Timing and Translation by ZENRA

(Continue to Second Half)

That Japan's population has been on a steady decline matching this site's revenue is an issue we need to face. Some studios have over time cut back in a never-ending and some say unavoidable fight against shutting their doors and leaky boats. Those who have gone huge in the past with multiple big group movies a month lessening to smaller one actress releases and even when they don't pull enough, eventually succumb to doing almost zilch but simply taking older content and repackaging it as new again again. HOT ENTERTAINMENT, like other indies JAV makers is not immune and does seem to take the repackage route at times, but they still to this very day go out there and shoot some really unique works even if budgets at time are less. After all, today's update while keeping it simple in terms of sets shows even under these constraints real magic can happen.

The setup: we are late night internet TV show producers looking to interview cute girls about kissing. We'd also like to see if they'd be interesting in kissing actual men. Not "actors" or anyone on our staff, but like them, real people approached on the streets. To put a sexy spin on things, after getting them to kiss--French style!--three times for three minutes each time, we concoct a lame reason that requires us to leave the hotel room for a few hours, but asking them to stay and hold it. Knowing the cameras are still rolling, but with passions getting the best of them, do they end up going all the way?

In spite of being a JAV studio heavily focused on amateur pickup content, until PEOPLE MONITORING: WILL REAL STRANGERS GO FROM KISSING TO SEX? seems to be HOT's first proper foray into the aforementioned 'people monitoring' genre of JAV. If you're not familiar with it, people monitoring is a genre on its own that takes elements of amateurs, but wraps it in a pretty JAV envelope. What we get are professional productions with some type of host in the scene, but the actual performers are real people. It's them, not the hosts, we connect with as the 'investigation' plays out and it's more so the journey rather than the destination that makes these movies fun watches. Thus, be it today and Monday's fat double update or most any of these types of movies, the sex itself often isn't all that great. We may not get incredible angles, super close-ups, and the finishes sometimes are meh as well. Often, the cameras are static like they are here. Often, the normies aren't flamboyant. But always--in JAV people monitoring at least--this is what makes the results so fun to take in.

One of the most unusual things about PEOPLE MONITORING: WILL REAL STRANGERS GO FROM KISSING TO SEX? is the title card. In what may be a record, we don't get it until about 20 minutes in (!). Director Netsu Yujin whom we have had a love-hate relationship with at ZENRA is on fire here as he is totally behind the camera and mute. When he just handles director roles, his imagination runs riot. The first scene rather than being shot at a hotel is done in a van. Normally, the van environment works better for these types of guerilla encounter movies, but they come up with a good reason why a hotel is better: a bed. Thus, the remaining four encounters are all done in one and every one delivers for various reasons. I'd like to--and even took expansive notes on it--go over each scene for they all put unique spins on the theme. But with this review running long, a very quick summary will suffice:

Scene 1: Van scene, good, but only kissing and sets up the 'proper movie'.

Scene 2: Very cute actress but cast alongside that creepy guy who made the cover of that amazing ROCKET blindfolded people monitoring movie.

Scene 3: Surprisingly most boring sex BUT it's tied with the best transition from 'friendly strangers' to sexual partners and is worth it for that alone.

Scene 4: Cutest actress. I've a weakness for YUUHA KIRIYAMA, but her taking the lead and in such a brazen way made the encounter feel too staged.

Scene 5: AKARI MITANI before she blew up (and just recently announced her retirement!). Super cute, but actor partner is too noticeable for being an actor. Nevertheless, it features wonderful CMNF moments of an especially leggy beauty.