08-25-2003, 09:42 AM
To answer Timon's question, rather than dive into the issue of copyrights abuses by both buyers and sellers...
I buy HK to get things that have not been released in the US, or have only been released dubbed (YGO being a case in point). It's the same reason I'm happily downloading WPP's fansubs of Digimon 2 and 4. For the most part I am sufficiently a quality queen to hold out for the R1 of things like Trigun. Happily, US companies are finally figuring out that *yes* there is a market for anime and *yes* they can make money hand over fist by bringing it to us in an unmutilated form (die DIC, die!).
I have, on occasion, been tempted to buy R1 rips because of outrageous price gouging; InuYasha is one of those occassions. I'm lucky, there, though, and since I have it fansubbed I'm holding off until I see how they price a box set.
I bet the site you read said that HK is all done by organized crime syndicates and that by buying HK anime you're supporting prostitution and drug rings? I've read those too. I expect it's partially true and partially exagerated. It's right back to the Big Mac problem. It's not that I think everyone should airily dismiss every ethical challenge they encounter, but any First World denizen who doesn't live in a subsistence commune is living in a gray area already. Get as much accurate information as you can, choose what shade of gray you're comfortable with, and then stand your ground.
I buy HK to get things that have not been released in the US, or have only been released dubbed (YGO being a case in point). It's the same reason I'm happily downloading WPP's fansubs of Digimon 2 and 4. For the most part I am sufficiently a quality queen to hold out for the R1 of things like Trigun. Happily, US companies are finally figuring out that *yes* there is a market for anime and *yes* they can make money hand over fist by bringing it to us in an unmutilated form (die DIC, die!).
I have, on occasion, been tempted to buy R1 rips because of outrageous price gouging; InuYasha is one of those occassions. I'm lucky, there, though, and since I have it fansubbed I'm holding off until I see how they price a box set.
I bet the site you read said that HK is all done by organized crime syndicates and that by buying HK anime you're supporting prostitution and drug rings? I've read those too. I expect it's partially true and partially exagerated. It's right back to the Big Mac problem. It's not that I think everyone should airily dismiss every ethical challenge they encounter, but any First World denizen who doesn't live in a subsistence commune is living in a gray area already. Get as much accurate information as you can, choose what shade of gray you're comfortable with, and then stand your ground.