Hey everyone, yfooCollector here with the News Recap for September. This month had a lot of crazy and baffling events around the JAV industry, the most shocking of which is SOD's apparent departure from FANZA. There were quite a number of retirements and revivals as well, making me anxious about what happens this fall.
 

FANZA delists SOD titles from July

On September 10th FANZA surprisingly delists SOD Create titles from July to September; they also canceled pre-orders for the month of October a few days later. Up to now there is still no news or statements behind the withdrawal and we are just left wondering what is going on. I have little insight to offer about the implications of this move that wasn't already covered by WoodOfTheRisingSun's amazing article on the topic.

A person receiving an email saying FANZA has discontinued system handling for SOD titles.

However I can offer is some of my thoughts about the handling of this incident as an AV fan. What bugs me the most about the SOD withdrawal is how both sides not communicating anything, the closest we have to an official statement is Natsume Hibiki's tweet, and the discussion about it has turned to rumors and speculations. A prevalent one is that SOD has been hit with an ethics complaint about the mosaics in their films. This is weird for me as in my eyes the SOD mosaics have been the same as it ever was and why would they only take out 3-4 months worth of films from the catalog if that was the case. Related to the non-withdrawal of the full catalog, SOD Create still had three VR films listed in DMM for pre-order after this incident which makes me curious if this was an oversight from the withdrawal or something else.

Lauren Karen and Nishimoto Meisa debut films were released during this tumultuous period

Another interesting thing to look out for is how the delisting would affect SOD's debut works. SOD debuts have always been a hit in sales and they have two noteworthy debuts that are affected by the delisting. We have Lauren Karen, a hafu and a model before she made the jump to JAV and Meisa Nishimoto an underground idol. Meisa Nishimoto is quite unique as it looks like she will be continuing her idol activities under the name Sarina Toyama concurrent with her AV career. All in all I hope we get more information about SOD and FANZA's next moves soon.

Moe Amatsuka and Tsubomi contract the Coronavirus

In April, Abe Mikako was believed to be the first ever reported Corona virus case in the JAV industry. For a few months there weren't really any other publicly known infections in the industry, until this month we have both Moe Amatsuka and Tsubomi announcing that they have both been infected by the virus. This news, although inevitable, is still pretty sad and just exacerbates the pandemic's effects on the industry.  As June Lovejoy has stated in her interview with AsianBoss, the industry as a whole is earning less due to the pandemic especially since they rely on live events to boost physical sales.

Bstar announcing Moe Amatsuka had tested positive for COVID.

Moe Amatsuka has already refunded a live event due to the illness and even her participation in online events could have been canceled if her condition worsened. The virus seems to have also slowed down Moe's other projects such as promoting her own fan site and promoting her new pink film. Thankfully she was physically fit enough to still do some online events and live streams even one collaboration with an NFT. Last month I talked about how NFT has taken over the industry as more and more actresses have been signed as endorsers for the tokens and I believe a huge factor for this trend is the reduced earnings from the pandemic.

Tsubomi's photo in her blog post

Tsubomi's infection was announced in her blog post where she details how she felt the symptoms but tested negative the first time around, however after still experiencing symptoms opted for a second test where it finally turned positive. The virus didn't seem to stop, in my opinion, one of the most hard working actresses in the industry as even while isolating she was still doing a lot of work such as streams and content for her fa2y (a fan club site). There is some good news in all of this as Tsubomi was able to get vaccinated while recovering and she seems eager to go back to work. With the vaccines steadily rolling out in Japan, hopefully these there would be less to report about people in the AV industry getting infected.

Eimi Fukada becomes the most searched keyword on FANZA

FANZA's most searched keywords

For my last headline I have a bit lighter news with Eimi Fukada's newest achievement of being the most searched keyword in FANZA for September. Mature Woman or [熟女] has been the undisputed top search term in FANZA for the longest time; however it was usurped by Eimi Fukada's name. This is quite an achievement as it is an individual actress name and not a category or tag that became the most searched term, although Yua Mikami is not far behind at third place. 

Screen caps from Eimi Fukada's AV shoot vlog

There are quite a number of factors for this achievement as Eimi Fukada has always been a popular AV actress but what I think really pushed her to a wider audience is her successful YouTube channel. She only started uploading this January but it has already garnered 700k+ subscribers and already has a lot of 1 million views videos on the channel. While her popularity is not reflected in the physical sales charts, she has been in the top 10 of monthly digital sales for the last couple of years now. Digital AV sales charts usually have "mainstream" and popular actresses on consistently high rankings, as opposed to physical sales that are dominated by debuts and hyped movies like Momo Sakura's first creampie film.

[MIDE-981] Eimi Fukada's first film as a MOODYZ exclusive

What is really impressive about Eimi Fukada being the most popular search term is that this all happened during a period of inactivity for her. A few months ago I reported that in the Youtube video above she has stated that she has signed to be a MOODYZ exclusive. From the release of that vlog in July, Eimi has not released a new film until it was formally announced that MIDE-981 would her first film under MOODYZ. This upcoming film was also the shoot that was featured in the vlog back in July. For me this piece of news just solidifies Eimi's superstar status in the industry.

Other Headlines

Social media and other news

• Yuki Rumina was arrested for possession of illegal substances. The linked article talks about the arrest extensively if you want more details.
• Nanami Matsumoto created a Twitter account to document her journey in studying for an accountant's license, possibly preparing for her retirement.
• Sora Shiina starts an OnlyFans.
• Kana Momonagi and Karen Kaede made English Twitter accounts, which might be life-promotion trying to capture the western audience.
• Mana Sakura teases a big announcement but it turns out it was just a 2nd YouTube channel.
• Amakawa Sora and Aozora Hikari start their YouTube channels.
• Takahashi Shouko lifts creampie ban since her debut.
• T-powers revamps their website, I think the photos they used looks quite similar to 8manpro's 8woman project.
• HerHers, an AV distribution site, launches this month. They promise a fairer cut for the actresses and agencies as well as extra goodies from the actresses. Their library is still pretty thin and only time will tell if it the site will take off.
• Wan Horikita returns to twitter under a new handle. Apparently she can no longer use her old account (tied to her old agency wish).

Transfers and Revivals

• Chiharu Sakai returns after 10 months of hiatus.
• Yume Kana becomes a WANZ exclusive actress.
• Yuka Hodoka revives as Dahlia exclusive.
• Sora Kamikawa revives under the name Yui Tenma. 
• Former Prestige exclusive Kokone Mizutani/Rio Fujisaki returns after 2 years.
• Yumi Shion graduates from S1 after 3 years.
• Takeda Elena renames Natsume Mirai.
• Shoko Akase, who I just reported to retire last month, revives as Usami Suzu.
• Midorikawa Miyabi revives as just MIYABI.

Retirements and Announcements

• Yukina Shida, Amu Hanamiya, Kanon Ibuki/Kinofuki, Momoka Nakazawa, Sana Moriho, Yuuka Hoshi, Nako Hoshi, Isaki Rian.
• Yui Misaki to retire in March 2022.
• Nozomi Hikari retires, attracting a stalker was one of the reasons for her retirement..
• Karina Nishida retires after 7 years.
• Mari Rika retires a 2nd time.