Sailor Moon "Perfect" Collections

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 1:03 pm

I realize that some of the box sets have been addressed on this forum and that there are some details available via a Google serarch but I haven't really been able to get complete answers after several days of searching everywhere I can think of.

Having said that, has anyone actually purchased any/all of the DVD's in this collection?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sailor-Moon-PERFECT ... dZViewItem

I purchased this same item from this vendor and am wondering if I'll be getting what I am expecting. After purchasing it I did more indepth searching it appears that these are bootlegs but they appear to be factory produced, pressed DVDs (not burned DVD-Rs) and have boxes that make the sets appear as if they were official releases. This seems like a lot of work for someone producing bootlegs. They also seem to be very readily available for something that violates copyright law. Does anyone have an answer to why these apparent bootleg DVDs appear so professionaly produced?

Also, I've read varying reports as to the audio and video quality ranging from terrible to excellent. It seems like everyone here really knows what they're talking about so I would appreciate some feedback from someone who has viewed any/all of these DVDs.

If it turns out that these are bootleg I will definately be searching for legitimate releases of the seasons (which I only found out are available after ordering this set) instead of supporting bootlegs but any answers to my questions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 2:49 pm

I haven't purchased this set but I can confidently say those are bootlegs. I can't tell what the region coding is from this bid but there is abosuletly no way that can be an official release if they're fitting the entire series on only 29 discs. It would have to be a lot more discs to be an official release. The maximum number of episodes that have been on the Sailor Moon DVDs has been at least six or seven, so even with that many episodes on the official discs, there would end up being a lot more discs in total for a series that's 200 episodes long. There is also no official boxset for the dub of the first two seasons of Sailor Moon. The only way you can buy those episodes is to buy the DVDs individually. Plus, they say these are "imported" DVDs. If these were the official DVDs, then they wouldn't be "imported", since they would be made right here in the U.S., unless the person selling these isn't from the U.S., but appears that they are American from their location.

And there is no official English subtitled release of Sailor Stars, so that has to either be a bootleg or a rip of the fansubs. Judging from the boxset's cover, I definetly believe those are bootleg Sailor Stars episodes, since that seems to be the "official" cover for all the Sailor Stars bootleg DVDs as I have never seen the Sailor Stars bootlegs with a different cover before. As to what you can expect from the quality of the discs, I wouldn't know as I haven't bought them myself. I've heard that the Sailor Stars bootlegs have pretty good quality for a bootleg set but a friend of mine who purchased a Sailor Stars bootleg DVD boxset on Ebay said that the first disc on her set played perfectly but the second disc and all the discs afterwards wouldn't play at all, so even if the quality of the discs themselves would normally be fine, there's no gurantee as to what kind of quality your copy will be in when they arrive.

The bootleggers are producing their product to look proffessional because they want your money and they don't want to be caught. If the bootleg sets look like they're going to be bootlegs, then the buyer obiviously isn't going to buy them. It also makes them an obivious target for the official companies to come along and arrest them. But if they make their product appear to be official, then they can fool the bidder into buying their product and not draw as much attention from the official companies, which is probably why they don't seem to have the region coding of these discs listed anywhere on their page.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 5:35 pm

Thank you for the detailed response. I have the 14 DVDs that DiC/ADV released for the seasons 1 & 2 dubs and am looking to build upon my collection so that I have all 200 episodes in both Japanese (with English subs) and English. Getting the uncut versions of seasons 1 and 2 looks like it's going to be expensive though.

For the Geneon/Pioneer releases of S and Super S: do they contain both the dub version and the *uncut* sub version? I'm not particularly familar with the changes made to S and SuperS because I haven't watched them in any form yet but I really want to find the original Japanese versions without any of the changes that were made to the North American TV versions.

I think for Stars I'll be keeping the bootleg copy that is included in the collection I purchased from E-bay (which I am now regretting).

Thanks again for your help, it's very much appreciated!

