Hey everyone, welcome to this month's sales report. Before getting started I'd like to give an update on some relevant industry news. Last year we saw some studios leave DMM/R18 and it really threw our sales reports for a bit of a loop. I'm happy to report that SOD is back on DMM's platform. I've been told there's plenty of reasons for it, between SOD's platform not being as good as DMM's or the loss in revenue from the popularity of DMM over SOD. Regardless, I'm glad we can see some more big names start to return to our sales figures, like Suzu Honjo and Mana Sakura.

With that out of the way let's jump into the report.

Top Actresses

We see Rara back on top this month, something that should be unsurprising to those paying attention. It's actually her first release of the year after her double release in December. Fans love her so of course they'll go grab her latest release without question. It doesn't look like anything special to me, which is par for the course with her, but when the cover looks like that it's hard to argue. I'm sure I've said this before but actresses can be popular for all sorts of reasons and Rara is pretty blessed physically. Even the titles are pretty aware of it when they say stuff like 神の乳 (which perhaps one might translate as divine breasts or tits of god). At any rate I expect Rara to keep staying on the charts if she just releases videos, which at this point isn't even a guarantee. She's been extremely inconsistent since she came back and I decided to go see exactly how inconsistent that has been. Since her redebut in December 2019 there have been 27 months and 19 releases, with one double up month, which means she's only released a video 2/3rds of the time. I guess if you're this popular and this attractive you can afford to take months off, but I still can't help but wish she was doing things more regularly. Especially considering she hasn't done VR since 2017, it's just a bit disappointing to see her not capitalizing on her full potential. One video a month doesn't seem like it's all that much but to be fair, we have seen a number of actresses take extended amounts of time off these past couple of years, such as Touka Rinne, Ruka Inaba, Minami Aizawa, Asuna Kawai, etc. At any rate, all we can hope for is more Rara videos in the future.

Sumire Kuramoto rose to 12th place out of nowhere. You'd think she was a new debut but no, she's actually been in the industry since late 2021. What is interesting about her climb is which videos have been popular. On the physical side we see MXGS-1236 being quite popular, an upcoming release for Maxing. Interestingly on the digital side we see her debut video being popular. I find it super interesting that her debut video can be so popular several months after. To me, it strikes me as a case where she was overlooked earlier on in her career. Japan has a fascination with debut videos but I think they tend to largely ignore actresses that don't seem good. So with Sumire now becoming quite popular with releases for major studios like Wanz Factory and Moodyz, I think it's a case of people going back and taking the time to watch the debut video they skipped. I'll be very interested to see if she can retain the top spot in future months. I certainly expect her to fall down the chart but not completely leave it thanks in part to videos like her Kawaii group video with Luna Tsukino or her Moodyz release with Ena Satsuki.

Rino Yuki is way up this month, more than I think anyone would have expected. I gave her a great rating when I looked at debuts and she's proving good on that rating. Rino has been producing quite a bit of content these days and for a pretty wide variety of studios, both big and small. It's letting her get her name out there and really catch people's attention. I mean, how can you argue with the results we're seeing? I've seen her a couple of times personally and I'm sure I'll watch her a few more times this year if her March releases are any indication. Like I said, tons and tons of content coming out and a good portion of it being quite nice. The sky is the limit with Rino and we'll have to see how she stacks up against some other recent debuts.

Speaking of recent debuts we also see Hana Himesaki up quite a lot this month. MXGS-1234 was on the charts this month despite it being more than a month way with it's April release date. This video surprisingly is only 71st which makes me think about how Hana's 2021 went. She went 0-100 that year and produced more content than anyone could have fathomed. I think it really goes to show how much older releases can affect her sales, even on the physical front. People probably can't watch all the content she's putting out so it would make a lot of sense that people are picking up older videos they didn't get a chance to check out. I would agree with the general sentiment about how good Hana's career has been going and it's crazy to think that she hasn't even been in the industry for two years yet. The potential for her is pretty high and she's definitely one of the better freelancers out there right now. I'll be very curious to see if this month is an exception or if she can keep retaining top spots on the physical front.

