Frequently Asked Questions at ZENRA

(Updated December 11th, 2023)

 

What is ZENRA and why should I support them?

ZENRA is the only site on the internet featuring full-length JAV movies with full and accurate English subtitles. Every scene—including on-screen captions—is given English captioning and often with post-processing effects (fading, colors, etc.) to match the original Japanese. All content is legally licensed with a sizable portion of our revenue going right back to the studios that shoot the movies you love.


What payment methods do you accept?

Pretty much everything! All brands of major credit cards, bank transfer and alternative local methods for almost every country on the planet, cryptocurrency, and even gift card trade-in. At this point in time, if you have something that can be considered money, there may be a way to use it to make use of our site.


I tried to sign up, was declined, but I was still charged?!

If you tried to sign up with a credit card and were declined, but see a charge from us appearing on your end, what you are in fact seeing is a “pending charge”. This occurs when your card issuer rejects the transaction for some reason. As we do not make additional attempts, the charge that may appear will be removed from your statement quickly. Do note the exact time varies based on one’s card issuer and this entire mechanism is something a merchant like us cannot control. If this happens to you and you still wish access to our site right away, your best option is to try with a different biller and/or using a different payment method. Any questions regarding the pending charge itself would need to be addressed to your card issuer.


Do you require a special video player to play downloaded content (DRM)?

We do not. All downloads from ZENRA are DRM-free. Due to our proven anti-fraud and anti-piracy strategies, JAV studios that normally require DRM have given our site an exception. Studios are concerned that a few bad apples can spoil the bunch. We share their concerns but believe a different method is more user-friendly. Thus, on top of our aforementioned strategies, we humbly ask those that download to remember that sharing JAV—be it with friends or uploading en masse--will only reduce the chances of sites like ours continuing to operate and studios seeing less sales will produce less movies, lower quality movies, or simply shut down.


Can I download as much as I want?

All subscribers are limited to consuming no more than 10GB a day. This is a combined daily data allowance that includes both downloading and streaming. This data limit is calculated in JST (Japan Standard Time). Subscribers who repeatedly hit the transfer limit nearly every single day may find additional restrictions placed on their current and future subscriptions. VIP subscribers may also download movies marked as Exclusives. All subscribers may download and stream non-Exclusive movies except for those on Streaming-Only plans. Non VIP-subscribers may only stream Exclusive movies. For more information on the free VIP upgrade, please read the next entry in the FAQ, visit the main page, or read section 9.3 in the Terms of Service. Please note that 10GB is the equivalent of 4-5 hours of FHD content.


What is the VIP upgrade?

VIP status is a free opt-in upgrade that allows subscribers to download movies with the orange 'Exclusive' tag and is only offered to subscribers who either are on a 90 day subscription or are monthly subscribers of ZENRA for 3 or more consecutive months with the exception of Streaming-Only subscribers. If this describes you, please contact support and ask for a VIP upgrade. This will only be provided to eligible subscribers who request it. Non-VIP subscribers may only stream 'Exclusive' movies. Non-Exclusive movies may be downloaded by any subscriber except those on Streaming-Only plans.


I signed up for a 30-day plan, but is there a way I can upgrade to the 90-day plan so I can get VIP?

Currently, there is no direct way to change one’s plan via a self-service mechanism, but if you would like to upgrade, please contact support. Depending on which billing provider you used, it may be as simple as billing the card you used to sign up the difference in subscription prices.


<Popular mainstream streaming service> charges only <very low price>. Why do you charge more?

There are three things to take note about mainstream streaming services—be it movies or music: economies of scale, significantly cheaper processing fees, and up till very recently endless venture funding. As we have seen with one popular movie service that over the last few years have raised prices so much that they are only a few dollars less now than what users pay to subscribe to ZENRA, the party that is venture funding while losing money year after is ending. The adult industry, being stigmatized from every possible avenue has long relied on being bootstrapped from the get-go. This means that yes, while we may charge a premium, we have longer term ambitions, have no yearning to be bought out and parted out, and remain fiercely independent. ZENRA in particular while not featuring original shot content, is one of the few western sites that licenses it out from studios and spends a lot of time and resources in professionally subtitling it. Our studio partners receive a fair amount when their movies are consumed and we receive enough to keep our business in the black. Furthermore, unlike mainstream services, we have no plans to alter our pricing scheme nor reduce studio revenue share rates--the latter becoming an unfortunate trend among mainstream services when raising prices too often becomes a customer flight risk.


Where are the download links?

For eligible subscribers, on each Video Page there are download links near the bottom (SUBTITLED DOWNLOAD - 1 2 3 etc.). Try right-clicking on one of the numbered links (each number contains a scene) and select 'Save File As' (or Save Location As, Save Target As, Save Link As, etc.). Select somewhere on your computer to save the file and ensure the download totally completes at 100%. Locate the file on your computer and double-click to open. If you believe your subscription level allows downloads and do not see any, please contact support.