James

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 7:06 pm

Yes, the S and SuperS DVD releases have both the Japanese and dubbed versions on them. Heck, you can even put it with the dub track but have the subtitles and see all the dialogue changes!

Sakuya · Post by **Sakuya** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 1:29 am

There are many anime bootleg companies out there that produce these R0 DVD bootlegs and have it on stuck, almost like a real company. I admit I have won this contest online and the prize was this Slayers bootleg DVD set. The first thing that played was this really professional animation displaying the bootleg company's logo. And then it goes to the menu (I'm not sure if it was an actual R1 menu or a custom-made menu though). The DVD cases are lovely though.

These are merely copies of official R2 or R1 DVD's and since they shrink it down so that it can fit in 4 DVD's, the quality is worse. Often times, whatever the source DVD has, the bootleg DVD will have also so for instance, English and Japanese tracks. This is the case for your auction item.

For the Sailor Stars DVD, I believe it was made in Malaysia. I don't think the quality is very good, either. In other words, don't buy any from eBay without careful inspection first!

I knew of this website archive that houses reviews of all bootleg anime DVD's so you know which set you find on eBay is legit. But I lost it.

Maikeru_100 · Post by **Maikeru_100** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 10:20 am

Yeah there really are R All or R0 are bootlegs, you can get the first 4(Moon-SuperS) here in america best quailty. No there is the problem with Stars or PGSM which will leave you with 2 choices, 1: buying bootleg products, which give you the season with bad quality, option 2, buying products straight from Japan, wihch might cause you to spend more money, bucause you need to: a.) buy on import which in ieself is hundreds of dollars right there, b.)(optional) buy an agremont that allows you to get mail from out of the country, c.) a dvd player that plays R2 dvd's, now Action Replay for the PS2 can allow you to play R2-R6 for your PS2, but you need the PS2

Slrjoecool · Post by **Slrjoecool** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:24 pm

Maikeru_100 wrote:b.)(optional) buy an agremont that allows you to get mail from out of the country

I've gotten mail from outside of the country no problem. I didn't have to fill out any paperwork or anything. Maybe I'm just not understanding what your saying, but as far as I know, you don't need to do anything to get mail from outside of the country.

Kameko · Post by **Kameko** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 5:14 pm

You don't. I've gotten stuff shipped from Japan no problem. No extra paper work or anything. Just be prepared to pay the shipping fees.

Maikeru_100 · Post by **Maikeru_100** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:17 am

well all I know is that some countries I believe fill out paperwork, or you have to pay extra, I'm not sure, all I know is what CDJapan told me,[comment to self I love that site, because i can get episode 67 there]

Slrjoecool · Post by **Slrjoecool** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:36 am

Maikeru_100 wrote:well all I know is that some countries I believe fill out paperwork, or you have to pay extra, I'm not sure, all I know is what CDJapan told me,[comment to self I love that site, because i can get episode 67 there]

Pay extra as opposed to....?

Obviously your going to have to pay more than if you bought something from your own country, as there are all sorts of borders and customs and screenings the mail goes through.

I'm sorry, but I'm really not understanding the point your trying to make.

Also, there is software that allows you to watch any region DVDs from your computer. (I use DVD X Player myself), and if you don't want to watch on your computer, you can hook it up to your tv.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:28 pm

Well my bootleg BSSM DVD's are on the way, too late to do much about that now, I guess.

I did, however, go out and pickup the official releases of S and Super S. Now I just need to find the uncut releases of Classic and R. Looks like I'll be watching Stars from the bootlegs though.

Thanks for all the discussion folks, wish I'd consulted you all first because I was definately suckered into thinking these were official releases.

purplefeltangel · Post by **purplefeltangel** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 10:41 pm

Wait, the ADV releases of the first two seasons don't have English audio?

I'm sorry, but that's very disappointing. I've been watching Sailor Moon dubbed since I was four, and I'm really just not as interested in the Japanese version as the English.

But I wouldn't want to spend my money on an all-English set, either.

