What am I getting into exactly?

[Maxxjulie]

Hi everyone. I've been a hardcore anime fan for about 2 years and have a pretty big collection of region 1 dvd's. Unfortunately, I have to limit my anime spending this year. I'm not used to working on a budget when it comes to dvd's. Kinda sucks. A friend of mine's been providing me with anime lately like Prince of Tennis and Naruto . He downloads the fansubbed episodes off the net and burns em for me. I only recently discovered this site(and others like it). I guess my question is are these HK dvd's really worth spending money on? The reviews for some of the Fx perfect collections are really tempting me to place my first order, but then I stumbled into the forums and found lots of complaints about Fx release's having errors and compatiblity problems. Am I going to be generally satisified with my purchases of these HK dvd's or are they simply going to be a headache?

[rarnom]

I personally haven't had any major problems with my HK sets. The biggest issue for people is pixelation. It happens a little here and there, but if you are fine with fansubbed anime from the internet, then you will be fine with HK sets. I think that FX sets are great and considering the cost they are worth it. You should throw this question around at the HK forums at http://www.arcticnightfall.com. That is a superb place to find out the latest info and answers to any questions. I admit that at times it (buying HK dvds) is sort of a scary thing to get into because there are times when things screw up, but I think that most people are satisfied with what they get. My only suggestion would be to do your homework well: check out quality reviews on this site (import-anime) and others like http://www.cookiejarvideo.com. Also check the different sellers and ask questions on message boards about sets you are interested in. There are lots of people very willing to help and give information. You can usually sniff out the specific details concerning the set you want and then you can decide if it sounds good to you. I think that HK sets are a great way for anime fans to really get into different series and explore lots of different titles. Have fun.

[ouijaouija]

I have quite a few hk dvds. I can say that they are great in terms of value. Some dvd do have bugs, but the best thing to do is to check the reviews on this site (most do not). If I have to choose between spending $30 or $120 the choice is easy.

And don't listen to all these anime people who say hk dvds are bad etc.

[Vicious]

Originally posted by ouijaouija

And don't listen to all these anime people who say hk dvds are bad etc.

I'd be partially responsible for that. I've never said HK's are bad. My only gripe is with people who are like I'll never buy an R1, I only buy R1 rips. I'm like where do you think the R1 rips are coming from? I'm just like if the R1's are on sale or are a pretty good deal, support them once in awhile. I mean if you can get Spirited Away for $15 R1, why not just spend the extra $6 for the legit release rather than getting an HK of it for $9? That's all. Nothing more. All that crap about HK's supporting the triad and stuff is exactly that . . .crap!!!

[ouijaouija]

yeh i agree with you there. Ive just got the official macross cross plus speical edition for only £8 which is a bargain (and metropolis for same price).

But on the other hand, in the UK neon genesis evangelion comes in 8 volumes which each cost £20. Wow, a lot of money if you want them all.

[Japschin]

Originally posted by Vicious
I mean if you can get Spirited Away for $15 R1, why not just spend the extra $6 for the legit release rather than getting an HK of it for $9?

I agree about spending the small extra for R1s. If the price isn't much of a difference, just get R1s. Buying HK sets is for R1s sets which cost $80 and more. Eg. Just buy HK sets for sets like Blue Gender, His and Her Circumstances, Fushigi Yuugi etc coz they cost $80+++ each. I normally based it on the reviews of the HK sets. If they have almost perfect reviews, I skip the R1s and buy the HKs. If I really like the series, I get the R1s after that.
HK sets have small problems sometimes but it's not much a big deal. You should be 95%, at least, satisfied with the HK sets you could buy here.

[Terrex]

I find that if I really enjoy a series, I'll buy the legit set. I'm waiting for the Fruits Basket brick to come out and I'll probably pick it up. I'm also going to cave in and buy all the Chobits R1's (I need to hunt for Vol. 1 with the box now). With movies I usually pick up a legit release. I got the Cowboy Bebop R1 for $12 CND from a friend and bought Metropolis and Princess Mononoke (although I recieved them again for Christmas from friends) for decent prices as well. I think it's good to support your favorite series, but even with the R1's, I'll probably keep the HK versions, just in case my friends want to borrow a series. I like to complete things as well, so if I start to collect R1 releases, I'll try and finish them off (only one I haven't is with Reign, which I will return and get something better in it's place soon).

