JAV News - May 2021 Edition by Mangochin

Published : May 2nd, 2021 Written by Mangochin

Prestige Parts Ways with DMM/FANZA/R18

If you live under a rock, or refuse to buy AV works, you may have not heard that Prestige and DMM/FANZA had parted ways. Prestige is the “largest studio and distributor”. Prestige is probably known by the western communities for their Absolute Best series, but their amateur videos on MGS are quite popular as well. A spokesman in 2019 for Prestige said “Our strength is our ability to discover” and substantially lowered the entry bar into AV by going for people with looks, rather than hiring well known talents.

Why does this matter? Primarily, the lack of English support on MGS’s website (and the payment hurdle, requiring points for non-JP credit cards) will essentially lead to a block off of new users who strictly use R18. Not their greatest move, but hopefully it’ll generate a larger push towards their amateur videos from studios such as Moon Force and Jackson. Prestige does gain the fact that they don’t have to deal with DMM’s 70% cut, which is already a win… at least short term.

Somewhat related, is the removal of Mercury and First Star studios, which also pulled out of DMM/R18. While netizens have claimed rumors about SOD pulling out as well, there is no basis for this, coming from inside sources. Meanwhile, AVER had shut down its website, and it's parent KMP, has moved from Top Marshal to DMM, which caused the shutdown of sites like AVER.


 

Where is Meguri?

As I’m sure many fans are aware, we had a blog update sometime last year regarding her temporary hiatus due to her eggs being frozen, along with being part of a new blockbuster movie, Lockdown. So why isn’t she back to doing work?

Well, there’s something that you may have heard of… called a pandemic. Yes. Unlike most of her counterparts, Meguri has been avoiding going back to filming due to COVID. She stated on Twitter that in the case of work, there isn’t an option to avoid kissing etc. to prevent the spread of COVID, especially in her line of work.

I honestly wouldn’t save my breath for too long, as she’ll probably be out for awhile. If I were to speculate on the future situation of Japan, I suspect COVID will be prevalent by the end of 2021.

In the mean-time she continues to frequent the FANZA live chats on DMM (requires a VPN if outside Japan), which pays out at 200 yen/minute per person. By my estimations, she makes 1.5k-2.5k USD per session off that alone, so you don’t need to worry too much about her; although, I’m unaware of the percentage she takes home, as there’s staff to pay, and it’s done in a studio.

She also now has a ManyVids profile, which is censored... and without content for now.


Abe Mikako Tests Positive for COVID

Speaking of COVID, Abe Mikako was the first big AV actress to be diagnosed with COVID and she took to sharing her suffering on Twitter. As of writing this piece, vaccines have only been available to health care workers in Japan.

Due to the nature of how AV is filmed, all staff workers are in close contact with each other, there’s not really an option to “social-distance”, putting all workers at risk. (examples can be found below)

 

Abe noted issues of severe ear pain, but no fever and still has normal smell and taste. In addition, she’s also losing her appetite and having trouble concentrating.

Abe has since moved to an “epidemic hotel” which has been used to allow people to recuperate in isolation for the safety of others, and decrease the stress on the hospital system.   Based on her SNS posts, it seems that she’s mentally toughing it out, and trying to show her strong side to fans, despite the decrease in appetite.


Nanami Kawakami Retiring?

Also, Nanami Kawakami has announced her retirement, which I’ll explain in detail along with a translated interview, so be on the lookout for that.

I left you on a cliff-hanger? So sue me :)

Comments


spaten78 3 years ago
That 70% cut is huge. In the US, there is a court case starting about Apple's 30% cut from the App Store, and I think OnlyFans takes 20%, but 70% is wild...even with the guaranteed audience, etc. I have noticed more active actresses jumping on various platforms. Mion Hazuki started OnlyFans, Kurea Hasumi started Fan Centro, etc. I wonder if newer actresses will start these platforms or if it will mainly be well established actresses. Appreciate this news coverage!
ZENRA 3 years ago

I think studios leaving DMM like this may have something of a domino effect. Overall, this is a good thing for near everyone except DMM. We're keenly awaiting future announcements on their site to see if any other studios leave. Even if they shed more smaller partners, it's still something. Sort of like how Japanese cell phone companies for the longest time had super high rates until they were legally ordered otherwise (plus the rise of many MVNO's), perhaps down the line they may lower their own cut to lure studios back.

nanashi 3 years ago
Maxing is leaving at the end of the month.
Mangochin 3 years ago

Yep! We'll include in next month's post (if there is one), assuming there's more fallout. Maxing is pretty much already slowly dying at the moment, so at this point it doesn't mean much asides from unless they can revive themselves from an increase in payout... which isn't happening unless they can sign exclusives, and redefine their identity to fans (which will require exclusives).

mukai ai numba one 3 years ago
Why doesnt prestige create their own platform to buy the movies?70% cut sounds horrible, but setting up a website to sell stuff aint hard. Add english support on it and you got your buyers back no?
ZENRA 3 years ago

Prestige's parent company owns MGStage which is a pretty big platform ala DMM (various studios besides Prestige sell there). It's not as big as DMM in terms of traffic, but it's not small either.

rando 3 years ago
Hey! Chanced upon this blog from r/JAV and ended up reading the whole thing - really interesting since I had no idea this stuff existed (though to be fair, why wouldn't it? It's just another following like any other part of the entertainment industry).Keep it up!
Mangochin 3 years ago

Welcome! Hope you enjoy the blog! :) No promises on boring you to death though :P

short hair lover 3 years ago
70% cut? That's robbery! Didn't know it was that big. Hopefully they can make an international site like R18 since i love Remu Suzumori and Asuna Kawai as well some of their amateur content with my favorite actresses. (Missed the whole prestige sale so it sucked)
Mangochin 3 years ago

