So a while back, I was looking for something, and I found an old anime CD in my collection.
“Oh, Dr. Rin ni Kiitemite! Ah, it’s too bad the anime was never licensed or Shojo Beat never released the manga, which you’d think they would since Beauty Pop was pretty fun and I feel like listening to –“
!!!
The Ever Anime name in the corner. As I have discussed previously, Ever Anime is an anime bootlegger.
Dang it.
So, I decided to do the responsible thing and went looking for an official copy of Dr. Rin ni Kiitemite! Happy Song Collection. I figured with the age of the series and it hardly being a household name, it wouldn’t be too expensive.
Unfortunately, my usual haunts were not as cheap as I was hoping. But then, I found a copy sold and shipped by Amazon.com for under $7. I was skeptical. I probably paid more for my bootleg version all those years ago, and it is possible that Amazon’s (official) inventory can mix with pirated copies.
So I took a chance and ordered it.
Well, while it was an official copy, it was also a damaged copy. Oh, well.
Anyway, I thought it would be neat to compare the real version versus the imitation. Of course, these are old CDs, so advances in technology probably make a lot of these differences less noticeable. But still, perhaps some things here will help raise awareness.
The official will always be on the top or on the left in the pictures below. Unfortunately, it was a dark day when I took the pictures, so I had to turn on the lights which may slightly distort the colors.
The Ever Anime version has a slightly darker print to it. Meirin’s hair takes on a reddish orange hue, the light blue background becomes like an aqua color, and Asuka’s (guy in upper left side) skin color is less pale. The case is also whiter, but it could just be because of age. The bootleg copy also removes the copyright.
The original has Interchannel’s logo on the side. Both have catalog numbers, but A8-1433 shows up no results in Google (unlike NECA-30048).
The back continues with the darker print. Whole information section is changed of course.
But here is where the bootleg just completely outdoes the official version. The official CD contains a whopping eight songs. The unofficial version comes with the tracks from the opening and ending themes’ CD releases. That doubles the number of tracks on the album and makes it a 3-in-1 CD.
Both albums have an obi, and while the front is nearly identical, the side and back have different content. The official is advertising other Dr. Rin ni Kiitemite! music while Ever Anime is promoting their other albums.
The CD itself is probably the most obvious change besides the “bonus track” section. Ever Anime uses a direct print of the front cover while the original is pink-toned. CD information is in different locations on the two. There’s also a tactile difference. The bootleg is matte. The official version has a coating that’s slightly raised, particularly on the text.
Both came with a survey/response card. It’s obvious to me now that the unofficial one is not written in Japanese, but again, just having one gives the feeling of authenticity.
Again, booklet has darker print making the text of the lyrics thicker than the official album.
The bootleg does add the lyrics for the bonus tracks, which is surprising. Guess they wanted to fill in the space from removing most of the credits page.
I’ve listened to the unofficial version several times, and I never noticed an issue with the audio quality. It sounded fine to me, but I’m also far from an audiophile. I decided to see if there was a discernible difference to my unmusical self. I put the Ever After version in my external CD drive first. Windows Media Player just showed it as an Unknown Album, which is fairly common even with some of my (legal) US CDs, so that wouldn’t raise a flag to me.
Putting in the official version, however, and Windows Media Player recognized it right away. Kind of impressed actually.
As far as the sound, I noticed right away it seemed louder than the bootleg. But I wasn’t sure if it was confirmation bias, but after going back and forth, I do think there is a difference. It’s probably because of compression reasons due to the number of tracks. The pirated copy is fine, and I know there’s no audio glitches or gaps. But, for example, in the Japanese release, the “De-sti-ny” in the background of the chorus in the heroine’s image song seems more pronounced than in the bootleg. But you be the judge:
So, all in all, there are a lot of things that, as a casual and/or new fan, wouldn’t make you raise any suspicion. Even then, you could attribute it to one release being for Japan and the other for Taiwan (or another country in general).
Despite my damaged CD, I did end up getting lucky and got an official Japanese CD for probably less than the price of a pirated one. But it reminds us how easy it would be to market such a release. I mean, look at the listing on CDJapan. How many people really are going to notice the itty bitty text in the corner and would notice it missing if I were to put up a picture of the bootleg CD on eBay or whatever? And if I just wrote “includes bonus tracks” on the listing, you might assume it was a first press bonus or something. Plus, honestly, even with the “made in Japan” sticker, the import sticker on the front gives the official version a fake vibe.
This is a CD from the early 00s, so I know it’d be easier to rescan the booklet and give it a more authentic feel — with or without changing all the copyright information. And while offering a product for a fraction of the price would probably be enough for a lot of people, the allure of getting more for your money makes it all the more enticing. So whether you’re buying from someone who makes their money selling knock-offs or just some fan who is cleaning out their closets, be careful of what you purchase, and make sure you have some kind of buyer protection if you find out you did not get what you asked for.