Panking's 2024 JAV Retrospective: Winners and Losers of 2024

Welcome to the first of what will be many to come in my series of 2024 retrospective posts. In the next several months I'll be going over my favorite debuts, my top 25 videos of the year, best covers, and even the worst videos of the year. In today's post, I'll be highlighting my picks for JAV actresses who really excelled this year and which ones were a resounding disappointment. My metric is mostly based on the quality and quantity of their output. Their sales are also included but it's a small factor overall. That said, let's kick this off with an actress that I think easily had some of the best releases of the year and should come as no surprise given my tastes...

What a surprise that first on my list is Maria Nagai right? She's likely the most polarizing actress on my list and we all know where I stand. All things considered though, she really had a fantastic year and one of her best ever in terms of quality and quantity of releases. Her 2024 is really a tale of two halves...of the year. She started out the first half as a freelancer which can be a mixed bag but in Maria's case, it resulted in some absolute bangers. Some examples include ROYD-165 casting her a lewd masseuse and a potential video of the year candidate in PFES-061.

She also had one of the unexpecting collabs in JAV as she teamed up with none other than Ichika Matsumoto. But in July she became a Fitch exclusive which started out admittedly a tad underwhelming before picking up steam shortly after. A top highlight has to be JUNY-127 which was a cosplay film where she dressed up as Harley Quinn and Chun-Li to name a few. She even hit on one of my most wanted picks which was a doujinshi adaptation. Needless to say, don't be surprised to see Maria pop up in my top 20 video posts once or twice.

If I could include Nagi Hikaru's new tits as a candidate for best new debut, I probably would. This upgrade coupled with several videos of the year candidates easily propelled her to the very top of my winners list. Now I won't deny that her first half of the year wasn't too memorable outside of a solid fan thanksgiving type film centered around her tits(shocker I know). But I was really beginning to fall off with Nagi as her releases were rather middling and more importantly her chest was looking sad and deflated. But all that changed in July with the debut of her new rack. Those chest cannons have left some of her fans divided but I for one love them and think they're easily some of the best fakes in JAV.

I could go on all day about them but I just think they look amazing. She got multiple releases to highlight them too such as SONE-290 which was an entire POV-focused video or SONE-436 with its very amusing premise. She even had a VR release to really show them off and it was brilliant. And her sales have responded positively to her upgrades too as she reached 10th place in sales for the month of November. Nagi Hikaru was my second favorite actress of the year and I cannot wait to see what she's got in store for 2025.

It's no secret that Nene Tanaka is a massive favorite of mine and ultimately she had quite the run this year. It all started right as the new year began too with the release of a top 10 favorite of mine in MIMK-145. It served as one of the best doujinshi adaptations I've seen in years. She had plenty of great solo hits throughout the year afterward such as PPPE-253 and PRIN-027. In addition, she got several amazing VR videos like VRKM-01270 with its genius casting of her as a lewd librarian.

Not only that but she even got a new interracial release and starred in the best multicast film of the year in CJOD-422. There was no shortage of collabs with Nene this year as she was joined by the likes of Yuria Yoshine, Alice Otsu and Misono Mizuhara. Her output was steady throughout the entire year and she delivered many terrific films. Nene is an easy choice for my winners of 2024 list.

Despite clearly being a fan of the bustier actresses, I was always a fan of Aya Onami, or Aya Sazanami, as she was known back in the day. You just can't deny that level of bubble butt on a flat petite actress. She soft retired about five years ago but out of nowhere came back to the scene at the end of 2023. I honestly had no idea about her return until around May with the release of MKMP-554 which blew me away and became one of my favorite films of the entire year.

Since then she's had a few other stellar releases but admittedly also quite a few middling videos with lower-tier studios. It's unfortunate as these films often suffer from less-than-ideal production values. Even then these slightly underwhelming films aren't enough to detract from her overall year. In the end, her return has still been solid and I'm hopeful that 2025 will give her better opportunities moving forward.

