Welcome to the November sales report. Can you believe it's nearly 2022? Next time we meet it will be, crazy how fast time flies.

I'd like to remind everyone that my 2021 debut review posts have been ongoing and we're through most of them now. You can view them here if you haven't been following them, I believe we will have just a few remaining by the time this goes live. I've reviewed a number of actresses we've seen in our sales reports, including Kaoru Yasui, the major debut over at Muteki and Misono Mizuhara who is featured in this report. If you're someone who likes checking out debuts then I highly recommend taking a peek at my content. If you're a bit too lazy to look through a couple dozen posts then be sure to check out my summary post which will be out soon.

Before getting into it I just want to take a quick minute to talk about actress names. Actress names are typically owned by the agency they work for. (If you're not quite sure what agencies do, I can't describe it any better than the interview we did with AllPro. (home to some major actresses such as Ruka Inaba, Nanami Matsumoto, Tsubasa Hachino, and Kurea Hasumi) This means that if an actress leaves the agency they have to change their name. This happens more often than you might think so actresses can have multiple different names. Yume Nikaido recently name changed to Ai Hongo, and Aka Asuka just changed her name to Shiose (though she surprisingly did not change agencies). On the sales report I may end up using any name the actress has had over their career, so keep that in mind when looking through the data. I can't say for certain what name I'll end up picking, I'm still using Yume Nikaido for the time being but also use Rara Anzai (which is Rara's third name) so we'll see how things go.

That was a mouthful but I'm always happy to share a bit of extra insight about the industry. With that out of the way let's get into the report.

Top Actresses

Misono Mizuhara is a debut I wrote about and I had mixed opinions about her. That being said, I'm not entirely surprised to see her at the top. She's been getting some very mixed opportunities but I think she's overall doing quite well for herself. December has a couple of titles that look quite promising, including a duo with Yuria Yoshine and an entry in a great series from Honnaka. Misono had a lot of acting potential, I thought, and the release from Honnaka should be a really good test to see how good she can be. There's a pretty good chance I'll get around to watching that and hopefully I'll form a much better opinion about her after that.

In 10th place we have Reona Tomiyasu, another debut from this year. Unfortunately she isn't going to be part of the debuts I review, I simply don't have the space to watch everyone. That being said, I can at least share some quick thoughts on her here without having watched her. She's been working for whatever studio she can and boy has she gotten around. A really good mix of studios and nearly three dozen videos in a span of five months. I would bet on her having a pretty solid career so if you're interested in her, definitely go take a look. She does appear to have fake boobs from when I was poking around, so if that's a factor then keep that in mind.

In 18th place we have Ami Tokita, a new debut for Faleno. I can't say she seems super special to me but we've seen a lot of fantastic results from Faleno debuts. Debuting at 18th isn't the best we've seen but it's not half bad either. She's the top debut this month and placing just below Yume Nikaido, someone we've been following quite closely since she debuted. At any rate, we'll try and pay attention to Ami and see how she compares to other Faleno actresses. Moe and Arina are both on the list at 24th and 25th so we know Faleno stars can have some good success. Will she end up being more like Yume who keeps topping the list? Will she end up like Rin Natsuki or Aoi and be middle of the pack? Or will she be more like Kaname Momojiri and fall off the list completely? We'll just have to wait and see.

Akari Niimura is someone I know nothing about but it's hard (at least for me) to ignore actresses I've never heard of making the top of the list. Last month she starred in a popular VR flick where a group of lovely ladies go on a hot springs vacation and spend their trip with one lucky guy. Definitely the most notable costar in the video is Mao Hamasaki, someone who we've spoken about before and is also on R18's list this month. At any rate, five ladies, four hours of content, what's not to want? I like group videos like this where there's a mix of the number of actresses in each scene, ranging from one all the way up to five. If you're looking for a fun video to be your first time watching Akari, this is probably a good choice.

