Crystal-Eizou

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.

Company history

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]

JVPS

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]

Awards

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) directed by Yukihiko Shimamura and labeled OPEN-0706 won the 2nd Place Award in the main contest.^[16]

Labels

Crystal-Eizou has issued videos on various labels over the years:^[17][18]

Actresses

A number of prominent AV Idols have been featured in Crystal-Eizou videos during the company's extensive history:

Series

• The Costume Play Maid (コスプレ召使い)^[19]

Notes

External links

• "Crystal-Eizou Official Website".