How can you tell Japanese Ghibli editions apart?
The first sort is the publisher and catalogue block, printed on the back of every Japanese disc and the copyright page of every book. Ghibli's Japanese home video passed through identifiable eras, from the Tokuma and Pony Canyon years into the Buena Vista Home Entertainment Japan period that issued the uniform DVD library, and onward to current distribution. Each era's block has a distinct layout, and a back cover photograph places a disc faster than any front cover, since the fronts were designed to look timeless on purpose.
Design generation is the second sort. LaserDisc and VHS editions carry theatrical poster art at large size. The DVD library uses its uniform system. The Blu-ray line uses the silhouette design, one colour and one emblem per film, and collected boxes gather the Miyazaki and Takahata features under their own covers. An edition whose design does not match its claimed era is an edition to question before money moves.
Books sort the same way. Art Of volumes, Roman Albums and storyboard books each carry Tokuma's publishing information and printing dates, and Japanese books print their printing history openly, so a first printing states itself. Obi bands, publisher postcards and, for exhibition catalogues, the venue and year identify the exact issue, and exhibition books in particular should be tied to the documented exhibition they record, not bought as generic art books.
The recurring faults are completeness faults, not counterfeits: missing booklets in DVD era sets, lost obi on books, ex-rental discs from Japan's rental market with their stickers and polished surfaces, and sun fade on the silhouette spines, which show damage early because the design is a flat colour field. Three photographs, front, back block and contents laid out, settle most questions a listing can raise.
