Ash Ketchum

I'm trying to find the best source for classic Japanese samurai and yakuza films on DVD that are subtitled but not officially available in the U.S. I've found two sources offering films for $10-$12 each, Kurotokagi Gumi: The Best in Asian Cinema and JapaneseSamuraiDVD.com.

Here are their websites:

http://www.kurotokagi.com/

http://www.japanesesamuraidvd.com/

Has anyone had experience with either of these sites? Are they reliable? Do the DVDs play all right? Image quality? Is one source preferable to the other?

Thanks.

Brian T

I'd love to grab about a million titles there, but it's pretty clear that they're both bootleggers peddling discs they burn themselves (one hides behind the tired old "Berne Convention" defense so beloved of pirates; the other actually solicits Hawaiian residents with access to Japanese satellite networks). Seems a bit risky, but I suppose it's equally sad that the Japanese studios have long been so stingy in making this stuff available to legitimate disc distributors in the west over the years. Clearly there's enough of a market for these types to make a profit on what is presumably very little investment.