Oppaira's JAV Draft: Premium

Hey guys, Oppaira back at it with another draft, this time I'm checkout out Premium. If you want to see my past drafts, you can see Oppai, Fitch, and Idea Pocket. Without further ado let's jump into this one by taking a look at who Premium is.

Premium has been around since 2006 and has kind of tried to fit an image of "premium quality". I'm not convinced they've really ever done that and just look like any old studio. They've just sort of always had a lot of everything, from schoolgirls to office ladies, from generic sex to soapland. Maybe if one combed through all of their content you might find a higher density of certain types of films on that "premium quality" feel.

My philosophy with Premium is to do exactly as the name implies - premium. In the past and even now it might not be super obvious but I want to ensure that it is. I want to create a studio that has a lot of high class women and narratives that go along with it. Elegant, sophisticated, luxurious, that's what I want out of the studio. So, in picking those women I'm going for a much more refined palette - I want women who exude class. Funny enough, even their main label is called Elegance, so I think they agree with my approach.

I'll pick women who look a bit older but not too old, so women right around the late 20s or early 30s mark. You don't want them on the younger side like a brand new 20 year old debut, they'll look a bit too immature, while you similarly don't want someone in their mid 40s who looks past their prime. There's always room for some exceptions because age doesn't strictly correlate to looks but the general guideline is there. You also want to ensure that they have some elegance to them, which means you really do want the prettiest women you can find, and would focus more on their face than other body parts.

Historically Premium has done work with both exclusives and freelancers. These days they are all exclusives and they've really doubled down on trying to have a direction. With Premium right now I feel like you have two classes of actresses: the premium veterans and everyone else that they're hoping can become them. Let me explain.

At the top you've got Aika Yamagishi, Karen Yuzuriha, and JULIA. Yes, JULIA is a shared exclusive actress but Premium is one of the few studios she works with. It's all about finding actresses that are a bit more elegant and Aika and JULIA fit that bill for sure. Karen feels less like she's that premium look and feel and more like she's just popular.

You then have this secondary class of actresses who feel like Premium wants to be big but just can't hack it. I have nothing against Ichika Hoshimya or Miu Shiromine but they don't exude the same elegance as the others nor can they touch their popularity. In fact, I would go as far as to say they feel like the debuts we will see in the third section below in that I feel like I'd enjoy taking my chances on a new debut than watching one of their videos.

After that it's just a bunch of whatever they can get. It's filled with debuts who only seem to last a few videos, which you can tell by most of their roster being 2024 debuts. Yeah you also get the random video from someone more established (which doesn't really happen much anymore), but let's just chalk that up to studios not passing up good opportunities as opposed to a major part of their identity, because it really isn't. And again, I'm more inclined to group the debuts and the lower tier together in a lower tier section.

Some people might not like me for this choice but I think I want Karen to leave. Karen is only in her early 20s and feels a bit too immature to me. She's still got that youthful vibe that doesn't exude the right level of class. At the same time I want to be mindful that we want to give up a bit in order to take a bit so giving up one of our top talents is a good way to get something in return. Karen can fit at a number of places and don't worry, we'll add a lot of goodies to our roster. Again, it isn't that Karen is unattractive, it's that I feel like she can do better somewhere else that can capitalize on her youthfulness before she elevates into the role Premium needs.

I also want Miu Shiromine to leave as she just doesn't strike me as being classy enough. I've seen a few of her videos and I think she needs to play more of a casual role. She has more of a girlfriend next door type look to her rather than the more elegant style I want to go for. Even though Miu doesn't quite fit the look of Idea Pocket, she fits more of the younger energy I want out of them, and I'd sooner have her back there than stick on Premium.

Erika Kononoba also strikes me as someone who ought not to be at Premium. I have nothing against her she just strikes me as being a bit rough around the edges for the new direction. Does it feel a bit superficial? Sure, but we're talking about porn for crying out loud. Wouldn't surprise me to see her leave their roster at some point like so many others do.

Ever since Ai Hongo trimmed her hair real short she has really looked the part of a classy woman. She's started cutting it even shorter than in the picture above and I keep thinking it makes her look even more elegant. Even though I let Karen Yuzuriha go and Ai is also somewhat youthful, she does exude quite a bit more maturity from what I've seen, and I'm still happy to leave at least one actress on the roster outside the general bounds I place.

