A(nother) Star is Born! Kaoru Yasui debuts, resurrects Muteki

In JAV, 2-3 years is an eternity, even if your legacy is still out there. How many of you remember the studio Muteki? How about the idols Yua Mikami, Shoko Takahashi, Moko Sakura 桜もこ, Meguri めぐり, KAORI, Miko Matsuda 松田美子? The first three are still active, Meguri have promised to come back this year, and the last two left their marks in the hearts of many JAV fans too. Well they were all legacy of celebrity studio Muteki. (back then Meguri was known as Megu Fujiura 藤浦めぐ)

Since 2008, Muteki has been producing titles of a very specific kind: porns starring (often debuting) real celebrities. Many of them were quite sensational, or scandalous, as far as mainstream society is concerned. Actually if I would assign a brand image to Muteki, it’s that their debutants are sensational enough to attract attention of mainstream media.  

Muteki’s high point was the one-two punch of Yua Mikami 三上悠亜 and Shoko Takahashi 高橋しょう子 in 2015-2016. The pair dominated the JAV rankings even to this day.  Unfortunately, the good times faded thereafter, with the domestic industry-wide scandals amplified by the #MeToo movement in the USA, JAV became so toxic no celebrity came to Muteki after Moko Sakura, at the end of 2017 (TEK-096). Since that time Muteki went into hibernation, interrupted only once for their 10th year anniversary in a single title (TEK-097) at end of 2018. (But what an amazing anniversary celebration, pairing up their most brilliant debutants Yua and Shoko)

So effectively Muteki had ceased production for three full years. And then... in the last days of 2020, Muteki announced they will make a major announcements in the new year. Internet detectives quickly noticed that gravure idol Kaoru Yasui 安位薫 (check out also her IG) announced she will be making a major announcement as well. Sure enough, even before the actual announcements were officially announced, DMM already put the relevant title on the shelf for pre-order. Yes Muteki is back in operation, and debuting in the title TEK-098 on February 1st, drum rolls~~~ Kaoru Yasui 安位カヲル. Muteki is BACK, this could be huge!!! In fact we already noticed quite a few “celebs” making transition to JAV in recent months, just one more signs that a mini dark age for JAV is finally over. Dare we hope that resurrecting Muteki isn’t just a one-off marketing gimmick to double-boost promote a debutant? I mean... will there be a TEK-099, -100... debuting more celebs?

Anyway, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s get to know this newly born star right here. Kaoru Yasui 安位薫 debuted in the gravure world back in 2017. Unlike most girls, she wasn’t discovered or recruited by scouts. Even before her 18th birthday, she sought out a talent agency to launch a model career, claiming she was super confident of her statuesque figure. With a nice face and H-cup tits, she was featured in Weekly Playboy and released some image videos (IV). But in August (2020) she announced she is quitting her agency and will continue her career as a freelancer. A few slow months later (the pandemic does put a damper on everything) it’s finally revealed her freelancing career turned out to be JAV.

Some netizens are not feeling generous about this debut. Muteki had a reputation of making not-very-hardcore porn, after all, their brand image is legit celebs making (most likely) one-off porn job (Yua Mikami waited a full 6 months after her first title to make “good” the pledge that TEK-067 was an honest one-off １本限定) so it doesn’t make sense (or decency) to show their idol as cowgirls skillfully riding studs. Check out the trailer below, it's easy to confuse it for a G-rated image video (we've seen much racier visuals from sports magazine and lingerie show). Muteki actually came out stating clearly that there will be full-on cocksucking, pussylicking and penis-fully-inserted-into-vagina sexual intercourse.  Also the Doubting Thomas are quibbing that her celeb creds aren't as strong as many Muteki graduates and even doubt the authenticity of her breasts, and let's call a spade a spade: her mid-section is a bit flabby. One thing that's in her favor is her youth.  At barely 21 years old, she's a few years ahead of the game, compared to Yua and Shoko, and even Riri, at the time of their debuts. 

The marketing calculation worked out perfectly as planned.  Despite being open for pre-order only for the last three days of the month of December, she scored a double top-rankings for top DVD sales of the month and AV idol monthly ranking. And check out who she beat to make the top rank: no.3 Aka Asuka 有栖花あか is S1’s Rara-replacement; no.4 Yua Mikami, and no. 6 Shoko Takahashi were Muteki graduates, and no.5 Riri Nanatsumori 七ツ森りり was the reigning celeb JAV debutant of 2020. And no.2 Tojo Natsu 東條なつ didn't earn her excellent position in the ranking by (just) lying down, since graduating from Faleno she made 20 JAV titles in a month (I do hope she is keeping her birth canal well moisturized in these dry winter months). So for Kaoru Yasui, quite a successful launch amongst a strong field, we will have to wait and see if she’s bringing the goods back.