Trapstar's 2024 JAV Rewind: Top Stories That Defined The Year
Like most years, 2024 was a crazy year for JAV. As we head into the uncertain realms of 2025, let me give you a rundown of some of the biggest stories that made noteworthy headlines this year.
We started off the year on a high note with the release of Madonna’s 20th anniversary JAV, which hit the DVD shelves at the beginning of this year and skyrocketed Madonna's sales chart to new heights. The JAV studio's production department had curated an ensemble of finely picked actresses from its roster. Imagine the cream layer of the industry’s most sought-after MILFs coming together for a spectacle. This particular JAV was a part of Madonna’s 20th-anniversary celebration. As a cherry on top, 20 lucky fans stood a chance to win signed merch, including a special anniversary t-shirt autographed by the entire JAV cast. Take my dollars, already!
🕊️ご報告🕊️
— 西村ニーナ (@nina_nishimura) February 7, 2024
私西村ニーナは結婚いたしました💍
本物人妻です。
AV女優現役中に結婚を公表するというのは珍しい事なのですが一般的には喜ばしい事で、デビューして14年を迎えようとしている私には年齢的にも自然な事なのかなと思っています😌… pic.twitter.com/yRe4VqgAHM
Countdown to February: JAV’s very own busty goddess, Nina Nishimura, announced that she was officially hitched. Breaking the mold of silence that often shrouds the private lives of JAV actresses, Nina chose to share the good news with her fans, declaring herself a "real wife" over a post on her X, though she kept the identity of her man hidden. Lucky fella!
Meanwhile, FALENO made the most groundbreaking innovation, giving us a glimpse of what’s in store for us JAV fans in the age of artificial intelligence. The studio rolled out a JAV featuring an AI avatar rather than an actual JAV actress; it had developed under its sub-brand, NOSKINS. As per the JAV studio, Mirai happened to be 18, born in the new Japanese era. FALENO made good use of her innocent charm by claiming that she's got something special that real actresses lack. Sure, in the era of deepfakes and AI-generated models, you might argue that any AI creation could outshine mere mortals. But the revelation left the studio’s fan base scratching their heads, wondering if she was a full-blown AI creation or just some high-tech deepfake wizardry slapped onto the face of an existing actress in their lineup.
February had a lot to offer in terms of headlines. We had our fan favorite, Rara Anzai, making a cameo. Honestly, it was hard for me to believe my own eyes when I saw her pop on my Twitter feed, but a particular Japanese trading card manufacturer had raked in the sex siren for one of its collabs. But unfortunately, the appearance was short-lived, and the collab didn’t automatically translate into Rara making further appearances. I guess her agency is playing it safe for now, as getting Rara to appear nowadays is like trying to catch a rare Pokémon!
世界で150ボックス限定発売のLOVIN’YOU「Phoenix Masterpiece Edition」がついに登場します❗️
— LOVIN’ YOU OFFICIAL (@lovinuofficial) December 2, 2024
今年6月にLOVIN’YOU「Phoenix」シリーズが発売されると即完売となり、多くのファンの皆さまからお問い合わせをいただきました。これがその圧倒的な人気を証明しています。… pic.twitter.com/96pCwBGVQd
However, if you'd still like to get your hands on the trading cards, Lovin You just dropped a premium release of its collaboration with Rara featuring the actress' autographs. Go, get 'em!
In March, Moodyz dropped a bomb when we were least expecting a comeback news. We’d the legendary sex siren who made her exclusive debut with S1 and is famous for her tanned skin and M-cup big breasts among her fans, resurrecting out of nowhere. This was her first comeback in a 7-year-long absence streak; of course, it had to be special. Not that she hadn’t filmed a JAV in the meantime; in fact, she filmed a one-off JAV under Materiall back in 2022. However, these two resurrections have completely different meanings. The reason for the limited edition last time was that Materiall wanted to give something out for the fans to remember. But now it is a complete resurrection, which means that it is for real. Ruri wants to cement her position with a third stint, and as they say, “third time’s a charm.”.
