All comments of User Slamdunx

The likely reason these performers are so popular is because they’re pro’s who make women - the actual stars - comfortable; and they’re reliable and are probably easy to work with for the behind the scenes folks. They probably also almost never “malfunction”. Remember, a JAV title is a massive investment for the studio and the pressure is high cause all that work has to be crammed into one day. The directors and the studios probably put an extremely high premium on actors who are a safe pair of hands.

The loss of Yua Mikami to JAV is incalculable. Her social media savvy and footprint and ambition to leverage her persona for ultimate gain brought a huge public relations boost to the image of JAV. “If someone like Yua, who could conceivably branch off into other more lucrative and “legitimate” forms of mass entertainment was choosing to stay in JAV, maybe it’s not so bad or dodjy an industry after all,” was the public thinking Yua almost single-handedly drove. Not to mention the classy air with which she carried herself. We might not have another JAV star like her for a very long time. There are starlets like Remu who are good at leveraging their popularity online and who comes across as just a normal, laidback and adorable person, but she doesn’t have Yua’s colossal social media footprint. Minami’s retirement was tough to take, because it came about so suddenly. She’s probably my second favourite JAV star of all time after Yuma Asami and war very much in her prime and doing great work month in and month out, so yah, that was a very tough one after we already had to absorb the retirements of Tsubomi, Iori and Kawakami in 2022. Please universe, give us a break in 2024. And please, please don’t let Remu retire anytime soon (even though she works for a studio that sucks).

She was likely a Highly Sensitive Person and introvert - just from her demeanour and even in the soft, resigned way she communicated even in her final days - but wasn’t understood by those around her, which likely lead to depression and made her feel desperately lonely. I wouldn’t rule out feelings of self-loathing due to the cruel judgements and intolerance of society in general. I hope at least that in the AV world she enjoyed some semblance of acceptance and warmth, but then again it is a professional entertainment field where almost everyone is out for themselves, so maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. That such a xxxxx person felt so hopeless in this world is so intensely saddening. I wish she had someone around her to learn coping mechanisms like not trusting overwhelmingly negative thoughts; that’s it’s just unfair and unsubstantiated bias against the self. Self-loathing/lack of valuing oneself is a proper mental illness, because it distorts one’s perspective of the world and contaminates one’s emotions, and requires proper understanding and mental tools to combat. It is a leading cause of depression, self-harm and even worse. If anyone reading this identifies these strains in themselves, seek help immediately before it overtakes you. If professional help isn’t immediately available to you, do research online about how a distorted mental perspective like self-loathing can contaminate your entire worldview and make you take leave of objective reality. I hope Nanami’s story serves as a wake up call to those within the AV industry to pay closer attention to these girls who might be bright and cute on the surface and perform their work well, but who might be suffering under the surface. Mature AV professionals should offer help and guidance and have measures in place to ensure this never happens again. Please don’t let a precious life like Nanami’s be lost in vain. And wider society: please don’t stigmatise and discriminate against these girls and women for making a career and lifestyle choice you don’t understand, or approve of. Be tolerant and kind, because the alternative causes unimaginable torment and sadness.

Thanks for a great interview and for asking good, pertinent questions. I’ve read so many interviews that have turned out to be lost opportunities because the interviewer didn’t go in prepared enough; or just wasted the subject’s time with nonsense, surface level enquiries. JAV stars are such classy, interesting and multifaceted individuals that they make good subjects for interviews, but sadly the interviewers are rarely up to the task.

In response to Fried Chikan's comment

Thank you for the response. Sumire was always a more introverted performer in the past, and I think that can really have an impact on an actress's career trajectory unless they know how to harness that quality, or overcome it. Sumire appears to have taken more of a latter approach. Although she appears far from a boisterous extrovert now, she does appear to be more comfortable expressing herself in roles. Maybe that has something to do with her newfound popularity. I don't want to assume too much though, when it comes to Japanese tastes, because their criteria for what they find appealing is so specific to the norms and societal conventions of their own country and are very different to notions in the English speaking world. It could also be something as simple as her face being more appealing to more people. In the past, let's just say Sumire was an "unconventional" beauty; very cute and pretty for sure, but not what you'd confidently describe as an instantly notable looker. Whatever the case might be, I'm very glad people are enjoying her so much right now. She deserves to be popular after years of being kind of a second tier actress. I might even check out what she's been up to of late, although I'm usually very put off by cosmetic surgery - especially breast augmentations. By the way, since so many of our tastes and favorite actresses overlap, I was hoping that you might do a feature on Ai Mukai at some point - something along the lines of a career retrospective, since she's going through something of a renaissance right now. She's had so many great titles since she went exclusive with Madonna.