| Industry | Motion pictures |
|---|---|
| Founded | May 9, 1984 |
| Headquarters | , Japan |
| Products | Motion pictures Anime |
Number of employees | 34 |
| Divisions | Alice Japan |
| Website | JHV |
Japan Home Video Co. Ltd. (ジャパンホームビデオ株式会社,JapanHōmuBideo Kabushikigaisha) (JHV) is a Japanese home video company which produces and distributes film and video products and is also involved in TV programming and game software. It uses the labelAlice Japan (アリスJAPAN) for itsadult video production.
JHV was established in May 1984 to take advantage of the explosion ofvideocassette recorders (VCRs) in Japan at that time.[1] Following the introduction of commercial VCR Beta recorders in 1975 (and the VHS format in 1976), VCR production in Japan went from one million units in 1978 to 44 million by 1985 fueled largely by the number of movies (including pornography) available on VHS.[2] By November 1984, the company had expanded enough to move to new headquarters in the fashionableHarajuku district ofTokyo.[1]
The company originally used thePenguin (ぺんぎん) label for its videos but in April 1986, JHV foundedAlice Japan (アリスJAPAN) as a label for their adult videos (AV). The company subsequently expanded into softcore movies,anime productions, computer games and, in 1996, the satellite broadcasting business. In February 2000, JHV acquired a building in theJinbocho area of Tokyo and transferred its headquarters there. A further move brought the Production Center to their own building in Tokyo'sNakano City in March 2005 which also became the company headquarters in April 2007.[1]
For the 2007 fiscal year, the corporation had sales of 2.25 billion yen (about $22.5 million) and a capital of 27 million yen (about $227,000). The company employed 34 people and had its headquarters in the JHV Building (JHV中野ビル) in Nakano, Tokyo.[3]
The company is involved in the production and distribution of film, video products, music and TV programs.[3]
JHV has produced and/or distributed a number of theatrical movies, including several in the science fiction or horror genre and often with erotic overtones. Some notable film productions include the 1989 cult horror movieTetsuo: The Iron Man directed byShinya Tsukamoto[4] and theYakuzazombie flicJunk: Shiryô-gari from 2000.[5] Also in the horror genre wereEvil Dead Trap orShiryo no wana directed byToshiharu Ikeda and featuring AV actressHitomi Kobayashi which was released in 1988[6][7] and the sequelEvil Dead Trap 2: Hideki (死霊の罠2ヒデキ) from 1992.[8]Evil Dead Trap was later released by JHV on DVD.[9]
JHV also produced the first three live-action videos of themanga based superheroine seriesKekko Kamen, the 1991Kekko Kamen,[10]Kekko Kamen 2 from 1992,[11] andKekko Kamen 3, released in 1993.[12]
More recent productions were the 2004 dramaThe Hunter and the Hunted (油断大敵,Yudan taiteki)[13][14] which won awards at the 2005Yokohama Film Festival for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best New Director[15] and the 2004 comedyeiko (エイコ).[16]
JHV'sCinemadict Collection (シネマディクト・コレクション) is a series of remastered worldwide classic movies with Japanese subtitles released on DVD.[17] The collection includes the hard-to-findAlfred Hitchcock silent filmDownhill.[18]
In the area of erotica, JHV makes softcoreV-Cinema videos under the V Muvii (Vムービィ) label or the SEN Planning label. Some popular series are the soft S&MEscape Confinement (監禁逃亡),Keep Masked (けっこう仮面) andPink Curtain (ピンクのカーテン).[19] The company also produces "gravure" non-nude modeling videos, some using the label Girls' Record.[20]
The company has long had an interest inanime products. In the early 1980s, they distributed a handful of early anime, with known titles includingHarris's Whirlwind (ハリスの旋風,Harisu no Kaze) and0-Battle Hayato (0戦はやと,Zero Tatakae Hayato).[21] The first anime produced by Japan Home Video wasLolicon Angel: A Taste of Honey (蜜の味,Mitsu no Aji), released on VHS on January 10, 1985, capitalizing on the "Lolicon Boom" of the early 1980s. The tape was initially released under a different title and cover, but it was quickly pulled from sale due to obscenity, and reissued with additional censorship.[22]
On April 25, 1987, the dark adult-oriented science fiction horror filmWicked City (妖獣都市,Yoju Toshi) was released in theatres by JHV and later on DVD.[23][24] They also produced the anime movieA Wind Named Amnesia (風の名はアムネジア,Kaze no Na wa Amunejia) which debuted in theatres in Japan in December 1990[25] and as a video in 1993.[26] A different type of project produced by JHV was the comicNekojiru Gekijou (ねこぢる劇場 - ぢるぢるORIGINAL), a series of 27 shorts broadcast onTV Asahi in 1999.[27]
In addition, JHV had a role in the production of the followingOriginal Video Animations:
Graduation (ja:卒業 〜Graduation〜 or Sotsugyō) is the title of a simulation genre computer game first released by JHV in June 1992.[1] Two years later in 1994, a sequelGraduation 2: Neo Generation (卒業II 〜Neo Generation〜) appeared.[36] The game, the object of which is to get five young girls with various problems to graduate high school, has since had several incarnations and been ported to a number of systems including theSonyPlayStation 2.[37]
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