Why are most movies censored?

Due to Japanese obscenity laws passed many, many years ago, this type of mosaic--or blur--is legally necessary as the films are all made in Japan.


I'm an active subscriber and I'm unable to log in.

Please confirm that you are correctly entering your username and password along with entering the correct Captcha phrase (if shown). On top of that, there is a chance that the security software protecting the members area temporarily blocked your account for too many logins attempts within a short time period. If you believe this is the case, please wait several hours before trying to login again OR contact support to have your subscription and/or IP address manually unblocked.


Will I have issues logging in if I use a VPN/Tor/Proxy?

The security system protecting the members area of ZENRA is very sensitive to the geolocations and IP addresses of users. If your IP changes often, but remains in one country, you will probably not have issues logging in. However, if you use any type of internet service that results in the region you are connecting from to change very often, your username may be temporary blocked. Although using privacy-enhancing internet services such as VPNs, Tor (which is not recommended at all for large downloads), and proxy servers is nowadays warranted, so is the need to ensure that usernames are not shared. Unfortunately, if your geolocation changes too often, the security software in place may think there is foul play at hand since it cannot differentiate between someone simply using a privacy-enhancing internet connection and a shared (be it accidental or with intent) username. If you believe you are locked out because of this, please contact support.


Why are my speeds slow?

ZENRA operates on multiple gigabit lines and as of the latest post date to this FAQ, has never experienced a situation where maximum capacity has been—or has been close to—being reached.

However, we understand that in spite of this, there may be instances where speeds from the end-user location may not be optimal. While we cannot rectify these issues from our end, depending on how one connects to the internet and our site, we can offer two suggestions:

If you connect directly over an ISP: it is possible your ISP may be throttling connections. This has been increasingly common in recent years when it comes to smaller sites like ours that said ISP has no economic stake in. We suggest testing this out by switching to a VPN server. Ensure the VPN server you use is by a reputable provider and the server itself is as close to your location as possible and is not overloaded. If you pick a server far away or the server has too many users on it, you may not see much if any improvement.

If you already use a VPN: as noted above, ensure the server is strategically located and not overloaded. Avoid free providers or any paid provider that does not provide accurate real-time server information. If all else fails, provided you live in a region that does not block adult sites, consider testing speeds on your uncloaked ISP connection.


Can I use download management software?

Although third party download management clients are not officially proscribed, you may encounter issues using them since ZENRA is designed for human use. Technical support from this end is not provided and an improperly configured client may result in incorrect bandwidth counting and invalid login attempts ultimately resulting in a temporary lock on your subscription lasting several hours (if you find yourself locked out, please contact support for faster turn around in most situations).


Can you add movies starring [insert JAV star name here]?

The bread and butter of ZENRA are productions that are more about unique situations rather than famous actress showcase productions. You can always contact support with movie requests, but please be advised that most cannot be honored.


Do you have an affiliate program?

Yes, please use the contact form for more information.


Do you accept user submissions?

ZENRA is not a user-generated content (UGC) site nor do we have plans to expand into offering that type of service. All the content on our site is licensed from professional JAV studios that we have contractual relationships with. For more information, please see our Trust & Safety page.


How can I become a JAV actor? How can I work in the JAV industry?

This one’s too long to write out in this FAQ so please view our dedicated page on the subject.


What is the ZENRA Blog?

Started in the summer of 2020, our JAV blog, updated almost everyday, covers JAV news, reviews, interviews, top lists, opinion pieces, and more. With a large staff of writers, expect unique pieces that should satisfy the needs of most any fan of our beloved industry. Please also note we are always looking for more contributors. If you can write in native English, believe you can write at or better than the level on the blog, and are familiar with a Wordpress-like admin, feel free to contact us (first impressions count!).


Does ZENRA use auto-subtitling software? What is your opinion of it?

All movies at ZENRA are subtitled the ‘old-fashioned’ way: manually. While we are not against any type of process to speed things up, automated solutions such as making use of “AI” and various text-to-speech/translation methods remains a flawed process: unless the source movie is phenomenally simple (for example, a POV movie where only the actress talks sporadically and extremely clearly), the output will often have translations with questionably accuracy, unnatural spacing and breakups, and poor timing (the amount of time captions appear on the screen). 

What’s more, the process to create subtitles via assisted methods still may take several times the length of the movie NOT even counting the proofreading process. This means one is still spending almost the same time as the manual process for something that still will need a lot of work before it’s ready to be published. 

Thus, one still should employ at least one bilingual person in the ‘automated’ process and once you get to that level, simply having subtitles created manually from scratch makes more sense because you will get a better creation from the get-go. Our objective is professional quality subtitles. And at this point in time and for a long time coming requires skilled, well-paid humans behind keyboards.



 

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