Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About JAV Covers But Were Afraid To Ask, v1.4 (beta)
(title courtesy of ulli)
Updated in v1.4 (9/10/02):
updated changed URLs
more video company URLs
Office21 is back
added notes for "decensored"
If you have any tips or techniques not mentioned here,
THIS VERSION IS A "BETA". Basically, I put a great deal of time into this revision but have not had time to finish it up. Rather than sit on it for much longer, I've decided to post it. Please understand it's a work in progress.
A quick thanks to all those who have helped with this guide. Keep it coming!
PRIMER
After doing this for so long, I've developed a knack for finding good covers. While I haven't made a science out of it quite yet, there are a few tidbits that can help anyone find covers for most popular JAVs. First, let's look at what you'll need:
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Multiple Covers & Product IDs for the Same Movie
Popular videos are often made in multiple formats: Video Tape, DVD, and occasionally VideoCD. In most cases, to be consistent traders prefer the video tape covers.
Unfortunately for traders, each format of a movie will have a different product ID, and sometimes an entirely different looking cover. This often leads to confusion. All I can say is you should always be aware of this fact when doing searches for covers.
RESOURCES
American JAV Sites
There are a few good trading/selling websites out there, and probably a thousand bad. Most online traders will provide the barest minimum of information, and oftentimes it's inaccurate anyway. Most of the sellers couldn't care less about quality (their website or the movies), which is why buying JAV VCDs from online vendors isn't always a good idea (AsianVids.com is one of the more reputable).
One of the few good resources for accurate information - including product IDs - is AsianScreens.com. This is a good place for a beginner to download some needed covers, and the forums are outstanding even for the most experienced traders.
That said, this guide will assume sites like these are not part of the equation.
Kuki
If a movie is made by Kuki or any of the 20-or-so companies they have a relationship with (such as Atlas, Cosmos Plan, Alice, Max-A (Calen), and SexiA), and if you know the Actress' name, the best place to start is Kuki's website. The most helpful page is the AV Idol Directory, which includes a search engine for actress names. On Kuki's pages you can find just about everything about a movie, including the real movie title and product ID. Sometimes even the NEVA code. You'll also get a small coverscan, although if you want the larger ones they're only available to members (the site has a pay-service). Even then, they don't have all covers in large format. For that matter, they don't always list ALL their videos on their site - often the older ones get dropped. Nevertheless, this is an excellent starting point.
Iyokan
There are three ways I use Iyokan:
If you have the NEVA code, your first stop should be to check for NEVA codes at the following URLs: http://www.jrss.co.jp/adult_img/jacket_jpg/982338.jpg and http://www.iyokan.co.jp/avdxx/jacket_img/jacket_jpg/982338.jpg. Simply replace the NEVA codes in the URLs with your own. Please note that while both sites probably have the exact same content, I have not verified as much.
You can access the same scans using the product ID. http://www.avdpt.jp/search/kensakukekkatan.jsp?action=SEARCH&TYPE=REF&PRODUCTS_REF=AS-879 - and just replace the ID at the end with your own. You'll most likely have to reload the page (hit SHIFT-REFRESH) to make their script actually search their database.
If for some reason your movie is missing the NEVA code but you know the actress name in both Japanese (such as from the movie's title screen) and English, go to http://www.iyokan.co.jp/catalog/index2.html. On the left, hover over the links and find the one that best matches the first two letters of her last name (in English). Then view the results in the right frame, comparing the Japanese with that in your movie.
ALMIGHTY
This is probably my favorite place for coverscans. Pretty much the same idea here as Iyokan when you're using the product ID: http://av.jav.co.jp/package.phtml?ItemCode=XS2245
ALMIGHTY has been around for a while, but just recently allowed access to people outside of Japan. While sometimes the compression is a bit high and the cover may not appear as sharp as others you'll find, the great thing about this site is you won't find annoying "SAMPLE" print all over the cover face. Most don't mind that sort of thing, but since a few do I figured I'd mention it here. One downside is they only have recent covers, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to what they carry. For those who can navigate using Japanese, you can also use their search engine here: http://av.jav.co.jp/search.phtml.
The next step I prefer is to try a quick search on Google. This is usually a poor way to find quality cover scans, but if all you have is the actress and title name this can be a good starting point to get the more important items, such as product ID or NEVA codes. Since you'll usually be linked to other traders' pages, when you get successful hits you'll at best find poor-quality versions, and at worst incorrect covers. When searching for actresses on Google, make sure you enclose each entry in quotes, such as "Saori Nanami" "Private Lesson". If you have no luck, swap the first and last actress names (ie. "Madoka Ozawa" and "Ozawa Madoka" (Searching Google for a product ID/NEVA is usually fruitless, however traders who are conscientious enough to put that information in their list will often be wise enough to at least have the correct cover scan to match.).
