Do you have a Tenchi Product that you think might be a bootleg? Well after looking at this guide, you’ll not only be able to tell if you’re Tenchi product is the real deal, but what other Anime and Anime Soundtrack bootlegs look like as well. If you would like to see a guide on official releases go here
1. Producer Logos
Pretty much THE sure fire way to tell whether your Tenchi product is legit or not is to check the logos of who produced it, if you see one of these logo’s, it’s more then likely legit.
Pioneer
Pioneer LDC
Geneon
Geneon Universal Japan
VAP
FUNimation
*Note, these logo’s are for the North American and Japanese producers and licensors.
2. Bootleg logos
Now that you’ve seen what the official logos and such look like, here are the companies who have released and or do release bootlegs.
LF
fx
EverAnime
SonMay
3. Region & Subtitles
First and foremost, as far as Blu-ray regions go, North America and Japan are in the same region (so we’re good there, yay!) but as far as DVD regions go
North America is Region 1 or (R1) and Japan is Region 2 or (R2)
If you see that a product is “Region Free” or “Region 0” IT IS A BOOTLEG!
Now, there were a few companies who released legitamate Region free products (For instance, Central Park Media released a few products region free) however
EVERY SINGLE TENCHI ANIME PRODUCT RELEASED HAS A REGION! IF IT DOESN’T, IT’S A BOOTLEG
Japan and North America generally as far as Anime products go will only release English and Japanese Audio with English or Japanese subtitles.
However, many Bootleggers out of Malaysia and Hong Kong, will release a show with Chinese Subtitles (generally Cantonese, sometimes in Mandarin or Both), on rare occasions, a movie or show will be released with extra subtitles (for instance Final Fantasy: Advent Children’s R1 release contains a multitude of languages). Normally if you see Chinese subtitles IT’S A BOOTLEG (These release also tend to be Region Free as well).
4. Complete / Perfect Collections and Price
Made largely by fx, there are no COMPLETE collections which contain every show (or rather OVA1-2, Universe, Tokyo, and the movies) and a rule of thumb is generally if it’s dirt cheap, it’s too good to be true.
5. Where it’s sold
Basically, if you see something coming anywhere out of Southeast Asia, you can suspect it’s a bootleg (Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong)
*Note, This is not always the case with Vietnamese Blu-rays as not all of Vietnam is bootleg releases.YesAsia, a very reputable dealer in Eastern Media and Cinema holds products from Reputable Vietnamese Dealers, be sure to check over previous points, and ONLY buy from large reputable international dealers when buying certain media from there.
6. Pictures of Bootlegs
Well I hope that helps you, if you find that you’d like more information on bootlegs un-related to Tenchi Muyo! I would suggest here or here
