Hey everyone, today we're taking a look back at all the 2020 debut actresses. Time sure flies, it feels like it was only yesterday we first started looking at these debuts. We looked at quite a lot of 2020 debuts, 35 in total, which is an insane number to me. If anyone's curious about the initial reviews I did, they can find them here: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5. With that said let's go take a look at some actresses.

Actress Status Overview

First off let's take a quick look at how the actresses are doing in their careers. So far one year later we're seeing only five retirements and only one in the actual debut year. What's even more interesting is that having watched 35 debuts we're seeing that number be around half of what we saw from our 2019 debuts. While it's not exactly a straight comparison because 14 of them were reviewed in 2021, even having just 5/21 from what we watched in 2020 is still a slight improvement. I chalk a lot of that up to the sales posts, spending more time picking actresses that were selling well (and thus much more likely to stay in the industry). It's also difficult to compare because of the pandemic. I imagine a lot of actresses are doing JAV because it's decent money in a time where jobs are harder to come by, so it's not exactly obvious that they're in it for the long haul; we'll probably find out when the pandemic is finally over if we see an influx of retirements. At any rate, as I continue with the sales posts I hope to continue doing well on this mark.

Looking at ratings from 2020 debuts I noticed not a single actress got an S rating. That's actually very surprising to me because every year prior has had an S-ranked debut, 2018 had Touka Rinne and 2019 had the trio of Kaho Imai, Ruka Inaba, and Yuria Yoshine. To see nobody in 2020 when coupled with the fact I've reviewed even more actresses is rather surprising. Normally the rate is about 1 in 7 so 2020 was a bit of an odd year. I wouldn't even chalk it up to the pandemic, the industry itself was doing quite well last year. It's definitely statistically relevant and given that I'm not convinced it was the pandemic it's entirely possible I'm just getting a little more strict on my ratings because the more actresses I watch the harder it is to stand out. If there's one thing I know it's that actresses can take some time to settle in and so the probability of an actress improving and becoming worthwhile down the road is quite high. Even my favourite, Hitomi, took 5 or 6 years to actually become good, so I wouldn't ultimately be too worried if their debut isn't inspiring.

This graphic is actually a little more interesting because it tells us how many of those actresses I thought were worth watching again. While it's just under 40% of the actresses it becomes a lot more interesting when I compare to 2019. By this time in 2020, I had only seen 30% of 2019 actresses again. What does that mean? Well it means that comparatively, 2020 wasn't as bad as it might seem. We'll definitely want to come check this graphic in 2022 when we do the two year debut roundup post to see if this has changed, but I think this comparison shows that it's really not that bad.

Retirements

Despite only having five retirements we can still talk about some of them, there are at least a couple worth mentioning.

Yuria Kanae

I gave Yuria a B rating which put her firmly in the top half of actresses. I felt pretty good about Yuria being well-rounded, from being physically attractive to casual deepthroating that set her a bit apart. Unfortunately Yuria's career petered out and eventually she was gone. When I watched her I felt pretty good about where her career was going given that she was starring in a video for Oppai's The Busty Teacher's Allure series, but apparently that wasn't meant to be because she had only a couple more releases after before finally disappearing. Sometimes you can't always predict things that well and that's the problem I find with new debuts. I try really hard to wait as long as I can to watch them to make sure they're committed to the job and sometimes they just aren't. At any rate, at least Yuria wasn't an S-tier actress I was crazy for, and despite being interested in watching more of her I'm not all that disappointed.

Ayase Tsuyuri

Ayase was pretty much the opposite of Yuria when it came to her career. It started off quite hot when she was with studios like E-Body and Fitch, especially with how well she fit in physically there. By the time I had checked her out she was basically on her last legs working with whomever would take her, like Nampa Japan and Cherry Revolution. I guess I can't be that surprised that she didn't stay in the industry much longer as it's hard to commit to a job you're just not seeing a ton of success with. Especially with how it seems to affect the lives of people or how atypical the work is (random 12+ hour work days) it's just not the kind of job you do on the side. Considering Ayase was one of the last debuts I watched she's a good lesson for this year that if I'm debating the last few actresses, career projections should be a really huge factor in that decision making process. Skipping actresses like Tsubaki Sannomiya (who was at S1) or Tsubasa Aoi (who was at Moodyz) to watch Ayase just doesn't make sense to me and I think we can take this as a way to do better in the future.

