is a Japanese adult video (AV) studio which is especially known for videos made under its Samansa ("Samantha") and Calen ("Karen") labels which produced a number of innovative and quality AVs in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Company information

The Max-A studio released its first video May 23, 1992 on the Calen label (with the code XC-1001), Calen Falls in Love (恋するカレン), featuring Saori Kawana and directed by Hajime Kitano. A week later, the first Samansa label video, Witch-Wife (白石ひとみの奥様は魔女), directed by Kunihiro Hasegawa

Kunihiro Hasegawa

is a Japanese adult video director who has helmed more than 200 videos during his long career.-Life and career:Hasegawa began directing adult videos at least as early as June 1987 with , starring actress Keiko Nakazawa, for V&R Planning, a studio which had been founded just the year before by...

 and starring AV Idol

AV Idol

An AV idol is a Japanese idol who works in the pornographic business, often both as an actress as well as a model as the video performances have a wide range, from just the idol strolling around their house doing chores in bikinis to hardcore porn...

 Hitomi Shiraishi

Hitomi Shiraishi

is a former Japanese model, adult video actress, and a movie and TV actress from the 1990s who has been called "the eternal porn queen" and been described as "one of the most popular AV actresses of 1990s"...

, came out with the production code XS-2001 on May 30, 1992.

Max-A has had a long association dating back to at least 1997 with the Kuki

Kuki Inc.

is a Japanese adult video company which has its headquarters in Ebisu Minami in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo. The company is involved in the production and distribution of videos, satellite and cable TV, and a large internet site, X CITY.-Company history:...

 group of companies, at one time the largest family of AV companies in Japan, comprising Kuki, Alice Japan

Alice Japan

was established on April 4, 1986 as the adult video label for Japan Home Video .-Company information:The early AVs produced by JHV went under the Penguin label, the first title being the 30 minute long softcore Asobinasareya, Tadakurue starring Hidemi Nakajima released May 21, 1984 with...

, Atlas21

Atlas21

, formerly known as VIP, is a Japanese adult video company with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.-VIP:The AV company was founded in June 1981 and issued its first video, titled , in December of that same year making it one of the first adult video companies to be established in Japan. The studio...

, Media Station (Cosmos Plan)

Media Station

, originally founded as , was a Japanese adult video production company. In early 2011, they were integrated with the AV company KM Produce.-Company information:...

, Big Morkal and Sexia. The companies in this group all belonged to the voluntary ethics organization called in English the Nihon Ethics of Video Association

Nihon Ethics of Video Association

The , usually abbreviated as Viderin or Biderin , was a Japanese video rating organization. NEVA was founded in 1972 and had its headquarters in the Chūō ward of Tokyo. It was a voluntary organization to ensure adherence to Japanese obscenity laws which prohibit any display of genitals...

 (NEVA) or in Japanese 日本ビデオ倫理協会 (Nippon Bideo Rinri Kyoukai or Japan Video Morality Association) usually abbreviated as ビデ倫 (Biderin or Viderin). As with other members of the Kuki group, the emphasis at Max-A has been on making videos featuring a single popular actress. The company reported that for 2003, the leading actresses in sales were Maria Takagi

Maria Takagi

aka Rika Inoue is a multiple award winning former Japanese adult video star who is now a TV actress.-Life and career:Takagi's debut adult video was the December 2002 release Super-Star for the Max-A Calen label. In 2003 she was the winner of five awards at the Kuki Inc.-owned XCity's Adult Video...

, Ryōko Mitake

Ryoko Mitake

is a popular and multiple-award-winning Japanese AV idol. Throughout her career she alternated between the two AV studios, Alice Japan and Max-A. At the end of her first year in AV, Mitake was given two Best Actress awards in different AV ceremonies, and at the end of her second year she was given...

, Sora Aoi

Sora Aoi

is a Japanese AV idol, nude model, and media personality. In addition to being a multiple award winning actress in the AV field, she has also attained mainstream media recognition.- Early life :...

, and Akiho Yoshizawa

Akiho Yoshizawa

, often known simply as Acky , is a Japanese adult video and pink film actress.-AV debut - Alice Japan & Max-A:Yoshizawa was born in Tokyo, Japan on March 3, 1984 and after working as a gravure idol, made her AV debut in 2003 under contract to two studios, Alice Japan and Max-A...

. Among the actresses who have made their AV debut with Max-A are Hitomi Hayasaka

Hitomi Hayasaka

is a Japanese model, actress and former adult video performer.-Life and career:Hayasaka was born on June 28, 1982 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan...

 in 2001, Yua Aida

Yua Aida

is an award-winning former Japanese model and AV idol.-Early life:Yua Aida was born in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on 12 August 1984. Aida was an active girl and involved in many sporting activities during primary and middle school. Tennis was her strongest sport throughout middle school. In high...

 in 2004, and Rio (Tina Yuzuki)

Tina Yuzuki

, also known as Rio, is a Japanese AV idol who debuted in 2005, while appearing in videos produced by the Max-A and S1 studios. After starring in AVs in various genres during her first year in the industry, she won an industry award as Best New Actress for 2006. Since late 2007, she has used the...

 in 2005.

