Reddit reviews Steins Gate: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

This is what pisses me off about licensing and distribution in an internet-connected age of consumers.

When there's no timely access to content in a legal (and even paid) way, there's little to no incentive for people to wait days, weeks or months (in some cases years or not at all) for the content they want.

It's a complete farce and there's really no wondering why people turn to "less" legal options to get their hands on the content they want. We've seen it happen with Films when people either watch cam copies instead of going to the cinema (an entire discussion in itself), but perhaps more relevant to this discussion is a phenomenon which happens in the UK.

We like US TV series a lot so we want to be able to watch that latest episode of GoT or see the season finale of Dexter or the next instalment of The Strain as soon as possible. It's already in English (being from the USA), but we sometimes have to wait months for the season to be aired in the UK. We're starting to see TV channels over here syndicate content from the US within a matter of weeks, but it's still a while behind.

WIth the world connected via the world wide web with social networks, twitter, blogs, and even reddit, discussions are now global. You can happily talk to anyone anywhere in the world at any time. I don't want to be weeks or months behind on my latest TV trivia so I want to be on the same page as my long lost American brothers.

I can either wait for the show to be aired in the UK to record it or watch it live, or I can obtain the episode via less-than-legal means less than an hour after airing in the USA, for zero cost and minimal effort. Apart from the legal ramifications, why would anyone not do this if they wanted the content now?

Considering of course that Anime is not natively English and there is a significant lag with regards to an officially licensed (and therefore "legal") translation of the show, what are the real, viable options for getting my hands on the content in the UK?

Streaming Services

As the post shows, you're lucky if the content is available. Which provider has the content? Do I need to subscribe to multiple services because of licensing deals? How much of the content I want is available? Is it simulcast? Is it even available in a reasonable amount of time? Is my favourite show one of the chosen few?

Localised Physical HD Releases

I'm a bit of a hoarder so I enjoy having physical copies of whatever I own. Only recently has a lot of content come out on BluRay over here. I got my hands on nice copies of Code Geass, Steins;Gate, Cowboy Bebop, Death Note (albeit DVD), FMA:Brotherhood and Gurren Lagann and a couple of others.

These are all fairly reasonable examples with the prices being appropriate, but the release dates are completely unreasonable for any enthusiast. The first BluRay players were launched in mid 2006 so of course it wasn't possible to publish a series from before that time on BluRay, but some of these really do take the piss:

Title | Airing Finished | English Dub | BluRay Release UK | Lag From Airing | Lag From Dub | Lag From BluRay Standardisation
---|---|---|---|---|---|---
Attack On Titan | Sep 2013 | ??? | Oct 2014 | 1y1m | ???
Black Lagoon (Second Barrage) | Dec 2006 | Aug 2008 | Jul 2012 | 5y7m | 3y11m
Code Geass (R2) | Sep 2008 | ??? | Jan 2013 | 4y4m | ???
Cowboy Bebop | Apr 1999 | Sep 2001 | Jul 2013 | 14y3m | 11y10m | 7y
Evangelion 1.11 | Sep 2007 | ??? | Apr 2010 | 2y7m | ???
Evangelion 2.22 | Jun 2009 | ??? | Jun 2011 | 2y | ???
Evangelion 3.33 | Nov 2012 | ??? | Feb 2015 | 2y3m | ???
FLCL | Mar 2001 | ??? | Oct 2013 | 12y7m | ??? | 7y3m
FMA: Brotherhood | Jul 2010 | ??? | Aug 2012 | 2y1m | ???
Gurren Lagann | Sep 2007 | Nov 2008 | Oct 2014 | 7y1m | 5y11m
Hellsing Ultimate (I-VIII) | Jul 2011 | Nov 2012 | May 2013 | 1y10m | 6m
Hellsing Ultimate (IX-X) | Dec 2012 | Oct 2014 | ??? | ??? | ???
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time | Jul 2006 | Nov 2006 | Dec 2011 | 5y5m | 5y1m

In a lot of these cases the lag from airing is down to as low as two years from the completion of airing in Japan, and the first two volumes of Hellsing Ultimate (I-VIII) even made it down to a six month lag from airing. However, look at some of the older series. It can be as bad as 14 years (Cowboy Bebop) or 12 years (FLCL) for an HD English release of an existing series which has been localised even years before.

Of course, I'm only looking at English releases as it wouldn't be a very clever move to locally release non-localised media. Most of these are dubs, as I'm not sure about the commonplace release of solely subbed Anime over here.

Even then, the difference in time from the airing to UK release is inconsistent at best but for the most part I feel is it getting much better.

The BluRay DRM sucks futa genitalia, but that's a different topic.

Importing

Importing from the USA is a more timely option than waiting for a local UK release in most situations, and it's as simple as that. Again, still significant lag from the original airing, but it's still there.

