instance, but not very much).
Items usually are just made for their anime version or maybe both anime and manga versions as is common with trading cards. Unless it's very a popular
manga items don't seem to be made for manga only titles. While the Ah! My Goddess anime was made a ways back the manga is still in production so every
so often something new comes out for it like trading cards, garage kits or something else like that. Although there still isn't as much stuff made for
it as there was when the anime was first being released. MOVIC releases some items with "original eddition" images on them which are from the manga, not
the anime, but not a lot in compare to the volume of items with anime style images on them.
What all this means is that if you go some place and see a bunch of items for older titles like RG Veda that have been out of production for some time
now it's a good chance they are copies. If the images on the posters, stickers or other items (not including books) are manga related and the manga
or title isn't a very popular one like Ah! My Goddess you may want to look at it a little more carefully for other clues. About the only time items
are made for titles after they are completely out of production is for older popular titles like GUNDAM or Macross when they hit their 10th, 15th,
20th, etc... anniversary. Anniversaries can cause old items to come back into production or for some new items to be made but they are usually fairly
well hyped and you'll often see something on it saying that it's the anniversary of that title. Now this doesn't mean everything old is going to be a
copy as people will sell their old stuff from time to time and collectors will take care that their possessions aren't damaged. Although, if you see
that a retailer has a good stack of them with many of each and they all look completely unused you should try to check it out.
How they are made:
How the original items are made and how the copies are made can differ which can help in telling the difference.
Trading cards / sticker prism cards:
In real trading cards the sticker prism cards are special cards and there will only be a few in each complete set. Copy places will usually make
all the cards into sticker cards or usually sticker prism cards. The real prisms will usually have a standard square tile pattern but the copies will
often put in shapes like hearts in them aside from the standard tile and may use some other tile than just squares. The real prism sticker cards will
have the printed image altered so that it works with the prism background more effectively and compliments the image. The copies will usually just
make them prism cards just for the sake of making them prisms so they can look like they don't quite work as a prism card.
Idol/Lami cards:
The real thing will always or almost always have some form of front and back image to it (the only ones we've seen that don't are clear plastic
idol/lami cards). Sometimes the back is not much more than a good bit of text though but there is something there. With copies though most appear
to have been made by putting different images on wallet sized photo paper and then covering them with laminate. The back is for the most part blank
but if you look closely you can usually see the name of the company that made the photo paper.
Pencil boards/shitajiki:
MOVIC ones will usually have an image on both sides but some will have just the one image and be translucent. With the single image ones they are made
by lightly printing an image on one side of a sheet of stiff clear plastic. The ones that have an image on both sides appear to have been
made by printing a image on two thin stiff sheets of clear plastic and then bonding the two sheets together. In both cases the image is viewed
when looking through the sheet of plastic. So with the two image ones the sides that have the image on it are sealed together so the printed
part is well protected. With the MOVIC ones the back may be an image like the front but usually is fairly basic which is done in shades of one colour,
just has a lot of text or something similar.
Copies are typically made by printing an image on both sides of a sheet of cardboard and then laminating both sides. One thing you should
be aware of is that this is how most of the pencil boards put in as magazine inserts and the like are made as well. The difference then
is they will usually be made a bit better than the copies, typically depict more than one title and will of course have copyright info on them. The ones
that come as magazine inserts will also often have info on what magazine and what issue they came from.
Posters:
The place that usually makes anime posters in Japan is MOVIC but there are a few other companies like BANDAI (BANPRESTO) that also make them. Although
they are all usually 20¼" x 28¾" (51.5cm x 73cm) in size but some can be 16½" x 23¼" (42cm x 59cm). Some may be put on different types of paper,
including a foil covered paper and there are also those that have been put on large clear sheets of plastic.
Copies are usually about 15" x 21" (38cm x 53cm) and laminated on both sides. Their size is not nearly as set as the legit ones are as they can be
cut at different sizes making their dimensions plus or minus about 1" from 15" x 21". Copies are also usually not printed on quite as heavy a stock
of paper as most legit ones. The images used in these posters often come from pencil boards/shitajiki or calendars. When they come from pencil boards
the image will be clipped off on all four sides since pencil boards have rounded edges, at times the fact parts were cut off will be very obvious as
part of characters will be cut off or text will be incomplete.
Calendars:
Anime calendars are made by companies like MOVIC, AMADA and various others in Japan. Very popular titles that are still in production may have two
calendars made for it in a year but usually there is just one for each title. After it's out of production there may be a kind of memorial calendar
that has characters and images found from the beginning to end of that series. After that one there usually isn't a calendar made for it unless it
has become a legend of sorts like Totoro has. In that case an annual calendar could be made until the companies decides it's not profitable any more.
The real ones that are rolled (which most are) would almost always be put in a long cylindrical bag with the title and calendar info listed on a
sticker at one end (usually solid pink but may be pink and white stripes). The ones that aren't rolled (ones in CD cases or ones with coiled or
stapled bindings) would have a similar square sticker (usually white) or may have that info printed on the calendar itself. A large single page
Mazingar Z one is usually available which is typically packaged in a long box.
