ok, i have looked around and here is what i have found out. please give me any hints or correct my mis-information...

a few are available at dddhouse. these are totoro, kiki's delivery service, princess mononke, and spirited away. they are the IVL releases which supposedly aren't too bad? they have english subs and good extras. all in all a fairly good deal for the price.

i have foudn a boxset of 6 dvd's that have 11 movies on them out of hong kong, but i get the feeling they are bootlegs. even so i wonder how the transfer is.

then there is amazon.co.jp that also has at least spirited away for release albeit at a much higher price then dddhouse.

so would my best bet to pick these up from dddhouse or is there a better place to pick these up from? thanks.

They had a few problems with the first releases that weren single layer DVDs only. But now they changed to DVD-9 and the picture is said to be much better.
Another option for Kiki would be the Taiwanese DVD by Buena Vista Taiwan, which probably has better (literally translated) subtitles instead of the dubtitles on the DVDs from Hong Kong and Japan.
They are indeed bootlegs and with about 2 movies on 1 DVD-5 you can imagine how the quality is. And it's better to stay with the licensed releases if you want to see maybe some more Ghibli movies in the future anyway.
They also have Totoro, Kiki and Porco Rosso for 10% off list price which is the best you'll find for Japanese DVDs. These are the Japanese DVDs (region 2) having Japanese and English sound and subtitles. They are the most expensive option.
If you buy a lot, you'd consider buying from DVD Shelf, where the DVDs are cheaper, but the postage is much higher. Depends on the number of discs you want to buy.

As for Mononoke I'm happy with my Canadian DVD...

I am so happy that DDDHouse is going to be shipping me a copy of the less expensive "Spirited Away" versus my other order from CDJapan which I need to cancel.

Go to import-anime.com and search for reviews for that disc. They say that there are a few small subtitle timing issues, but that it's not a huge deal and the audio and video are very good. And at 11 movies for $50 at animeniacs.net that's a freakin' steal.

i hate to add to this... but a warning w/ the bootlegs. even though they are pretty decent quality, there is an "A" that pops up every few minutes on the screen... the company must have felt the need to remind the viewer of their existence

anyway, personally, i'm waiting for some decent US releases! i know; i'll probably grow very old before that happens... but i have some hope (esp. w/ the princess monononoke release )

Your best bet are the dddhouse miyazaki's its about as cheap as you will find any origianl miyazaki. The quality are more than fine and I can't believe 1 review about the quality of these good value DVDs can spread all around the world.

I know the person who reviewed and spotted the very slight colour bleeds but 90% will not notice it.

There are 2 versions of the boxset. One is bootleg, another is real. The packaging is different. The real one is good in transfer and nicer packaging.

Hate to burst your bubble, but there are no LEGAL DVD boxsets for the Miyazaki/Ghibli movies. Bothe are bootleg. Anime Cartoon or Animation Video are getting smarter. Their cases are looking much more professional to get past US Customs.


randy

Discussing bootlegs is something of a no-no hereabouts these days: people are getting suspended for it now that the rules have been "firmed up".

If anyone suspects a particular DVD/etailer, post your warning by all means but please also email me (or use the "report post to moderator" function) so that I can consider locking a particular thread or a removing a links/post or whatever.

kevin75, any speculation as to transfer quality of possible bootlegs must be an "off-board" affair. I'm not going to labour this point any further: future transgressors shouldn't be surprised if they find that their posting privileges have been suspended.


Benedict
<small>Current thinking as recently posted on Music Talk</small>

sorry i opened up the can of worms. i guess i shouldn't have openly wondered about the box set although i was genuninely curious as to whether or not it was legal. oops.

There is no legal in US. But there is at some countries.

.... as this is going nowhere so I'm closing it down now. If someone wants to email me something definitive either way then I'll reconsider.


Benedict