In the late 1960s, the pink film, or adult film market in Japan was mostly the realm of low-budget independent companies. With their audience being lost to television and the importation of American films, Nikkatsu, Japan's major film studios were struggling for survival. hunting to attract a new audience,
Toei entered the adult entertainment market in 1971 with its "Pinky Violence" series. Takashi Itamochi, president of Nikkatsu, Japan's oldest major film studio, made the decision to put the company's high presentation values and professional talent into the adult, or pink film industry as a way of attracting a new audience. When Nikkatsu launched its Roman love series in November 1971 with the living accommodations Wife series, these often well-made and artistic softcore adult entertainment films proved popular with both the public and the critics. This introduction of adult entertainmet into mainstream Japanese movie theaters has been credited with saving Nikkatsu from collapse at that time.Nikkatsu produced nothing but Roman Porno films for the next 17 years, releasing an average of three such films a month.
Other large studios such as Shintoho and Million Films would follow Nikkatsu into the big-budget pink film, but Nikkatsu remained the dominant producer of high-production theatrical pornography in Japan. By the end of the 1970s, Nikkatsu's Roman love together with pink films by other companies made up over 70% of the domestic Japanese film market.
