JAV News Roundup - February 2023 - Volume 4

Trapstar here, reporting live from ZENRA headquarters. Bringing you the latest buzz in the Twitter JAV space in recent days

Madonna Makes A Breathrough Announcement

The recent headline of Madonna roping in an AV veteran for their upcoming JAV has taken the industry by storm, moreover the fans are aghast so let us dive in and find out what this hype is all about. While Yu Shinoda's recruitment by the studio was pretty much a PR stunt, the recent inclusion of Yuna Shiina in the roster has took back many by surprise. The actress in her mid 30s who had left the industry at her peak, is now making a comeback after almost a decade.

"Eh...I'm number one in the rankings! Ah, nice to meet you! Or I'm back! I am back after 10 years. Perhaps I have kept you waiting too long. Please come back and visit us again!"

For the uninitiated, Yuna was one of the most popular adult stars in Japan as well as overseas before she had a change of heart and decided to abruptly leave the industry in 2015 at the peak of her career. The secret behind her success has to be credited to her charming personality and sultry looks, more so than her acting skills that had her cultist fans revert back to her on a loop. However, her sudden decision to quit the industry midway had left her fans heartbroken, and ever since then they had been eagerly awaiting of her return.

The hype is real with this one ever since Madonna pulled the cover off the much anticipated comeback. Take for reference, this recent column by our in house Yuna Shiina fanboy Opppaira, who cites that all this feels so nostalgic. Indeed, it does feel nostalgic and the fact that she still manages to pull off the same look stands true to the testament that Yuna has hardly put on any weight, which frankly makes her apt to play a mature role as per the plot demands. I’m certain this sultry physique could adapt to the dynamics of any plot, While penning down this column, I find myself to be in such awe of the Yuna and the fact that she is 36 in today’s age is frankly quite hard to digest. Yuna hasn’t aged a bit, ever since she left the AV business,

With the recent developments, It doesn’t come as surprise that studios like Madonna are hell bent on bringing back yesteryear AV actresses to fill the void left behind by the gruesome AV law in the past year and attract loyal AV fans to account for some additional AV sales. It certainly also affected the actresses dependent on the industry for their livelihood. Many of these actresses had a massive fan following and had to abruptly leave the industry at it’s peak, leaving the fans craving more.

Madonna's decision to bring them back to relevance has certainly given their fans a reason to rejoice. For instance, take Yuna’s surprising comeback, in particular, which has sparked a lot of interest among her close knit fanbase and also in the wider array of AV fans. I’m confident most fans are eagerly awaiting the release of AVs which she will be a part of in the recent future. A recent one has been doing the rounds on the studio’s official Twitter, the trailer looks tempting to say the least. At this point, it isn’t just her fans who remain ecstatic; like I said, the whole AV business seems eager to see her back on the big screen.

Though not all welcomed the good news, some took it with a pinch of salt downright criticising Yuna’s motive behind the comeback, citing that the 36 year old was facing some financial issues that led her to pursue a second stint at her former profession

Stay updated with Yuna Shiina's Twitter

Prestige Actress Cites AV Law Behind Her Early Retirement

Too early for an AV actress to cut short her career midway and take an early retirement from the AV business. Ririya Hyudou who made her debut from Prestige in early 2021 had become quite famous for her distinct blonde look, a look that remains a standout feature for the actress, a feature that made her well received in whatever sort of cult following she had, as she has been the subject of comparison to other actresses in the industry in the past. However, confusion arose among fans due to the multiple variations of her alias that had been doing the rounds in the internet for a while post her debut. The 23 year old Riria, an occasional AV actress, made her debut with Prestige Studio and quickly gained popularity among fans. Even to this day most of her work is being sold on MGS Marketplace considering she has remained inclined towards Prestige studio for the length of her career, a stark contrast to the rest of the industry. Her bio now remains indicative of the fact that she retired from AV having made her debut in early February, 2021. Unfortunately, for Riria the new AV law had similar implications to those of other actresses in the industry. "Thank you for all your support I am retiring from porn today, which is the 2nd anniversary of my debut as Riria Hido. I started this because I wanted to be famous and thanks to you, here I am! I will continue to be at Gingira Tokyo, so please come see me while I'm here, I hope you will continue to follow my activities!" wrote the actress in a statement

Quite frankly, it’s hard to make of much from her online activities. It’s likely because she prefers remaining low key on the platform and if you were to scour her Twitter, you’d find a plea for fans to sign a petition seeking revisions to the law, among few of her latest updates. For the uninitiated, this remains a primary hint that incoming offers had depleted for the 23 year old, who remains one of the latest to be impacted by the new regulations. Though I couldn’t figure out the intent behind this move i.e. her retirement, It’s likely that with the challenges posed by the new law, Riria had succumbed to the internal pressures of the adult business.

