Seeds tumbled, and three defending champions were knocked out in a frantic day of action at the Utilita Arena Birmingham.
Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida, Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, and Viktor Axelsen all exited stage left, leaving the door open for potential new champions in 2023.
Matsuyama and Shida were the first of the three to lose, fading towards the end of their contest against Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee.
The South Koreans physically outlasted the second seeds, who triumphed 18-21 21-19 21-9.
There will, however, be Japanese representation at the last eighth stages, with Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto ending home interest with a confident display against Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith.
Third seeds Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu managed to avoid the early-stage seed exodus with victory over Frenchwomen Margot Lambert and Ann Tran, as did eighth seeds Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.
However, several other surprise packages remain, with Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela and Li Wen Mei and Liu Xuan Xuan – both unseeded pairings – reaching the last eight on Thursday.
Read more at allenglandbadminton.com