To Heart R2J video - bad or "bad".

[Njr Scrawl]

Hi,

Can you say why exactly you doubt the R3s are legally clean. Silk screens, as I said above, are used on legit versions of R3s.
Are the R3 discs region coded?

I saw AJ's sets of LDs & DVDs. If I like what I see from the R3s, I might get one or the other, but am eventually getting the R1s anyway.

[ObiKenobi]

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Wrath of the Njr said:
Can you say why exactly you doubt the R3s are legally clean. Silk screens, as I said above, are used on legit versions of R3s.
Are the R3 discs region coded?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's probably due to it being released by DVD Ani. They've had a little bit of history with being a bit shady with their releases. Also they got in trouble with CPM for their Slayers releases by putting on the sub/dub without permission on their original releases. This release not being legally clean is a pretty good impression based on the history of the company.

To quote from a story on bootlegs:

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DVD Ani:
DVD Ani are a Korean based DVD company, they own the Korean licenses for the titles they sell. However they have some very bad habits, for example with several titles they own the Korean rights, but not the English audio or subtitle rights. For example with Galaxy Express 999 instead of purchasing the English audio track and extra features from ADV, DVD Ani just extracted them from another DVD illegally and put it on their edition. As a result we have classified DVD Ani as pirates, since they stole content they did not pay for from another company.

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http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html Although I think that's supposed to be Viz instead of ADV.

[catsspat]

"since they stole content they did not pay for from another company."

Indeed. And that's basically what I wrote on my webpage. "Bad habits" indeed. They use video streams (compression costs money, you know) they don't have rights for, and use music they don't have rights for.

--rich

[Skywise]

Yeah that entry confuses Viz and ADV because DVDAni's been busted for stealing content Viz and ADV have rights to (among others).

Btw I'd appreciate it if this thread doesn't go towards some kind of misguided justification for buying their releases anyway - it's not a matter of "proof" anymore with their history.

[Thanatos]

[ QUOTE ]
Skywise said:
Yeah that entry confuses Viz and ADV because DVDAni's been busted for stealing content Viz and ADV have rights to (among others).

Btw I'd appreciate it if this thread doesn't go towards some kind of misguided justification for buying their releases anyway - it's not a matter of "proof" anymore with their history.

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I understand your feelings on this issue and I'm not trying to derail the topic. I would like to point out however that R3 Korean releases of anime generally have tended in the past to R2 rip the audio and video, and continue to do so to this day. Legal, illegal, shady, or other, that is the standard operating procedure in Korea.

[Njr Scrawl]

What about innocent until proven guilty, & on a case-by-case basis?

(Are there any factual i.e. legal/court reports online regarding the GE999 set BTW?)

[ObiKenobi]

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Wrath of the Njr said:
What about innocent until proven guilty, & on a case-by-case basis?

[/ QUOTE ]

They've been proven guilty a number of times. I believe CPM eventually took legal action and that's why their subsequent re-release of the Slayers that they owned had the sub/dub and anything else they stole from CPM removed.

[ QUOTE ]
Wrath of the Njr said:
(Are there any factual i.e. legal/court reports online regarding the GE999 set BTW?)

[/ QUOTE ]

How about this from the AOD News Archives:

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Region 3 Update (07:27 PM EST): We've removed the Adieu Galaxy Express 999 title from our upcoming review pile (just as we were about to review it) as we came across some information about the releasing studio, DVD Ani, while researching it. We had previously believed based on information we had gotten that they had produced legitimate licensed versions of the two Galaxy Express 999 movies. Looking through a few retailers to get more information on their releases, we found both Soul Hunter and Slayers Next being released by them, complete with English language and subtitles. What surprised us even more was that Soul Hunter listed Korean language in addition to all the extras that ADV had produced for their region 1 version. The more we find, the more we believe that these versions are re-encoded rips with the Korean language and subtitles added onto it. We're currently investigating more, but if you're in that region and have some knowledge of the Korean company known as DVD Ani, let us know.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Update on DVD Ani (07:56 PM EST): After last nights posting of information regarding some strange things we noticed on some recent releases by Korean company DVD Ani, we took it to the US studios to see if they could follow the trail back to Japan and find out the legitimacy of things. With these Korean discs featuring identical dubs and subs and extras in some places, we were concerned about the legitimacy of it. Word came back down this afternoon that at the very least, these portions are not authorized for use by DVD Ani. As such, we'll be taking down the existing reviews we have for them and placing them in the category of bootlegs/rips/pirates or whatever you want to call them.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.animeondvd.com/news/archives.php?datearch=0602

Good enough for you? Or you got any more excuses you want to use to try to justify buying their releases? We can't stop you from buying their products, but this whole game of trying to claim they are innocent when their history proves otherwise isn't going to work here.

[Njr Scrawl]

That's why I meant case-by-case. If AD's TH release is fully licensed, then that particular title could be alright to buy.

The GE999 movie set is not available at any R3 store or ebay AFA I can find, so maybe its been withdrawn. As Viz has not released the GE999 movies on R1 DVD, did/do they still have the license?

[ObiKenobi]

Make all the excuses you have to to justify buying it. Honestly, no one here can stop you.

[Skywise]

And with that I'm shutting this sub-thread down. As catsspat mentions on his page the game music is a separate license for To Heart, and given DVD Ani's previous history with releasing products containing illicit materials it's obvious this is not a legit release.

I'm also calling a stop to all future discussion of DVD Ani products, not only because of their shady legal status, but also because some people just can't leave well enough alone.