I somehow felt like she has a strong resemblance to AIKA, which only added to her appeal, with many fans even fondly recognizing her in the leagues of JAV’s gyaru actresses. To  a certain extent, this retirement comes as a big blow for her fans who followed her so closely. More so for the fans who enjoyed her performances and admired her for her distinct blonde look, face an undoubtedly bigger loss, now that they find themselves in the crossroads and with her current condition. However if at all one remains aware of the situation in the recent few months, most of my previous columns have loitered around the same issue at hand. The new AV law had a significant impact on many performers, but Riria is among the latest who got butchered down as a consequence of the AV law.

Overall I feel like Riria's career in the AV industry was brief but impactful. No two thoughts pertaining to the fact that she is a talented performer who quickly gained a following, but unfortunately, the changing legal landscape in Japan’s adult industry led to her early retirement. Nevertheless, I hope her fans will take time to reminisce her and continue to enjoy her past JAVs.

Stay updated with Riria Hyuodou's Twitter

Nagi Hikaru Releases First AV Post Name Change

Frequent readers of this roundup know that we were among the very first to break this story, having covered this in a past column. Also unsurprisingly, it had garnered a lot of attention. Having seemed familiar to the fans of Rara Anzai, who might have found an an uncanny resemblance to the comebacks. Fast forward to this day, Nagi Hikaru aka Shiose or whatever you prefer calling her has her first AV hit the store shelves all while we’re busy gushing over Yuna Shiina’s comeback. This certainly is a ‘feel good’ news for the fans of the actress who were eagerly anticipating her return to the screen.

Some recent rumors also suggested that she may not appear as an S1 girl on her second stint in the industry. Rumors as wild as that she may be considering a career switch to a different studio had gave way to anxious fans but the recent developments seem to bash any such perception. With S1 teasing the Eightman talent as the ‘J-cup beauty who tempts to captivate men’, that is quite a way to sell out your comeback AV.

Back in November, the actress hinted at her comeback on Twitter, "Nice to meet you and long time no see. I am back at Eightman. From now on, I will continue my acting career as Hikaru Nagi, so please support me. My gravure is in today's issue of Weekly Post. Take a look!" revealing that she had adopted a new alias. However, since we dropped the column mentioning her comeback, there has been little to no news about her whereabouts or future plans. Despite the lack of concrete information, fans were quick to voice their support for the actress and have expressed their hope that she will return to the screen soon. Many of them did also suggest that a move to a different studio could be a positive step for her career and could offer her new opportunities to showcase her talents.

The striking similarities between Nagi and her accomplice from the new office are pretty evident. Considering how Rara had been among those to initiate the trend of multiple name changes in the past. I’m quite confident that she picked a page or two from her senior’s journal on how to stay relevant in the adult industry even after all these years. On record, the J-cup goddess is just one name away from beating Rara at her own game. That being said, I willingly hope she remains stuck to her name for a while or by the look of it such frequent name changes are sure to make her irrelevant in the near future.

Nagi's return to S1 Studio has stirred up mixed reactions from her fans. Fans contemplated a future transfer but as the release date for her new movie was revealed earlier on Monday, it n=became quite clear that the actress isn’t headed anywhere, anytime soon. The announcement of her comeback AV has certainly brought a new level of excitement among her followers, with the new movie set to go on sale on March 10th, as per the product page.

Despite the anticipation and excitement, there are mixed opinions regarding her comeback. While some are eager to see her back and wants Nagi to actively pursue JAV for the recent couple of months, others are skeptical of her return to S1 after such a long hiatus and now with new faces added in the roster. Chances of her making it big this time likely seems slim however for the time being, her loyal fans have been eagerly waiting for this moment and are excited to see her once again on the big screen.

Nagi's return to S1 Studio is a major milestone in her career, and her fans can’t wait to see her back in action. With the release date of her new movie just around the corner, her fans are counting down the days until they can watch her on the big screen again.

