Editing Direct-to-video (section)

==OVA and V-Cinema in Japan==
OV ("original video") are movies made for direct-to-video release in the Japanese market. OVA ("[[original video animation]]")<ref name=artifice>{{cite web |author1=DustinKop |title=A Look at the 1980's Anime OVA Legacy |url=https://the-artifice.com/1980s-anime-ova-legacy/ |website=the-artifice.com |date=12 February 2016 |publisher=[[The Artifice]] |access-date=10 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930073216/https://the-artifice.com/1980s-anime-ova-legacy/ |archive-date=30 September 2020}}</ref> is distinguished from OVM ("original video movies") or V-Cinema, which usually refer to non-animated works. Different production studios may use other labels like "V drama".

The OVA market developed in the mid-1980s.<ref name=ANN>{{cite web |last1=Sevakis |first1=Justin |title=Why Did So Many OVA Series End Prematurely? |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2015-07-29/.90986 |website=animenewsnetwork.com |publisher=Anime News Network |access-date=10 February 2021}}</ref> The lax restrictions and censorship in comparison to broadcast television appealed to filmmakers, allowing them to include more controversial content, as the films did not need to rely on sponsored advertisements for financial support. The result was animated films with greater sexual, violent, or political content.<ref name=ANN /> The market continued to expand during the [[Japanese asset price bubble]] and began to decline with the collapse of the bubble in the late 1980s and early 1990s.<ref name=artifice />

With the rise of [[VHS]] [[home video]] and the decline of the Japanese economy in the late 1980s, film studios struggled to recoup investments on big-budget films. (See [[Cinema of Japan]]) Inspired by the success of OVAs, [[Toei Company|Toei]] released the first film in its V-Cinema line, ''[[Crime Hunter]]'', in March 1989. Following Toei's success, other studios began to release a slew of direct-to-video movies, often under lines with similar names such as "V-Picture", "V-Feature" and "V-Movie".<ref name="Mes1">{{cite book 
|last=Mes 
|first=Tom 
|date=2023 
|title=Japanese Film and the Challenge of Video 
|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003346814/japanese-film-challenge-video-tom-mes
|url-access=subscription
|location=London and New York
|publisher=[[Routledge]]
|series=Media, Culture and Social Change in Asia
|page=70
|isbn=978-1-032-38797-0
|access-date=}}</ref> Despite "V-Cinema" originally being simply the name of Toei's line of direct-to-video release, in Japan it came to refer to all Japanese direct-to-video film releases, regardless of which studio released them or what line they were part of.<ref name="Mes1"/>

Relaxed censorship in V-Cinema gave way to the premier and rise of expressive [[auteur]] directors such as [[Takashi Miike]], [[Hideo Nakata]], [[Shinji Aoyama]], and [[Kiyoshi Kurosawa]].<ref name=lwl>{{cite web |last1=Balmont |first1=James |title=How V-Cinema sparked a Japanese filmmaking revolution |url=https://lwlies.com/articles/japanese-v-cinema-takashi-miike-shinjuku-triad-society/ |website=lwlies.com |publisher=[[Little White Lies (magazine)|Little White Lies]] |access-date=10 February 2021}}</ref><ref name=mes /> As the release of these titles were outside of usual distribution, studios and directors worked quickly to capitalize on niche markets or upcoming and current trends to increase financial returns.<ref name=Macias>{{cite web |last1=Macias |first1=Patrick |title=The Harajuku Line: Forgotten Fashion Monsters of Japanese V-Cinema |url=https://medium.com/@patrickmacias/the-harajuku-line-forgotten-fashion-monsters-of-japanese-v-cinema-ced107f8fda9 |website=medium.com |date=15 November 2019 |publisher=[[Medium (website)|Medium]] |access-date=10 February 2021}}</ref> This period of history in Japanese cinema has been described by film journalist [[Tom Mes]] as "a far more diverse and vibrant film scene [than previous eras]".<ref name=mes>{{cite web |last1=Mes |first1=Tom |title=The V-Cinema Notebook, Part 1 |url=http://www.midnighteye.com/features/the-v-cinema-notebook-part-1/ |website=midnighteye.com |publisher=[[Midnight Eye]] |access-date=10 February 2021}}</ref> By 1995, the V-Cinema industry was in decline,<ref name=lwl /> but the explosion in quantity and variety of such movies established and cemented genres like [[J-horror]] and [[yakuza films]].<ref name=Macias />

The success of OVAs and V-Cinema has resulted in less stigma regarding direct-to-video releases in Japan than in western markets.<ref name=Clements /> While there are still OVA and V-Cinema releases, the market is considerably smaller than it was in the 1980s and 1990s.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}