Importing vs. UK editions

IncendiaryLemon said:
You don't say :p
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Haha. The newest series I think I've seen is Aku no Hana. In case anyone is wondering, I don't stream or simulcast or keep up to date with the latest series. I mean, I will say upfront that films are a weirdly enough an exception, I guess the logic being I don't have to invest much time into them, and as such I'm excited for Miss Hokusai and similar films.
 
Sorry not read all the other posts but in response to the original post

I basically found there were titles I'd like to watch that US only leading me to lean towards US DvD's for those. Then I spotted the thread about a cheap UK BD player that could be made multi region allowing me access to those same US shows but now on BD.

So aside from those shows that never make it to the UK why do I prefer US releases? It's a mixture of speed and quality, some shows are out massively before the UK and quality wise the US release is always the best version, by which I mean that the UK version is only ever going to be equal or worse, even if the US version has flaws it's still the 'best' or equal best version.

What has made me look again is Anime Limited approach, working on discs themselves is a big plus compared to the other companies carbon copies. We got Bebop before the US, we got Durarara with fixed subs unlike the rest of the world, AL have shown they can outdo the US quality wise and can in some instances release before them.
 
Peas from the same pod qaiz. I watch semi-recent shows and enjoy them (Durarara!!, Space Dandy etc), but my heart belongs in older shows, due in part to the incredible nostalgia I still have for many of them, growing up with them. Shows like Macross and Gunbuster, there's no end to the £££s I'd spend there, and I'm thinking that Eva may well join those ranks soon enough.

I've nearly finished picking up Macross now (I may leave Macross 7 for a while) so I'm already looking at what's next on the list. Megazone 23 is already on pre-order and there's also Super Dimension Century Orguss (TBH, anything Mikimoto would probably make my list!), then after that it's Lupin III, Urusei Yatsura, Patlabor, Galaxy Express etc that piques my interest most. I'd love Record of Lodoss War as well if it ever makes it to BD in Japan.

If there's a show that's absolutely at the top of my list (Macross, Gunbuster, Eva) then it's JP all the way. Best physical package, best on disc content. Anything else, I'll take a view of what's available where, the cost, and what the overall package is like (physical and disc) and then decide which version. That being said, outside my 'top tier' shows then I probably have a bias in my decision making process towards AL as I really like what they're doing and applaud their model. If they ever brought any of my absolute favourites to market in the UK then I'd happily double dip.
 
I don't really have a lot to say on this matter but seeing as everyone else is replying I may as well throw my hat into the ring. I have no issue with UK releases so I don't find myself importing much at all. The only reason I'll import something is if it's on Blu Ray in the US but not in the UK or just plain unavailable in the UK. I only have a Region B Blu Ray player so that restricts me a lot in terms of what I could potentially import anyway. I'm not too concerned with fancy packaging or the highest quality bleeding edge video so when you compare the releases of something like Monogatari where the price for the fairly barebones UK release is about £20 compared to the really nice US Aniplex release for something like £70, the UK release wins out for me. Sure, I'd like to have them but I couldn't justify the price. I'd make exceptions for shows I really really love. I'm not sure if they're still available but at some point in the future when I start earning a fair amount of money I'd like to collect the Aniplex Madoka release and I'd certainly contemplate importing Gakkou Gurashi if it has English subs or a US Evangelion Blu Ray if one were to become available.
 
Lavigne said:
Peas from the same pod qaiz. I watch semi-recent shows and enjoy them (Durarara!!, Space Dandy etc), but my heart belongs in older shows, due in part to the incredible nostalgia I still have for many of them, growing up with them. Shows like Macross and Gunbuster, there's no end to the £££s I'd spend there, and I'm thinking that Eva may well join those ranks soon enough.

I've nearly finished picking up Macross now (I may leave Macross 7 for a while) so I'm already looking at what's next on the list. Megazone 23 is already on pre-order and there's also Super Dimension Century Orguss (TBH, anything Mikimoto would probably make my list!), then after that it's Lupin III, Urusei Yatsura, Patlabor, Galaxy Express etc that piques my interest most. I'd love Record of Lodoss War as well if it ever makes it to BD in Japan.

