The AV Open: The History behind the Former Biggest Event in JAV

An American Import

With backing of the tabloid newspaper the Tokyo Sports and AV juggernaut porn maker Soft on Demand (SOD), the first AV Open came into light. An open competition was made for studios and companies to compete against each other. Instead of simply an awards ceremony equivalent, AV Open was more of an E3 of porn to borrow a video game analogue. The Open became a period in which some of the most interesting and shocking porn were made.

Christmas for Porn

Top rewards could range from 10 million Yen ($100,00 USD) to 30 million Yen ($300,00 USD). A hefty reward to us normal people but for big companies like SOD, it’s a small offering to the real reward with the potential porn sales. What was billed as a competition was more of a marketing ploy to entice fans to flock and see the latest and greatest. Porn makers, big and small, brought the best or most interesting smut they could think of. All sorts coming together to compete and see who could sell the most smut within a set time period which was usually about two months long. At the start the Open would have only a few categories but pretty soon they expanded with more and more rewards. Categories ranging for best Mature video to best Lesbian video to even best Packaging Design. All videos released in the AV Open would share the same DVD code line such as AVOP or OPEN. The sales of the videos, both digital and physical, were to be the ultimate judge in the winners.

Stars from JAV and Beyond

The JAV community pulled itself together to make this a star studded event. The first AV Open even featured some celebrity judges to present special awards. Like comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto, author slash actor Lily Franky, and supposedly New York Yankees player Hideki Matsui was slated to judge. That’s right they managed to swing an active MLB player (at the time) to participant. Hideki is openly a big fan of AV, even boasting about the amount of videos he has seen. Even handing out some titles to reporters for his first press event in the States. Sadly a wrist injury made Hideki pull out of judging (there’s a joke in there somewhere). Would the MLB have even allowed him to openly judge contest? Either way the name drop helped the still new event to gain some recognition.

Best and Brightest

What wasn’t a lie was the great porn produced under the AV Open. Studios used the AV Open to showcase the best and most titillating videos they could imagine. This could be a time to introduce to their fans to a new debut that the studio hoped to launch to big fanfare like say Nene Yoshitaka who debuted during the AV Open in 2017. Or combine the biggest names in JAV for one massive super star studded group video. What also mattered were the porn makers themselves. The competition also became a means for directors to separate themselves in the Open Challenge category. A showcase piece for directors to promote for potential employers. Actresses, actors, directors, executives, even the dang Graphic Designers all could use the Open as a career spring board to bigger and better things. At the end of the day who cares which company wins or what award the industry gives themselves. What really mattered to us fans was that the Open allowed for some great porn to be made.

Showstopping Porn

Some of these titles were truly wild, envelope pushing, and an exercise in decadence. Stuff like the massive 500 Person Sex title from SOD Create which featured 250 couples fucking in a large room which was advertised as the “Biggest group sex orgy ever”. Or launching the world traveling series the Naked Continent from Natural high with actresses and crew traveling to places like Africa or Papua New Guinea or even Inda to take in the sights while making AV delights.

Team Ups and Big Groups

AVOP 217 “Elegant VS Naughty. Making Babies With Two Incredibly Sexy Groups”

Cast: Yui Hatano, Erika Kitagawa, Aika, Yuki Natsume, Mikako Abe, Asami Tsuchiya, Ayumi Shinoda, Kaho Shibuya, Aki Sasaki, Rena Fukiishi

A mainstay of the AV Open was teaming up big name actresses together like this title. One of the most star studded titles you’ll ever see in JAV. You’ve got JAV legend Yui Hatano, one of the hottest milfs of the time with Ayumi Shinoda, petite fan favorite Mikako Abe, Gal Queen Aika, and the popular in the west Kaho Shibuya. Also one of my personal all time favorites in Aki Sasaki. I haven’t even gotten to Erika Kitagawa or Rena Fukiishi. This cast is just ridiculous. It was a common tactic for the Open for studios to just take stars and put them together in duo team ups or big group titles but this one takes the cake in both quantity and quality. It really blows the others out the water in terms of name recognition. If you were a JAV fan between the 2010’s and on then there is likely at least one actress here that had your interest. Only in the Open would a studio like Zukkon / Bakkon swing for the fences and get all these names. Hats off to them, they are greatly missed.

Promising Debuts

AVOP 201

“FIRST IMPRESSION 103 Shocking! An Extraordinary, 19-Year Old Porn Idol Is Born! She Has Such A Cute Face But She Loves Sex!”

Gimmicky Titles

Naked Continent and Wild Kingdom

AVOP 062 “Kingdom Of The Wild Special Edition Bareback Sex And Creampies With African Natives AIKA”

A Scandal in SOD Land

It’s not a real competition until someone is accused to foul play. Only a year after the success of AV Open 2007, Soft on Demand was found out to have cheated to win their first place finish. Allegedly spending nearly 60 million Yen (approx. $600,000 USD) to buy over 15,000 copies of their own videos. SOD and their entry was disqualified and the AV Open would close for some years after that. All to say that they won a competition that they themselves started. Porn can be a dirty business off screen.

The Birth of the AV Grand Prix

It didn’t matter that SOD sullied the punch bowl, not when other companies still wanted to party. Enter the Hokuto Corporation, later known as DMM, and now known as Fanza and owners of big studio names like S1 Style and Moodyz. You probably know about their site R18.com (RIP) which used to be the best way to legally get JAV (aside from ZENRA of course). Hokuto was SOD’s biggest rival and with an opening in place, they swooped in to set up the next competition called the AV Grand Prix to take over for the Open. The AV Grand Prix came the following year in 2008. The Gran Prix offered a smaller grand reward (5 million Yen) but also offered more categories for studios to compete in with a total reward pool of 30 million yen (about $300,000). And unlike the Open, the winners could be chosen by a mix of sales numbers and/or fan voting. The grand reward itself was won by sales and fan votes, done on the DMM website, while smaller categories like best Mature were chosen by fan votes alone. Many of the Gran Prix used the AVGL DVD code line. However the contest was short lived and only ran for two years.

The AV Open Returns

It wouldn’t be until seven years later that the AV Open returned in 2014. This time sponsored by trade and ethics organization, IPPA (Intellectual Property Promotion Association) who you probably know them from their watermarks on JAV titles. No doubt to signal no more hijinks or shady moves from competitors. This time the reward were smaller and studios were divided by size; Super Heavyweight, Heavyweight, and Middleweight classes. The new AV Open would continue for a couple of years before petering out.

The Future of the AV Open

Well that takes us to the end of the story AV Open’s history for now. I for one hope the wild days of making ridiculous porn is not over yet. That one day the Open will return to it’s former glory with studios from all over competing against one another for the public's attention. Competition is good for business after all and it made the studios give it their best while also trying new and exciting things. The end result for us JAV fans is some spectacular smut.