Missed Actresses

Rikka Ono

Rikka has been killing it lately and it's even more surprising given that she's an exclusive actress for a studio other than S1. You don't see too too many of them right at the top and it's usually some really huge household names there. To be among them is something fairly special and it seems like that's how fans are thinking about Rikka. I can't say I have any desire to watch her but then I think people who've read enough of my posts saw that coming a mile away. It is always tempting to watch an actress like this, mostly because of the origin of why I started reviewing new actresses in the first place. The New to Me series was really aimed at creating diversity in what I watched and hopefully finding a few really great actresses I might have otherwise missed. While there definitely have been a number of such actresses (Hibiki Otsuki, Akari Mitani, Aika Yamagishi, etc.) you never really know whether you'll like an actress that otherwise goes against your typical preferences. Will I ever watch Rikka? I've been convinced to watch actresses I was even less likely to watch than Rikka, so your guess is as good as mine.

Erina Oka

To say Erina isn't my kind of actress is an understatement, she definitely isn't my kind of actress. That being said, she does remind me a lot of Kokoa Aisu and I found myself quite surprised at how much I enjoyed her. Erina seems like one of those actresses who I might be opposed to up until the point I watch her and then decide she's wonderful. I've sometimes had success in this department watching them star alongside another actresses I like, which apparently hasn't happened with Erina yet unfortunately. Even without watching her yet I can quite easily say she's been a force to be reckoned with on the sales posts. Turns out this style of cuter actress really works in the industry and she's whipped up a bit of a frenzy. As I mentioned with Ayase above, picking actresses who have promising careers is important and it's probably worthwhile to ignore my preferences to check out a popular actress with dozens more videos than whatever I was contemplating. Even though I may be less likely to enjoy an actress like Erina I rarely watch debuts again if they retire quickly, so there's just a lot more potential value with someone like Erina. Again, good lessons to learn in retrospective for future posts. Who knows, maybe one year I'll be able to completely skip a missed actresses section because I've already seen all the great actresses.

Other Notable Actresses

June Lovejoy

June Lovejoy is a very interesting actress. It's not every day you see an American in JAV and especially not one that's fluent in Japanese. It makes her extremely unique as a selling point because she has that foreigner appeal but can also just do normal videos. Want to watch JAV but have a craving for a non-Japanese woman? June's got you covered. Or maybe you just want something a little different, maybe the American English teacher will cover it. Again, the fact that she isn't permanently typecast into "foreigner" is really huge, even if she has had quite a few of those. June has been a really great personality in the scene too doing English-translated interviews with a ton of different people in the industry. As someone who doesn't speak Japanese I've really appreciated how much it has let me peek into the industry. June was also on the top 100 actress list last year, a feat I don't think people expected from her; I bet even she was surprised! I guess it turns out that everyone's been enjoying her and I think she hasn't even reacher her full potential yet. June's got a really bright future ahead of her especially if she's willing to venture out a little bit like the recent anal video she did. I've personally only been lukewarm interested in June but I really appreciate all she's doing for the industry. If you're at all interested I encourage you to check out our exclusive interview with her!

Hikari Azusa

Hikari was someone I was super hyped for at the beginning and she wound up being my pick for most likely to watch again. While I've certainly seen her a few times since she just hasn't been someone I've been as interested in as I thought I would be. There are a couple of reasons for that, I think. Firstly, Idea Pocket hasn't been churning out the most amazing stuff and with so much of it being fairly generic I just haven't been particularly interested in her content. Secondly, she trimmed her pubic hair. I remember being mesmerized by it the first time, it was the right amount of bushy but not overwhelmingly so (like Urara Kanon's is) and it was a huge driving factor for me. Seeing it trimmed down just didn't do any good for her and I was just not that excited to see an otherwise mediocre actress. I think it's still nice but there's a difference between nice and mesmerized. At any rate, I'm still hopeful she could grow it back out or IP could come out with interesting enough content to watch, but until such a time I think I'm passing on watching Hikari again. Still, if Hikari and that bush are something you enjoy then absolutely go check her out. She's still going strong at IP and even if she's not the next Momo Sakura or Minami Aizawa she's still plenty enjoyable.

Nene Tanaka

Nene Tanaka is someone who has had an explosive career. She's been everywhere and it's hard to ignore her. Honestly I haven't found myself a big fan of her and I've given her a fair shot, but I know a lot of people that do enjoy her. Simple fact of the matter is that if you show up everywhere then it's impossible not to watch her. The one thing I can say is that if you do like her you're in for a treat. Seeing her do lesbian with 2021 debuts or star in my favourite series, she's got plenty of content for you to pick and choose from. If you're even remotely interested in her I would encourage you to check her out.

Tier 2 Favourites

These are some of the debuts that I've really enjoyed but not quite at the top tier level among debuts. I would say a big defining quality of these actresses is that they have unrealized potential compared to my favourites who have actually done a better job of realizing that potential, at least in my opinion.