If there's a show that's absolutely at the top of my list (Macross, Gunbuster, Eva) then it's JP all the way. Best physical package, best on disc content. Anything else, I'll take a view of what's available where, the cost, and what the overall package is like (physical and disc) and then decide which version. That being said, outside my 'top tier' shows then I probably have a bias in my decision making process towards AL as I really like what they're doing and applaud their model. If they ever brought any of my absolute favourites to market in the UK then I'd happily double dip.
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The OVA version is available on BD, so if you're interested in that:
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Cheers qaiz. I had seen that but I guess I'll hold on until a full series (eventually) pops up. It's not like I'll be struggling for things to snap up in the meantime! :D

I really want the Orguss set but it's insanely priced. Just seen that Maison Ikkoku is already out in Japan, might have to prioritise that next. Maybe...
 
Lavigne said:
Cheers qaiz. I had seen that but I guess I'll hold on until a full series (eventually) pops up. It's not like I'll be struggling for things to snap up in the meantime! :D

I really want the Orguss set but it's insanely priced. Just seen that Maison Ikkoku is already out in Japan, might have to prioritise that next. Maybe...
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The Orguss set is nice (I actually own it, very recent purchase in fact). The Maison Ikkoku set is lovely too but I don't own that one unfortunately, although I do want to watch it some time in the future. Speaking of which, I do own the Urusei Yatsura TV boxes, beautiful sets but I still have yet to actually open and watch them which is par for the course with many of the series I own :lol:
xdknaQZl.jpg
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Bit of a tangent as always with myself, but I guess the thing to end on is the fact that, like I said prior, I'm in it for the packaging and older series and unless a series is very well known, the chances of it getting localized is slim, and if it does, the packaging won't be as good which makes my job simple.
 
Lum's very high on my want list. I ordered the Beautiful Dreamer BD earlier. Once I've re-acquainted myself then I may end up springing for the TV collections!

Orguss, I'll probably wait for an opportune copy to surface somewhere. Discotek haven't completely ruled out a US BD at some point either so whichever turns up first I guess.

Maison Ikkoku is a great show, you should definitely check it out at some point.
 
Here are the reasons why I import more then buying domestic releases.

Trust:
After all the stupid decisions made by Manga UK over blu ray releases like canning the k-on! release because DVD sales were so low (even though it would have sold more because it was what a majority was waiting for) and the farce that was the disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (along with their original decision to release madoka on DVD only which made me fork out an arm and a leg for the US limited edition releases) made me lose trust in releases actually coming out as intended and increased my import purchasing (I only purchase domestic releases when it's the only option like welcome too the space show).

Availability:
There are a lot more series available in the states while only a small amount of them will ever reach our shores and most likely won't be in the format I want.

Quality:
Like everyone else that has mentioned this, I do prefer a quality product but most likely in my case it goes a bit deeper considering I've gotten hacked off at the large amount of subtitling issues in MVMs releases along with some of the quality train wrecks that Kazhi have put out (Roujin-Z is the only release I don't have any gripes with) along with the decision MVM made by using the inferior 1080i masters for bodacious space pirates instead of using the new 1080p complete collection masters that were made more recently by Sentai even though they were warned about it which cost a sale (mainly because I didn't want to end up with a release that had more bugs beyond general video.
However, it isn't all limited to the UK since there are a few errors slipping into US releases and I'm not referring to the sailor moon release which could have been sabotaged by toei supplying viz media supplying them with the poor quality masters (even then, they've done a pretty good job with what they had been given even though it couldn't be making a masterpiece out of a complete mess since there are a lot of errors in the video not limited to the shake you get from film assets converted to another format and then to another).
 
qaiz said:
Lavigne said:
Cheers qaiz. I had seen that but I guess I'll hold on until a full series (eventually) pops up. It's not like I'll be struggling for things to snap up in the meantime! :D

I really want the Orguss set but it's insanely priced. Just seen that Maison Ikkoku is already out in Japan, might have to prioritise that next. Maybe...
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The Orguss set is nice (I actually own it, very recent purchase in fact). The Maison Ikkoku set is lovely too but I don't own that one unfortunately, although I do want to watch it some time in the future. Speaking of which, I do own the Urusei Yatsura TV boxes, beautiful sets but I still have yet to actually open and watch them which is par for the course with many of the series I own :lol:
xdknaQZl.jpg
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Bit of a tangent as always with myself, but I guess the thing to end on is the fact that, like I said prior, I'm in it for the packaging and older series and unless a series is very well known, the chances of it getting localized is slim, and if it does, the packaging won't be as good which makes my job simple.
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Where do I get that series and movies
 
