| Industry | Pornography |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1984 |
| Headquarters | Toshima, Tokyo, Japan |
| Products | Pornographic films |
| Employees | 23 |
| Website | http://www.crystal-eizou.jp/ |
Crystal-Eizou or Crystal-Eizō (クリスタル映像), known in English as Crystal Image or Crystal Video, is a Japanese corporation involved in the production and distribution of adult videos.
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Crystal-Eizou was founded in October 1984 and was incorporated in June 1985[1] at a time when home video recorders were beginning to significantly penetrate the Japanese market and actresses were being elevated into AV Idols.[2] A number of significant figures in Japanese adult video (AV) history have been associated with the Crystal-Eizou company during its long history. Among these was the innovative and controversial director Toru Muranishi (村西 とおる) who later left to start his own company Diamond Visual.[3] Muranishi launched the career of Kaoru Kuroki who debuted at Crystal-Eizou in October 1986[4] and went on to become Japan's "first high-profile AV actress".[3] Kuroki left Crystal-Eizou to join Muranishi at his new company but a few years later the company found another main draw in Ai Iijima who debuted with them in 1992[5] and soon became acknowledged as the top AV actress of her time.[6] Another early AV Idol who performed for Crystal-Eizou was Yumika Hayashi who appeared as early as 1989 in the video Gansha 6 renpatsu! gaburi hime Hayashi Yumika.[7] The company inaugurated a major new label, Venus, in June 1997.[8]
By December 2007, the company had 23 employees and a capital of 200 million yen (about $2 million) with an annual revenue of 2.6 billion yen (about $26 million). The company President is Tadaharu Nishimura (西村忠治) and the corporation headquarters are in Tokyo's Toshima ward.[1] Crystal-Eizou operates its own website, Crystal-Online, where DVDs are sold and streaming videos are available through membership.[9] Their video products are also available in a large network of dealers throughout Japan.[10] The website also contains an archive of Crystal-Eizou actress interviews dating back to 2001.[11] The company specializes in single actress featured videos and "big-bust" genre productions.[12]
As one of the older Japanese AV companies, Crystal-Eizou is counted as one of the "pro" studios as opposed to the more recent "indie" companies. Japanese AV producers belong to one of a number of voluntary ethics organizations which set standards for content and the extent of the mosaic pixelation used to censor the genitals required by Japanese law. Crystal-Eizou and most of the older "pro" studios such as h.m.p., Kuki and Alice Japan belonged to the group known as Nihon Ethics of Video Association (NEVA, AKA "Soft-rin" and "Viderin") whose censorship standards were more conservative than those used by the "indie" studios.[13] However, in 2005 Crystal-Eizou left the organization to form its own ethics group—the Japan Video Production Software - Sales Ethics Group (JVPS) or in Japanese 日本映像ソフト制作・販売倫理機構 (Nippon Eizou Sofuto Seisaku. Hanbai Rinri Kikou). The Executive Director of the Tokyo-based organization is Crystal-Eizou President Tadaharu Nishimura.[14]
At the 4th Takeshi Kitano Awards held in 2003 for movies released in 2002, the Crystal-Eizou production Battle Without Foreplay? (前戯なき戦い?即入かましてﾖｶですか?) was given the award as the Best AV Title.[15] In 2007 Crystal-Eizou took part in the second AV Open contest. Their entry Celebrity Debut - Misa Kikoden (芸能人★デビュー！！ きこうでんみさ) labeled OPEN-0706 won the 2nd Place Award in the main contest.[16]
Crystal-Eizou has issued videos on various labels over the years:[17][18]
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A number of prominent AV Idols have been featured in Crystal-Eizou videos during the company's extensive history:
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