Office21, a.k.a. AV21
Office21 is especially nice for titles made by Soft on Demand & Attackers, as well as Moodyz, Waap, Wanz, WildSide (and other Momotaro companies), AROMA, Kasakura, and a few other indies. If you already know the product ID, enter it in the Office21 search engine. First try with the dash ("-"), then without. For example, if "SHK-135" doesn't give you any hits, try "SHK135". Be warned that video titles listed here are not always accurate translations.
Even if you just know the actress name and/or the video title, you can do a search. Enter the actress name and a key word from the video title. Keep in mind their translations aren't so hot, so just because you're unsuccessful doesn't mean they don't have the cover. Keep trying keywords, and if you have to just proceed without using the video title at all (read below).
Yahoo Japan is probably the most important resource for finding scans, however you'll probably get a ton of links that have nothing to do with JAV. Just because you can't read Japanese doesn't mean you can't tell if a page has what you want. Here are some things to look for:
If you already know the product ID, enter it first with the dash ("-"), then without. For example, if "KT-501" doesn't give you any hits, try "KT501". Be sure to enclose your query in quotes.
Every once in a while you'll get lucky with your NEVA code, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
If your video is made by an h.m.p. company (Tiffany, Miss Christine, Cher, SAMM, etc.) and you need to find the product ID, check out their online "database". Hover over the graphics until you find the starting letters of your actress' last name (ie. "ya.html" would have Youko Yazawa). Then at the top of each page you'll see lists of actress names in Japanese - hover over each until you see the name you want in your browser's status bar. Once you're at your actress' area on the page, you can compare the Japanese characters on your movie's title screen with those listed on the web page.
Office21
For a long while, the ultimate coverscan site was Office21. Their search engine was able to turn up almost everything you could desire, provided you knew the ID. Well, apparently their ISP grew tired of us VCD traders using up their resources, so Office21 was forced to make a change. Their new URL is http://www.tssplaza.co.jp/japan/2002/index.htm, however your only real option now is to download huge ZIP files of all their covers. They don't have anywhere near what they did before, but for serious collectors/traders/buyers it might be worthwhile to download and unzip those big boys.
Advanced Tips
Sometimes cover scans can be a real bitch to find, and many aren't that desperate to spend a long time to find them. But if you're really in need of a cover, here are a few general tips to help the power users out there:
DECENSORED / DECODED
Since around 2000, these movies have become tremendously popular. "Decoded" or "decensored" movies are JAVs which have had the mosaics digitally removed by very expensive hardware. At first glance these movies appear to be uncensored, but sometimes you'll notice jagged edges or discoloration around where the mosaic would usually be.
How can this be done? Well, after lots of research here's the best answer I've found: The very small JAV companies use very simple mosaics which could be reversed if the same hardware that made it is used to remove it. Lucky for us, some rather famous AV starlettes started with such companies so now we're seeing them in all their glory (most notable: Ai Nagase).
Who releases these things? Generally, there are a few companies in Taiwan who have connections in the JAV industry and are (re-)releasing these JAVs, sans mosaic.
Unless another trader already did the legwork, finding covers is not an easy task. Sometimes the Taiwan companies take parts from original JAV cover to make their own, and sometimes they make it from scratch. Most collectors prefer to have the original JAV cover, but finding them can prove difficult. Not only do the covers and product IDs differ, but often the titles do as well.
If you have the decensored versions of the movie's ID or title, use Google to find the decensored cover. Sometimes examining these covers can give a clue as to what the original movie was, particularly if it's part of a series (eg. "Sparky", "Quattro", etc.). Note that sometimes the actress on the cover might not represent the contents of the movie. It's rare, but it happens.
If you have the original JAV ID, you can often find the cover with a trip to Yahoo!Japan. If you have the actress name and JAV title, you might try Google with the hopes that another trader out there has the cover already.
If the above hasn't helped, there's one method I use that will often yield results, but when it doesn't it can be extremely frustrating. In short, on my hard drive I have a collection of covers from companies whose movies were likely to be decoded. I'll flip through each and every cover and compare it to the decensored version's cover, and sometimes even the movie itself. It helps to look for things that stand out and train your eye for them, such as the position of the actress on the decensored cover. Or something about a scene that you can spot quickly on the back cover, such as bright blue lingerie or polka-dot bedsheets. (Note: when strictly comparing the front covers, I find it's quicker to use a program that will display all your pics as thumbnails. I personally use ThumbsPlus.)
So, how does one obtain a collection these potentially decensored covers? There are a few sites out there which have them, and I just used a web spider (my choice is Teleport Pro) to leech them all from the sites. Here are the links to the sites I've used:
http://www.aitai1.com/abunai.html
http://www.aviva-1.com/kiken/top.html
http://km-video.kiki-wave.com/index_list.html
http://pinky-and-blue.com/page/menu-main.html
Here are sites for the decensored covers:
http://avangele.com/makerlist.html
http://www.aventertainments.com/
Quick tips:
This table is still being built. It's a best-guess at a quick-reference guide. You'll find as you become more familiar with the manufacturers and where their covers are most easily found, you might want to change the order of priority around a bit (for example, if it's a SOD title you wouldn't check on KUKI's website).
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