Yuria Yoshine making the top list on the domestic side is interesting to see. Clearly she's been doing well since she's up from 39th place, but it's still a great sign to see the super busty doing well domestically. It's usually just Rara and Aka up at the top of the charts, so seeing someone who isn't exclusive and is busty up top is great. What sets Yuria apart from the crowd is how willing she is to do less common genres. She's already done anal a few times and this month added gokkun (cum swallowing) to her repertoire. It's also interesting when you reflect on just how far she's come in two years, this video being marketed as her two year anniversary video. I think a lot of fans initially pegged her as a second Hitomi and I think a lot of us Hitomi fans have been pretty pleased with Yuria. Obviously she's a much different actress and the only resemblance is the size of her tits but seeing someone like that do this kind of work is a real treat. Like I said, Yuria's come a long way in two years and I can only hope she continues to bless us for many more to come.

Saika Kawakita jumped an impressive 77 spots... that might be the most I've ever seen someone climb. We've seen her on various lists a lot over the past few months so it's not surprising to see her way up high. We actually tend to see her up high on the physical sales chart instead (where she's currently second) so seeing her this high on the digital sales is a bit unusual. Saika's way up this month thanks to her first VR. It's really not that surprising that her first VR would sell well, even if the video is a pretty simple cohabitation video. Everyone seems to love Saika and getting the chance to see her in VR was no doubt going to popular. I personally find I like checking out actresses I like at least once in VR. It's so much different from normal JAV and the perspective gives you a much different opinion about an actress. No doubt Saika won't be quite this high on the digital chart next month but who cares when she's consistently at the top of the other.

Up in first we have Kurea Hasumi, hopping over a few names. Kurea is someone who's often among the top few spots but rarely in the number one spot itself. Kurea didn't really do much last month, I believe her one release was the strap-on video with AIKA. I'm not one for strap-on but I'm told it's great, so if you are definitely check that one out. Instead one of her top videos is actually her release from October. Those kind of videos don't really interest me, but if there's any actress that can make it work it's her. Kurea is just so good at performing that she can take a video that has nothing going for it and turn it into something special. That happened with my favourite video last year and who knows, maybe this one is the same thing and can be a very good surprise.

I know I said I generally wouldn't talk about things outside the top 100 but we have a pretty interesting development with Hitomi not making the top 25. I couldn't believe it either when I first saw it and I had to go check. Indeed, when I looked she was currently the 30th ranked actress and it only went downhill from there, quite a lot actually. It's really surprising to see her down so low, and that's actually one of the better ratings she got since she averaged 35th. Hitomi is pretty ubiquitous with JAV in the west and you'd think she'd be a much more well known face than actresses like Karen Kaede, Nene Tanaka, and Kana Momonogi. I'd say there's probably two major reasons for this. One is that I suspect people visiting R18 are in a minority of westerners viewing JAV, so they much more aware of other actresses and aren't just Hitomi fans. This means it's not entirely an accurate reflection of western viewership, but it's impossible to get a complete picture. Secondly, Hitomi's latest isn't good. It has a really awful theme and even Panking agrees it's just plain bad. This has long since been the downside to exclusive actresses, that any individual video can be bad, and we knew this was eventually going to be the case. I personally wouldn't read too much into this just because this video's theme is awful and I would expect her to start bouncing back next month with what looks like a much better video.

Kaho Shibuya breaking the top 25 is wonderful to see. She's one of my all-time favourite actresses and I feel like it's hard to do well when you're retired. Even though we do see a few actresses here and there sell well after retirement (Asahi Mizuno, Aki Sasaki, and Saeko Matsushita come to mind), many actresses fade into obscurity. Kaho's recent compilation (which I wrote about in last month's post) is still her top video but she has plenty of other great videos to look at. I've pointed out a couple above that are among her most popular, some of my favourites, and not your run of the mill video. In the first she plays a teacher who gets stuck in a wall, and unfortunately for her when she can't see who is messing around with her she gets much more than she bargained for. The second co-stars Miina Wakatsuki, an extremely underrated actress. What made that video stand out is the pair willing to get down and dirty, or I suppose I should say wet and wild because the two squirt all over each other. It's been quite a while since Kaho has retired, more than three years at this point, but unlike so many she's remained in the spotlight. Especially with her English Twitch streams I feel like I know her way better that any other actress. At any rate, I'll take any opportunity I can to shill her because she was amazing and people need a reminder, especially if they haven't seen dozens of her videos.