Back when I first started buying anime there was hardly any released in the UK (this is back around 2000) and when I upgraded to Blu-ray I could see a similar situation happening again in that not everything I want will be released over here or if it does get released it ends up being a poorer version (such as the FMA Brotherhood debacle). About the only UK releases I buy are some Anime Limited, the Ghibli films and the occasional MVM releases.
 
I pretty much only import if it's the only option to get a title. Case in point, when Right Stuf announced they were rescuing the Gundam license I spoke to a US friend about helping me import those releases. However before that went anywhere we got the news that Anime Limited would be doing similar for the UK, so now I'm happy to wait for those.

Wasn't always the case. Go back 10 years or more and I think the DVDs we got in the UK were quite poor compared to the American ones, making importing more of a case of 'Do I want the show or a quality release of the show?'
 
i import because the US sets look better on my shelf - quite simplistic really. I don't know why but the UK keep failing to deliver good looking packaging, other than recently (Tokyo Ghoul from AL), but even then the US version looks better and comes with more
 
My views on importing has altered slightly since earlier days. I haven't needed to imort as much as a small parity has begun to develop between the US and UK through streaming sites and the titles released. This is observed with newer titles so odds are if you wait you'll get your hands on a UK release. This is potentially cheaper when you take Duty and Delivery into the equation.

In saying that, as a rare hunter, I tend towards older titles so I still buy imports of OOP titles that aren't available here. I will tend to go to UK sellers but that changes little because it still isn't a UK release. Also If i'm impatient enough I will import.

What I have said so far is based on UK/US/AUS imports. Japan is unique with importers and is largely for the super otaku :p :D. Due to language limitations the titles tend to be sub only (not really an issue). Also the titles are Japan centric so aren't likely to see release in the English speaking world so usually provides richer pickings if you're open enough.
 
I have to admit, I can imagine my attitude shifting over the next year or so too.

Because I got into anime fairly recently, the past three years of my fandom have largely been confined to consuming the vast amount of anime already available very cheaply from UK distributors. But I'm fast reaching the point where I've watched nearly every noteworthy (ie. popular / rated on average 7.5 or higher) show available here, and likewise with Crunchyroll's back catalogue.

So once I reach that point I imagine I'll probably cave and buy a region free BR player and start going for US releases to fill out the spaces in my collection.

That said, I'm still the kind of person that'll largely go for the cheaper option where possible. If it's a choice between a UK release and a US release, I'll always go for the UK release (probably because it's cheaper)
 
Lutga said:
I'm the same too - I have to admit when people talk about audio/visual/sub issues, most of the time it goes right over my head. I don't think I've ever noticed something like that even once, so my attention to detail on that front must be pretty small.

So yeah, when it comes to the UK vs. Imports my only grievances really are more focussed around the simple unavailability of certain titles/Blu Ray versions here - to be honest, as it stands I'm happy to wait slightly longer too as I still have a massive backlog to work through.
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Same here. I mostly import to fill gaps. Or in the case of One Piece it's because the US releases are so far ahead of the UK ones.

I've become suspicious of late that some like to over egg the issues in UK releases, even going so far as just wanting to nitpick them like it's some kind of sport to collect faults.
 
st_owly said:
An AL edition of Katanagatari would be very nice indeed, especially now the NIS premium edition is out of print.
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Would be cool to see that happen, I never understood why NIS haven't released a standard edition because I'm pretty sure the license hasn't expired yet (so far only the Aniplex licensed shows have; Anohana, Occult Academy & Persona: Trinity Soul).

EDIT: Apparently Katanagatari is also Aniplex, uhh...
 
My own experience of importing DVD's is one of simple unavailability in the UK. This hasn't happened a lot at all thus far, though I am currently looking at "The World God Only Knows Goddesses" and the OVA disc, both of which seem to be absent in region 2 purchasing and conversation circles. A question above this topic might be to ask what is out there with region differentiation which enthusiasts may NOT know about?
 
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