Ichika is someone I hardly talk about because of my own preferences for her. I, however, recently checked her out for the first time which you can see here. While I wouldn't call myself a huge Ichika fan I can certainly see why she's so highly regarded all the time. It's hard to argue with the ass that she has, on full display on the above cover to boot. There are plenty of other reasons why Ichika is so popular but I think having such a nice ass allows her to sell a lot of otherwise mediocre videos. The Bazooka video above doesn't strike me as worthwhile at all, but when you show a cover like that it becomes hard to argue. I've said this before but an actress being good for multiple reasons goes a long way, and being able to enjoy lame videos as a result is truly a blessing. I've found the same thing with some of the curvier actresses I enjoy that even if the content looks bad their curves mitigate it somewhat, so even if they're performing poorly at least I can enjoy their big tits jiggling. I definitely see Ichika's ass as a reason she's so consistently at the top and it takes a Tiktoker with 4 million followers to dethrone her.

Hana is someone we've been steadily seeing rise up the charts. That's not surprising when she's getting a lot of good opportunities these days from studios like Moodyz, Honnaka, and Wanz Factory. Especially with some great group videos earlier this year, I think people have just been paying more attention to her. It goes without saying but working with other popular actresses is a good way to broaden your influence. Even myself, I find watching the first video of an actress is usually more difficult than watching the second or third. It always feels like a leap to watch an actress for the first time, but if I'm watching someone I know then I'm more inclined to do so. I imagine that's exactly what's happening with Hana these days with all this additional exposure, and I would be surprised not to see her on some more charts.

Mahina is an actress that feels like she can do well at any time. She's the spitting image of S1 actresses with her youthful beauty and large (but not too large) G cup boobs. Her February release actually looks quite interesting and marks a significant turn in her career by doing something outside the norm. While it's still only facials and not quite a bukkake it's still the most adventurous she has been yet and a good sign for her career. I always find it really interesting how S1 moved away from the more hardcore side of its business and went to a more innocent idol image. I can't argue that it isn't working for them but it does make videos like this stand out a lot. If you're a Mahina fan I imagine you're miles more interested in this, and if you're not a fan yet then it might just be interesting enough to check out.

Hibiki is an actress that seems quite interesting to me because of the variance in the quality of her videos. One month she might release a pretty plain video for Max-A that doesn't interest anyone, then next month she's got an insane squirting special. That's what her February release for Moodyz alongside Yuzu Sumeragi was. Hibiki is one of the best squirters in the industry and Yuzu is a 2021 debut who is making a run for best squirter. This video looks amazing and a lot of people have been pointing it out to me. If the actual video is even half as good as the cover looks it's bound to be something quite special. Who knows, maybe Yuzu is someone I'll check out when I do the next batch of 2021 debut reviews.

Nanami has been having a lot of great duo videos lately and her February release alongside Monami Takarada is no exception to that. Having seen it myself I can definitely say it's a fantastic video. The two of them pair up very nicely together on top of them being great performers. Plus the video has great content - trust me, it's just a good video all around. If anything I think this video reminds me just how much I've been enjoying all these random duo videos from a lot of the bustier freelancers. In recent months Nanami has worked with Ruka Inaba, Sachiko, Shiori Tsukasa, and Yuria Yoshine, just to name a few. I'm loving this trend and can only hope to see Nanami continue doing so. After a pretty bland 2020 year she fell off my radar quite a bit, so I'm excited to see her picking up steam again. Who knows, maybe we'll see her star alongside some of the other bustier actresses on our lists like Misono Mizuhara or Hana Himesaki.

Saika is up a lot of spots this month thanks to her three hour soapland video. I'm not one for soapland personally but it's hard to argue when you get an extra hour of an actress all in glorious 4K. Fact of the matter is, Saika is incredibly popular, as seen by maintaining her rank 1 spot on the DMM physical list. I expect Saika to keep performing well but next month will likely be even better with a VR release that came out at the beginning of March. Can she get her R18 sales to match DMM? Probably not but I definitely don't think she's topped out yet.

