HK Bootleg Reviews

[Million Star]

As I try to put together a decent and watchable DVD library of my favorite SF/Mecha anime I`m finding it hard to find basic information online regarding the quality of various HK bootleg releases.

I`m primarily interested in the accuracy and grammar of the included English subtitles. I find it impossible to watch some HK bootlegs due to the horrible English subs however some titles just aren`t available English subtitled on DVD otherwise.

Secondarily I`m interested in the picture and sound quality.

If you have a HK bootleg release of any anime show, preferably SF/`80s Robot shows then please briefly rate the readability of the English subs and the picture and sound quality.

I`ll get the thread started with the few bootlegs I already have:

Title: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes 1-76 (3 Boxsets)

Label: Manga International Inc

Subtitles: Excellent, probably stolen from the fansub

Picture and Sound: perfectly acceptable, very clear in fact.

Title: Genesis Climber Mospeada TV

Label: Unknown? "2001videostore" in the fine print

Subtitles: Horrible, barely watchable with name changes between episodes, bad grammar and syntax that gave me a headache, drastically reduced my enjoyment of the show.

Picture and Sound: Okay, no big problems

Title: Macross: Do You Remember Love?

Label: FX

Subtitles: Very good, fansub source?

Picture and Sound: Incredibly good, like it better than my remastered Japan DVD.

...

Edited July 3, 2010 by Million Star

[Totoro242]

I think this thread is a good idea since there is some great anime that haven't had Western exposure, but how is there 'no other option available' for Mospeada when there was the Madman release Australia and ADV release in North America?

[Million Star]

Sorry, didn`t realise Mospeada had been officially released. Well at least I know where I can get a watchable version of that now. Thanks.

[Keith]

Unfortunately, the day of the decent quality HK set was killed around 7-8 years ago, when sars hit. Not specifically by sars mind you, but authorities took the opportunity of trade routes being closed to bust up wherehouses, and those who ran them. Basically, the few HK dudes who actually cared about shows & quality were scared out of the business, and all that remained since are TV rippers, & R1 rippers, which are totally useless.

An odd result of this being the revival of U.S. fansubbers, taking their oldschool VHS mentalities into the digital download age, with umpteenth generation tape copies being replaced by HD rips & decent fansub translations. Basically what I'm saying, is anything bootleg you get at this point isn't worth the shipping fee you'd pay for it, let alone the rest of the cost. If you really want to go that route, bittorrent and the like are your only real option, though I've never gotten into the know of how all that stuff works, I do know that's the only place you'll find the quality you're looking for.

[Noriko Takaya]

The only bootleg DVD I ever purchased was the HK release of Gunbuster which had subtitles so horribly done that it was unbearable to watch. I still own that DVD, but only as a collector's oddity as it will never be available again.

[Million Star]

Thanks Keith, that`s interesting. I still think this might be useful for hunting down the older HK box sets used on ebay or something though.

Does anyone own a HK bootleg ZZ or V Gundam boxset? I know they were released pre-SARS so how were they?

Fansubs might be an option for me (although finding all the episodes to a show, mastering them to DVD/getting .mkv/.ogm to play back smoothly on my crappy computer does my head in.)

[mikeszekely]

Thanks Keith, that`s interesting. I still think this might be useful for hunting down the older HK box sets used on ebay or something though.

Does anyone own a HK bootleg ZZ or V Gundam boxset? I know they were released pre-SARS so how were they?

Fansubs might be an option for me (although finding all the episodes to a show, mastering them to DVD/getting .mkv/.ogm to play back smoothly on my crappy computer does my head in.)

They were ok. Not good enough to keep me from seeking out fansubs later, but WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than an HK original Gundam set I found.