CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

There was a Sailormoon season 1 DVD set on Ebay for 40 bucks (when it was all added up) There was only 2 hours left on the thing... Gah... I know, I never buy anime without asking for a disc count, but... Well, I'm gonna file a claim if it ends up being a bootleg... I've never done that before, but I hope it's legit so I don't have to... I want season 1 so bad... If you ignore the rest of the show, Season 1 can really stand alone and the last 3 episodes are very emotional... If you ignore the rest of the show (the clever device of the crystal sorta stops being clever when it can be done over and over... At least it's not nearly as bad as the dragonballs... I swear, Toriyama was just playing out a childhood fantasy when DBZ rolled around...)

Crossing my fingers... (Yes, I am a 23 year old man who loves me some sailormoon... Japanese version only, of course...)

If Sailormoon had gotten a dub like Azumanga daioh or, for that matter, any ADV anime past 1994 or so, I would probably not have minded the dub, but... Well, there are dubs with bad acting, then there are DiC/4kids/Saban dubs... Changing names, getting rid of songs, changing scores, and changing plots of episodes and even overall storylines... Those things are unforgiveable... But, what's even more unforgiveable are bootleggers selling on Ebay... In the name of the Moon, I will punish them... Like, with all my legal might...

I just had to know,what happend? Did you go after those bootleggers

That is a risk, but with the sets out-of-print, you will need to take a risk or two to score a copy.

Did the seller post a pick? I know what the real one looks like, being lucky enough to have a copy.

Hmmn, well I hope all goes well!

Good luck with your Sailor Moon quest. I hope it turns out to be legit. I wouldn't mind having the second season on DVD, since it was my favorite.

I have both the first and second season on DVD, woot!

However, I must say I'm a bit disappointed with the job ADV did. The first thing wrong, which isn't entirely their fault (it's still disappointing) is that episode 67 isn't on the set. This isn't a huge loss, it's a filler episode anyway (probably made for the sole purpose of fanservice shots of the Senshi in swimsuits), but it still would've been nice to have.

The second, which is gross negligence, is the first episode on one of the DVDs (I don't remember which one, it's the episode where Usagi is dreaming about her and Mamoru getting married). During the entire wedding sequence, the dub track is playing! I know this because I have seen all the dubbed episodes, and I recognized the DiC music and the English voice of Serena. Once Usagi wakes up and finds Chibiusa in her bed, the subtitle track returns, but still...I don't see how this mistake was made or why it was released like this.

Anyway, hope your box set was legit!

Even though it conveniently falls between two DVD's, I doubt the missing episode could have been a mistake. That would mean ADV would have left it out intentionally. With ADV's library of offerings to consider, I seriously doubt ADV would omit the episode themselves because of fan service concerns. It is more likely due to one of two reasons:

1: The Japanese rightsholders refused to grant access to said episode. The rightsholders have religiously protected Sailor Moon's image in the US and, reported, it is they who do not want any sexual connotations to make it into US versions. The apparent reason the final season has yet to be officially released in the states. Whether that's all true or just internet blather, I'm not entirely sure.

2: Since that episode was left out of the original US release, perhaps a master copy of it does not exist / could not be found in a timely manner for ADV's production. The fact that ADV's rights to Sailor Moon have already expired show both the difficulties in working with the Japanese rightholders and ADV's tight schedule for release.

Of course, you implied that ADV was not likely at fault for the missing episode, but both of those reasons, at least in my mind, could contribute to the language track issue as well.

Wow, good luck with your purchase, Bob! I'm hardly brave enough to buy anything off of Ebay for fear of bootlegs, but when it comes to Sailor Moon...Some things just have to be done. XD Hope you get the right copy! And if you don't, hope you can take the sellers down with your legal skills. Good luck, though!

Radical Dreamer wrote: I'm hardly brave enough to buy anything off of Ebay for fear of bootlegs, but when it comes to Sailor Moon...Some things just have to be done. XD Hope you get the right copy! And if you don't, hope you can take the sellers down with your legal skills. Good luck, though!

No kidding...

Ebay is like the megastore of HK (bootleg) anime sets. Its really difficult to know exactly what you are purchasing.

Just got the set... It was a bootleg... I reported the guy, and demanded a refund...

Now, what my Dad said about it is "You bought it in good faith, so you should be able to keep it"

Well, I'm gonna watch it a bit, and see how my claim turns out...

Yes, he posted a picture... It wasn't a pic from the outer box, but it was a pic from one of the inner ADV boxes... When I got it today, there were scanned images from the ADV releases, and these weird pictures that weren't from SM at all (like what looked like Kamineko from Azumanga daioh), and a picture of Chibi Usa in the spine... Also, all the DVD covers had full color printouts of Sailormoon scenes, but peoples heads were off the edge of the CD, and it looked very amateur...

