Italian Police Confiscate Anime

by ReverseHarem
Sep 28, 2007 8:09 AM | 27 Comments

Six people in Ancona (and other areas) have been charged by police in Italy for copyright violations due to producing and selling pirated DVDs of anime. The police confiscated around 80,000 dvds and $1.4 million (USD). The DVDs were manufactured at plants in Bologna, and around 300,000 had been sold for a total of $4 million (USD). Most of the DVDs featured series or other works by Go Nagai (Grendizer). For more information: ANN, Yomiuri Online.

20 of 27 Comments Recent Comments

I bought a pirated Ayashi no Ceres series on ebay just because it was dirt cheap, i was bored, and i wanted to see if these things were any good at all... Worst fansubs i have ever, in my whole life, come across. Hell i dont think i ever have or ever will see anything that comes close to matching the bad subbing and quality i got xD twas a waste of good 5 dollars.
Dont buy bootleg! XD

Oct 1, 2007 9:03 PM by magentaanbu

eh, it depends here on how much anime costs. it can cost anywhere between 5$-30$ U.S Dollers. :). if its new anime, its usually about 25$ a dvd. and if its kinda old. then its like 10 or 15$. I just recently bought the Whole season of getbackers season2 for 40$ at BestBuy :). so i guess in the U.S its a bit more cheaper. :). and the subs here are way cheaper then the dubs. >.>;

Oct 1, 2007 10:52 AM by DimmuBorgir

Well, pirating is bad there, but here where I live there are very little licensed animes(and mostly are incomplete, just part of the series =/) so we have less choices, but if you want, why buy if there are free anime in the net?

Oct 1, 2007 10:09 AM by krisjunaeien

Mireyu said:

Talon said:
not very true, bought every single Azumanga Daioh DVD in Germany for 25 euro...
and afaik only the anime released from Panini do have Italian language because Panini is originally Italian..

Yes, sorry, I forgot to say they weren't anime dvd,but movie's dvd, sorry^^, my error..
However,the question is: is it right to pay so much for anime DVD's?Is the situation the same everywere?

if you look at the prices of anime DVDs in Japan they are outrageously more than the prices in the US or EU...

Oct 1, 2007 9:57 AM by Jasu-Puri

Mireyu said:
Ehmm...I'm against piracy,ok.
But..do u have an idea of how much we pay here in italy to get a dvd?about 26/27 euro (I guess it's about 25$) for dvd. And anime aren't aired on tv, just a few of them, and they are censored. How can I pay 200euros for a single anime serie?it's otraugeous!! And I haven't the chance to see it on tv and decide if it's worthy or not!!In japan all anime except for OAV's are aired on tv, so they can decide what to buy. But here? It isn't fair!!!How much do u pay dvd's in your countries?You know some firends of mine buy dvd from German, they have italian language and sometimes they aren't even published here!!!And they pay (shipping cost included) half than what would pay here... I'm really pissed by this unfair situation, really.

That situation's not that bad, really. In the UK the situation is pretty much the same; we pay about the same as you in Italy on average, perhaps a bit less when ordering online. But like rayyhum777 says, the Japanese get a much worse deal; only two episodes per disc, usually, at equivalent or higher cost to our euro releases with three, four or even five episodes per disc. Like I say, legit anime is too expensive. But bootlegs are no answer; the more bootlegs are bought, the higher legit firms have to charge to simply recover their costs.

Fansubs are the best way to watch anime for the first time. Look at it like this; in the 80s and 90s, everyone had loads of blank VHS tapes and recorded any TV program they liked without thinking twice. Fansubs are just the internet era's version of recording TV onto blank VHS and maybe lending it to your friends, and just as likely to bring about the downfall of the entertainment industry, I.E. not at all likely. Bootlegs on the other hand are the internet era's version of recording TV onto VHS and putting it in a cheap imitation box and flogging it down the car boot sale. That's the kind of piracy the RIAA, MPAA and their cronies and lackeys are supposed to exist to fight.

