Hey everyone, welcome to 2022! If you wanted one last chance to relive 2021 (and I don't think anyone does), this is the chance. We're here in the final sales report of the past year checking out how the holiday season went.

Be on the lookout for some of the yearly sales report stuff. I don't know exactly when that will come out but I can tell you I've started on it, so hopefully it comes out sooner than it did last year.

Top Actresses

I wrote about Mina Kitano when doing my debut reviews last year and commented on how well her career was going. It seems like fans are in agreement with me when she's up a few spots this month. Some might be like me and not be a fan of her tits but it's near impossible to not like that dumpster truck of an ass she has. At any rate, the video that was selling well doesn't look like anything particularly special to me. Granted that it's not out yet (because physical sales also include pre-ordering), I think it speaks volumes to how popular she really is. There are all types of fans out there but if you've got people buying even the mediocre stuff you're really doing well for yourself. Hopefully Mina's career keeps going well and we get more awesome months to come.

Okay look, sometimes the guys that make the covers go a little overboard. I mean, really? Yeah, she's definitely curvy, but that's more than a little too much. That being said it does highlight that little ball of thicc she is. She's just 156cm (that's just 5'1" for people using imperial) and yet she has those whopping 102cm I cup boobs, not to mention 93cm hips. It's hard not to look at her and have to double take on just how curvy she is. Speaking past her curves though, Hana continues to do well month after month. One might have to question just how long she can keep this kind of pace up, actresses often do a year of crazy high output but it often doesn't last too much more than a single year. As far as I can tell, Hana's got six releases in January, which is down almost 75% from the 20 she had last January when she was second place. That being said, I think she's made her case and captured the hearts of fans. The fact that she has just a quarter of the output but is still in the top five speaks volumes to that. Panking picked her as his JAV star of the year and I'm inclined to agree with him that she deserves all the praise she can get. She's not only done a lot of content but some good content as well, and even I put an entry of hers on my top 25 videos from 2021. If you're somehow still on the fence about Hana I would urge you to take a peek at her.

Rena Momozono just barely cracked our top 25 this month after just barely missing it last month. Rena is the kind of actress that you just have to love, she's pretty and has an amazing pair. I'd say a lot of Rena videos seem pretty lacking to me, but at the same time I think a lot of people are extremely willing to watch her. She's just one of those actresses that you keep praying has a good video so you can watch her. Or maybe that's just how I go about watching content. Since I like so many actresses I tend to focus more on videos I think I would like rather than watching whatever is available for an actress. Anyway, Rena's release this month has her starring in something a little less wholesome than usual. When she ends up at her neighbour's dirty apartment, it isn't to help him clean it up. Videos like this need the actress to be submissive and since everyone seems to do submissive, it's usually easy for the performance to not drag the video down too much (compared to something more upbeat). Many actresses don't do these kind of videos well, simply performing the same as always, but at least here that typical whinny stuff fits the narrative.

Hana Shirato was a 2020 debut for Moodyz that seemed pretty average to me. Over the course of 2021 Hana has really put herself out there with her freelancing. Especially having releases alongside familiar faces like Ichika Matsumoto, Ena Satsuki, and Mei Satsuki, it's no surprise that she's doing really well for herself. While Hana has been freelancing at various studios it seems like she has her most success at Moodyz. That isn't the least bit surprising considering that Moodyz is one of the better studios around. They do good work and have some very fun videos. December's top video in general looks absolutely fantastic. This idea of having sex with the manager every chance they get is really hot. Just looking at some of the screenshots on the back of the cover it looks like they really captured that theme perfectly. I don't know about you but if I was ever going to check out Hana, this seems like a perfect one to start with.

