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

Published : April 24th, 2024 Written by Fried Chikan

We dive on into JAV history to the origins of the spectacular and star studded AV Open. The AV Open was conceived of as an analogue to the AVN Awards (Adult Video News) in America which was and still is a massive awards ceremony honoring and celebrating the best porn of the year from creators. This would not be the first or only Adult Video Awards in JAV. At the time and before there were the Tokyo Sports Film Awards, SOD Awards, and Moodyz Awards to name a few. However the sheer scale and scope of the Open paired with the competition, created something special in the world of adult entertainment.

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.

There would be smaller titles too like one focusing on actress lifting their personal bans on certain acts and doing new things on camera. Say a simple team up between two titans of the industry of the time like with Yuma Asami and Rio (Tina Yuzuki). Or with Minako Komukai and her first place winner with Moody and AVOP-009 “Anal Bukkake Fuck Now!” video. Later on as more niche and fetish categories came into place, the competition would include more lets say extreme and hardcore content. From big to small the AV Open helped produce many a great title. Now let's check out some of those titles in detail below.

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.

While the title is absolutely stunning in the names that they got, I’m not without my gripes. The setting and theme are pretty mundane for such a great cast. This all takes place in a large but plain house and is all about the women fighting for one man’s attention. A POV where you don’t know where to look because everyone steals focus. It seems like they blew their budget in getting them all that there wasn’t much left for the video itself. Of all the ladies I would have to say it’s little Mikako that grabbed my attention the most. While everyone else is fighting for your attention, Mikako is just having a grand old time fucking you or playing around in the background. The video is still worth a look for the names on the box alone. Where else will you get to see Mikako and Rena in one scene and Aki and Aika together in the next.

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!”

It’s not all massive group sex or travel shows for the Open. Studios loved to use these event to showcase their newest stars that they think could make a big splash. They don’t always do but this next one did. A fresh faced Minami Aizawa bursts onto the scene with her debut title. Minami was a fantastic performer who would go onto become a star within JAV and one of my favorite actresses of all time. So of course I had to talk about her debut entry for AVOP. Debut Minami is like night and day with present day with her being so much more shy and reserved it makes her even cuter. The beautiful petite looks smaller than her modern day counterpart thanks to her slouching and shirking body language. Not even her studio Idea Pocket could have seen this tiny cutie becoming the devilish slut in the future. Her debut is pretty standard fare, interviews with shy newbies. Watching it now though, with how familiar I am with Minami, does give a greater appreciation. It is such a fun contrast to see the cute and shy Minami with the confident and nymphomaniac Minami of later on. Idea Pocket was right to feature her for the AV Open; she was a real JAV star. With this I recommend it for Minami fans and I recommend Minami to all JAV fans.

Gimmicky Titles
Naked Continent and Wild Kingdom

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

Now for the travel pieces. Natural High a studio known for public sex and pushing the envelope, released the Naked Continent as their entry for the AV Open in 2014. A travel show that had AV’s star globe trotting to new places abroad while sampling the local talent (not really). Even though Natural High started the series, it’s DANDY’s Wild Kingdom that is much more well known and popular funny enough. Thanks in part for their title with Aika, the previously mentioned Gal Queen. Aika’s adventure is probably the most well known of theses titles (maybe Ai Uehara’s too). She heads to the Continent for bareback sex and cream pies with the natives. While I doubt some of those marketing claims, she and her crew do indeed head on down to Africa. You see her travel the way there, hang out with the locals, freak out when they start preparing dinner the old fashioned way. All while sneaking in some sexy time fun.

There’s a not half bad scene with Aika on a nice looking green plains. Clad in a skimpy bikini, she gets to work on a “local”. Aika on the plains of Africa taking on a way too big cock for her. A pretty nice scene thanks to the scenery and Aika’s great slender figure. A seriously underrated aspect of hers. Both the Naked Continent and Wild Kingdom are interesting titles as a travel show alone. While the Wild Kingdom mainly stays in Africa, the Naked Continent eventually heads to other places. Most interestingly Papua New Guinea and India. There is even a scene of a naked Nakano Arisa in the Ganges River bathing. The sex might be just okay in these titles but that’s not why you watch these alone. It is for the novelty factor too. A factor that you’ll see plenty more of coming up.

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.

JAV Awards Today

Today the AV Open hasn’t had a run of show for a couple of years now with the last coming in 2018. It doesn’t seem like the big showy titles of the past are returning any time soon. Today the JAV industry is much more button up and fiscally prudent even before the pandemic. Why make a video with a 100 people chasing Ai Uehara around when you can spend that capital on less risky titles and without all the hassle. Add on the after effects of the pandemic and doesn’t seem likely we’ll be seeing these large event in physical form for anytime soon. Today the AV Open’s role has been taken up by others in different ways. There was the Fanza Awards which had become a popular awards ceremony to recognize individual talent. There is the Japan Adult Expo (JAE) which is an event to promote JAV. Studios will hold their own marketing competitions or sales events. In 2020 OPPAI held their own mini Grand Prix to find new talent. For a while studio Dogma held their own yearly Gran Prix series for their VR titles. Sadly the days of a large scale industry wide competition seem to be over for good. Like E3 it's a remnant of a bygone era.

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.

In part two we take a look at some of the best, worst, craziest, and certainly most interesting titles to have ever come out of the AV Open and the Gran Prix.