JAV History: Faleno how to build a top studio in 12 months flat

 At the end of the summer, Faleno signed "planning solo" (kikadan 企画単体) idol Minori Kawanami 河南実里.

The signing can be thought of as a final ripple of the biggest wave hitting the JAV industry, which is the appearance of Faleno studio. On 2019-2-15 Faleno began rather humbly with a launch title that hardly anyone paid attention to.  A Hikaru Harukaze’s debut (春風ひかる) became the launch idol of a brand new studio.  The studio went on to sign minor debutants Yuka Sato 佐藤ゆか, Nina Kamishiro 神代にな, and Minami Ikuta 生田みなみ, all four contract girls were somewhat ignored by the fans and the industry.  Finally Faleno signed Suzume Mino 美乃すずめ and got people to ask “Who are they???” Miss Mino had appeared previously in gravure magazines and had been worked over by top agency 8Man for (supposedly) three years before she finally agree to join JAV.  8Man represents high ranking idols including many in top studios S1.  It was widely expected for Miss Mino to debut with S1 but instead she was signed by a studio with zero street creds.  Miss Mino’s debut in October immediately put Faleno on the map.

At this time, it would not be unfair to assess Faleno as an upstart throwing it all down for one big attention grab, and perhaps took an ill-advised bet. Sure Suzume Mino's debut title won the top sales ranking for newbies for the month, but she would have done the same with any other studio and it doesn't necessarily translate to sustainable development.  But then the headlines kept coming, bigger headlines.  In December Faleno released a title of their first head-hunting catch: Ayaka Tomoda 友田彩也香 out of Max-A.  The 11 years veteran is past the peak of her career, but she is still recognized as a legit kikadan.  At about this time, Faleno also quietly signed a Yuko Ono 小野夕子 who was an S1 graduate Aoi 葵.  Aoi had some decent success as S1 exclusive contract girl (and would have counted as a top idol in any other studio).  It should have been a headline-grabbing signing, but for some reason, it was kept rather quiet.  In retrospect, it seems she was deliberately trying to keep a low-profile, as she retired in a cloud of mystery just 6 months after returning to JAV with the new name Yuko Ono.  There is a rumor that she had an affair with a man in the top echelon of Japanese society, someone so important that even the gossip mags stayed away from mentioning it.  Anyway that's a digression.

Then in February, top star and winner of triple crowns at AVOP 2017, Nene Yoshitaka 吉高寧々 graduated from S1, where she debuted just over two years ago.  Nene teased her followers about possible future plans, posing with each studio’s cardboard logo and wondering out loud where she should go.  Devoted fans paid a fee to watch her waffled and chatted about this and that for a long evening and only on the next day revealed her big contract-partner.  It was rather crass, but with her top star status, there were genuine fan buzz.  When the hammer drops, it hit hard. Instead of any of the well-known studios mentioned, she’s signed with Faleno.  On January 21, It was already quite a shock wave (little did we know all that was going to happen during the year).

Then in a short time, Faleno captured two more top idols from S1: Moe Amatsuka 天使もえ and Arina Hashimoto 橋本ありな.  Faleno offered Moe a nice fat pay raise (of course), but additional incentives: no less work opportunity than her S1 career, Moe is free to pursue other (non-AV) types of work, including music career and overseas jobs (Faleno would presumably not get a cut into her other job's income).  And Faleno promised to create new themes and plot lines to be tailor-made to distinguish her from other idols.  Then for Arina Hashimoto, a major pay raise is a given.  And she got a work schedule adjusted to her own liking, which means less work (unlike Amatsuka), minimal fan events or live promo jobs.  It was rumored that Arina and Nene went to Okinawa for a private tryst and it was during the trip that Nene persuaded Arina to join her at Faleno. 

Three current top ranking idols transferring from one particular studio to another within a couple months, this is absolutely unheard of in all JAV history.  Immediately we jumped to some conclusions: (1) Faleno has a seriously deep pocket, not just to afford three current top idols, but to have to pay a preimium to compensate for the fact that they are an unknown quantity in JAV, and for a very closed conservative business environment like Japan, this premium is surely very hefty.  (2) Faleno was very deliberately poaching S1, in an predatory, un-Japanese way.  (3) and from their released titles, Faleno was even copying the art style of S1’s videography.  At the same time, Faleno also up the ante on any hot talents joining JAV, competing with all the top studios and ended up becoming unofficially the most desired studios as far as newbie debutants are concerned.  For a while S1 seemed to be on the back foot, with their top stars poached and Rara Anzai disappeared (unrelated to Faleno).  Fortunately S1 managed to hang onto their number one money maker Yua Mikami, and some newly developed debutantes helped to hold up the house. 

With the deflection of three top idols, Faleno got the payback they wanted, buzz and attention, everyone was asking How are they? Is it real? How come new videos are appearing late?  In the next part of Faleno History, we will find out if the raining-money-from-helicopter way of starting a new studio worked out for Faleno (spoiler: not so great), their rather unusual business model (and slightly confusing video codes), the deeper reason why Faleno has all the money and immediately gunned for the reigning monarch of JAV.