Stay updated with Nagi Hikaru's Twitter

JAV's Favorite Gyaru Idol Debuts On Youtube

Better late than never! For those living still under the rocks, I thought I’d let you guys know that you all’s favorite gyaru idol, especially drk (shoutout to AIKA’s top fan who perhaps already knows of the development) AIKA has hopped onto the Youtube wagon. The the 32 year old adult star recently launched her own YouTube channel which she uses as a platform to be vocal of the stories related to different facets of her life. In the meanwhile, she has covered a plethora of topics in her videos mostly revolving around her work, life and hobbies. One could say she has been using the channel as her personal journal to document her journey, "Up until now, I've only been a guest on the show, but I didn't have my own CH. You should be on YouTube! I know it's a little late to start now, but I made it in the hope that it will be a tool for people to get to know AIKA in the form of a supplement rather than a buzz from here", the actress said in her own statement via a tweet referring to the launch of the channel in early months of this year. However, it is worth noting that her YouTube channel currently does not support English subtitles for her western fans besides the usual hard-encoded Japanese. Nevertheless, AIKA's fans seem to be enjoying her content, and can do with the rough transcription for the moment, and the fact that the channel has been growing steadily since its launch is a testament that her content is being appreciated by her fanbase.

Like I mentioned earlier, Aika had been teasing her very own venture that as per the actress she had worked on for a year now has finally come to fruition, "In 2022, I had six months to make the most of what I have done so far to build the company, learn, open a store, and stand in the store. This year, I will add more friends, welcome more customers, and I'll be moving on to the next stage of expansion! We will be making announcements later this week, so stay tuned! Thank you for your support!". The actress revealed that she has opened a high-end men's grooming salon and shared the motive behind the venture, "I have seen the most naked actors in my life. It's because I've seen these actors that I've been able to see them naked the most. I've seen them with unkempt hair, dirty hair, and even if they have a pie pan, it still hurts to tinkle. I'm not sure if it's the same thing."

In one of her recent Youtube videos, Aika denoted that she has been using some patented hair removal technology to treat her customers in her salon which primarily caters to a male customer base although you are bound to find her industry friends Yui Hatano and Hibiki Otsuki occassionally making an appearence. Further in the video, the 32 year old actress admitted that has always been passionate about providing high-quality services to her customers, and this venture seems to be a reflection of that. The salon has been designed to provide a luxurious experience to its customers and is equipped with the latest technology and equipment in the game if so you ever make your mind to give her a visit in the future. In his recent outing, AV actor Himori tweeted of his experience at AIKA's salon. One could get an idea of the technology being used at her salon by referncing the tweet embedded below.

"ONE OFF is a hair removal salon produced by AIKA. I had a chance to experience the salon. It is a state-of-the-art hair removal machine, so it was almost painless and rather comfortable. The staff at ONE OFF was so friendly and supportive while I was there, it really made me feel relaxed!"

Apart from her entrepreneurial ventures, JAV’s favorite gyaru gal is also keeping herself busy by attending fan meet events and hosting industry friends at her salon, I wonder if she charges them for the service? She was recently spotted at bookstore for an event where she signed autographs for her fans and even served as the store manager for a whole day, The actress referenced of the same in her tweet. While on the work front, a casual scroll through her Twitter will make one believe that she isn't actively pursuing AV at the moment however I could be wrong with my assumptions.

"Sorry for the delay, but yesterday's signing & one-day store manager Thank you very much. It's been a long time since I've seen you at Trend Bookstore. And wowwowtonight who had a full table and talked all the time! The members are too great and it was a fun memory. I look forward to going again!"

It is inspiring to see AV actresses like AIKA leveraging Youtube as a platform to document her journey in the industry and having such raw interactions with her fans which would have been only possible otherwise via fan meets if anything less. It is a reminder that adult industry performers are multifaceted individuals who have a life outside of their work. I’m glad after all these years the 32 year old idol has found something of worth to put her talent to work besides AV and her entrepreneurial venture is a testament to her ambition and dedication towards providing top-notch services to her fans.

To wrap things up I believe AIKA's YouTube channel offers an interesting peak into the life of an adult actress turned entrepreneur which may not have been suitable for everyone if she hadn’t decided to upload her content on Youtube, at the same time it is also fascinating to track the personal and professional journey of a veteran adult industry performer while she transitions from shooting av to taking up more challenging role as an entrepreneur in a male dominated society or one that discourages females from turning up. It will be interesting to see how AIKA's salon venture progresses and how she continues to document her journey through her YouTube channel in the near future.

Stay updated with AIKA's Twitter, Instagram & Youtube

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