Top Videos

I know Rara was first on the physical sales but I intentionally decided to write about her in this section because this would show exactly why she's up so high. As it turns out, Rara has two releases next month. I don't know what went on over at S1 but she's got two videos coming out in December. Maybe they think people are gifting JAV for the holidays and can sell a bit more, I don't know. Regardless, fans have double the options now. For some that means twice the hit to their wallet, for others it means there's more likely to be something worth watching. At any rate, it's a really interesting turn of events because S1 simply does not do this. I wouldn't expect them to double their output long term for actresses but who knows. It's probably not worth the bang for their buck to do that regularly but I'd be surprised if it has never come up in management meetings before. At any rate, double the videos and both in the top two spots made her easily first place.

This video is interesting as it's basically a video featuring a bit of Idea Pocket's entire roster. It's got 30 scenes featuring 15 different actresses, if I'm reading the cover correctly. As the cover suggests, you can watch one scene per day for the month. Now, 30 scenes in a two hour video means each scene is just four minutes, but it's probably really great if you want a sample of Idea Pocket. It's pretty great when their roster is a mix of new talent and veterans, that means there should be something for everyone. Of course, the big selling point is that it's just ¥500, which is quite cheap. Even if there's not much going on in the video, even if it's completely non-sexual, even if it's just rehashed content, you're paying peanuts for it. I think a lot of fans stick to their favourites and this is a really great chance to watch a couple names you otherwise wouldn't watch and see if you like them. The back also goes on to ask if you're feeling like an angel or demon today, so they've probably got a bit of a naughty/nice theme going on throughout the actresses. Considering the type of content I expect this to be, it's probably a bad choice for foreign fans who don't speak Japanese, but hey, it's also dirt cheap.

Our fourth place video has what I would call the most interesting dress I've ever seen. It's got the logo of chocolates plastered all over it including M&Ms, Hershey's, and Reese's. I've seen outfits with beer logos on them in JAV before but at least beer is an adult drink. I always equated those ones to some race queen at an actual drag race and thought it wasn't so out of place. Chocolate is just, well, it's a bit unexpected. What I love most about it is that they have a good amount of action with her wearing the outfit. The biggest bamboozle is always when the outfit comes off too quickly or is used in an awful scene, but there appears to be a full-length sex scene with her wearing it. If you're up for an outfit you won't see elsewhere, this is it.

I felt compelled to look at this one a little further after how interesting the cover looked. You're seeing that cover right, it is slightly slanted like that. Okay maybe it's not that interesting but for me it is (I might need some new hobbies). At any rate, the video is about two ladies who find a guy to make theirs for a night. The video looks really fun as they just go at it every which way, and the camera angles look rather interesting. What stood out even more is the willingness of them to have fun with each other, as Hana and Mai actually have a brief lesbian scene (according to the trailer). At any rate, this seemingly ordinary video appears to be much more than meets the eye. I guess good job on the cover Moodyz, you managed to get me to look at it and find much more behind it.

Our second place debut, Sakura Mita, is looking great. A pretty nice face and body, a killer combination. I can see why she's second place and hopefully she has some great content to follow this. I won't be watching her for this year's debuts but we'll have to see when I check some actresses out again next year.

Yuria Oshima reminds me of Alice Kisaki, a dead ringer for her it seems. Yeah I'm comparing her face and boobs but I think that's enough. I really wish they didn't cover up her boobs on the front but at least we've got some rocking stills. Speaking of which, can we talk about how amazing these are? Profile pic with name (including English), age, and hobbies? Another shot showing off her measurement? Sheesh, these are freaking amazing and I can't get over how good of a job E-Body has done with these. At any rate, if her career ends up anything like Alice's then I'm sure we'll be taking a look at her next year. Until then I'll just wish her success and pray that other studios see these stills and take notes.

Side note: it's kind of awkward when studios mess up the English translation of names. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard but apparently it is. Her first name is clearly ありあ, which should definitely translate to Aria, and yet they wrote the English as Yuria. Sorry but no excuses, studios, please do better.

In fourth place we've got Mai Tsubasa, debuting for S1. S1 debuts do well, what can I say. She's got what looks like a pretty nick rack on her, 92cm G cup if the data I'm seeing is correct. She's also at a solid agency in 8Man Pro, which is home to several S1 talents like Mei Washio, Tsukasa Aoi, and Rara Anzai. Here's hoping that they've found another star who will stick around for years to come.