*sigh*

Just one more thing to **** me off, and one more thing that was at least partly my fault... (EDIT: it censored ****? wow... That's new)

It took me a while to track down a way to report bootlegs, but I finally found it... Even reporting anything is sorta hard to find on Ebay... Ebay needs to rework their site a bit...

EDIT: It looks like this is actually a COPY alltogether of the ADV eps, and there is a LOT of artifacting... Looks sorta like watching a high speed stream online...

wow that sucks that happened to ya. thats why i try not to buy from Ebay

I'm sorry to hear that Bob. What a rip-off. At least he could have taken a few minutes to make a good boot leg. What are pirates coming to these days?

From buyer: Luke MacDonald on 7/15/2006 16:35 PDT
You sold me a bootleg, which is illegal, and didn't warn that what you selling wasn't the legitimate version released by ADV. I want a full refund, including shipping costs at the least, and at the most you should give me the refund and lose your seling priviledges.

From seller: *censored*
Please send the DVD back to us for full refund. You can send to *censored*

From buyer: Luke MacDonald on 7/20/2006 00:12 PDT
You want me to send it back to you, for me to pay for that, so you can resell it illegally again? I don't think so... No... I get a refund, I don't need to send anything, and if whoever reviews this if this comes to an escalation, I can prove this is a bootleg. The legitimate set has 8 discs, has a blue outer box with inlaid metalic ink for the design of the character, and two plastic covered inner boxes with a picture of sailormoon on each front, and episode list on the back. This set is 4 discs (first dead giveaway it's a bootleg), has only one case (a cheap cardboard case) has amateur disc labels, that cut off characters off the edge of the disc, and the inside says Sailormoon R (the second season) when I bought Sailormoon Classic (the first season) I don't need to send anything back because you shouldn't be reselling this at all... It's illegal to sell bootlegs on Ebay. This isn't even a Hong Kong bootleg, this is a direct copy of the ADV set... It even says ADV in the credits, but it took every 2 DVDs and made it one, so there is a lot of artifacting that comes from reconverting the video several times and compressing it to fit more episodes on one disc. I was stupid for not checking your feedback well enough, but you don't know how hard it is to find this. I'll never do this again, but you're not gonna get away with it this time either.

Ok... Ebay is pissing me off, for sure, because it is nearly impossible to report a bootleg anymore... All direct communication with Ebay is gone, and the only thing you can do is report an item by its number, and not give any explanation... There is no direct phone number for complaints, no easy form for reporting, and the chances of whoever you report to knowing how to tell something is a bootleg is slim to none... You know, i may even take Ebay to court over this... I'm so sick of bootlegs on ebay and half... It makes it hell to be a money conscious anime fan...

If nothing else, i'm going to start collecting the accounts of bootleg sellers (people selling 4 disc Sailormoon sets or 4 disc nadesico sets) and make a bootlegger blacklist.

Perhaps you should contact ADV?

Contacting ADV was a good idea. I've got a bit of momentum on this, now... I'm gonna fight this thing to the end.

This is what happened. I'm not sure if (in case I take this to court) I should put the person's name here on CAA, so i'll cut that out...

From seller: *censored* on 7/22/2006 21:30 PDT
Buyer needs to send the DVD Set back to us in order to get refund if he/she is unsatisfied with the product. Thanks,

From PayPal: PayPal on 7/22/2006 21:30 PDT
Seller escalated this dispute to a Claim.

Yeah, that's right, he's filing a claim against ME because HE sent ME bootlegs that I want my money returned for. According to paypal, though, even if it was a bootleg and he's simply going to resell it illegally, I am not eligible for a refund unless I return the product...

So, I'm sending this to ADV:

Hello. I recently bought a sailormoon uncut DVD set on eBay, in good faith that it wasn't a bootleg set, but I had bootlegs delivered to me.

I am having a very hard time dealing with paypal on this, and the seller of this bootleg wants me to send him the bootleg DVDs back before he'll refund, citing this as just a customer unsatisfied with the product, even though I said it was a bootleg. I can provide you with the details of this claim if that would help, but eBay and paypall make it nearly impossible to report bootlegs (even ones that are obvious to me)

The discs that I was sent (4 disc set, with graphics ripped off the inner case of box 1 in the classic ADV box set, and the inside saying "Sailormoon R" and having japanese text) were not hong kong bootlegs but straight copies of the ADV set (the credits list ADV in them) The seller is demanding I send the DVDs back to him before I get a refund, but if I do, he'll end up selling them to someone else... I have a suspicion the person reviewing the case will glance over it, see I haven't returned the DVDs (even though they were illegal copies to begin with) and settle the case in his favor. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

I am also going to call them on monday. This is not over with yet. If paypal settles the claim in his favor, I'll go after them. Whatever it takes to start to clean the bootlegs and outright illegal copies (this isn't even really a bootleg, it's a copy of the ADV stuff...) off eBay.