Sep 30, 2007 1:59 PM by YourMessageHere

Mireyu said:

Yes, sorry, I forgot to say they weren't anime dvd,but movie's dvd, sorry^^, my error..
However,the question is: is it right to pay so much for anime DVD's?Is the situation the same everywere?

In Asia anime DVDs are expensive, including in Japan. It's 1 or 2 episodes per a Disc and a Disc can cost from $50 to $75 (US dollars) each in Japan. In Taiwan it's not that much better.

Now for my own 1 1/2 cents. I'm American and I hate it when people back home complain about anime DVDs being expensive - what, 4 to 6 episode per disc, and each disc costs 26 bucks is expensive? Don't tell me about living standard difference and it's more expensive to live back home (the States); people also earn more back home.

asandari said:
I download series, and check them out that way, I have a moral rule not to watch an anime series illegally twice. I plan to buy all anime series that I've rated a 75/100 or higher. And though I'm not sure about prices it's around 30-40$ per disc here, usually 4 per disc.

I plan to start buying at Anime North this year, after my first co-op term so that I'll have some money.

Welcome to the NHK first, then KGNE, then PLanetes, then Kanon 2006 (Just because Mai is in it, I didn't really like the series). (I think I can manage to budget around $100 a month into my anime collection, so that's around 3 discs a month. Plus I plan to spend around $500 at animenorth, assuming all goes well with my work term.)
And I really like what ADV is doing :D
Hopefully it will move towards them releasing some high quality subs within a week of Japanese release, and streaming them for limited time for free so that people can actually see if they like a series before they risk buying it.

But yeah, I feel that if you want to buy at all you should just buy legit, otherwise it's just as bad as downloading from the internet. And if you buy legit you can support other distributors and increase the market for distribution, which in the end will lead to cheaper anime and (hopefully) better quality subs (or dubs, if you're into that...)

So, in short:
Legit discs > fansubs >>>>>>>>>> bootlegs

There are good bootlegs, yes. But think about the people who actually bring the entertainment to the fans. They don't get anything back. Good bootlegs are often rip-offs of legit DVDs and other people's work.
People in the anime industry in Japan works very hard and it's frequent for artists to pull all-nighters for 3 or 4 days to bring the work to us, hence I hope no one thrives and makes a profit on selling bootlegs, most of which are bad quality anyway).

Sep 30, 2007 1:52 AM by rayyhum777

I download series, and check them out that way, I have a moral rule not to watch an anime series illegally twice. I plan to buy all anime series that I've rated a 75/100 or higher. And though I'm not sure about prices it's around 30-40$ per disc here, usually 4 per disc.

I plan to start buying at Anime North this year, after my first co-op term so that I'll have some money.

Welcome to the NHK first, then KGNE, then PLanetes, then Kanon 2006 (Just because Mai is in it, I didn't really like the series). (I think I can manage to budget around $100 a month into my anime collection, so that's around 3 discs a month. Plus I plan to spend around $500 at animenorth, assuming all goes well with my work term.)
And I really like what ADV is doing :D
Hopefully it will move towards them releasing some high quality subs within a week of Japanese release, and streaming them for limited time for free so that people can actually see if they like a series before they risk buying it.

But yeah, I feel that if you want to buy at all you should just buy legit, otherwise it's just as bad as downloading from the internet. And if you buy legit you can support other distributors and increase the market for distribution, which in the end will lead to cheaper anime and (hopefully) better quality subs (or dubs, if you're into that...)

So, in short:
Legit discs > fansubs >>>>>>>>>> bootlegs

Sep 29, 2007 9:44 AM by asandari

Yes, sorry, I forgot to say they weren't anime dvd,but movie's dvd, sorry^^, my error..
However,the question is: is it right to pay so much for anime DVD's?Is the situation the same everywere?

Sep 29, 2007 7:19 AM by Mireyu

not very true, bought every single Azumanga Daioh DVD in Germany for 25 euro...
and afaik only the anime released from Panini do have Italian language because Panini is originally Italian..

