6/21/2005

Taking a break from reviews, today’s article is going to be on the ever-confrontational subject of Hong Kong DVDs, what you need to know about them, and how to recognize them.

If you live or have lived in a multicultural city (in my case, Toronto, but there are Chinatowns scattered throughout other areas of the world, in addition to Hong Kong itself), as an anime fan you’ve probably come in contact with the enigmatic Hong Kong DVD. They’re identifyable in a number of ways; first the obvious appearance of Chinese writing on the box (if you can tell the difference between that and Japanese, that is; if you know enough kanji or recognize a lack of hiragana and katakana, that should be enough) and secondly by their scandalously cheap prices for a great many episodes.

But why, you might ask, would that be a bad thing?

In some cases, for the consumer, it isn’t. But the majority of the time, the problem with Hong Kong DVDs is that the quality is greatly inferior to that of an actual, licensed DVD. Poor video, Babelfished translation (they generally are translated into Chinese and THEN into English, seemingly often by a person that speaks little English at all), inconsistency with their own subtitles – names are often left in Chinese, and randomly changed into different names from episode to episode – little or no menu options, and glitched DVDs are only some of the common issues with a bootleg. The fact that it is a bootleg in itself should also prove a deterrent, as the more money that is spent on such products means less obvious consumer interest in the real thing, which can lead to the less-affluent companies floundering. Between easy downloads on the Internet and pirated DVDs, there is much more interest anime outside Japan than the industry might suspect – and, of course, they are the ones paying for it in the end.

The high prices of R1 DVDs (Region 1, North American produced discs) often deter fans from spending money on longer or less-interesting shows. You may want to keep in mind, however, that the price of R2s in comparison is astronomically high (usually 5000-6000 yen, equal to about $50-$60 USD, and often only including 2 episodes per disc), and with a lot less menu options and extras than we are being offered here!

Hong Kong DVDs may mean quicker and cheaper anime in the short run, but in the long run they are both damaging and often a waste of your money when you may decide you want a correct translation. Additionally, many merchants will even try to sell you HK DVDs at the price of a normal, licensed R1 (they are region-free), so it is important that you carefully inspect them before you purchase, if you want to get the real thing!

If you can identify the origin from the writing (a lack of kana will often indicate this, but some HKs do have Japanese writing on them), you can easily tell the difference. Other ways are to look at the number of episodes on the disc (typically a HK is low enough quality that it will have between 6 and as high as 20 episodes), the languages the subtitles are available in (an r1 will have English, Japanese, Spanish and/or French tracks or titles, whereas a HK will more often than not will just have English, Japanese and Chinese) and a lack of a familiar company logo such as BanDai, ADV, Manga Ent, etc. A cheap price for what appears to be a box set will almost always indicate a Hong Kong DVD. Typically they are banned from conventions, but often are sold in small shops, and occasionally make their way into unknowing comic shops and video stores.

Now that you know how to identify them, it is up to you whether to decide whether a Hong Kong DVD is more trouble than it’s worth! Do the right thing, and save yourself a lot a hassle by knowing beforehand what you may be getting into by buying bootlegs.