A Case for Mosaic in JAV. An In-depth Opinion. Part 1 of 3

And my take on the topic is this:

JAV is Better with Mosaic Censorship. 

But first some scope and limitations. I am mostly talking out of my own personal experience with JAV and porn, so old-school censorship from the early 2000’s and below are outside that scope. That was a time when censorship laws were stricter, and the mosaic was more limiting. Also, due to length constraints for the sake of readability, I will be dividing this article into three. The first article will focus on the artistic side of porn, the second on the porn industry and the third on the social aspect in relation to porn.

While watching, I usually don’t mind them, but subconsciously after watching too much uncensored stuff, it kind of gets to me in a post-nut clarity/guilt kind of way. I don’t get as much of that when I watch censored JAV. Having the genitals as the focal point means that the director tends to ignore the other parts that create eroticism. The point is, human beings can be turned on by other things aside from body parts. Although in porn, these body parts are the point of why we watch them, we don’t necessarily need to see them in order to be erotically stimulated. 

With censored JAV, there is more focus on the woman rather than just her sexual parts. Especially on JAVs that have a bit more narrative to them, this works really well. The directors know that the genitals will be censored so while there are the stereotypical types of shots needed to show penetration, many parts of the movie focuses on the other less explicit bits that are more aesthetic. Especially with women, who have been the muse and subject of art since time immemorial, the emphasis on her other parts: the shapes of her body, the moans on her face, the implicit context of the clothes she is wearing, the visceral effects of sex. The focus is not only in the body parts involved in penetration but in the other more empathic parts of sex. This emphasis creates a more aesthetic experience. Some censorship also leaves something for the imagination, much like a cloak of mystery that keeps the mind wondering about what could be behind the curtain, what that could feel like. Having limitations like these is also the gateway to better creativity, and this has the effect of having creative nuances in the aesthetic quality due to working around censorship. This creative limitation, I believe, is the reason why I feel that censored JAV is more visually erotic than its uncensored counterparts.

Uncensored JAV is just all about the sex. There is barely any narrative, it’s man and a woman, and the woman almost immediately takes clothes off and spreads her legs. There is no room to imagine anything or place your own self narrative into the experience. It’s all lizard brain - see pussy, dick get hard, i want to cum. When it's like that, the experience is mostly instinctual, and you’re basically running on horny hormones and thinking with the dick. If you’re looking for a quick pump and dump, sure that might be better for that use case. But for a better, more sensual experience, you need to give it a bit more effort.

With censored JAV, you need to use the brain a bit more. Did you know that the brain is the most important sex organ? Much of what we feel as pleasurable all happens in the brain, in fact the other facilities(genitals, body etc) are just instruments for the brain to get its rocks off. So the more you involve your brain, the more erotic the experience can be. What helps turn on the brain? In relation to pornography, three things: Visuals, Narrative, Imagination. All three are interconnected. There is a reason why there are plenty of recurring narratives in censored JAV (like stepmothers, NTR, nurses, teachers, classmates etc.), because these are fantasies that are a turn on for a lot of people

Based on the stats of how some series are more syndicated or followed by people, these tend to be very popular. Even for non-Japanese speaking fans, if you follow the comments and the reddit threads, there are a lot of demands for subtitles just so people can follow the narrative. Even if there are no subtitles, the simple visuals that create narrative, like: a nurse who helps patients sexually, or a teacher falling in love with a student, helps a lot in improving the erotic feel of a JAV movie. These fantasies engage the mind, tickle the imagination which deepens the overall eroticism of a whole JAV release. This is why JAV movies are formatted and released in feature film formats, with multiple scenes and a narrative.

While censored JAV without a proper narrative exists, they are a minority. And even on those kinds of JAV, you can still see a lot more effort in building sensuality through visuals and pacing. Ever watch an omnibus censored JAV release? These releases are just a bunch of similar scenes stitched up together? (ie. a doggy style omnibus, or a BJ focused omnibus, or a best of Yua Mikami omnibus). That style of JAV gets thick into the nitty gritty of it, and it has the same effect as an uncensored JAV of getting into the sex immediately without building narrative tension: there is a lot less eroticism involved, therefore a lot less sensuality even if those exact scenes are in better releases. It’s the difference between a music album, curated and arranged for a full experience vs a greatest hits album, a collection of hits. For music fans, it’s the albums that are much more memorable and a better experience overall.