EDIT: The "Contact us" form on adv didn't work! *sigh* There is a server error and the form doesn't work... Wow, this is ruddy brilliant...

ARG!!!! >< thats why im scared to buy some cheap seasons of bleach i found >.> cuase ive seen about 4 different covers <.<

yea i hope u get him busted, ur really devoted to this >.> i would have sent it back becuase im lazy like that, but good for you!! if u can get him busted your gonna prevent anymore potential victims! Way to go Bob!1 im cheerin ya on!

Update: Just as I feared, the people "reviewing" the claim didn't review a darn thing... Even though I selected that the item was a bootleg in the initial complaint, they still say I have to return the item, pay for tracking and shipping, to get a refund on the purchase I was "unsatisfied" with. I'm calling paypal tomorrow to try to talk to a person... I'm not expecting any miracles, but if I can talk to a real person (which isn't always possible, such as with the DMV or other government services that only have automated telephone answering systems and no live operators) then I may avoid this loophole. There's no way in satan's living room I'm going to return this to him at my cost so he can sell it again to someone else. *sigh*

first off you might want to edit your words, BTD..I know you're upset but there are youngsters on this forum..^^;

Next isn't it illegal to buy preused DVDS off the interent anyways? I could be wrong, but if you contact ADV wouldn't that cause even bigger problems for yourself? I thought only stores could sell people DVDs legally...so I apologize if I am wrong...

well good luck catchin' the bad guy!!

ChristianRonin wrote:I could be wrong, but if you contact ADV wouldn't that cause even bigger problems for yourself?

If the guy didn't mark it as a bootleg, Bob is a victim, and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be in trouble.

However, I seriously doubt ADV will do anything. If this guy was running a huge operation of bootlegging (which he may be, I don't know), ADV would take him down. But if it's just one guy and he just made a copy for a quick buck off someone on ebay, I doubt ADV would prosecute. It'd just be too much of a hassle to track the guy down, take him to court, blah blah blah. Not saying they definitely wouldn't do it, just that it seems unlikely.

Seppuku wrote:ARG!!!! >< thats why im scared to buy some cheap seasons of bleach i found >.> cuase ive seen about 4 different covers <.<

Unfortunately, cheap is usually a pretty good indicator that it's bootlegged. As the old adage says "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

There are way to buy legitimate anime off of ebay, though. You just have to know EXACTLY what you're looking for. You have to know exactly what the legitimate product looks like and the number of discs. Also, one pretty clear give away is the "region" code for the DVDs. If the set is listed as a region "0" DVD, it's (almost always) bootlegged.

I'm so sorry for hear about all of this, Bob. I'll be praying that the seller does the right thing and gives you a refund.

ChristianRonin wrote:Next isn't it illegal to buy preused DVDS off the interent anyways? I could be wrong, but if you contact ADV wouldn't that cause even bigger problems for yourself? I thought only stores could sell people DVDs legally...so I apologize if I am wrong...

Ebay and Half wouldn't exist if it weren't for resales. Blockbuster also buys back and resells, as does gamestop, gamecrazy, hollywood video... It's your property, you can do whatever you please with it. Resale is only illegal where you've signed a EULA... Computer software, for instance. There is no EULA for movies and console games...

I contacted paypal by phone (pressed zero without being told that... their automated answering thing didn't have that as an option, I just guessed), and the review team is going to see whether I can send the DVDs to paypal, and not to the seller, so they'll have it confirmed that I sent it and the seller's accound will be debited the money and it will be credited back to me.

wow sorry that happened to you... but it looks like you did the right thing and won in the end! Great job!

YES! I won! I finally talked to a review team supervisor, and all she asked me to do was destroy the DVDs. She's crediting the money back into my account. I'm not gonna buy them again until I have the 200 dollars to buy what I know is a legit set (all the ones I know are legit are that expensive) That's gonna likely be a couple years from now, after a PS3, an HDTV, a number of games and blu-ray movies, and I've saved up 3 or 4 months of loan repayment... Ah, well... I had it in my posession for a short time, at least... Story of my life... *sigh*

And, yes, I destroyed the DVDs... Thing is I probably wouldn't have if she didn't tell me to, but I'm ok with waiting for them now...

Congrats man! Nice to see everything turned out well.