As far as importing from Japan, this is by far the most timely physical option for getting my hands on the content. I can import the BluRay from Japan, pay hilarious shipping fees, get stung by HMRC (customs) on the way in, then be lucky enough to have a Japanese-language copy of your favourite anime.

But hey, what about subs? Do you overlay your self-obtained subs (and how did you even get your hands on the subs legally in the first place)?

Proxies

Discussion forbidden by subreddit rules.

Piracy

Illegal in the land of Her Majesty.

Problems with AACS (BluRay Encryption)

If you're lucky enough to have a BluRay drive, you'd better hope that you're on Windows or OS X in order to play your discs; the encryption on the discs and in the drive and in the player software which houses the appropriate certificates (which isn't free). You're S.O.L for viable players on linux without various encryption workarounds. There's decryption software out there for decrypted backup purposes, but it's not usually free and often wants some form of regular renewal.

I use Linux so I guess that's another £50 down the drain on software just to watch the discs I've already purchased.

Even then, what's the legality of bypassing this type of encryption in the UK? The law bounces around so much I can't keep track.

TL;DR I can't find any viable timely legal or "legally questionable" options for accessing anime in the UK. If you have that magical one-fits-all solution, bloody tell me.

People usually go with the least-shit option when price isn't really a question, and the legal options are the shittest options.

>Malaysia

That is definitely a bootleg. The cover looks cheap, and it is extremely rare for official releases to include everything in one item (Official releases of the TV series and Movie are separate items).

I'm going to assume you don't speak Japanese and are looking for a release with english subtitles, so:

I don't know what country you live in, which is important because of region codes.
If you are in North America you are fine with this one by Funimation, and there is a European release by Manga Entertainment but elsewhere you might be out of luck.

Also if you are just looking for Steins;Gate merchandise in general, like figures or music or something, these are legit sites.

Depends on where you're at, really. I'm going to assume you're not looking for the Japanese box set or individual volumes, so...

In the U.S. and most other places (Region A), there's a complete Blu-ray set for Steins;Gate, two of them in fact:

https://www.rightstufanime.com/Steins-Gate-Classics-Blu-ray (BD only)

https://www.rightstufanime.com/SteinsGate-DVD-Blu-ray-Complete-Series-Hyb-Anime-Classics (BD and DVD)

In the U.K. and Europe (Region B), Manga Entertainment has the distribution for it:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Steins-Gate-Complete-Asami-Imai/dp/B00I5I1R74/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=steins+gate+complete+series&qid=1574945068&sr=8-1

There currently isn't a complete series set for Steins;Gate 0, and there won't be for a while, give it another year or so. It's available in two sets, Part 1 (which also has a limited edition), and Part 2:

Region 1 (U.S.):
https://www.rightstufanime.com/Steins-Gate-0-Part-1-Limited-Edition-Blu-ray-DVD

https://www.rightstufanime.com/Steins-Gate-0-Part-1-Blu-ray-DVD

https://www.rightstufanime.com/Steins-Gate-0-Part-2-Blu-ray-DVD

Region 2 (U.K./Europe)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Steins-Gate-Collectors-Limited-Blu-ray/dp/B07SZGSZLR/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=steins+gate+0&qid=1574945639&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Steins-Gate-Part-Format-Blu-ray/dp/B07SWKC8FZ/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=steins+gate+0&qid=1574945639&sr=8-2

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Steins-Gate-Part-Blu-ray-Combo/dp/B07SR85PRQ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=steins+gate+0&qid=1574945639&sr=8-1

Note that these will all be in English with English sub/dub options. If you're trying to be more specific, such as looking for it in a particular language or country, like Germany or something, let me know. Might be a little less straightforward tracking down, but it can probably be done.

The UK release does contain the OVA as episode 25 if that's the release you were considering.
Edit: You can import the JP Limited Edition copy of the movie, that particular edition actually has english subtitles. We are getting an official western release some time next year though so you may just want to wait.

Unless you're willing to wait.

I picked up the entire Steins Gate bluray collection,http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steins-Gate-Complete-Asami-Imai/dp/B00I5I1R74/ref=sr_1_1_twi_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1419741116&sr=8-1&keywords=steins+gate

£30 a while back. I'm not 100% sure what it released as pricewise but it feels like a deal.

Same with GITS http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Shell-2-0-Innocence-Blu-ray/dp/B002JWK4XU/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1419741213&sr=8-7&keywords=ghost+in+the+shell
It cost me £10, but once again that was a while back.

I have the Blu-ray collection but from manga entertainment instead of funimation. Exact same text on the backside though. Picture is great, sound is great though the english feels a little sharp. Translation is good except for "too-too-roo", it's also quite difficult english compared to the fandub I watched before.

Haven't watched the extras unfortunately.