Nozomi feels like someone who faded into obscurity these past few months given what her initial popularity was like. As you'll recall she became a Moodyz exclusive in late 2020. It's not an uncommon trend for actresses to do a lot of work freelancing to bolster sales and then land a nice exclusive deal. It goes without saying but doing 10 or 15 videos a month can be quite taxing, and Nozomi had 14 releases in September 2020. Even though you'll probably earn less money than freelancing it's a much cushier position not to have to work yourself to the bone month after month. At any rate we're seeing her back on the sales with what looks like a pretty good video. Your girlfriend's sister tempts you with her ass, and I must say those stills look pretty convincing. I don't remember her ass being that nice but I'll be damned if that doesn't look enticing.

Honoka Tsujii is up quite a lot this month, and surprisingly her popular video is a bit of an older release co-starring Yumika Saeki. Honoka and Yumika make a pretty good pair with their snake tongues pairing quite well. Especially if they're willing to go the extra mile and get a little wild, which I know Yumika excels at, it could bring out the best in them and make a pretty great release. The two really do go the extra mile with a bunch of random lesbian stuff, including some cum swapping, so you know you're in for a treat. I didn't give this release the attention it probably deserves because I've seen Yumika star with less talented actresses (read: those who can't deepthroat like her) and it was really mediocre, but Honoka seems to match Yumika's energy rather well. This is definitely a video that seems like it's worth watching.

This month we see Hitomi back in the top 25 with a fantastic looking cover. Personally I didn't think it was anything special and Pan also didn't have good things to say. That being said, last month's release was her worst video in quite some time, I really haven't seen anything that bad since her Mammary Gland Development Clinic release way back in 2017. It's nice to see Hitomi bouncing back but at the same time it also highlights how Hitomi isn't just a slam dunk sale like she might have been at some point. More and more do we see Hitomi not leading the pack, as if people are coming to the same conclusion Pan and I have come to about Hitomi at Oppai. I've personally complained that they don't even try with her, and while I still watch all her videos I can't help but be disappointed a lot of the time. They put zero effort into doing anything fun with her and at some point you realize you're better off watching other actresses who have more interesting videos.

Looking at her actual sales ranking over the month you can see just how things shaped up. Being all the way down in the 60s range is pretty awful for someone like her (it was the worst of the year) and it just goes to show that with a bad video she can actually do quite poorly. It also highlights just how quickly people are checking her out around her release. Her release was on the 17th and literally the next day had the largest jump, eventually propelling her to a couple days right at the top. Part of me thinks that studios don't look at data like this but one has to wonder if they see a drop in sales and try to fix it. Oppai always has the potential for fantastic Hitomi videos, we've seen that plenty of times including with my favourite 2019 release, but at the same time Oppai just keeps being lazier and lazier. I'll be praying that data like this makes them realize they can do so much more, but I can't say that I'm hopeful with her videos getting worse year after year.

As many are probably aware, Rena announced that she's retiring last year. She filmed her retirement video at the end of 2021 which means we'll get some new content from her for the next couple of months and that'll be it. I have to agree with Fried Chikan that she's fantastic at playing "mean, bitchy femdom roles". Especially her release with Yuna Ogura, damn is Rena great at that kind of stuff. It's sad to see her go because there are so few actresses that can manage this kind of performance. I don't know if anyone else does it quite like her but I would probably pick Mao Hamasaki as the next closest. I've also heard rumblings of her becoming a director which would make me quite happy. Rena seems like she could be the next Nao Masaki and considering how amazing Nao is as a director, Rena would be wonderful to watch. I could totally see Rena casually co-starring in her videos the way she has in many of those videos where she "plays a big ol Bitch" as FC put it. Considering Nao Masaki does exactly the same thing and it always turns out fantastic I can only hope Rena winds up directing videos like that.

Last month we saw a ton of different Idea Pocket actresses up at the top, and while there are still some at the top there are a number of them down in the rankings, particularly Minami Aizawa and Momo Sakura. I'm not surprised to see Minami down with that video of hers but I am quite surprised to see Momo down with hers. I've seen Momo's video and it's great, highly recommended so to see her down this month is a bit surprising. One might fathom a guess that it has to do with the rise in popularity from recent months. I could totally see people getting burned out on Idea Pocket content and venturing elsewhere for something a bit different. Especially when we've seen someone like Karen Kaede be quite popular for a while now, it doesn't surprise me that IP as a whole could have an off month. And let's be clear, it's not like Minami and Momo did terribly, they're still in the top 50, it's just not what they were last month.