Max-A operates its official website at www.max-a.co.jp where it has videos available for download via subscription. The studio also has a site on the X City webpage along with other members of the Kuki group of companies where on-demand videos are featured. About 16 new videos are issued monthly by Max-A under its various labels.

Labels

In addition to the Samansa, Calen and MAX-A labels, the company has also used several other labels over its history. VHS videos made under the Calen label used production codes of the series type XC-1001 and Samansa-labeled VHS works used the XS-2001 type series. Gash VHS videos utilized the XG-3001 series. When DVDs came into production, the company used production codes of the XV-001 type under the MAX-A label and when VHS tapes were discontinued, the Calen and Samansa labels were no longer used. DVDs "for rental only" were issued with the code type SRXV-001.

• B-MAX
• Black Max
• Blue File (ブルーファイル)
• Calen (カレン)
• DoraMax
• Gash
• Max Pink
• Naked Film
• Pure Max
• Samansa (サマンサ)

Directors

The following are among the directors who have worked with Max-A:

• Yoshiho Fukuoka
• Kunihiro Hasegawa
  Kunihiro Hasegawa
  is a Japanese adult video director who has helmed more than 200 videos during his long career.-Life and career:Hasegawa began directing adult videos at least as early as June 1987 with , starring actress Keiko Nakazawa, for V&R Planning, a studio which had been founded just the year before by...
  
  
• Yukinori Nishizawa
• Yukihiko Shimamura
• Goro Tameike
  Goro Tameike
  is a Japanese adult video director who has directed more than 450 videos. He was one of the first exponents of the genre in AV.-Life and career:...
  
  
• Toshiou

Actresses

Actresses who have performed in Max-A videos include:

• Yua Aida
  Yua Aida
  is an award-winning former Japanese model and AV idol.-Early life:Yua Aida was born in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on 12 August 1984. Aida was an active girl and involved in many sporting activities during primary and middle school. Tennis was her strongest sport throughout middle school. In high...
  
  
• Kokoro Amano
  Kokoro Amano
  , is an AV Idol who starred in pornographic movies between 2001 and 2004 . She worked mainly for Soft On Demand and Moodyz.-Life and career:Kokoro was born 30 August 1982 in the city of Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. She was seeking employment at the time that she was recruited for work in the AV...
  
  
• Minori Aoi
  Minori Aoi
  is a Japanese gravure and AV idol.-Debut and early AVs:Born in Tokyo on March 28, 1980, Minori Aoi was active in tennis during Junior High School and High School. She made her AV debut in the February 1999 release for the Media Station Cosmos Plan label, Pure Heart . Her first video was a difficult...
  
  
• Sora Aoi
  Sora Aoi
  is a Japanese AV idol, nude model, and media personality. In addition to being a multiple award winning actress in the AV field, she has also attained mainstream media recognition.- Early life :...
  
  
• Minami Aoyama
  Minami Aoyama
  is a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She has appeared in award-winning pink films, and was herself given a Best Actress award for her work in this genre in 2006.-Life and career:...
  
  
• Ran Asakawa
  Ran Asakawa
  is a famous and extremely prolific Japanese model and AV idol who made her debut in the adult entertainment field in 2001.-Life and career:Ran Asakawa was born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan on 4 September 1980. Her first sexual encounter happened when she was 19 and was with a businessman...
  
  
• Ami Ayukawa
  Ami Ayukawa
  is a Japanese AV Idol who worked for both "pro" studios such as Alice Japan and h.m.p., and also for independent companies like Moodyz and Wanz Factory.-Life and career:...
  
  
• Hitomi Hayasaka
  Hitomi Hayasaka
  is a Japanese model, actress and former adult video performer.-Life and career:Hayasaka was born on June 28, 1982 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan...
  
  
• Milk Ichigo
  Milk Ichigo
  , also often billed as Miruku Ichigo, is an award-winning Japanese adult video actress who has had an exceptionally long career.-Life and career:...
  
  
• Rei Itoh
• Bunko Kanazawa
  Bunko Kanazawa
  is a prolific Japanese adult film actress, who has been called "one of the biggest AV idols in Japan."-Debut - Cosmos Plan:Bunko Kanazawa was born April 4, 1979 in Kanagawa prefecture). She reports that as a child she was good at mathematics and science, but horrible in Japanese and English...
  
  
• Mariko Kawana
  Mariko Kawana
  is a Japanese model and actress who has appeared in both softcore pink film and V-Cinema and has also been a hardcore adult video performer and director. She is now retired as an actress and has a second career as a writer.-Life and career:...
  
  
• Kyōko Kazama
  Kyōko Kazama
  is a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She has appeared in award-winning pink films, and was herself given a "Best Supporting Actress" award in two successive years for her work in this genre in 2006 and 2007.-Life and career:...
  
  
• You Kitajima
• Hitomi Kobayashi
  Hitomi Kobayashi
  is an important early Japanese AV idol. One of the founding figures of the Japanese adult video, she has been called indispensable to any discussion of the AV...
  