Yume Nikaido

If any actress has become a star it's Yume Nikaido. Holy hell has she been doing extremely well, consistently topping the charts. With all the fan interaction she has from social media to Faleno's YouTube to her own streaming, she's gone and turned herself into one of the most popular actresses in the entire industry. Her average ranking (on DMM's physical sales chart) is 18 this year, that's pretty good for someone who has been around for only a year. Practically every month her video is at the top of the charts and I have to ignore her in posts now to give others a bit of the spotlight. I think she's just got a great personality and the fact she also speaks fluent English (with a perfect accent, sorry Kaho) is absolutely incredible. Especially now with her going back to the long hair she had on her debut, I think Yume can satisfy across a wide spectrum. Personally I'm still holding out a bit for Yume to get some more interesting plots which is really the big reason that I think she has unrealized potential. Maybe a lot of fans will disagree with me but I think Yume can show up in some better videos and really slot in among my favourites. That being said, she's definitely worth checking out and I definitely eye all her releases.

Suzu Matsuoka

Suzu is someone I want to like much more than I actually do. What I mean by that is that she's great and I like her but so many of her videos are so plain and boring that I can hardly bring myself to watch them. Prestige has a habit of not being too adventurous with their titles and I find I just don't want to watch her in a video filled with random stuff. Can we please get an actual narrative? That being said Suzu has turned out to be fairly enjoyable. Physically solid all around plus she's turning out to be quite good at deepthroating. Say what you will but I love watching a good deepthroat and Suzu can hang with the best of them. I'm hopeful that the next year will turn out better for her, getting past the "new actress" hump should hopefully open up the door for a few more interesting things. Already her November release (listed second) looks better than several of her releases before then and if Prestige can keep it up then who knows how often I'll be watching Suzu.

Moa Maeda

Moa was another one of the few actresses that I gave an A rating to. The fact of the matter is, Moa was absolutely stunning and I definitely still feel that way about her. She's got a rocking body that I haven't seen since Touka Rinne debuted, and Touka has pretty quickly become an all-time favourite of mine. Moa has also gone freelance, and showing up at big studios like Fitch, Wanz Factory, Oppai, Honnaka, and Moodyz, she's getting a ton of good opportunities. The thing holding her back, in my opinion, is that she just isn't producing enough content. It's been a year and a half since her debut and she's only got about one video per month, so unfortunately she just hasn't had the amount of content required to improve drastically enough. Moa did skip a few months here and there so there's hope that she might start producing more content, but even these past few months she just hasn't turned out a ton of stuff. I'm still hoping she'll star in Oppai's GES series. I still say she has a ton of potential and I still look forward to what the future has in store, but sooner or later I'll end up giving up and accepting she won't blossom into much. I guess probably when we take a look at the two year mark we might have a better opinion of her.

Favourite Debuts

Hana Himesaki

Hana Himesaki is no doubt my favourite debut from 2020. I initially gave her a B rating and I still stand by that initial rating. Her debut wasn't anything special and it wasn't until 2021 that she really got into the groove of things. That being said, Hana has really started to do well this year. She's been one of the best actresses this year, releasing a ton of fantastic videos, and I can safely say her decision to go freelance has been serving her well. The number of videos I've seen of her lines up quite well to the big three from 2019 so it's safe to say that she's on par with them. Especially with how quickly Hana has been improving as a performer, it would not surprise me to see her eclipse them and catch up to the likes of Touka Rinne, who is a 2018 debut that's firmly in my all-time favourites. Really the sky is the limit for Hana and if she keeps doing what she's doing she'll definitely be one of my all-time favourites.

Aka Asuka

Aka was one of the few actresses I gave an A rating to last year and I'm happy that things are working out for her. She was definitely meant to be a Rara replacement (if you recall Rara took some time off last year) and she's turning out to be a pretty good fill-in. I certainly don't think she's as attractive but let's be real, Rara is basically a unicorn. That being said, I think Aka is already a better performer than Rara (not that it's difficult) which has its own merits. I basically think of it as Rara putting all her stat points in her face and tits and Aka cutting a few for performing. That's really not a bad thing because as attractive as Rara is I often find myself so bored with her unenthusiastic performances. Aka certainly isn't as good of a performer as Hana is but when you compare how many videos each has had (a little over a dozen for Aka vs well over 100 for Hana) it really puts it into perspective (also holy cow has Hana been putting in some work). Considering how much I'm already enjoying her performances I think Aka is exceeding my expectations. I really did think she was just going to be another Rara and I don't even enjoy Rara all that much these days. I think Aka has a lot of potential and it's just a matter of her keeping it up and getting more experience.

Conclusion

I hope you've had fun taking a look back at some 2020 debuts and seeing how they've progressed one year later. I've included a couple of new graphics this time and if you're interested in seeing more insights like that let me know for future entries. Also be on the lookout for my 2021 debut posts that will be starting soon. I promise all the hype I've been drumming up will be worth it as I've got some extra special stuff ready for this year that I'm excited to share with you all. Until next time!