Top Videos

This month has Ria Yamate up at the top of the charts again. It's not really surprising when she looks as fantastic a she does. It's really a shame she debuted that late into the year that I couldn't watch her but she's almost certainly to be the first one I check out when I review a few more debuts later this year. That body, those tits, hot damn. We're still only two releases into her career but she's showing up everywhere. Third on this chart, fourth the one below, seventh on the physical sales. I'd say she's probably just as good as I hope she is and that makes me pretty excited. It's not as if S1 is wanting for busty actresses between names like Mei Washio, Konan Koyoi, Rara Anzai, Aka Asuka, and whomever else I'm missing with that gigantic roster they have. Still, I won't ever complain about adding more nice women to the team and I'm quite excited to check her out once she's past all this generic debut stuff.

Now this is a very, very interesting title. Priced at about $43 USD it's got some really interesting stuff in it. It comes with five DVDs as well as some photos, lotion and an onahole, which is already interesting enough. It also comes with some greeting cards, a calendar, and worn undergarments (from three of the actresses). I don't know about you but all of that for $43 seems like a steal to me.

All the content was from HMP and we can see some of videos we might get (remember they're randomized) from the main cover. The Yuri Oshikawa video is four and a half years old, so it's pretty cheap (at about $7 USD for the physical copy you would get), but Sarina Momonoga's release is a whopping $21 USD for a physical copy. If you wager that the DVDs are somewhere between $7 - $21, the DVDs combined are probably worth it by itself, not to mention all the other goodies that come with it.

I could easily have seen it costing twice as much and doing just as well, and I think the fact that it sold out is indicative enough. There was only a limited number considering it came with some used panties but it was still good enough for sixth place. Studios know they'll have no trouble selling things like this but I seriously wonder if it's even worth it for them at this bargain of a price. To be fair it's not the best of the best but it's not as if someone like Yuri Oshikawa isn't any good. It's deals like this that make me sad I don't live in Japan cause hot damn was that a good one.

In first place we have Saika's first VR, followed by another of her videos in second place. We saw both of those on last month's post so it's interesting to see them doing even better this month. It really just goes to show how insanely popular Saika has been.

In 3rd, 5th, and 9th we've got some videos by a fairly new maker, Hame-chan. Their first release was early last year and they've evidently been doing quite well for themselves if they've got three releases in the top 10. It almost feels like the industry is saying they're more interested in gal actresses, which is something I could totally see being a thing. There are very few gal actresses that see any success and it feels like that's more a case of such few gal actresses rather than the general public disliking gals. It's really difficult to tell who is starring in these videos because Hame lists them with alternate names. That's something some studios do to try and trick people into thinking they're new actresses and not the names people already know. I think that works poorly in general but honestly the gal makeup might be enough to trick a few people.

Can we also talk for a second about how fantastic these production stills are? They look like they're out of a manga and I really like that style. If anything it's "different" and when production stills are quite boring this stands out a lot. A lot of studios have been upping their  game lately on production stills and it makes me very happy to see.

Speaking of videos not listing actresses we've got a video by Hunter in 10th place. While a lot of studios prominently feature popular actresses, such as Moodyz and S1 on this chart, some studios go the complete opposite and don't list their actresses at all. It goes even further than Hame-chan does since they're completely unlisted. It brings a much stronger amateur vibe to the table like this since it seemingly implies they're nobodies and not worth paying attention to. Fans are usually good about figuring out who the actresses are, this one starring Hina Kanno, Rin Miyazaki, and Reina Usami. While those aren't big names that I'm familiar with we do often get names working there that are pretty familiar, such as Yuri Oshikawa, Arisa Hanyu, Yuria Yoshine, Nene Tanaka, etc. These types of studios always seem to be the sort of place b-tier actresses work for, the sort of workhorses for the industry that don't always get the best opportunities so they make it up by doing a bit more work. One interesting aspect about doing those kinds of releases is that it's often just a single scene the actress is involved in. This means they'll be able to finish work pretty early compared to 12+ hour shoots, but at the same time they obviously won't get paid nearly as much. At any rate these kinds of videos are fixtures in the industry and I thought I'd just take a couple minutes to talk about them with a video being in our top 10.

