JAV News Roundup - March 2023 - Volume 4

Trapstar here, reporting live from ZENRA headquarters. Bringing you the latest buzz in the Twitter JAV space in recent days

Lemon Tanaka Debuts With Faleno

Initial reviews of Lemon Tanaka’s (formerly Karen Kaede) new work under Faleno’s banner are in and if I had to speak on behalf of the majority, it seems pretty bland, something I could make out from the majority of the reviews. I’ll admit, I went scouring for reviews in every nook and corner of the these AV forums. Here’s a very candid feedback someone left on her ScanLover page, “I prefer her being transferred to Moodyz but hey, her at Faleno is better than not coming back” this statement pretty much gives you and idea why her second stint in the industry with Faleno is already looking like a disaster.

"Finally...At the end of this month...Lemon Tanaka will be out", her agency quoted this in a tweet from March 27, 2023

On top, there have been rumors that her current agency EightMan, who kind of have a knack for talent poaching are in dispute with her former employees Idepocket since the actress had a breach of contract and left midway through her earlier stint with the studio causing them financial damages and if things are really as bad as some are gaslighting it to be, both the parties could end up suing each other. That would be an interesting development to watch out for. This could give light to the running theory that her Twitter account was taken down without prior notice and remains deactivated at the time of this writing.

FSDSS-609 | Eros Hidden Behind Overwhelming "Beauty" Lemon Tanaka AV Debut

I looked into the trailer of Faleno’s latest offering FSDSS-609 which gives you a peak into Karen’s sultry maneuvers, her facial expression when she gives a blowjob in POV is second to none and it’s quite surprising to watch her take facials right away in her comeback AV after a brief hiatus, it would indeed be interesting to watch what she has in store for us. Well again, it comes down to how Faleno plans to portray her in the AVs besides that it’s obvious by now that her fame is likely to help a studio like Faleno grow, not the vice versa. Overall, like many of the fans I’m not very convinced whether you should buy it or not, as most fans made it clear in their reviews. I would say though it’s convicingly good for a debut JAV but not really exceptional. On top of that, some of you might not like her slender frame that she sports in the video. I assume she has lost a considerable amount of mass since her previous stint so that could be a factor to skip on this release.

"Bewitching eyes, sweet voice, slender body, outstanding sensitivity, massive facial cumshots, gonzo, and various expressions" are some of the way her studio Faleno chose to describe her latest release

The release is scheduled for April 6th next month and Faleno touts the actress as some freshman. It would be interesting to see if this freshman helps them scale into the leagues of top studios like Prestige, Madonna and Moodyz though they have got to quite a lot to catch up with.

Though I had earlier reported that the actress had signed a deal on paper to be endorsed by Eightman, there wasn’t any particular info regarding her studio signing so things remained under wraps until earlier this month when Faleno teased the trailer. It’s pretty obvious by now that the signing was done, shooting wrapped and the studio was just abiding by the law to start promoting it following a tenure of four months before the AV actually hit the store shelves.

The news comes exactly after a year since she made it clear that she wants to retire from the industry. Life has come a full circle for Karen.

Yuna Kitano Leaves Former Agency

So we have one AV actress who goes by the name Yuna Kitano, ushered into the AV scene around early 2021, perhaps March debut under Madonna. Truth be told, I kind of mistook her for another popular AV actress Mina Kitano since both have similar name resemblance, maybe this is why she chose to go with a name change after all. So here’s a background on the 28 year old.

As mentioned earlier, she started working with Madonna and had a change of heart midway, so she chose to work out a deal with another prominent JAV studio Venus. I have barely seen much AVs floating on the internet from her Venus days and on the contrary she has had some brief appearances under other banners like Premium, Deep’s etc, which again are AVs she chose to feature in her freelance stint.

"It was my first lesbian film with Hata-chan, but it was so much fun that I wanted to do more lesbian scenes with Hata-chan someday! Please check it out!", wrote Haru Ogawa post wrapping up a shoot with Yui Hatano that also starred Yuna.

Though she has had a brief social media overhaul of some sort following the studio and name change, I did manage to get a hold of her former Twitter which thankfully remains still active unlike her former Instagram (must have been pulled down for obvious reasons since she moved on from her former alias) and found out one of the most significant appearance she had in the recent past was in a multi-starrer JAV that featured prominent names like Yui Hatano and Yuna Ogura and surprisingly it was the former’s foremost lesbian JAV after a brief period. Pretty strange cause I never bothered to find out if Yui had lifted off her ban on girl on girl scenes considering she rubs shoulders with some of the top AV talents like Hibiki Otsuki and Anri Okita most of the times, it’s natural for her to get laid after a night of drinking, lol these are just my assumptions!

"Nice to meet you, I belong to LINX! My name is Shion Nishikai. Please follow me and RT!", wrote Yuna in her announcement tweet

I'll concede that Yuna had a fairly low-key transfer; some fans wouldn't have worried if it had been snuck under their radar. The actress confirmed her shift from her prior agency Lister Pro to Linx earlier this month on March 16 when she made this remark under her new alias following the launch of her new Twitter account. Further in the statement she admitted to have changed her name to Shion Nishikai from Yuna Kitano, though her former name sake sounds more familiar and good to the ears I’m glad that her new name is unlike any that were revealed in the recent months. On a bad day Shion Nishikai sounds way more professional for an AV actress than Lemon Tanaka, god knows what the team at Eightman were thinking while deciding a name for Karen Kaede.

Like with most transfers and name changes, her reason behind leaving the agency is still under the wraps and could be revealed anytime soon by the actress. One discovery I made was that she hasn’t yet chose to be exclusive for any particular studio which likely has her existence toiling in the industry. On record, she remains a freelancer and might choose to remain so for the rest of her tenure until a good offer comes knocking, we’ll update you on that if it happens. For the time being, the actress has no intentions of rushing to get herself exclusive under a studio contract.