Using the fact legit calendars are made in such limited quantities to their advantage companies that make copies may do more than just copy the
original calendar (if there is one) but collect a number of images, add a calendar to each page and print em out. Still the obvious thing to look for
as always is the copyright info which the ones they made in whole most likely lack. Although the copies of the originals may have that left on it and
as they can do a rather good job you should look for other things. For instance the type of paper used or colour of the metal bar at the top may differ.
This would be where doing a side-by-side examination would be helpful.
Price and selection:
As the places that make copies really only deal with the cost of production their price would be lower than for the items that were made
officially. The price of an item can then be a good indicator of whether it's real or not. Although at the same time some people will try to sell
copies for far more than they are worth. We've seen those laminated posters sold for everything from $2.00 US to $20.00 US (usually just in auctions
at the highest levels though).
Textile items (wall scrolls, T-shirts, etc...):
T-shirts and other textile items are very expensive to import as they have high duty rates, require additional permits and it can get very
complex. This then makes import items like them quite expensive unless they were dirt cheap to begin with. Due to this the copy wall scrolls can
cost around $12 US - $15 US but the MOVIC ones would probably be about $20.00 - $30.00 US, maybe more. Official T-shirts are printed using some form
of silk screening (printing image directly to the garment in ink) while copies often use some form of heat and pressure transfer means. This
means that when buying the official T-shirts the whole thing would be purchased so if it's an import they can be very expensive (there are
some domestic ones made legitimately). With the copies though the transfers would just be purchased and shipped over so some place here
can buy plain T-shirts or some other garment and put the transfers on them. This can then make even sweaters quite cheap.
Another thing to look at is the selection or titles available. These days all you need is a good colour inkjet printer (which are just
getting cheaper and cheaper all the time), some kind of fabric transfer and you can make your own T-shirts, mouse pads or other such things. This idea has
not escaped some individuals that use them to make and sell such items. What gives these people away is how a small place will have quite a number
of such items not available anywhere else and for a number of different titles including some odd-ball ones or ones that haven't even been
officially released in any format in North America. They also may allow you to sent them an image they will put on the item. Combine that with
low prices and there is a very good chance they are home made copies. Unless it's a big title like Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangelion or
Pokemon that have had a lot of merchandising behind them not too many of an item like T-shirts will be officially made. So if you see an unusually
high selection of such items for titles that aren't such big merchandise pushers it should raise some red flags in your mind.
Videos:
These will often either be Chinese subbed or English subbed. The English subtitled videos likely being either copies of fan subs or even copies of
legally released English subbed anime. If you stay aware of what's available domestically and by who you should be safe from these. Also if you see them
in a physical store figuring out that a copy is a copy should be really easy as the packaging can be just so cheaply done they stick out like a sore
thumb. These days videos in North America are almost all sold in those cardboard sleeves. Copy ones will likely be in plastic clam shells with black and
white photo copied cover sheets inside the plastic cover of the clam shell. If it's an on-line or mail order deal then ask what company distributed them
and then check their web site (most have one these days). Again, try to be aware of who's releasing what, in what formats and how far along they are.
The same title will typically never be released by more than one company. The closest they usually come to this is having another company pressing
their LDs and/or DVDs, they are owned by one company but distributed by another (i.e. BANDAI videos are released by PIONEER) or where a different
series in a title is released by a different company (i.e. Iczer 1 is released by U.S. Renditions, Iczer 3 by U.S. Manga Corps. and Iczerlion by
A.D. Vision). Then over time a few companies do drop titles only to be picked up by other companies. Such was the case when Streamline Video dropped
their anime titles only holding on to Robotech. Now titles like the original Dirty Pair series are owned by other companies. Also as you're sure to
have noticed, except for the movies tapes are rarely more than 100 minutes long. Sometimes a company repackages tapes after they've been out for a
while and compresses the series by putting more episodes on each tape but that's about it. Then of course copies should be rather inexpensive so as
far as copy items on a whole go, videos should be among the easiest to spot.
Videos - Fan Subs/Dubs:
First off it should be pointed out that we do not have anything against people that acquire or distribute fan subs, all we are trying to do is point
out some of the facts regarding fan subs and their distribution.
If you've been into anime and on the Internet for long enough you're sure to have heard of fan subs before. Both fan subs and dubs are anime which was
translated and distributed by a fan or fan group. Fan subs are much more common of course than the dubs but a few are out there. The normal distribution
routes are that someone sends a fan sub distributing group or another person a tape and some money for return shipping or just some money that is
supposed to cover just the tape and shipping. Although what can happen is that some people will try to turn a profit and some businesses will
make copies and sell them. What has to be understood about fan subs/dubs in general is that they are all technically illegal as the person or group
which developed them did not acquire the permission to do so from the copyright holders. It does not matter if a business has acquired the licensing
rights to distribute that title in your country or not as so long as you are in a country that is a signing member of the Berne Copyright Convention
such as Canada, the U.S., Japan and most others the reproduction in part or in whole of copyrighted material is illegal. Whether it's being released
free of charge or not also does not matter from a legality stand point. (Taping from TV is legal but from what we have been told is only allowable if
it was done because the original broadcast could not be viewed and the tape is not stored for repeat viewing.)