Yeah. That's why there's definitely business appeal to move out especially if you have a site that can handle it. As for an international site... I doubt anything will happen in the near future... the most I see Prestige doing in the next 3 years or so would be adding in auto-English translate to the site. The 70% cut comes with the benefits of being on the biggest distributor, website templates, DRM support, and convenience that most studios still use DMM/guaranteed customer base.

short hair lover 3 years ago
Not a complete new one maybe but at least some english on it would be nice. I used Chrome's translate function to navigate but it's still hard when it comes to search, and putting codes to search didn't work (maybe i did something wrong idk about this) only thing that worked was typing the one english word on the title (it was "broken" i think). But yeah, it would be great if they did at least some little things to make it better for non japanese speakers.
Mangochin 3 years ago

Hmmm, I haven't had issues with codes. If you search 428suke-016, Sarina's MGS work comes up just fine...Just tested ABW-054 without an issue. (You need to include the hyphen). Not sure if that's the issue you were having, but I feel for people who can't get around the websites... Maybe one day ZENRA will take over all the studios and put them here :) haha

short hair lover 3 years ago
Couldn't reply to the one under so i'll do it on this one but maybe it was because it was partial? I only typed MAAN because i knew the code for the series but not the exact one to the one i wanted. It just brings nothing that way.
Mangochin 3 years ago

You'll need the numbers in front of it for the MGS content. So rather than HYPN, you need 107HYPN. 300MAAN, 300JNT, 300JAC, 259LUXU, etc.

ZENRA 3 years ago

Prestige back in January starting putting up movies on AdultTime. They also have VR movies up on SLR. I do agree that not localizing MGStage is a travesty.

short hair lover 3 years ago
Didn't know about this site at all. Most of the western stuff i follow is creators on onlyfans and phub really.
Indojavfan 3 years ago
Thanks for the monthly Recap on the JAV world. Was just thinking when is Meguri's next video is coming :(. Guess have to wait longer for it. So selling video's on DMM would cost 70% from the producers that is very excessive, why didn't they all just set up their own website or group up and form a competing platform to DMM. Prestige is big enough I hope to survive, although their videos is not my cup of tea have to admit that their talent is very appealing.
Mangochin 3 years ago

Yeah, I know there's a lot of readers and writers who've been waiting for Meguri (myself included) to return to shooting.

Prestige will be completely fine IMHO. The benefit of DMM is that everything can be bought all in the same place, it's already well known and used. The downside for them is essentially, there is a smaller chance of new foreigners buying from them, just because of the lack of knowledge that the site exists. As for creating a new competing platform, Prestige already has that (mgstage.com) which has been functional, it just isn't foreigner-friendly. Studios could stop selling via DMM, but then they need something with a guaranteed customer-base, DRM protection, etc. Not to mention, by being a part of DMM, it allows them to use the website layouts iirc (which is why studios websites look nice). Also most studios have already had connections with DMM (and were owned by it at one point) so a lot of it attributes to loyalty/ Japanese business/traditional values I guess...

Also, Prestige's main studio (like the ABP/ABW series) isn't my cup of tea either, but their amateur stuff is pretty solid (the epitome of vanilla IMO)

Indojavfan 3 years ago
JAV now is the dominant porn in Asia, Southeast Asia too. The market is HUGEE!! If the producers feel that foreigners don't support their industry, the answer isn't more DRM or protection but more ease of use and access to their product. A subscription is a very good idea, something like porn hub gold for JAV. It might not be the answer to all but it's a start, access to older libraries older idols would probably help.
ZENRA 3 years ago

There already are a few other sites like DMM in Japan: the aforementioned MGStage, Duga, and more. Regardless of studio payout %, from an end-user perspective, they are near identical: basically the same prices for the same movies locked down with restrictive DRM requiring use of some dinky player. Studios should consider putting their wares on a fan-oriented DRM-free platform. Perhaps one with English subtitles like...well, you can figure it out. :)

Joking aside, the one studio I think is making the best of Japan's climate is Faleno. They seem to be releasing their movies first on their own platform for a short period of time before sending them out for wider release.

Mangochin 3 years ago

U-Next/H-Next isn't foreigner friendly though... like literally anti-foreigner... so I can't really endorse Faleno's move from a global perspective.

Indojavfan 3 years ago
Regarding DRM, isn't all JAV already being pirated to hell?? There are torrents, pirated streaming sites, might as well just put no DRM on it. Their present customer won't change, having more sales, cheaper prices, official subs for diff languages (esp China n Eng) will bring more revenue. Those who usually pirate won't spend any money with more DRM. They should go the CD Project kind of strategy.
Mangochin 3 years ago

Yes JAV is being pirated. Basically what has ended up happening asides from actresses posting on Twitter about noticing people not paying for their porn, is them calling out/ blocking them out, and begging for fans to support the industry. I honestly think the DRM argument is a bit silly though (from a pirate's point of view) as the videos aren't actually pulled for people who buy. Videos are only removed if there was illegal action while filming it. I'm a bigger fan of opting for changing the method of payments to subscription (and ways you can subscribe) and keep the DRM. I hear lots of complaints about DRM and those who say they'd support the industry if they could buy w/o DRM, but the only people it actually affects are people who want to make gifs, and want to use more shots than from the trailer. As a result, the industry stigmatizes foreigners as pirates who don't pay for porn etc... (you can check the end-bit in the June Lovejoy interview where she touches on it) but I'm basically in agreement w/ her.

ZENRA 3 years ago

DRM does not work. We tell studios this when we license and so far have gotten approval to show everything without it. If the platform can prove that while they go without DRM, they are strict with ensuring fraudulent signups do not happen and users can't easily abuse the system, they're more OK with not using 'copy-guard' (what DRM is often called in Japan).

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