I'm looking to find a copy of the TV series and have obviously found that the series is basically out of print and not available conventionally any more.

On ebay this version is being sold by many sellers. It appears to be Malaysian in origin.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anime-Neon-Genesis-Evangelion-Vol-1-26-End-2-Movie-Complete-DVD-Box-Set-/111247891666?pt=UK_CDsDVDs_DVDs_DVDs_GL&hash=item19e6e41cd2

The back of the box lists it as being a lambaian filem release (whoever they are)
It also lists animelv.com as the website which also links you through to animationlv.com where you can buy their releases.

NGE is listed here on this site
http://animationlv.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=30161

Is there any consensus on whether this is a legal release?Does anyone have any experience with this copy?

Hopefully someone can help because this is becoming quite confusing and difficult to find.

Thanks.

It looks pretty cheap, and the seller claims not to sell bootlegs... but if it looks too good to be true, there's always a chance that it might be.

The quality of the Malaysian copies of a couple of anime that I got before I twigged were truly awful. Whole series on one disk, sometimes; utterly laughable English subtitles; DVD mastering that wouldn't play in some players or programs... the list goes on. And how did they licence the English dubs for both series and films, you may wonder?

Just don't.

The "Government stamp" means nothing, at least, outside Malaysia.

IIRC bootlegs (at least in some forms) are legal in Malaysia, so it might be legal there. But outside, not a chance. And no, that's not an official, licensed release. Avoid.

OK, thanks for the feedback guys.

I'll keep my eye out for one of the official releases, or hope that eventually there is another run/release.

Bootleg definitely.

I've got a spare Vol. 4 and Vol. 5 (UK edition) which I could sell them to you but you'd still be stuck on getting the rest due to sellers demanding too much for just one volume.

P.S.: Take a look at this link and see how much Evangelion Platinum used to cost five years ago - http://www.hotukdeals.com/search?action=search&keywords=neon+genesis+evangelion

To think it was on sale for £12 and then ridiculously hike up to £150+ now that's just shocking.

It's worth whatever the purchaser will pay for it-- which in my case was a solid $200. I think it was worth it, personally. (As a note, I got the Platinum Ltd. Holiday Special.)

eva14 wrote:To think it was on sale for £12 and then ridiculously hike up to £150+ now that's just shocking.

It's called "supply and demand". Since the supply of new Eva TV DVDs has been exactly ZERO in the English-speaking world for about half a decade now and the demand has maintained its high levels, that leaves sellers in the secondary market in a position to dictate higher prices.

This situation will remain unchanged until one of two things happen:

1) Demand for Eva TV declines sharply (unlikely for several reasons)
2) Eva TV is re-licensed in the English-speaking world (unlikely until after 4.44's release on home video)

A similar situation occurred with Cardcaptor Sakura, where the secondary pricing for the complete 18-DVD series was ~$500 for quite some time but immediately collapsed upon NISA putting the series out Stateside as a Blu-ray boxset.

svenge wrote:It's called "supply and demand". Since the supply of new Eva TV DVDs has been exactly ZERO in the English-speaking world for about half a decade now and the demand has maintained its high levels, that leaves sellers in the secondary market in a position to dictate higher prices.

Is the supply really that low now? I have no clue about the UK, but in the US, it seemed that ADV before their dissolution was putting out more editions of the series then there was demand for.

I was surprised when I managed to win a bidding war for the Platinum set last year; it was a Madman-distributed version much similar to the "Holiday" set (except it was part of an "Anime Essentials" line they released). It shows that even down under the series is still in high demand, even more so as it is far more tricky to source here (while I was bidding I only won because I managed to double its original starting price). But sometimes it is worth the extra money for a legitimate version, because at least you get the quality.
Although you should totally avoid it, it is still cool to dream about a package like that, what with the movies and all...

cyharding wrote:I have no clue about the UK, but in the US, it seemed that ADV before their dissolution was putting out more editions of the series then there was demand for.

That was indeed true, given the rather large list of DVD editions that hit the market:

Original DVD singles (mid 2000 - mid 2001)
Perfect Collection box (early 2002)
Director's Cut DVD singles [ep. 21'-24' & 25-26] (early 2004)
Platinum DVD singles (mid 2004 - early 2005)
Platinum Complete thinpak box (late 2005)
Platinum Perfect tin box (late 2007)
Platinum Holiday Edition brick (late 2008)

However, all the existing surplus copies of Eva TV (primarily the Platinum Complete 6-disc thinpak and Holiday Edition 7-disc brick sets) eventually ended up being liquidated by Right Stuf at severely deep discounts (as low as $30, if I recall correctly) between late 2011 - mid 2012.

Of course End of Evangelion (which was licensed by Manga Ent.) had been OOP for a couple years already by that point, and it was never printed in quite as large of numbers as Eva TV was.

svenge @ could you tell me more about the German 8-Disc release?

Supposedly the bitrate's higher and in an overall aspect it's better than the other releases out there but I've not been able to check it out myself.

eva14 wrote:svenge @ could you tell me more about the German 8-Disc release?

Supposedly the bitrate's higher and in an overall aspect it's better than the other releases out there but I've not been able to check it out myself.

I really don't know anything about releases that aren't from either the US or Japan. Sorry about that.