Stay updated with Shion Nishikai's Twitter

Anri Okita Makes A Comeback With A Girl Band

Here is a headline some of you may have skipped on. Basically, I got aware of this development while researching on one of the actresses for my previous column. So, Anri Okita along with a handful of active AV actresses decided to venture into setting up a girl band of some sort that she is touting to be as some global sensation. I have this assumption that Anri got too bored of staying out of action and hence she decided to venture out to doing something that made her stay relevant among her fans. "Formerly active 5 years. Retired for 7 years. I have already been doing gravure, music, and art longer than I have been active, and I was ranked number one in Asia for a while in Onlyfans. Overall, I have about 3 times more followers than I had when I was active. I've long since gotten over the initial benefits, so I feel BLACK DIAMOND is a brand new thing." wrote the actress while teasing her latest venture.

Miro Nanasaki, whom I mentioned earlier announced her affiliation with Black Diamond, a dance and vocal unit where members are selected by audition. Formed by former and active AV actresses and sort of like Ebisu Muscats but they take it a step further by somehow talking about empowering women through their songs. That is a nice thought to start with.

Though they might compete with the likes of Ebisu Muscats in the future but they are nowhere close to the number of idols working for the girl band. Currently, Black Diamond has some 5 members under different stage names: active AV actresses such as Alice Otsu as ARIS, Mary Tachibana as MARY, Ai Sayama as L.V (Elvy) and finally the latest join the group Miro Nanasaki as MIIRO. It does also consist of former AV actress Anri Okita as ANRI. The veteran AV star said this in a press release, “I am more than happy to be a part of this unprecedented group of artists, and as an artist, I hope that all of us will be able to attract fans from all over the world. It took me a long time to get here, but I hope you will also pay attention to the songs and dances I perform with my curvy body.”

The newly formed group released their first music video title Super Duper on Youtube on March 21, 2023

Now, the all-female group has 9.5 million followers, which accounts for all of the members in this group, and this is before the debut, which has already garnered considerable interest from both domestic and international audiences. On March 21, they took the curtains off of their two debut singles, 'SuperDuper' and 'Hungry Spider.' I'm not sure how a song titled Hungry Spider can assist empower women in any manner, but it does provide a channel for these adult actresses to showcase their skills beyond AV. According to the official BLACK DIAMOND website, the band is made up of five people who are passionate about music and perform in order to impact other women.

For the time being, the girl band has hired artist Wataru Igarashi, creative director of SHIBUYA109, to create artist photographs, CD covers, and music videos. The theme of the music videos will allegedly be "women's empowerment."

Furthermore, the show was streamed live on the official YouTube channel on March 21, the digital premiere date of the singles "SuperDuper" and "Hungry Spider." The YouTube show was also the first of its type, revealing the members. The details of live streaming were released later on the official website and SNS.

Stay updated with Black Diamond's Twitter

SOD Executives Arrested In A High Octane Drama

SOD's very own theme park, SOD LAND, was in the news a while back after two of its top executives were arrested. The arrest of a prominent figure in the adult film industry, which has had a strong presence in the industry for many years, has sent shockwaves across the industry. Let's dive in and learn more about the current developments.

The crime scene is SOD LAND, a restaurant building in Kabukicho that opened in October 2020 under the concept of a "adult theme park," a concept café with a general reception area staffed by female employees on the first floor and a "AV actress floor" and a "sex worker floor" on the basement floor and second to fourth floors above ground.

On March 16, cops from the Metropolitan Police Department's Security Division barged into the premises of SOD LAND posing as civilians in plain clothes, in an attempt arrest the president of Soft on Demand Corporation (SOD) headquartered in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, a major distributor of adult content including planned adult videos, and the store manager present during the raid, on suspicion of violating the Entertainment Business Law. Apparently, the management was running an unlicensed business (cabaret club) disguised as a cafe.

As per the investigation, the company is suspected of having its female staffs (read Japanese adult film actresses) entertain unspecified customers over the counter on the third floor of SOD LAND, without obtaining a license from the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commissions. The third floor, also known as the “Syain Bar” has major links to Soft on Demand’s core business with the presence of the company’s on-screen talents, offering, in SOD’s words, “A space of dreams where you can become friends with famous adult film actresses while drinking”. The unnamed suspect, admitted to the charge, while the store manager denied it, saying that he was just following the business policy of the restaurant.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the bar had 600 cast members on rotation, and customers paid between several hundred yen and 5,000 yen to wear aprons and drink from bottles, while female employees played the role of a babysitter and entertained them. It is believed that between October 2020 and two years and five months, the business generated approximately 600 million yen, a production staff member familiar with the company's business model cited.

"In restaurants where the cast "entertains" customers, such as cabaret clubs, it is necessary to get permission under the entertainment law. It is thought that customers who come to SOD Land did not come to the store for the main purpose of eating and drinking, but in anticipation of conversations with the women who work there. It is difficult to draw a line, but if it is taken that the cast actively talked and chatted with customers, it corresponds to "entertainment". The service of the store was judged to be applicable to that." Sho Wakabayashi, a lawyer at Gladator Law Office, said this about this exposure.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department planned to file charges against the management company as well but did retrain on the punishment by just letting the suspects go away with a fine, as per the statement put up on the official Soft On Demand website.

Earlier, Shueisa Online reported that the theme park has obtained a certain wind license that facilitates the work of adult actresses for entertainment purposes, "The store has properly obtained the permission of the wind business law and is also considering renewal.”

Fans reacted to the news by passing it on as a cop fiasco citing how it’s just an act by the Metropolitan Police Department to make the production houses realise who the real boss is.

Stay updated with SOD's official Twitter

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