[Prophet Hero]

Originally posted by Japschin
Eg. Just buy HK sets for sets like Blue Gender, His and Her Circumstances, Fushigi Yuugi etc coz they cost $80+++ each.

Just on an incidental note, I bought the R1s of His and Her Circumstances. I think the amount of effort Rightstuf put into the (five) DVDs was incredible - well worth the money and a certainly company worth supporting. I did go HK for Fushigi though.

[Prophet Hero]

Originally posted by Japschin
Eg. Just buy HK sets for sets like Blue Gender, His and Her Circumstances, Fushigi Yuugi etc coz they cost $80+++ each.

Just on an incidental note, I bought the R1s of His and Her Circumstances. I think the amount of effort Rightstuf put into the (five) DVDs was incredible - well worth the money and a certainly company worth supporting. I did go HK for Fushigi though.

Like Terrex, I also aim to replace series I enjoyed with R1s.

[Japschin]

Originally posted by Terrex
I find that if I really enjoy a series, I'll buy the legit set. I'll probably keep the HK versions, just in case my friends want to borrow a series. I like to complete things as well, so if I start to collect R1 releases, I'll try and finish them off (only one I haven't is with Reign, which I will return and get something better in it's place soon).

Hehe that's what i do. If i have both R1 set and HK set, I'll loan my friends the HK set. They may be friends but hey, sometimes they don't take care of whatever that's not theirs. I loan my friends my HK Fushigi Yuugi sets and kept my R1s in my possessions. Too expensive to loan them the R1 sets. Cost me almost $400, big bomb! I havn't gotten the His and Her Circumstances R1 set yet coz I've not seen it. I'll wait till I've seen the HK set and decide whether I like it enough to buy. I'm just weird and picky.....I guess...I like monsters, magic, adventures, animes with stories, dark animes etc ...but not plain old drama. Many like Love Hina, but I don't find it a big deal though. Kind of boring to me.

After I found IA, I tend to get HK sets first before replacing them with R1s.

[pugmagician]

We have quite a few more R1s right now than HK. If we like the series we tend to buy the R1s of it unless it is to damn hard to find (ex. Ceres set) or if it costs to much. Hell I'm working on purchasing the sets of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT on R1.

[Vicious]

Originally posted by pugmagician
Hell I'm working on purchasing the sets of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT on R1.

Good luck with that one. I personally would probably stay away from it due to it's length and the # of episodes Funi puts on a disc. I refuse to support 3 episodes per disc releases. Most of my R1's are ADV and Bandai since they try to keep the disc counts lower. I usually end up getting HK's for most Pioneer and Viz titles. Although I am trying to suport Maison Ikkoku so that they will hopefully finish releasing it and the fact that it is surprisingly very reasonably priced.

[Schultz]

Originally posted by pugmagician
We have quite a few more R1s right now than HK. If we like the series we tend to buy the R1s of it unless it is to damn hard to find (ex. Ceres set) or if it costs to much. Hell I'm working on purchasing the sets of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT on R1.

I refuse to get the DBGt set.. considering they started at like episode 14 in the series and they have butchered it all to hell.. But they are doing awesome releases with Dragonball DVD's.. i mean 2 dvd set costing 39.95 and has like 15 episodes on those two discs.. well worth it..

[JunkieJoe]

When someone like Schultz says he refuses to buy a set R1 that should speak volumes, because he owns more DVDs in R1 than I do in HK LOL...

[pugmagician]

Originally posted by Schultz
I refuse to get the DBGt set.. considering they started at like episode 14 in the series and they have butchered it all to hell.. But they are doing awesome releases with Dragonball DVD's.. i mean 2 dvd set costing 39.95 and has like 15 episodes on those two discs.. well worth it..

Yeah, that part does suck about GT. The only reason I'm buying it is because I like the US voice actors in it. I do have the first 13 on VHS though. As for the Dragonball I deffinatly agree with what they did there also, I have no problem paying the price for them either.