Pirating Dragon Ball (discussion)

[eledoremassis02]

We all know that pirating movies, music, anime, etc is illegal and just bad. You're essentially stealing someone else's product. And it certainly isn't tolorated here on Kanzenshuu. But what if a product isn't available legally in your country? Does that make it somewhat justifiable to pirated it? And what if it never will be available legally to you?

No, piracy (and theft) doesn't change its definition no matter the circunstances or what motivates you to do it. That's basically appealing to emotion, which doesn't work as an argument since it's a fallacy. If something is not available in your country, then it's not available and the artist(s) or right owners are not getting any revenue from it.

Just out of I curiosity, what about things like Rock the Dragon box set? What if you own the set and a disc get damaged? Would downloading a replacement be ok?

[mute_proxy]

I've pirated all the japanese DragonBox DVDs with added english subs, since Funimation can't handle their home releases well. From time to time I do consider buying Funimation's Blue and Green Bricks, but I stop right after seeing quality comparisons. I am buying all the current BluRay home releases though.

[MadSpecialist]

We all know that pirating movies, music, anime, etc is illegal and just bad. You're essentially stealing someone else's product. And it certainly isn't tolorated here on Kanzenshuu. But what if a product isn't available legally in your country? Does that make it somewhat justifiable to pirated it? And what if it never will be available legally to you?

Before Super was available on Crunchyroll/Daisuki, everyone outside of Japan was watching it illegally. So it's not like we haven't done it before. I'm pretty sure we've all done it at one point in our lifes. It seems to be that pirating is justifiable when there's no other option available to you. Like it is somewhat, kinda, okayish. But if there is a legal way to watch/buy, then it's not okay in any way. Isn't that kinda hypocrite? Shouldn't it be, it's always bad or it's always good?

What are your thoughts on the matter?
Is pirating (Dragon Ball) always bad?
Is it sometimes okay? Do you do it yourself?

I not for or necessarily against pirating. Personally, I try to always buy the official release. But I do sometimes use other measures to access Dragon Ball related content when there is no other option available.

Generally, piracy is wrong but as with most things, I feel it should be judged on a case-by-case basis. It's usually the result of inconveniences in accessing something so the situation with Super is an ideal, recent example of this.

While the series wasn't legally available outside of Japan, for some, including myself, it was justifiable to pirate, at least until it was on official streaming platforms such as Crunchyroll or (the late) Daisuki.

All generalisations are false, including this one. You normally have to take the good with the bad of almost everything, including piracy, so it isn't always either.

[Luso Saiyan]

Just out of I curiosity, what about things like Rock the Dragon box set? What if you own the set and a disc get damaged? Would downloading a replacement be ok?

By 'downloading' you mean piracy? No. Why would it be? You paid for the set. Whatever happens to it, that's your problem. It's no justification to pirate it.

[KBABZ]

By 'downloading' you mean piracy? No. Why would it be? You paid for the set. Whatever happens to it, that's your problem. It's no justification to pirate it.

So you'd be completely unsympathetic to somebody's beloved Rock the Dragon set being destroyed by a hurricane or flood or fire or something like that? I personally have a digital backup of my Blue Bricks and Dragon Box, just in case.

[mute_proxy]

Just out of I curiosity, what about things like Rock the Dragon box set? What if you own the set and a disc get damaged? Would downloading a replacement be ok?

By 'downloading' you mean piracy? No. Why would it be? You paid for the set. Whatever happens to it, that's your problem. It's no justification to pirate it.

It's the same as making a backup copy of something you own. That's not piracy.

[Luso Saiyan]

So you'd be completely unsympathetic to somebody's beloved Rock the Dragon set being destroyed by a hurricane or flood or fire or something like that? I personally have a digital backup of my Blue Bricks and Dragon Box, just in case.

What does sympathy got to do with anything? That's appealing to emotion, a fallacy. Piracy is piracy, stealing is stealing, theft is theft. Wether you're rich or poor, fortunate or unfortunate, careful or careless, is completely irrelevant.

And for the record, I do make digital copies of my Blu-rays and DVDs out of convenience and precaution. That has nothing to do with pirating what you don't (or no longer) have.

It's the same as making a backup copy of something you own. That's not piracy.

Except in his example he doesn't own it anymore. He damaged it.

[Gaffer Tape]

It's the same as making a backup copy of something you own. That's not piracy.

Except in his example he doesn't own it anymore. He damaged it.

And if he had pre-emptively made a backup digital copy and then damaged the original, he wouldn't own it anymore either. Whether he made the copy himself or not, the end result would be the same: a purchased, broken physical copy and a digital copy. I'm not necessarily saying it's piracy or not, but in all practical applications, what difference is there between the two? Either way he paid for it, and either way he has a backup.

[Acetona]

Aside of the manga, which I do own, it's impossible to obtain DB legally in Brazil, except for Super.
The DVD releases we got were stupid. 3 episodes per disc, with bad quality and no japanese audio and stupidly overpriced. They didn't even get past episode 20 or so, because they were cancelled. So yeah, pirating is the only way to get DB, Z, GT and Kai with japanese audio here.

EDIT: and I do pirate other anime, like Precure. The west only got butchered dubs for 2 of the currently 14 of the seasons. No way I'm gonna stop watching it just because Toei can't stream it. This applies to the latest Digimon season too. And both Kamen Rider and Super Sentai (except for the series that aired here in the 90's, but the releases have bad quality and are dub-only too.).