Ever since her debut in June of 2023, she's been one of my favorite actresses. I'm sure many of you can guess the reason(s) why. Her chest has been one of the most impressive I've ever seen in JAV. As if it was crafted by the gods. But that's not the only reason she's cracked my winners lists as she also gave us plenty of quality films to enjoy. The first half of the year was loaded with hits such as FJIN-026 where she plays a busty NEET and GVH-654 which serves as a top-notch showcase of her potential as a performer.

Now she did take an extended break for the rest of the year only resuming activity as of the past month. She seemed to take time off for her mental health but also because she got some facial work done and lost some weight. I'll reserve judgment on the results for now but regardless, she's still one of my favorites of 2024 and I hope she reaches higher success in the new year. Who knows maybe her new look will propel her to even greater heights.

While I can't point to any of Nina's 2024 releases and call them "bangers", she was pumping out films at a steady pace all year with a string of solid hits. This was her first full year as a freelancer and the results were terrific overall. Sure she had plenty of average releases with the likes of Celeb no Tomo for example but also some notable standout videos too. A few standouts include MMKZ-144 which focuses entirely on her big booty and MBRK-006 which featured her alongside the equally plump Shiori Tsukada. In fact, she collaborated with a couple of thick actresses this year such as the aforementioned Shiori, Yumi Shion, Yuki Nitta, and Yua Kasumi. I hope she continues this pace into the new year and will deliver us more juicy goodness.

Momoka Kagura has been one of my favorite S1 debuts in quite a while and she continued to impress going into this year. She got off to a strong start with SONE-084 which featured a heavy focus on fluids and her getting super wet. Simple but effective. Shortly after we began seeing more plot-driven titles with the likes of SONE-131 that centered on her huge tits bulging out in various situations. But the real heavy hitter was SONE-166 which, spoiler alert, is likely to be in my top 10 videos of the year. She had some decent films after that and even saw her first-ever VR releases. There was admittedly one big stinker in this lineup but I'll save that for an upcoming post. It is a bit unfortunate that she hasn't exactly punched into the top 25 sales charts yet, hopefully, she'll keep grinding and get there next year. But overall I think Momoka has been my favorite thus far out of all the new crop of S1 big titty monsters. Let's hope she builds off this and makes 2025 even better!

Ah, Karen my little petite powerhouse. As I was crafting my winners list I went back through Karen's catalog for this year and forgot just how many great releases she had. Her year started off a little slow but once March hit with her first ever orgy film, it was full steam ahead. It was one of her best releases ever and she handled it extremely well. She really started cranking up the heat in the summer like PPPE-224 where she plays a slutty lingerie designer and PPPE-255 which casts her as a lewd tutor. Not to mention she also got to star in Moodyz's Bako Bako Bus series revival. And she's still floating around the top 25 sales charts so her popularity hasn't ceased at all. While not every release was a winner, she definitely had more dingers than duds this year.

When we got the return of Ai Kano back in March I was admittedly very excited. She is such a guilty pleasure of mine. Sure she's a rather middling performer but her huge bazooka tits are extraordinary and are unmatched. And while I believe her comeback will be shortlived as she tweeted that it'd only be a year, it's been a run ride so far. Her second film back saw her shooting with the GOAT director Nao Masaki making for an amazing video. We got a string of solid releases afterward but then came JUQ-963 which proved to not only be the best of this comeback but also of her entire career thus far. I can never get enough of Ai Kano and I hope that she may continue onwards and push beyond her previously stated end date. But if not, she gave us fans some fantastic films at least.

Himari really grew on me throughout the year. To be honest, after my initial First Impressions post, I wasn't too sold on her. But her latest couple of releases really impressed me and pushed me over the fence into becoming a big-time fan. I'd say she's easily my favorite debut of 2024. She's got a ridiculously stacked body with her huge all-natural "Q-Cup" chest and big booty as well. Her midriff section can admittedly be an eyesore due to likely lipo work but I've grown to overlook it for the most part. But perhaps best of all is how talented she is as a performer often showcasing skills like a seasoned pro. She's seriously the most impressive rookie performer I've maybe ever seen. Her career has also gotten off to a fast start, as she's already won a few awards, such as Best Actress and Best Newcomer from Moodyz. I have high hopes for Himari going into 2025 that she could become the next big thing in JAV. The potential is there.