Buying Japanese DVDs Part 2

Recently I linked to a piece I wrote last year about buying Japanese films on DVD. After looking it over I realized there was more to cover, particularly in the realm of bootleg DVDs and all-region DVD players. I'll address those two in this piece.

You may want to get caught up on the previous piece before delving into today's guide.

Bootleg DVDs
When I wrote the previous piece, I had yet to really get into the wild wild west world of bootleg DVDs. There are just so many amazing films that haven't been released on DVD, or are frantically difficult to come by, that sometimes it's just necessary. But where to buy good bootlegs? Here are three vendors that I frequent.

Kurotagi
http://www.kurotokagi.com/
The Good: Huge selection, professional quality, hard-to-find films.
The Bad: Pricey ($15.00).
The Skinny: If you can afford it and are serious about Japanese film, this is the place to visit first. Color DVD inserts, screen-printed discs, menus and everything. Better take out a second mortgage as there's so much good stuff you're going to bankrupt yourself quick.

Super Happy Fun
http://www.superhappyfun.com
The Good: Big selection (and from more than just Japan), good quality.
The Bad: No inserts, label-printed DVDs, pricey ($13.00).
The Skinny: I like Super Happy Fun, primarily because of the name. But they also have good stuff, like Himiko and Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan. A bit pricey for no insertsor case though.

All Clues No Solutions
http://allcluesnosolutions.com
The Good: SUPER cheap ($7.00, or $6.00 each if you buy 5), and some weird-ass stuff.
The Bad: No case, no inserts, no label on the DVD.
The Skinny: All Clues No Solutions is the new kid on the bootleg block and they're off to a good start. I like them because of the price, which you can't beat, and the selection. They've got stuff I haven't seen anywhere else.

All-Region DVD Players
I don't own one yet, so I can't vouch for specific players. Friends have them, and it seems really convenient to be able to play DVDs from any region, any country. You can always hack your player like I did, but that won't allow you to play PAL DVDs in an NTSC player (or vice versa for those of you on the other side of the pond). That being said, I have heard friends complain about the crappy look of PAL DVDs in their all-region players, but my friends are poor so better quality players may take care of that issue.

You can find all-region DVD players all over the place. Kinokuniya in San Francisco's Japantown has one. I've seen them in Chinatown as well. J-List has a variety of them as well, in a variety of prices (all under $100). I mention J-List because I'm an affiliate, and if you buy something from them I benefit.

Alright, happy hunting.

Comments

[logboy]

bootleg dvds - now, i use CK and have done so for some years. cannibal-king represents about the only good reason to stumble into dodgy discs on ebay, so for the most part i've gotten over the habit of finding discs (as i would have done seven years back) as it's just not worth the minefield traversing. in a recent kaiju shakedown thing, there was a mention referencing bootlegs making appearances on legit businesses records being the cause of companies subsequently not stocking a legit edition... yes, there's a couple of companies who do seem to manage to get amazon.com listings and seem legit - i would name a couple, i dare not - but for the most part boots sit in a world of their own that you need to seek out, and remain part of the cash-in on asian cinema interest if you're still in ebay mode as far as picking sources. so...

sources for discs - i usually say head for the country of issue. as HK and korea are other asian territories with solid reputations for less illegitimate issues (compared to thailand, china, taiwan) and because there's good english-language sites for these countries (HK - dddhouse.com, buyoyo.com. Korea - dvdfromkorea.com for example; i use all these) it's worth noting that japanese films often appear on HK and Korea later on. most unfortunately, the levels of choice aren't high, but they certainly outstrip america for speed-of-issue, often for price (especially HK) and certainly for quality quite often too (HK used to have a more patchy subtitle quality issue, less so now - there's often a case for a HK DVD over a later and more expensive USA DVD, 'kamikaze girls is one example'). Anime issued in HK and korea usually comes unsubbed. Extras on HK and Korean discs aren't often subbed, this might be changing though.

there are alternative sources in various countries which import and sell-on with a mark-up to cover their range-in-one-locale format of retail, but for the most part you'll need the two or three i mention above (don't be confused by HK$ over USA$!) and cdjapan.co.jp, amazon.co.jp (not cheap on shipping these days), maybe HMV.co.jp and certainly yesasia.com can be handy too for job-lots, avoiding import duty and for making it clearer on shipping prices (as it's included for free at a low level).

multi-region players - now, in the UK (where I am) it's practically impossible to buy anything but a multiregion player. the biggest of the big companies players are sold (adapted by retailers - try richersounds) with multi-region capability. you can also easily google a hack for a specific model. for other countries dvdbeaver.com, hkflix.com, j-list.com and yesasia.com are good places to start - i've no idea on the issues of PAL and NTSC conversion from those perspectives, but from here it's not even as issue.

UK DVDs - okay, the range of stuff isn't high as the markets largely based upon the fact we're a smallish island. prices are relatively high, often double USA prices for initial releases on those kinds of asian titles we're aiming at, with only biggest UK titles making it to USA commonplace levels. the BBFC also acts as a relatively limiting and intimidating force, so many fans of asian cinema barely take any notice of UK issues, but the deeper your requirements get, the more obvious it becomes that things turn up in the oddest places - including england.

you can have an amazon.com account and log into amazon.co.uk and get it to recognise you - they remove the 17.5% UK residents pay in VAT, and charge a reasonable rate for postage so I hear. as for import duty, that will depend on where you live and the rules / regs you face. here in england, only Japanese DVDs get regularly over the £18 threshhold, so look to yesasia as one solution to this, as they import, pay duty and repost from within the UK, hence avoiding these charges. if you know somethings over £18 and not coming via yesasia.com, accomodate for it in where you source the DVDs as there's always places to find that will allow you to buypass it - ironically, ebay sellers, but be wary of high postage rates, bootlegs and so on...

[rupan777]

Oppo makes the best multiregion NTSC/PAL players:

http://www.oppodigital.com/