TL;DR: home releases on Brazil suck and are pretty much always cancelled because they don't sell. Piracy is my only way to enjoy things I want to.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I agree with Acetona. Without any legal way to watch or own something there's no other choice.

[Luso Saiyan]

And if he had pre-emptively made a backup digital copy and then damaged the original, he wouldn't own it anymore either.

Exactly, he wouldn't. He would only have the copy that he made to enjoy the content.

Whether he made the copy himself or not, the end result would be the same: a purchased, broken physical copy and a digital copy. I'm not necessarily saying it's piracy or not, but in all practical applications, what difference is there between the two? Either way he paid for it, and either way he has a backup.

Had he done a backup, the copy that he made was done in a legitimate way, through the original that he bought. Just because the end result is the same, doesn't mean the means are justifiable or moral. One is done through piracy, the other isn't. And that's the whole difference.

[coola]

I own FUNI Dragon Box and DBOX: The Movies, so i didnt felt as guilty while downloading broadcast audio version, sinc i already own version, legally, if FUNI will re release DBZ nroadcast audio, i will buy it of course.

As for other anime, i have Crunchyroll subscription, but sadly, it is very limited here in Poland, so i still need to download airing anme, i of course always buy official release, but otherwise, how would i know, if anime is good or not?

[Soppa Saia People]

I feel like if you pirate something, you should by the legal release as soon as it comes available/as soon as you can. Like I don't pirate movies and the like, but I do pirate music if it's not on any streaming services (ie: half of prince's albums), but as soon as they do, I delete them from my phone, or I just by the CD and import it to Spotify.

[tinlunlau]

Pffft..... You guys don't know the other half of piracy. I've once had a "friend" who bought a bootleg copy of "A Chinese Tall Story", a dvd which I've personally worked on (all the English subtitles on the special features were personally supplied by me), right in front of me. Needless to say, I was REALLY pissed. And this was at a time when the dvd had just released in Hong Kong. Was the movie any good? Hard to say but the Studio Ghibli styled music by Joe Hisaishi was fantastic!

[bigray]

Definitely not wrong. There's a few reasons why people will never have access to dragon ball in certain countries...

1. The owners will not give them the rights - technically we could call this racism, to not supply the rights to another country.

2. People who have the rights decide they won't make enough money in that country so they do not supply the service - They don't want your money so download as you please!

3. The government has banned dragon ball from their country lol. Eg; North Korea, possibly some other countries. If you live here... well do your best to get it. Paid or not.

4. A delay in organizing contracts to obtain rights etc. - only has temporary piracy until released.

In any of these situations I wouldn't hesitate to pirate something. But that's just my personal morals.

[KBABZ]

I dunno, if I lived in North Korea and they had banned Dragon Ball I'd think twice before pirating it under Kim's watch.

[bigray]

I dunno, if I lived in North Korea and they had banned Dragon Ball I'd think twice before pirating it under Kim's watch.

Haha he's ruthless

[Bullza]

Is pirating (Dragon Ball) always bad?
Is it sometimes okay? Do you do it yourself?

No I don't think there's anything wrong with pirating it.

I only got into the series from watching it on YouTube back in 2007 and then all these Anime streaming websites. I watched the whole show and don't spent a penny originally.

But then because I liked it so much I then went back and bought the whole show on DVD.

I currently download Dragon Ball Super for free but then I also received Part 1 on Blu Ray today for Xmas too.

People look down on pirating but if I weren't able to pirate it then I simply would never have watched it at all and never would have paid money afterward on it which is now hundreds of pounds.

[DBGod]

With regards to Dragon Ball luckily for me I have the series recorded on VHS tapes and they are more or less complete with little to no content missing. They are the Westwood and Blue Water dubs so not only do I already have the series but they are the rare and much sought after dubs as well. I am completely content with what I have and being recorded off of YTV the nostalgia factor only boosts my satisfaction with what I have in my possession. The audio is Hi-Fi stereo with excellent video quality and stability. In fact, my recordings would easily be considered "identical" to a commercial VHS release should that have existed in both audio and video retrospects.

I keep getting asked about what I own and if I can share it, well coincidentally and ironically I decided to provide a bit of a "sneak peak" if you will on this thread lol. Here is a picture to give you an idea and I'll probably upload small clips online as well but for now I thought I'd share what I have to some degree at least. No need to pirate this show for me

[Robo4900]

No need to pirate this show for me

Well, actually, by most definitions, that is piracy. I believe technically any recordings off of TV that are kept for more than a year or so are considered pirate copies. And while you could make the case that the Blue Water and Ocean episodes aren't available on any home release, the Funimation episodes that would fill in the gap in Z(Which would be about 110-130 episodes) are available to purchase; the only way to get them like they are on broadcast is the commercial edited VHS releases, though the oldschool DVD singles would contain basically the same thing, just unedited. So... Yeah, it's piracy.

Also...

they are more or less complete with little to no content missing.

You say they were taped off YTV; YTV skipped the first ~60-80 episodes of Ocean's post-Namek Z dub, so unless you've got some Toonami airings too, you can hardly call it "More or less complete"; that's a pretty big segment to be missing.