I know I said I didn't really want older women but I don't mind some number if I'm being careful about it. Ryo Ayumi strikes me as a classy MILF, something Madonna doesn't particularly promote well. They don't tend to focus on a particular strategy with their roster, they just toss whatever they have their way. I get it, after five years even our newly reimagined Premium might struggle to find a concept that is novel and fits our direction. Still, the times that she dresses fancy she looks great, and I think everyone is surprised to find out her real age. Ryo won't look this way forever so we might as well try to get the couple of years she has out of her and hope for the best.

Nao Jinguji has always rubbed me the wrong way being at Madonna. I get that she looks a bit mature for her age but wow was it a disservice sending her there way too early. Is Madonna like some Attackers jail where once you go there you can't be anything but an old lady? I hope not and I want to see her spread some wings. There was one video a few years back at Madonna that really made me turn my head at Nao's elegance and I think we could emulate that on a more consistent basis at Premium. Don't worry, Nao can stay a shared exclusive and get some of the less elegant and refined roles elsewhere, but at least for the more mature, I want quality over quantity and that's better served here than Madonna.

Sumire Mizukawa strikes me as an actress that should be dually exclusive, for one Japanese studio and one western studio. That's exactly what she does now, but Madonna? Yikes. Feels like Madonna is home to some actresses who really don't belong, and honestly they get away with it only because many of us care less about the studio than we do the actress themselves. I recently watched Sumire play a high class soapland role and honestly she looked the part very well. I also find her to not be as good at wild performing styles so something like Premium might just be a better fit for her. I could totally see her playing an office lady one video then some high class soapland lady the next.

Yuri Oshikawa has always struck me as an elegant woman, or at least for the past few years. Some of the clips or images you see of her really hone in on that quite nicely. One of the things I think this roster is missing is a true veteran. One might call someone like Ichika Hoshimiya at 5 years or Aika Yamagishi at 6 years a veteran but I want someone with an easy 10+ to be the backbone of the roster. I love JULIA and she certainly fits the bill for veteran, she also isn't really a Premium exclusive. I mean sure but she's filiming with five different studios and a consistent Rebecca release, to the point that she doesn't really feel like she's exclusive to Premium. She is officially listed as one but we only had five videos from her last year, so as I said, we really do have a need for a true veteran. Yuri Oshikawa can fit the bill at Madonna like she is doing now, sure, but I think capitalizing on her at Premium for as long as we can get away with is ideal. At some point she'll look a little too mature and she's surprisingly only 33 despite being around for 10+ years. I say strike now and grab her while we can. Eventually someone like Aika Yamagishi or others we pick up will hit 10 years, so in 3-4 years we won't have the same need for Yuri and can let her rejoin Madonna at that point.

Rara is a recent debut who I think would honestly make a bit more sense here. I don't think she is a bad fit for Idea Pocket's roster it's just that she seems to suit my model for Premium a little better. She exudes a little more class than I think IP wants and really feels like she's a bit older than she gives off (which turns out, she's 29). I also just like the idea of a debut that feels a bit higher quality than the ones Premium has been getting, especially since many of them don't last all that long.

Momo Sakura is gorgeous but is no longer the spunky actress she debuted as. If you've seen her more recent stuff you'll know exactly what I'm talking about, and if you haven't the two pictures there should say it all. All the cuteness she once had has been replaced by someone a little more elegant and refined. I always thought that more adorable charm she had was great and it's been tough lately seeing her not have that. While I hate to say it because I really do like Momo, it's time that she left IP's roster and joined elsewhere, and that somewhere is Premium. It will just fit the more elegant look she has going for her.

Mayuki Ito has honestly never fit on Kawai's roster, or at least not in the last few years anyway. Maybe she did when she first joined them so many years ago but it's been ages since then, and she's no longer the girl she was when she joined but an elegant woman now. If the pictures above don't show that off I'm not sure what will. When we saw her alongside Aika Yamagishi a couple of years back it felt like she should have been at Premium this whole time. The stuff you see from her Instagram gives off more classy vibes than the cute vibes that Kawai should be giving off. I'd rather put her in a place that can appreciate her beauty and use it as a strong focal point for films rather than let Kawai do whatever the hell they are. Not to mention the fact that between Aika and Momo being here there's some good company for her to continue to co-star with them, and if Karen somehow stays that's everyone she's worked with all in one room.

One of the things I've struggled with at times in this series is carving out the exact lane for rosters. Premium's was thankfully right in the name (both in the studio name and the label name being Elegance) but also I had to dig a bit to figure out exactly what I wanted there. In doing so I had to think through a few other rosters as well to make sure it all fell in line with what I'm doing at Premium. I'm hoping that makes it a bit easier going forward for me. Hopefully you've all enjoyed this draft and hopefully you'll join me for the next one. Until next time!