We all know that collecting anime goods can become a pricey hobby. What some people may not realize however, is that there is bootleg copies of anime goods ranging from DVDs to Wallscrolls, and everything in between. Because we love anime here at SPJA, we wanna make sure that you’re not getting ripped off by cheap knock-offs of anime goods. I will provide you with some very helpful tips on how you can spot the differences between the fake anime goods and the legit versions, so that you can make sure your getting your money’s worth and support the anime industry at the same time. I will also provide you with some guidelines on what you should do to report any counterfeit goods that you may encounter.

• What kinds of anime goods are counterfeited?
  Almost every form of anime merchandise is counterfeited: DVDs, Figures, Wallscrolls, T-Shirts, Books, and even Audio CDs.

• Where are these counterfeited goods sold mostly?
  Most the time they are sold on auction websites such as eBay. However, it’s not uncommon for them to be sold by other online merchants or even appear sometimes in stores or conventions.

There are a number of things you should look for when dealing with possible counterfeited anime goods. Some things are pretty much common sense. Some bootleggers do try to be crafty though to fool you, so be sure to look for all the things discussed in this article.

General Things to Recognize:

• Price:
  A good general rule for dealing with this is, “If the price looks too good to be true, chances are it is”. If you see a box set of anime selling for $20 when it’s normally $60 retail, then chances are it’s bootleg.

• Quality:
  Bootleggers are trying to make the most profit as possible, so they will spend as little as they can on creating the actual product. This makes it perfect for us to spot their material though because the quality of the product will be so horrible and cheap looking compared to the legit versions.

• Packaging:
  Bootleg anime goods tend to have extremely bad packaging, ranging from wrong logos to bad color. Legit versions of anime goods will almost always be packaged in very nice boxes with glossy high-resolution box art, with no logos placed right over the character’s heads. A good rule is, “If the box art looks crappy, then chances are it’s counterfeit”.

• Copyright Information:
  Bootleggers are pretty funny when it comes to copyright information on they’re knock-offs. Some bootleggers won’t add any copyright information and others will. A lot of the time however, the copyright information they add is either misspelled, incomplete, doesn’t mention anything about publishing, or is printed on the strangest place (such as right on discs).

• Location of Seller/Merchant:
  When dealing with counterfeit anime goods online, a good to check is the location of the seller/merchant. If they are located in China or Taiwan, then there is a high chance that they are selling counterfeit goods (This isn’t the case all the time however, some legit merchants are in fact located in China, such as Play-Asia).

• Shop at  Reputable Dealers:
  A good way to avoid bootlegged products all together is to shop at reputable anime dealers, such as: RightStuf, Best Buy, and Target. Buying from eBay and other market-type places is extremely risky and you are sure to always run into some form of bootleg product on them.

DVDs/CDs

Let’s get right to the biggest bootleg item of them all, DVDs and CDs. Even though they are the biggest bootleg item, they are actually the easiest to spot in terms of counterfeiting. Here are some things you should look for when dealing with them:

• Logos:
  The easiest way to see if an anime DVD or CD is bootleg is by simply looking at the logo on the case. For some reason, bootleggers seems to like having their own logo on the packaging, maybe to be known as the best bootlegger around? Who knows. If you see a FUNimation logo on a Bandai licensed product, then there is definitely something wrong there. Below are some logos of confirmed bootleggers, if you ever see one of these logos on a product, don’t buy it.

• Region Codes:
  Legit anime will almost never be Region 0 (Region Free), there are SOME exceptions though, however it’s rare. Official licensed anime in America will almost always be Region 1. Region Codes are meant so that the specific DVD or CD will only play in a player for that specific region. For more on region codes, visit the following Wikipedia article: DVD Region Code. So, if an anime DVD or CD is advertising that it’s Region Free, then there is a high chance that it’s bootleg.

• Subtitles:
  This may be one of the best ways to check for counterfeit anime DVDs. Official anime DVDs will never have Chinese subtitles, and if they do then it’s extremely rare that they are official releases. If an anime DVD is advertising that it has “Japanese/English Audio & English/Chinese Subtitles” then it’s completely counterfeit. If you combine this rule with the Region-Free rule, then you’re probably looking at a counterfeit DVD.

• Episode per Disc:
  Like I said before, bootleggers are trying to make the most profit they can while spending the least amount of money. Because of this, they tend to compress anime episodes so much, that they fit the entire series on the least amount of discs possible. A 26 episode series will be compressed to only 3 discs on a bootleg version. However, on an official release it will be fairly uncompressed and span to over 5 or 6 discs. If a merchant is selling a “Complete Collection” of a 26 episode series that only fits on 3 discs, then it’s most likely bootleg. A good rule to remember is: “If a disc has more than 5 episodes, than it’s most likely not legit”.

