Yowza!! Someone has really done a hack job on those poor things! The good news is that aucubas typically respond well to a hard prune. You can cut all branches back to 6-10 inches in early spring (March) and it should respond quickly with strong new growth. Alternatively, you can take a less dramatic tack and stagger the heights for a more natural appearance, leaving stems taller in the center and scaling/tapering down on the sides. I'd do a bit of thinning as well. Same timing.

I suspect the hack job is due in part to the shrubs being planted much too close to the structure for their mature size. Relocation might be advised.

Looks to me like you have hungry deer in your neighborhood, in which case, there's not much you can do but except maybe put bird netting over them in winter.

take a moment to look at your plants.. and understand.. why they were planted 5 to 8 feet TOO CLOSE TO THE HOUSE ... and once you learn that lesson.. you will be well on your way to relandscaping any house you buy ..

if they were that far out.. they would NEVER have need be pruned.. massacred.. like they were.. dont you think ,..

when you are looking for new plants.. take the latin name to a search engine.. and look to the images.. to see the future potential of the babe plants you see at the store or nursery ..

if you plant the right plant. for the right space.. you will never have this problem...

if it were me.. i would call miss dig.. get allt eh utilities marked.. and dig these chuckers out.. and either plant them out by the back fence.. or store them at the curb.. nest to the garbage cans with a sign that says free ..

with no insult to the mature root mass.. no matter what you do.. they will be huge again.. in a year or 2 .. or ignore me.. prune them.. and then do what i said in 2 years.. lol .. thats how i did it at my first house.. ignore all advice.. make my own mistakes.. and later.. recall said advise.. and do it.. lol

ken

ps: since you are a newb here.. welcome.. i did it for you this time.. keep scrolling until you see how big these things can get ....

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=aucuba+japonica+outside&t=ffab&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

at this link... ive been meaning to get the pix and do the post for weeks ... your post inspired me to finally get er done ...

30 or 50 years down the line.. without pruning.. you too could have a house like this..landscaping wise ..

ken

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6342301/can-i-prune-these-shrubs#n=3

What Dave said, above. It look like deer damage, they LOVE Aucuba in the Winter. Mine were fine this winter (usually eaten)..., so warm this year, they found other stuff to eat more appealing. Still, mine have always recuperated very robustly.

I did not know deer would eat Aucuba. We have one inside the deer fence and one out. So far they've never tried a taste of the outer one. They are one of my favorite shrubs. I bought one from the first nursery I ever worked at and since I had no where to plant it, used it as a house plant. Did surprisingly well.

The pic above could have been taken at my brothers house. Bricks, hacked Aucuba and all. Add in they're planted in a sunny location and these are not happy plants. What should be rich greens and bright yellows are washed out. I recommended digging them out, moving them or giving them away.

Deer love my Aucuba even in a warm/green winter year, but they always recover.

Aucuba is not usually happy in a full sun location -- even less further south where the sun is more intense. It makes a great shade plant though.