The comeback was likely a compounded effect of her agency insisting she return to the AV industry during the pandemic, but she remained adamant. But her resurrection came with its fair share of questions. Fans grilled her over financial woes, midlife crises, and whatnot, but nevertheless, I’m still very excited to see her return, like her fans, and I sincerely wish her all the best for this comeback.
Ruri Saijo was not the only person who made a comeback in March. We had a whole studio, MUTEKI, making a comeback after 3 freakin years, and the girl they chose to revive their dormant stint in the JAV industry was none other than Kiho Kanematsu. So who’s this particular actress, out of the blue?
It happens so that she used to be a gravure idol and made her way into showbiz as a former member of the idol group AKB48, although she soon graduated from the group. Kiho managed to win a couple of big awards and also had a significant fan following. She had always had her eyes on making it big in JAV. At that time, it might’ve been a distant dream, but after she graduated from AKB48 and had changed her stage name to Kiho, and shot a sultry photoshoot for FLASH magazine, things took a turn for good. Muteki's scouts narrowed down on her while looking for talent, and not too long ago, the scouts directly reached out to her agency to finalize the paperwork.
Ai Hongo had a rough year to begin with. It all began with a well-known Japanese streamer, Junichi Kato, who accidentally leaked his whole FANZA purchase history on a Twitch stream. And it turns out that this guy had a huge crush on Ai Hongo.
The funny thing is, somehow Ai happened to catch the wind of this whole affair and decided not to waste any time seizing the golden opportunity and hopped onto Twitch!
Apparently, over 2000 fans tuned in for her first show, eager to see what the JAV hottie would bring to the world of streams. What was supposed to be a hilarious internet blunder turned into a win-win for Ai.
But things were about to go downhill for the S1 hottie who was spotted catching up at a baseball game at the Dodger’s stadium with the same streamer guy weeks later. At first, it might not have looked like a big deal, but soon it turned dark for the actress, Ai, who was labeled a ‘mistress’ and trolled online over the alleged affair with the streamer. You know Japanese fans can’t be very forgiving, right? And what happened to the guy? He walked out of it just fine. What’s even more amusing is the fact that even his wife backed him up through this whole ordeal.
I’d published an exposé column earlier going into the nitty-gritty of the incident. Since it was made public, the biggest question on every fan’s mind was whether Ai would continue to work in adult films. Let me make you aware that subsequent to the scandal, she had hinted at the possibility of retirement, leaving fans uncertain about her intentions.
いつも応援してくださっているファンの皆様、関係者の皆様、この度は大変なご迷惑をおかけしてしまいました事を深くお詫び申し上げます。
— 本郷 愛 (@ai_hongo_) September 19, 2024
事務所との話し合いの結果、しばらくの間活動をお休みさせていただくことになりました。…
Just shortly after the incident, to not much surprise, Ai’s agency, Bstar, issued an official statement regarding the situation on X. After careful deliberation, they announced that she would be taking a temporary break from all JAV-related work. This includes canceling all scheduled events and ceasing her activities on social media platforms.
But if readers were to overlook this particular incident, Ai had a pretty good start to the year by being named as a finalist for the upcoming Minato Ward casting call for the highly anticipated new edition of the "Like a Dragon" video game series. The winners were announced on July 19, 2024, during RGG’s broadcast.
July was another month for some heartbreaking news; this time, the JAV agency Bstar announced on behalf of Moe Amatsuka that she would hold a special live stream on YouTube that set the stage for her retirement announcement. Nobody expected that she would make a revelation like this over a livestream on her agency’s YouTube channel. Honestly, it took me a day or two to process the news, and I’m still reeling from it. Meanwhile, FALENO, her studio, threw her a proper send-off with a special anniversary flick. Fourteen of her classics. Interestingly, this special anniversary JAV film not only contains a compilation of old films, but FALENO also includes a new scene, which is said to be Moe Amatsuka's 100th JAV. Now that was quite an emotional sendoff.