Asahi is someone who keeps flirting with being a top actress again. Sure, she's consistently on the list, jumping only 10 spots, but the difference between the very top of the list and the middle of the list is pretty big. I've now seen nearly 10 videos of hers since her redebut and I must say it's just not the same. I enjoy Asahi as much as the next person, in fact she's been in my top 10 before, but her heart just isn't in it these days. I think a lot of fans recognize this and that's why she isn't seeing the success she used to. Honestly, I don't expect Asahi to be on the top 25 that often and if we're really being honest, I don't expect her to even stay active longer than the pandemic being fully over. Working at Madonna seems like a pretty low effort deal from her, she can be pretty generic, star in a fair amount of videos that require no effort, and just do her once a month thing. I do expect Asahi to fluctuate a bit here and there but I equally wouldn't be surprised if she fluctuated on the bottom half of the list.

So by now I think people have heard the news of Hitomi's retirement. I'm pretty devastated by it as she's been my favourite actress for the past decade and it will only get worse as she stops producing content. While she's just shy of the top 25 this month I expect her to pick up steam in future months. Part of that will be an onslaught of people grabbing her content before she's gone but part of that will be from the undoubted sales that we'll see as her retirement comes. She's simply one of the most recognized names outside of Japan and I'm sure R18 will have at least some sales. Hitomi hasn't always been the top foreign actress, in fact this month she's not even in the top 25, but I think her uniqueness makes her so iconic (which is to say I expect a grandiose retirement party on R18 [and if you're listening R18, please do something special]). With regards to her being low this month, I think it's just the overall sentiment of how her career has been going lately. You can tell the passion isn't there anymore and her retirement wasn't honestly that surprising. She's been in the industry for 14 years now and I can't really say anything other than it's been a great run for her. All I can hope for is that she's got one final good video up her sleeve (and maybe another VR too).

On a somewhat related note, be on the lookout for a Hitomi spotlight later on this year from me.

Top Videos

Our third place video is an extremely interesting video. We've seen some other videos like it, in fact I wrote about the Idea Pocket video not too long ago. What makes this one interesting is that it's produced by S1 with non-S1 actresses. It's not entirely non-S1 actresses as it does star Saika Kawakita, but the it's certainly not what you would expect just by looking at it. As it turns out, this is part a special campaign series, as are all the others with the WICP ID. Some of them are studio specific, others, like this one, just have a bunch of seemingly random actresses in it. To me it still seems strange seeing a video with S1 as the studio and actresses like Akari Mitani or Tsubasa Amami in the video, but it's really kind of not an S1 video and its own unique thing. It just struck me as very interesting because, if you don't know anything about it, your immediate reaction is to go a bit crazy seeing non-S1 actresses starring for S1. At any rate it's just a special 1-off thing at a crazy price point of 500 yen, so don't expect that this really changes anything in the industry.

This is a release that really stands out because it's not the kind of content you would expect out of Idea Pocket or Momo Sakura. True that she's been getting more adventurous with her creampie ban lifting but even still, this is the kind of stuff you'd sooner see at their sister studio Attackers. I feel like IP has always mismanaged that relationship and it would have been nicer to see actresses move back and forth, doing relatively tame stuff at IP and more hardcore/rough stuff at Attackers. Regardless of my opinion there, I think it's nice to see IP take up some rougher stuff if they're not going to do that. There are plenty of fans who would love to see Momo in these kind of situations and the data doesn't lie if this release is any indication. I'm hopeful that IP will continue this trend and do more rough things with both Momo and the rest of their cast.

