Yuu Kawakami - BDSM Japan
Translation and Timing by ZENRA
 

WAAP releasing an (almost) pure BDSM title is quite unexpected.  The closest you'd get may be their sister studio DREAM TICKET that often veers towards titles that have elements of sadomasochism in them, but still are more "JAV" than anything else.  So picture my surprise when perusing WAAP's back catalog on our most recent licensing spree to find out not only did they release a hard BDSM movie, but it stars none other than everyone's favorite YUU KAWAKAMI.

Rather than go with one of those extra long names most JAV titles seem to opt for, today's update's original name--and the one we're going to be using for obvious reasons--is simply BDSM JAPAN.  That's it.  Two words.  Doesn't get any more straight-forward than that.  The question, though, is whether this is a great title.  Does it hold up compared to other WAAP releases?  Will it satisfy the needs of pure BDSM fans?

The short answers to those two questions:  somewhat and kinda.

I'll admit I'm not a major fan of really hard BDSM titles like today's update so this review is being written by someone who may not be an ideal judge of what's good and what isn't in this genre of adult video.  I can say that with my experience working on content from many JAV studios and production teams that visually BDSM JAPAN is pretty good.  However, while shot with some very nice gear, I found the production finesse to be a bit lacking.  Rather than being intentionally rough around the edges as we've seen in some DREAM TICKET titles where the director purposely makes the filming appear brutish, I felt the at-times shaky camera and sporadic audible breathing coming from the cameraman were more from inexperience.

I think there is a fine line between being a great practitioner of BDSM and being a competent JAV director and sadly the two don't seem to mix often.  Ideally--and hopefully in the future if WAAP desires to return to this series--a skilled director such as K*WEST could handle the actual production whereas the BDSM expert can simply appear in front of the camera and work on the actress.  Having the latter's team handle everything could lead aforementioned production missteps.

Now I'm not implying YUU KAWAKAMI in BDSM JAPAN is a bad title.  The original reviews were mixed with some loving it while others panning it (mainly being too hard for JAV, but not hard enough for real BDSM) and I agree that a movie like this one--even when starring an actress so legendary--may be in a sub-par position when it comes to finding a large audience.  Even WAAP was aware of this and charged accordingly (already a pricey JAV studio, they tacked on an extra 1000 yen for this one).

What this release lacks in overall hardcore play (aside from the last scene), it makes up for in some beautiful visuals of stark naked YUU KAWAKAMI being poked, prodded, and a lot more.  What I love in particular is how she's totally stark naked from start to finish.  There's no undressing, no stripteasing, and no ripping of pantyhose.  From the moment this title starts till the final ejaculation, she's naked as the day she was born.  There's no story, close to no dialog (even our subtitlers need some easy days), and not really even a sense of closure.  BDSM JAPAN is 110 minutes of well...BDSM.  Take it for what it is.

 

Note:  WAAP requires all titles licensed out to third-parties like ZENRA to retain their small and nearly transparent watermark in the top right corner of the screen.  Thus we apologize for the footage containing both their logo along with ours in the bottom right.  If you find recently released movies by WAAP on websites without their watermark, then consider reporting the web addresses to them.