今日のFCパーティ、そして先ほどのyoutube配信で、私の伝えたいことはしっかり伝えることができました!
— 天使もえAmatsuka Moe🍒🐇 (@amatsuka_moe) July 28, 2024
みんなの気持ちが落ち着いてからで大丈夫です。
みんなが今どんなことを感じて、何を考えているのか、今のみんなの気持ちを教えてください。… pic.twitter.com/jD2ig6gI4z
Earlier in May, we had Moe share the stage with JAV darling Airi Kijima, to treat their collective fanbase to an epic collab. You might be assuming this must’ve been for a JAV, but rather the duo chose to hold a concert collectively for the first time. Imagine the ear-numbing cheer that went down when these two graced the stage together; prime Coldplay might’ve looked like a joke. Just kidding.
The audience witnessed a ‘once in a lifetime’ kind of crossover with the duo performing several of the tracks of the significant other during a live gig. Yes, you read that right. It’s amazing how the duo belted out each other's hit tracks. It seemed as if both had a gala sharing the stage together.
But for the poor souls who missed a beat, the organizers came to the rescue with a solution: a pre-recorded premiere of the concert! For a mere 3,000 yen (that's roughly 20 bucks, readers!), one could experience the magic from the comfort of their own home. Talk about a steal!
日本のずっと応援してくれてるファンの方々へ。
— DJ Mao - Mao Hamasaki™ (@Hamasaki_mao) August 9, 2024
「 浜崎真緒引退します! 」
急にびっくりさせちゃったね。
ごめんね!
浜崎真緒としてこの業界で
ありがたい事に13年間もいさせてもらえて本当にありがとうございました。
でも、そろそろ引退時かなって
自分の中でたまに思ってたりもしてました!… pic.twitter.com/V9odAQbjml
Moving on, Mao Hamasaki, who had a rocky start to the year after having battled a life-threatening injury on her arrival to Hong Kong, just revealed via her X that she had quit the JAV industry. Mao, whose last appearance as a zombie in a Korean flix on Netflix had grabbed quite a few eyeballs, had been on a break since late 2023, and while fans were waiting for the worst to happen, it finally did happen. I mean, honestly, I didn’t see this coming. One minute she's getting harassed following her DJ set, the next she’s succumbed to a mysterious condition right after touching down in Hong Kong for her gig. Let's not forget that mysterious illness she picked up on her DJ tour. Now, Mao is currently actively pursuing DJ gigs at different venues around the world.
Following in the footsteps of Mao Hamasaki, we have Minami Aizawa shedding her JAV bombshell skin for a DJ set. Come next year, Minami is set to adopt a whole new avatar, "pixeL," and embark on a career as a DJ, not that she hasn’t already.
As per a post on her Instagram, the promotions are set to begin with Minami releasing a new single on January 11, next year, under her DJ alias, Pixel. Further details about her upcoming performances and shows are likely to be announced shortly, for which she has also set up a new Instagram account to connect with her fans and followers.
Earlier, we reported on how Minami confessed her desire to not continue with her JAV stage name because she had a stigma with it as people associated the name with her adult career. Though the name change was a thing of concern back then, it’s now understandable as to why she chose to stick to that decision. Now that she has revealed what was in her mind all this while, it’d be interesting to watch whether she will conquer the local scene or take her music to the international stage. Only time will tell.
In August, we witnessed how JAV talent agency AllPro made its ultimate attempt to save its sinking boat. For the unversed, the agency changed its entire identity set from AllPro to Alp, even so the X account @allpro_jp. Part of the renovation also saw it overhaul of the agency’s official website as per the visual identity. AllPro, the agency that dominated the JAV scene for a while with actresses like Ruri Saijo, Miu Shiromine, Kurea Hasumi & more, had undergone a complete overhaul, transforming into Alp.