Post by **Tiff** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 10:43 pm

purplefeltangel wrote:Wait, the ADV releases of the first two seasons don't have English audio?

I'm sorry, but that's very disappointing. I've been watching Sailor Moon dubbed since I was four, and I'm really just not as interested in the Japanese version as the English.

But I wouldn't want to spend my money on an all-English set, either.

..Then I fail to see the complaint.

You prefer the English version..but yet, you don't want to spend your money on an all-English set? But..you're also, at the same time, complaining that the first two seasons don't have an English Audio.

I really, really fail to see the logic in that o.O

purplefeltangel · Post by **purplefeltangel** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 11:30 pm

Tiff wrote:
purplefeltangel wrote:Wait, the ADV releases of the first two seasons don't have English audio?

I'm sorry, but that's very disappointing. I've been watching Sailor Moon dubbed since I was four, and I'm really just not as interested in the Japanese version as the English.

But I wouldn't want to spend my money on an all-English set, either.
..Then I fail to see the complaint.

You prefer the English version..but yet, you don't want to spend your money on an all-English set? But..you're also, at the same time, complaining that the first two seasons don't have an English Audio.

I really, really fail to see the logic in that o.O

Okay:

- I want to see the English version more than I do the Japanese. Childhood sentimentality and all that.
- I still want to see the Japanese version, however.
- I don't want to spend my money on the all-English DVDs, as you have to buy them individually (and I don't want bootlegs) and I still want the Japanese audio
- I don't want to buy the Japanese set, because I want the English, too.

The obvious solution would be to buy both the Japanese set and the English DVDs, but I am not rich. So I don't know what I'm supposed to do here. I just wish there was a dual-audio release.

Sakuya · Post by **Sakuya** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 1:57 am

I think the only way to satisfy your needs is to just get the bootlegs.

Saves you work as well as money when you buy two different legitimate sets.

purplefeltangel · Post by **purplefeltangel** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:22 pm

Sakuya wrote:I think the only way to satisfy your needs is to just get the bootlegs. Saves you work as well as money when you buy two different legitimate sets.

I've decided I might get the bootlegs of the dub and the official set of the Japanese release, but woe is me, all the bootlegs I've found only go up to episode 72.

I guess my dreams will remain unfulfilled.

SailorLunagoddess · Post by **SailorLunagoddess** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 4:48 pm

I recently purchased a Sailor Moon Sailor Stars bootleg that came from Malaysia, and so far, it plays beautifully with the exception of a few subtitle errors. But I would rather have this than nothing at all.

Calypso · Post by **Calypso** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 6:19 pm

Sorry to revive a practically dead topic but I just wanted to say after close inspection I realized I purchased this set a few weeks ago. While I'm kinda've sad because it would be cool to have the real thing and I don't believe in supporting bootleggers, I just want to say...it's not all that bad- seriously.

The boxsets look perfectly fine, like they were the real thing. I have watched almost all of STARS and find only minor flaws with it. Sometimes the last letter of the subtitle might be chopped off and in the episode with the senshi and starlights at the lake there was a 2 second skip. On the episode before that some of Minako's lines weren't dubbed, but I was able to figure out what she was talking about by their responses.

If you're low on money and purchased these, don't be too upset. I'm really happy that I have the whole SM collection, ready to watch any time I please. I know that if I tried to buy everything the other way it would've been impossible.

As a side note- I believe the audio on the Japanese Seasons 1-2 of these are slightly better than the ADV audio...but that's jut my opinion.

Bryan · Post by **Bryan** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:11 am

Calypso wrote:As a side note- I believe the audio on the Japanese Seasons 1-2 of these are slightly better than the ADV audio...but that's jut my opinion.

That's because the ADV audio on seasons 1-2 is awful.

Raging Scottish · Post by **Raging Scottish** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:51 am

Yes, but the DVDs from the ADV version are the ones that are ripped in order to create the bootlegs. Essentially, they are the same thing except the picture quality is even worse.