Sep 29, 2007 4:18 AM by Talon

Ehmm...I'm against piracy,ok.
But..do u have an idea of how much we pay here in italy to get a dvd?about 26/27 euro (I guess it's about 25$) for dvd. And anime aren't aired on tv, just a few of them, and they are censored. How can I pay 200euros for a single anime serie?it's otraugeous!! And I haven't the chance to see it on tv and decide if it's worthy or not!!In japan all anime except for OAV's are aired on tv, so they can decide what to buy. But here? It isn't fair!!!How much do u pay dvd's in your countries?You know some firends of mine buy dvd from German, they have italian language and sometimes they aren't even published here!!!And they pay (shipping cost included) half than what would pay here... I'm really pissed by this unfair situation, really.

Sep 29, 2007 3:30 AM by Mireyu

i actually did buy the whole series of Berserk for like 15$..and ill tell you. it was very good for a bootleg. which i could tell it was. it even had extras and the deleted scenes and shit. i was like..whoa..when at the store it was like 95$ >.>; so yah. but i didnt know it was a bootleg..and when i got it..i was like eh. but it works fine and everything is very very good. :).

Sep 29, 2007 1:24 AM by DimmuBorgir

They got what they deserved. -.-

I agree with Yourmessagehere; I'd much rather own the dvds then rent them-thats why I download all of the anime that I watch instead of stream it.

Sep 29, 2007 1:07 AM by WinterNightsFall

wow that sucks, losing $4 million oh well they did the crime

Sep 28, 2007 7:14 PM by Darkreaper70

ender650 said:

Even if your not that rich, you can still get legit anime for very little money by renting through netflix or a similar service.

That's pretty pointless, though; any monetary return to the anime creators is negligible, and you don't get to keep it. You might as well save your money for buying the things you really like, maximising the potential amount of money given to only the creators you appreciate most, and watch fansubs otherwise. That way, you see more anime, you can spend more on anime, the likelihood of you seeing more things you want to buy is higher, and the likelihood of the returns from sales made to you doing some good for the anime industry is also higher.

Sep 28, 2007 6:58 PM by YourMessageHere

ender650 said:

YourMessageHere said:

ender650 said:
It's not tempting at all, I buy DVD's so that the anime companies will make money to support the shows. When you buy pirated DVD's, your just giving money to criminals which supports criminal behavior.

I totally agree that people should buy legit if they do decide to buy, and I totally agree that the creators should be paid for their efforts, but unless money is really not something you have to worry about, you can't really say it's not tempting to get stuff cheap even if you know that your money is being paid to the wrong people. Legit anime is, let's face it, too expensive. That and region coding is the only reason people buy bootlegs.

Even if your not that rich, you can still get legit anime for very little money by renting through netflix or a similar service.

Wait! I didn't know it was a bootleg, I support anime licensors, I hate dubs, but I'll buy the dvds, if I had a job, I would buy more. But still, I was kinda stupid at the moment when I bought them.

Sep 28, 2007 6:53 PM by YoshikoHatake

I was douped into buying this Melancholy Haruhi 2 disc dvd, with all 14 eps. Turned out it wasn't the original Japanese (At the time I was young and stupid.) and well it was the fansub version. T.T

Pshhh…I feel stupid.

Sep 28, 2007 6:50 PM by YoshikoHatake

YourMessageHere said:

Even if your not that rich, you can still get legit anime for very little money by renting through netflix or a similar service.

Sep 28, 2007 6:45 PM by hot

Sep 28, 2007 6:40 PM by YourMessageHere

If you are going to bother paying for anime might as well get the pritty box to go with it, although I feel fansub quality is better than the kind in said pritty box.

Sep 28, 2007 6:20 PM by cloudtheclow

It's not tempting at all, I buy DVD's so that the anime companies will make money to support the shows. When you buy pirated DVD's, your just giving money to criminals which supports criminal behavior.

Sep 28, 2007 5:37 PM by hot

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