Unpai being #1 here is extremely surprising to me. Everyone I know who has seen it has had awful things to say about it. Unpai doesn't get nude until two hours into a three hour video, which should tell you all you need to know about why the video is awful. She seems quite overrated to me and I think it was honestly just the hype that got her to where she is. Even looking at next month's video they still don't have a full cover and they still don't want to put actual nudity in the trailer. I don't know how long they can keep up this Instagram influencer bit before people realize she's overrated. I suppose she might sell well in Japan just from some local celebrity fame, but that fame won't translate to international sales or long term success.

Okay this is an extremely surprising video to see on the list. I just don't get any reason why it sold so well. Small studio, Caucasian actress, and not even curvy. We've seen a handful of Caucasian actresses stand out over recent years, Lily Hart, June Lovejoy, Lauren Karen, and Melody Marks, to name a few. I can't imagine someone like her doing a video for Kichikkusu doing all that well, especially when that studio's identity is typically curvier women. I'm going to guess this is just a random one-off video and not read too much into it, but it's still interesting that even random amateurs like her can top the charts. It's definitely something to think about for western actresses or studios thinking about working with western actresses.

Riho Shishido, our #1 actress, has been turning heads and it's no surprise why. She's got a pretty face and big tits, how can you say no to that? Who knows where she'll land in the months to come but it's hard to argue here. Moodyz is definitely a good studio to debut with and especially as she debuts on the main roster as opposed to the debut label, it looks like they similarly have high expectations of her. She's definitely one actress I'll be paying close attention to, and come holiday season we may see her on one of my debut posts.

Another month another S1 debut doing well. I've said this before but S1 debuts that don't debut in first place feel like second class debuts. We've seen names like Riri Nanatsumori, Aka Asuka, Unpai, even Aqua Yamazaki debut as the top release. Especially when she's debuting lower than a debut from a smaller studio like h.m.p, it just feels like something's off. She still looks great and I'm sure people will come to enjoy her, but just how much remains to be seen. I highly doubt she'll have the staying power of another popular debut like Ria Yamate (who has the 5th place physical release) but she's still 55th place this month on the physical charts at least. That does put her ahead eight S1 actresses (if my counting is correct) but that also puts her behind nine S1 actresses. Middle of the pack feels kind of bad compared to where some actresses start off (Unpai was 11th last month for reference) but we've also seen actresses go 0 to 100 out of nowhere (Hana Himesaki, for example). I guess time will tell but she seems pretty and busty and I think that's enough to keep people interested.

Aoi Ichino looks like a pretty nice Madonna debut to me. Busty, pretty, and a great age at 32 years old. Madonna debuts can be a bit hit or miss for many reasons, one being you can get actresses well past their prime. I would personally say there looks like a lot of potential for her, but of course only time will tell. We'll have to see if she lives up to the hype of a "married woman who shines brighter than 100 carats".

When do we call a month the month of S1? S1 has got a total of 7 videos in the top 10 on R18, and interestingly enough the only actress in two or more is Mahina Amane. Even more surprising is that neither are her most recent, both being from last year. I say this all the time but it really shows the depth of S1's roster. The fact of the matter is Mahina isn't even in the top two S1 debuts from her debut year and it's insane to think of such a star-studded roster. Yeah, some studios have left DMM/R18 so the numbers are a bit skewed, but there's still hundreds of actresses that could have been there instead. I think the first video from Mahina looks rather interesting and it's also the first in a series, so who knows, maybe we'll see some more interesting videos to come as more veterans take it on. It's still not as interesting as the other one I highlighted from her but it's nice to see the top of the charts not just being Yua and Rara month after month.

Karen kind of fell off some radars a bit last month but it's nice to see her back at the top, this month in third place. This video seems like a bit more interesting of a spin on the general hotel sex theme. Looking at some of the production stills you can see her performance looking quite wild. Those kind of performances don't always turn out well but when they do they're fantastic.

That's it for this month's sales report. I promise I am planning to do some yearly sales reports at some point, it's just other writing articles are consuming my time. Recent retirements in Hitomi and Touka Rinne have thrown my writing for a bit of a loop, but those yearly articles will come out sooner or later. At any rate, I hope you've enjoyed this article and I hope to see you all back next month. Until next time!