Okay this video has a cover that you know you're interested in seeing. I don't care if you do or don't like Nene or if you do or don't like her bright yellow hair, the cover sells itself. That ahegao expressions coupled with cum splattering her tits is hot as all hell. It's probably a big reason why Nene is up 40 spots this month and all I can say is I hope the video doesn't disappoint anyone that partakes.

Karen Kaede might not be one of my favourites but she's been doing quite well for herself lately. She's number one here and has been featured in the sales report a few times lately, I know both in August and September. One thing we're seeing is that Idea Pocket is selling quite well, they've got four videos in just the top 10. I've said before that S1 dominates the industry but that's not exactly a closed book. We don't get raw figures from companies, hell we don't even know explicitly that these are sales figures (it just says popular, and that could be just clicking on videos), so it's entirely possible that other companies are doing well for themselves. To that end, I have a friend who thinks Idea Pocket might actually be doing better than S1. I can't say that I agree from what I can see but either way, Idea Pocket is one of the top studios, without a doubt. They have plenty of great actresses that do well for themselves month after month, and the fact we have four different actresses on the list (Karen Kaede, Momo Sakura, Minami Aizawa, and Kana Momonogi) is a pretty strong indicator. Hell, we even have three different Karen videos in the top 20, if that doesn't scream "doing well" I don't know what does.

PS. Let's not forget that several companies that have been leaving DMM (and R18 by extension). We saw everything under MGStage leave last year (notably Prestige) and SOD pulled all their new content from DMM. There are tons of actresses at both studios that are pretty notable that we don't get to talk about as a result, so we kind of have to keep that in mind when looking at the reports. Especially for a studio like SOD which is huge and has a ton of different labels, it's sometimes difficult to keep track. Idea Pocket and S1 make it simple by not using different labels so we can very easily identify which ones are for their studios.

Before we close this one out I think it's kind of important sometimes to take a step back and think big picture about things. There are two major things I want to take a step back with right now: studios leaving DMM and what the reports actually are.

First off, there have been a lot of studios finding alternative means of distribution outside of DMM/R18. We've seen that in the past from many smaller studios, and even some bigger studios like SOD have always had their own website. What we haven't seen until recently is major studios outright leaving DMM and it's not even an uncommon occurrence anymore. Prestige fully left earlier this year and SOD also left (but kept all the existing content there), and who knows which studio will be next. I'm sure DMM makes it easy for them to distribute, and they have such a huge user base, but I've heard they charge some pretty ridiculous prices and studios seem pretty unhappy. Anyway, it's a shame because there are plenty of big names who can never make the list, or debuts we skip over because they're not on the reports. I'll keep doing what I'm doing now with the sales reports but if more and more studios start leaving I may have to consider some alternative things. I know I talked about Bookmate before (a JAV store in Japan) that does their own sales ranking infographics and I may consider adding them to the mix if things get worse.

The second is about what these reports are. I call them sales reports because that's the simplest thing to call them, but the truth of the matter is we don't know. Every place just calls them "popular" (as you can see above) and that could mean anything. I've been told it actually only correlates to page views, which I could totally see them doing. Even if it is just page views that should correlate pretty well to sales in general, and I doubt people are spamming page views with a bot just to mess with some reports. At the end of the day it serves the same purpose, which is a medium for us to talk about what's going on in the industry and popular actresses/videos. It points out all the new debuts to look at, major releases, changes in popularity, and really that's all we can ask for.

Anyway that's enough of me ranting. I hope you've all been enjoying the reports and been enjoying my debut reviews. This is the last report we'll get in 2021, and soon we'll be looking at reports for all of 2021. I know I mentioned this a while ago, but changes to how I record data for R18 means I'll be able to produce results for them next year as well. We'll have to see how that translates into posts, last year's sales report was one of my largest posts ever and was perhaps even too big itself, not to mention the fact it was only the physical sales from DMM (so if they have digital data this year...).

With that in mind, I hope you all have a wonderful holidays and we'll see you back in January with the next report. Until next time!