Ask John: Are There Official Anime VCDs?

Question:
Are all VCDs pirated?

Answer:
No, not all anime VCDs are bootleg, although the vast majority of existing anime VCDs are unlicensed. In America, Software Sculptors has released the only existing anime VCD, a collection of Slayers TV episodes 1-4. Japan tends to reserve the VCD format almost exclusively for “AV” (adult video) titles. I’m not aware of any “mainstream” anime available on VCD in Japan, but a lot of hentai anime, including Cream Lemon, Gosenzo-san E…, and Wordsworth, along with a multitude of AV idol and XXX rated cosplay videos are available on legitimate, licensed Japanese VCD. The VCD format is very popular in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, and virtually every anime title you can name is available on VCD somewhere in Asia. As far as I know, a percentage of these discs are legitimate, legal copies licensed for VCD distribution to Asian nations outside of Japan. The vast majority of anime VCDs available, though, are unlicensed bootlegs. Part of the reason for widespread bootlegging of anime, as well as HK and even American studio movies, lies in the ease of making and reproducing VCDs and their non-existant security measures. Since VCDs are standard CD-ROM format discs, they contain no region coding the way DVDs do, they can be copied on any standard PC CD-R drive, and they play on virtually any DVD player or personal computer.