V-Cinema

From Freepedia

Japanese V-Cinema is the direct-to-video industry that appeared in Japan in the 1980s. The term is a trademark of Toei Company but has been used in the West to describe any Japanese direct-to-video or -DVD release. Unlike its Western counterpart, this industry has a considerably better reputation, with directors making V-Cinema movies sometimes by choice, due to the creative freedom afforded by the less stringent censorship of the medium, and the riskier content the producers will allow.

Notable examples are director Takashi Miike, who has released several direct-to-video films after his theatrical debut, and Takashi Shimizu, whose Ju-on series of films started out as V-Cinema, becoming surprise hits as the result of favorable word of mouth.

Incidentally, former television performer Masashi Tashiro has acted as V-Cinema's director after he was dismissed from the entertainment world, too.

The term OVA (Original Video Animation) is applied when the film in question is anime.