• Set Information:
  I don’t know what it is, but bootleggers seem to not understand the concept behind seasons. Instead, on they’re bootleg anime DVDs they call them “TV Parts” and “Perfect Collection”. Legit anime DVDs will always be boxed in “Seasons” or “Complete Collection”, it’s rare but not uncommon for anime to be boxed in “Parts”, if this is the case use the other rules above to check for other possible signs of bootleg.

Clothes

• Print Quality:
  A good way to tell an unlicensed anime T-Shirt, or other clothing, from a legit one is by simply looking at the quality of the print. Typically, counterfeit anime clothing will have low quality color and not be cropped very well.

• Copyright Information:
  People that create unlicensed anime clothes, typically won’t add any copyright information to the product. If the clothing is lacking any form of copyright information, either on the tag or somewhere on the clothes themselves, then it will most likely not be officially licensed. Official products always include some form of copyright information about the anime characters printed on the clothes.

Wallscrolls & Posters

• Logos:
  Official licensed wallscrolls & posters will almost always have the anime title’s logo printed on the scroll to display what anime the characters are from. If the wallscroll or poster is missing the anime’s logo, then you most likely are dealing with an unlicensed product.

• Copyright Information:
  Wallscrolls & posters will always have copyright information printed on it in one of the corners. Always check for this copyright information, it sometimes can be very small.

• Wallpaper/Fan art:
  A lot of the time, unlicensed wallscrolls and posters are created from anime wallpapers or fan art found on the internet. If you see a wallscroll for sell with no logo, no copyright information, and you remember seeing the same picture on the internet then it might be counterfeit.

Figures & Toys

• Paint:
  A perfect way to check if a figure or toy is counterfeit is by simply looking at the paint job. Most bootleggers of figures and toys will again, spend the least amount of money on paint so that they make the most money when selling. Because of this, the paint job on figures and toys look really bad or are not accurate to the character’s original colors at all. Look out for bad paint jobs on those pretty figures.

• Molding:
  Look around the edges of the figure or toy – if there are bits of the material sticking out from the figure or toy then that is an obvious sign of cheap molding and will most likely be a counterfeit figure/toy.

• Licensing Information:
  Figures and toys will always have licensing information on the box, be it SEGA or Bandai, it will always be there so check for this information on the box.

Plushies

Yes even plushies, those lovable cuddly toys, are counterfeited.

• Stitching:
  Check the stitching on the plushie, make sure it’s consistent and of the highest quality. Be sure to check body parts and facial features, make sure everything is in the right position and of the correct size.

• Colors:
  Once again, check the colors of the character. If the color of the character’s clothes or features looks off then chances are you are dealing with a fake.

Now that you have some ways to tell the bootlegs from the legit products, you’re probably wondering how to report said bootlegs to the proper people to get the bootleggers punished, right? Well… It’s hard to punish the bootleggers directly as most are located in China or other counties, however we can stop they’re products from selling on the internet and at conventions and retail stores. Here are some tips on how to stop the sell of bootleg anime products.

Internet

• Contact the Merchant:
  Sometimes the merchant selling the counterfeit goods might not realize that what they are selling is bootleg or unlicensed material. Send them an email first letting them know which products they are selling are bootleg products. If they had no idea, they will typically remove the products to avoid any legal issues.

• Contact the Company:
  If the merchant refuses to remove the bootleg material, contact the official licensing company of the products informing them of the specific website selling the bootleg material of they’re products.

• eBay – Send a Report:
  The great thing about eBay is that you can send reports of bootleg material to their team. To send a report to eBay, click the “Report Item” link on the right side of the listing, under the seller’s info section. Once on the report page, fill out the form and click submit. If the seller has multiple reports filed against them for selling bootleg items, eBay will typically suspend the seller’s account.

Merchants

• Contact the Law:
  The only thing you can really do in real life when dealing with bootleggers is call the local law enforcement’s non-emergency line and inform them of the bootleg products and the location of the person selling them. Most of the time they have a special team to deal with such situations as bootleg products.

Conventions

• Contact Staff:
  If your at a convention and notice a merchant in the Exhibit Hall selling bootleg products, then secretly inform the convention’s staff right away. The convention’s staff has ways to deal with bootleggers, and will handle the issue when informed about it.

Bootleg products of anime merchandise is a serious problem. The anime industry has a hard enough time as it is staying afloat in tough economics times, adding bootleg anime merchandise to the mix only makes it worse. Buying bootleg anime products may be cheaper at times, but it doesn’t support the industry at all. Your money would be going straight into the pockets of bootleggers, who only care about one thing: Making Money. So if you love anime, support the industry, and want to make sure it thrives, then please be on the look out for bootleg anime products and don’t buy them; In fact, help stop the spread of bootlegging and report those counterfeits.

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Tags: advice, merchandise