Where To Find Hard To Find Anime

[mitsuki lover]

Just wondering but does anyone know of a site that sells hard to find titles?

[Mr. SmartyPants]

http://www.ebay.com has everything that anyone could hope to look for.

[Shao Feng-Li]

How do you avoid bootlegs?

[Mr. SmartyPants]

How do you avoid bootlegs?

Making sure the seller you're buying from is legit?

[KhakiBlueSocks]

How do you avoid bootlegs?

Prayer works!

Anyway, it's about a 60/30 chance you'll get EXACTLY what you wanted. Just make sure you read the entire listing, ask the seller questions and for socks sake, LOOK AT THE PICTURE!

Just recently, I thought I was buying the Cowboy Bebop Perfect Box Set. What I got was the cheap overseas version which basically was the original Bebop DVD's copied on three disks, with a 4th for the movie. Because I really wanted to see Bebop again, and the DVD's were actually pretty good, I decided to chalk this up as a lesson learned and keep 'em.

[Shao Feng-Li]

Making sure the seller you're buying from is legit?

How does one do that effectively overt the internet?

[Cognitive Gear]

How does one do that effectively overt the internet?

I found it was easiest to simply look at the picture of the item. Also, if the DVDs are described as having 6+ episodes per disk, it usually indicates that the item in question is a bootleg.

Be especially careful when buying boxsets. Most bootleggers only manufacture boxsets, as far as I know. Also, another generqally effective way to know if it is a bootleg is to look at the region of the DVD. If it is labeled as "regionless" otherwise known as "Region 0" it is most likely a bootleg.

The last thing to check is the listed subtitles. If it has both English and Chinese subtitles, it is typically a bootleg. (Not always the case, but commonly is)

[Roy Mustang]

Also, look at the price of it.

Like the Cowboy Bebop Perfect Box Set. The set was limited to like 5,000 to 10,000. I think it was 5,000, but I'm not fully sure.

They are very rare to find the set now and if you do, you would be paying anywhere from $200 and up for it.


Col. Roy Mustang

[KhakiBlueSocks]

Also, look at the price of it.

Like the Cowboy Bebop Perfect Box Set. The set was limited to like 5,000 to 10,000. I think it was 5,000, but I'm not fully sure.

They are very rare to find the set now and if you do, you would be paying anywhere from $200 and up for it.

I did my research--there are only 10,000 of the Perfect Box Sets out there. Each one is numbered. A good tell-tale sign if it's the true version is the case. The Bebop DVD's are in a special box and opens from the top. The bootleg copies would be in a normal DVD case.

If in doubt, ask the seller what number the DVD is. If he says it has no number, report it immediately!

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I will say this. Just because a DVD is overseas does not mean it's an illegit product. Most likely it is, especially with anime. But that's not always the case. I own a Hong Kong Region 0 DVD of a Korean movie. 100% Legit. It's only in Chinese because I bought a Chinese version of it (Obviously directed towards the Chinese market).

[mitsuki lover]

I meant other than eBay.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

I meant other than eBay.

Well, have you tried a video rental store? Sometimes they sell DVD's. On the 15th, I found Vol. 1 of "Chobits" and "Spiral" for about $16. I call that a pretty good deal. They also had GITS: SAC and some other DVD's but I either knew nothing about them, or didn't feel like investing. Try some little mom and pop video stores--they would be more adept to having anime.

[Roy Mustang]

I did my research--there are only 10,000 of the Perfect Box Sets out there. Each one is numbered. A good tell-tale sign if it's the true version is the case. The Bebop DVD's are in a special box and opens from the top.

Yeah, the CB box set and first Escaflowne box set were numbered to 10,000 and had the so called top box.


I love those top box set and wish they would make box set like that.



Col. Roy Mustang

[mitsuki lover]

Well I have to admit I did do some googling after originally posting the topic.
Though all I could find on the internet looked like a bunch of stores either selling
bootlegs or else prices that weren't too much different from the main online stores.

[EricTheFred]

Thought I would mention... although I more rely on this for hard-to-find and out-of-print Manga, since I largely depend on Netflix for anime... I do quite a bit of business with Amazon.com 'partners'. Quite a bit safer than Ebay. You find these guys by searching Amazon, then punching into the 'used&new' resellers link that usually appears.

[Ashley]

Overstock.com has also had some good deals.

[Zeonic Freak]

I recently bought the Gundam 0083 box set for like 35 bucks, and im pretty sure its legit seeing how Bandai has its name on the cover and i did some reaserch on the box set before deciding to buy (but i hope its a legit copy regardless).

As for me, that last peice of anime i wanted to get that was gone fast on ebay was Scramble Wars on VHS...

[mitsuki lover]

What are the prices like at Overstock?

[mitsuki lover]

Well I did look up Overstock and it seems like they not only sort by title,etc. but also by director,VA and price.