  
• Mayu Kotono
  Mayu Kotono
  -Life and career:Kotono was born on December 15, 1980 in Tokyo, Japan. She made her adult video debut at the age of nineteen in the January 2000 video for Kuki Inc. and soon afterward appeared in a pictorial for Bejean magazine. Four months later in May 2000, she made her first video for the...
  
  
• Jun Kusanagi
  Jun Kusanagi
  is a Japanese model and AV idol famous for her metric G-cup-sized bust. She has been called "one of Japan's most prolific and popular photo model/AV stars."-Early life:...
  
  
• Miho Maeshima
  Miho Maeshima
  , also known as Miho Maejima, is a popular Japanese model and AV idol who formerly appeared on broadcast television in Japan.-Life and career:...
  
  
• Mihiro
  Mihiro
  , also known as , is a Japanese model, singer, TV personality and award-winning adult video actress.-Life and career:Mihiro was born in Niigata prefecture on May 19, 1982. She began a career as a softcore nude model as early as May 2001 when her video Dream was released followed by the...
  
  
• Ryōko Mitake
  Ryoko Mitake
  is a popular and multiple-award-winning Japanese AV idol. Throughout her career she alternated between the two AV studios, Alice Japan and Max-A. At the end of her first year in AV, Mitake was given two Best Actress awards in different AV ceremonies, and at the end of her second year she was given...
  
  
• Ayano Murasaki
  Ayano Murasaki
  is a Japanese adult video performer.-Life and career:Ayano Murasaki was born in the Ibaraki Prefecture of Japan on March 29, 1969. She made her adult video debut in late 2003 at the age of 34. The market for such "mature woman" or "madame" actresses appeared in Japanese porn films in the mid-1990s...
  
  
• Naho Ozawa
  Naho Ozawa
  is a Japanese model, singer and a former prolific AV idol. She retired from the adult industry in 2007.-AV debut - Try-Heart:...
  
  
• Rio (Tina Yuzuki)
  Tina Yuzuki
  , also known as Rio, is a Japanese AV idol who debuted in 2005, while appearing in videos produced by the Max-A and S1 studios. After starring in AVs in various genres during her first year in the industry, she won an industry award as Best New Actress for 2006. Since late 2007, she has used the...
  
  
• Hitomi Shiraishi
  Hitomi Shiraishi
  is a former Japanese model, adult video actress, and a movie and TV actress from the 1990s who has been called "the eternal porn queen" and been described as "one of the most popular AV actresses of 1990s"...
  
  
• Riko Tachibana
  Riko Tachibana
  is a popular and award-winning Japanese adult video idol . Taller than average, Tachibana debuted in 2003 and starred in many adult videos which emphasized her height. An extremely prolific actress, Tachibana had performed in over 200 AVs when she was awarded for Most Appearances at Japan's Adult...
  
  
• Maria Takagi
  Maria Takagi
  aka Rika Inoue is a multiple award winning former Japanese adult video star who is now a TV actress.-Life and career:Takagi's debut adult video was the December 2002 release Super-Star for the Max-A Calen label. In 2003 she was the winner of five awards at the Kuki Inc.-owned XCity's Adult Video...
  
  
• Sally Yoshino
  Sally Yoshino
  is a Japanese striptease dancer, model, and AV idol. She has also performed under the name .-Early life:Sally Yoshino was born in Tokyo on November 28, 1978. Her father was a member of a skate team, and Yoshino began figure skating at the age of three...
  
  
• Nao Yoshizaki
• Akiho Yoshizawa
  Akiho Yoshizawa
  , often known simply as Acky , is a Japanese adult video and pink film actress.-AV debut - Alice Japan & Max-A:Yoshizawa was born in Tokyo, Japan on March 3, 1984 and after working as a gravure idol, made her AV debut in 2003 under contract to two studios, Alice Japan and Max-A...
  
  

X City Awards

Max-A was one of the Kuki group of companies which participated in the X City Adult Video Grand Prix Awards which were held from 1998 to 2004. In the 2003 contest, the Max-A cosplay

Cosplay

, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...

 video Welcome to Max Cafe!: Maria Takagi (Max Cafeへようこそ！ 高樹マリア) starring Maria Takagi

Maria Takagi

aka Rika Inoue is a multiple award winning former Japanese adult video star who is now a TV actress.-Life and career:Takagi's debut adult video was the December 2002 release Super-Star for the Max-A Calen label. In 2003 she was the winner of five awards at the Kuki Inc.-owned XCity's Adult Video...

won the Best Video Title Award.

Series

A list of some popular Max-A video series:

• Dirty Mouth (淫口)
• Illegal Tits Violation (不法侵乳)
• MAX GIRLS
• New Comer
• OL Style
• Pink File
• School Days
• The Secret of Younger Sister (妹の秘密)
• Sexy Teacher Hunt
• Uniform Hunting (制服狩り)
• Welcome to Max Airline (Max Airlineへようこそ)
• Welcome to Black Max Cafe! (Black Max Cafeへようこそ!)
• Welcome to Max Cafe! (ようこそMaxCafeへ!)
• Welcome to Max Soap (ウェルカム マックス・ソープ)