So, what pushed them for this dramatic overhaul? Well, it seems that AllPro's troubles had run deeper than they’d initially thought. The agency was embroiled in a scandal involving one of its talents (name undisclosed for confidential purposes), leading to a major fallout with eight other major agencies in the industry. This resulted in AllPro losing a significant portion of its talent, and the agency was shown in a bad light for how it conducted its business.
To survive, AllPro had to regroup. One of their strategic moves was to merge with Arrow, a smaller agency that could be considered All_pro's backyard. Though there hasn’t been noise on the agency’s part in the recent past, it’d be interesting to watch what they’ve in store for 2025.
But we did see our fair share of comebacks. In September, we had the fan favorite, Meguri, make a comeback. If you guys were to believe, the plans for her comeback began to take shape by the end of 2023, and with Madonna being on a spree to retrieve former actresses from retirement like Yuna Shiina & Rena Fukiishi, it all felt like we’d zapped back to ten years earlier. Apparently, Madonna reached out to Meguri’s agency to express interest in her return. The idea resonated with both parties, and she was eager to make a comeback. More likely it was because of the work that Madonna wanted to shoot.
However, there were some logistical hurdles to overcome. Being away from the industry had made Meguri go out of shape, so she needed time to prepare herself for the demands of filming JAV, ensuring that she was in peak physical and mental condition, and if rumors were to be believed, she didn't enter the studio until April, but all this while it was hush-hush until Madonna finally decided to drop the trailer.
But the pursuit had started already since the Taiwan Shot Expo was held in Taipei earlier this year. Meguri had shown interest in the possibility of making a comeback to JAV. Back then the actress had even spilled the beans about a scheduled filming time that aligned exactly with her return.
Perhaps the strongest blow to the industry this year was the retirement of the legendary JAV actor Shimiken. Contrary to how many of his female contemporaries often announce their retirement with events and all the noise that one could think of, Shimiken chose a more understated exit. The ‘79-born actor had cut his workload to half since the end of 2023 before officially ceasing his JAV shoots in April 2024.
In an emotional interview on Youtube, as retirement loomed over his head, Shimiken had shared that he began reducing his workload as early as October 2023, feeling it was time to slow down after decades in the industry.
By April 2024, Shimiken completed his final shoot, marking the end of an era in his extensive career. He also clarified that, unlike many in the field, he chose not to film a specific "retirement work" as a closing chapter. Shimiken's career had spanned more than 20 years, making him a rare male icon in the female-dominated JAV industry.
Even more disheartening was the realization that Ai Sayama too had announced her retirement, but rather discreetly to her exclusive fan base. The 35-year-old bombshell had revealed that she will be retiring from the industry after filming what might be her last JAV this December. And, the retirement work, as you all guessed, is expected to be released in September 2025.
Part of the reason Ai chose to retire could be that she has a lot on her plate right now. For those living under rocks, Ai is already an active member of the idol group started by Anri Okita, "Black Diamond." Ai performs under the stage name Love. She will also remain active as Sayama Fa at Red Dragon, ensuring that the select few who enjoy her private accompaniment stay satisfied. But we hope that beginning in 2025, she flips her mind on the decision.
However, readers will be glad to know that it has been confirmed that Kana Momonogi will be starring in IdeaPocket’s latest outing, i.e., IPZZ-474, scheduled for release in January next year. I guess this is enough to excite her fans, who have been anticipating a comeback from the actress for a while now.
If you recall, we had earlier discussed on the blog her absence from recent releases sparking concern. Rumors of potential conflicts with her management company, Life Pro, had been doing the rounds, adding to the uncertainty surrounding her career, as Kana's profile picture had been taken down from the studio's homepage, while there were no promotional images on Life's website for her events. Also, it seemed Kana and her agency did not follow each other on social media. But, I'm glad that she's back now!
Farewell JAV Fans, until we meet next year with some more exciting scoops. Until then keep following us on X for further updates!
By trapstar @ July 4th, 2023
By trapstar @ January 1st, 2023
By trapstar @ March 21st, 2023