Saki Hatsumi - Stagnant Desires of a Neglected Wife
with English Subtitles

Workplace romances can happen anywhere.  Japan, with its questionable insistence on keeping the pink collar tradition alive probably sees it more than the western world.  Doubling up on this, there still exists a sad number of 'old boy' bosses pushing retirement age who still think women who marry and give birth should never return to work.  It's a vicious cycle if you're the fairer sex and climbing up the corporate ladder for some of these 'traditional' companies can be nigh on impossible.  SAKI HATSUMI, playing a woman named Mio in today's update that straddles between pure infidelity and the fantasies of a sexually neglected married woman, finds herself questioning whether falling for her former boss was indeed a good idea.

When I originally was quickly previewing STAGNANT DESIRES OF A NEGLECTED WIFE by ORGA release, I mistakenly thought it had a cuckold theme.  In fact, the original English title had that in its name because one of the quintessential scenes made it certainly look that way.  I was mistaken, the title was changed, but I wasn't totally wrong either:  cuckolding *does* happen, but not exactly in the way you'd assume (and that won't be spoiled in this review!).

SAKI HATSUMI, like her character in STAGNANT DESIRES, also sits on the fence though in reality not between being faithful and cheating, but being called an "AV Star" and an "AV Legend".  Her career lasted over 5 years and if she couldn't be considered A-rank, she definitely was a sound B+.  Personally, I had her up at the top.  I find her look to be extremely unique and just like ARISA NAKANO, there's certain angles where she's absolutely stunning and others...where she's not as much.  But you know, she's human and thus has her flaws and that more than anything is why people like myself like her so much.  One thing I think anyone can agree upon is that SAKI HATSUMI has some of the best and biggest eyes in the industry.  They're huge and will suck you in, but with warmth and timid eroticism, rather than black whirlpools of manic sexuality ala AI UEHARA.

STAGNANT DESIRES OF A NEGLECTED WIFE focuses heavily on masochistic play, but in a way that's not as extreme as we've seen in other ORGA releases.  What happens here still has SAKI heavily on the submissive side of the equation, but it's a bit more conventional.  Think less crawling naked on all fours fetching toys for a shady mafioso and more impromptu blowjob in the kitchen for a demanding husband.  Later on she finds herself turned on by exhibitionism as her husband's younger brother starts covertly watching them have sex.  This is what the bulk of the release is about:  SAKI's rekindling passions brought about via her gentle peeping tom brother-in-law life coach.  Seriously, life coach.  Some of his lines make him sound more like an overtly concerned guardian angel rather than a young buck in Tokyo for a few months on business.

For some reason, the Japanese language reviews of this title were pretty mixed.  I read them and I still can't understand why people may not like this compared to other ORGA releases (most have near 5-star rankings!).  It's shot just as beautifully, the story for a JAV drama is pretty fleshed out and aside from the cop-out near the end, it was pretty believable.  The only minor negative I can add is that the music, while good and dramatic, felt a bit too overbearing at times.  This title had a bit more than normal (for an ORGA release) amount of BGM and I think they could've scaled it back some.  Some encounters probably could have had no music at all and be just as dramatic.  To my knowledge at least, ORGA actually has music commissioned for their titles so perhaps since they paid for it, they felt no choice but to include it.  Hopefully future releases by them use the same melodies to better effect.

SAKI HATSUMI officially retired earlier this year and shot her last title almost exactly a year ago.  We certainly plan on showing more of her works regardless of whether or not they can be considered 'fresh'.  She's too cute and too unique to pass up on.  Be it drama, something straight-forward, or bizarre-city, it's probably safe to say today's update isn't the last time we'll be seeing SAKI HATSUMI at ZENRA.
 

A Message to subscribers and also potential subscribers:  this movie is labeled as an Exclusive release because this is the first official presentation of it outside of Japan.  We would like to know your impressions of this production.  Did you like it?  Did you not?  Your feedback is truly appreciated as it can help us decide the best possible Japanese adult video entertainment for you from here on out.  Don't be shy and please feel free to contact us with your thoughts!