Copyright laws can be upheld in any country that is a signing member of the Berne Copyright Convention so a company in Japan could in fact sue a fan sub
group in the U.S. for illegally producing and distributing copies of their property, whether or not they do so is another matter all together. Until a
company here has the licensing rights to a title they are not going to bother the fans or fan groups producing fan subs as they have no connection to
the title yet and doing so will only result in provoking their customer base. Fan subs do "help" companies by making a title more known than it would
have been without a fan sub release but, they also do a good bit of harm as well. People with a fan sub of something a company is now releasing will be
less likely to purchase the commercial release as they already have a copy of it. Also once a fan sub is out there it often will still be sought after
and distributed by some individuals even after a commercial release has been made available as the fan sub is cheaper and in some cases may have pieces
that were removed from the commercial release. Now the police have much larger concerns than anime fans with a bunch of fan subs to worry about so it
is unlikely they will chase after you to press charges if you happen to own some but, they could. Understanding these points are important.
Video CDs
We've noticed various businesses selling anime Video CDs (VCDs) on-line, cheap! Most were Chinese subbed but some were English subbed of titles like
Ah! My Goddess and Neon Genesis Evangelion. As they were priced so very low, VCDs, not DVDs, there was no mention of the existence of such items on
AnimEigo's or A.D. Vision's web sites and they were mixed in with Chinese subs this looked to be along the same lines as SonMay's copy audio CDs and the
copy videos you'll find here and there. We contacted both AnimEigo and A.D. Vision a ways back about this and while A.D. Vision has yet to respond
(they're bad for that from our experience) AnimEigo responded a couple days later stating that "they are bootlegs." They were the first company to
release an English version of Ah! My Goddess so if another company in another country were to release one the typical route, according to Robert J.
Woodhead (AnimEigo CEO) who sent the response, would be to deal with both the original copyright holders and AnimEigo. The original copyright holders
to get the rights to release the title and AnimEigo for the English translation (easier and faster this way after all). Depending on the arrangements
the different companies have with the original copyright holders of a title there may be more involved.
VCDs never really did catch on in North America but did better in Asian countries. Currently markets everywhere are moving towards DVDs more and more as
the way to release videos just as at one point markets moved from audio cassettes towards CDs as the way to release audio recordings so if a video were to
be put on anything but a video cassette legally these days, it would go on a DVD and maybe a LD but, not a VCD. Producing VCDs is not difficult or too
costly, certainly a lot cheaper than producing a proper DVD. As a result pirated copies of movies are getting put out on VCDs by individuals and
underground businesses in North America as well as businesses in countries like China that do not recognize international copyright laws. Central Park
Media (U.S. Manga Corps/Software Sculptors/Anime 18) was putting a few to video CD but that seems to have drawn little attention and was abandoned. Aside
from that other companies put a few titles on a VCD like format (i.e. Sirius's Movie CDs) but as far as legal anime VCDs being sold in North America go,
that is all. Some of the businesses selling these VCDs say they imported them in from Japan and may note that the licensing rights were supposedly
acquired from the domestic rights holder, don't be fooled. Importing goods from Japan is expensive, we should know, then to sell something like VCDs as
cheap as these places do they would need to be dirt cheap to begin with. Considering the cost of a standard audio CD and the typical video cassette/DVD
from Japan they can't have come from Japan and be legal as well. Also, why would a company in Japan even bother to make an English or Chinese subtitled
version? Remember, if a deal seems too good to be true, it's probably an illegal copy.
Info on and comparing VCDs to video tapes and DVDs
Generally speaking VCDs offer about the same quality as standard video tapes but last longer as they are stored digitally on a CD rather than on
analog magnetically stored tapes. Commercial DVDs use a variable MPEG-2 video file put on a high capacity CD sized disc (a standard DVD disc can hold
4.7 GB of data, non-standard discs can hold about two to four times as much) which can store about 150 minutes of video and audio (exact length differs
depending on the video being encoded, extras included, etc...) at full D1 MPEG-2 (720 x 480 pixels). VCDs use a specific constant MPEG-1 video file put
on a standard CD (650 MB) which can hold about 60 minutes of video and audio at full D1 MPEG-1 (352 x 240 pixels).
Due to the low constant bit rate used in VCD encoding more complex and high contrast parts of a video will often appear rather blocky, a problem not
shared by video tapes and should not occur in a proper DVD. Another problem with MPEG-1 when dealing with animation is that areas of bright vivid
colours will appear blocky along the edges. A problem that really becomes apparent when the video is maximized to full screen size. You don't get such
areas of bright vivid colours too often in live action videos but they will appear more frequently in animation. The larger MPEG-2 format used in DVDs do
not have this problem and neither do video tapes. As a result of all the differences VCD video quality is certainly weaker than what you'd get on a DVD
and will not be quite as good as a video tape either, especially for animation.
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