Can we talk about Natsu Igarashi for a second? How crazy is it that she's basically the spitting image of Rin Natsuki, another Faleno debut. I bet you didn't even notice the two covers are actually for different people. When I first saw Natsu I had to do a double take, and apparently I'm not the only one who though that. I guess we'll probably see the same results out of Natsu as we saw out of Rin. While I know some people who were big on Rin, personally I wasn't, so I'm not expecting that much out of her. It seems like Faleno can be really hit or miss with debuts and Yume Nikaido (or should I say Ai Hongo, man that new name is awful...) is the only debut from them I've truly been interested in.

Speaking of Faleno debuts, Ami Tokita is in first place for a second straight month. That's quite impressive and a lot of people seem to be pretty excited about her. She debuted far too late for me to take a look at her but she'll definitely be high up on my list when I do get around to watching some of the late debuts later this year. She certainly isn't what I would normally go for but she does have a nice girl-nextdoor look to her that I can appreciate. Plus, I can't deny the success she's having, and sometimes I'll have to trust the fans.

This month Suzu Akane joins S1 and is on the top of the charts alongside S1 debut Mai Tsubasa (who holds the 8th and 9th place spots). Sometimes I feel pretty lukewarm about S1 debuts but at the same time I often have to reluctantly accept the success they have with debuts. We've seen a number of great debuts from them recently, like Konan Koyoi in 2021 and Aka Asuka the year before. Even looking through their roster now there's so many debuts I never got around to, like Fua Kaede, Ria Yamate, and Mian Shirasaka. At any rate, I feel pretty lukewarm about both of them but there's so much potential with them that I feel somewhat obligated. Especially when you compare them to random actresses at b-tier studios there's just a night and day difference. I don't think either of them would compare to someone like Konan or Aka but I'm sure they'll be just as good as plenty others I reviewed. Who knows, maybe we can do a week of just reviewing some more S1 actresses.

Our fifth place video looks like the kind of wild schoolgirl video a lot of fans would go crazy for. The plot is about some schoolgirls taking their teacher to a love hotel after class. One quality I find interesting among this particular cast is the inclusion of Urara. She certainly looks the part from the waist up but she's got one of the hairiest bushes I've ever seen and I think that stands out a little much beside the other pair of actresses. Especially with this theme of innocent schoolgirls, I think she stands out and dispels that illusion a little. Still, this video seems like some pretty hot content and the production stills are absolutely fantastic. I've been saying for a while that more studios need to do more with their stills so I'm glad Chijo Heaven is doing exactly that.

Karen Yuzuriha seems to be really settling in as an actress. It looks like she's now a shared exclusive of Oppai and Premium. I'm really glad to see another shared exclusive, I think it's a great career choice and I like this pair quite a bit. Oppai can be a bit lame but hopefully having to compete against Premium will make them be a little less lazy. Especially with Karen being much younger than other exclusives Oppai has had, like Julia or Hitomi, I think it will force them to work a little harder to make the content better. At least, I hope that it will, I guess we'll see how things go. At any rate, Karen is doing well for herself and hopefully 2022 brings a lot of success for her in this position.

With that we've got another sales post in the books. I hope everyone's looking forward to what 2022 has in store for us. We're not quite done with 2021 posts yet, we'll have some yearly sales report stuff coming out, and I'll be reviewing some more 2021 debuts later on in the year. At any rate, we'll see the January report in a month's time and see how this year is getting underway. Until next time!