JAV Sales Report - May 2021

Published : June 17th, 2021 Written by Oppaira

Welcome to the May Sales Report. If you haven't had a chance to check out my yearly sales report, make sure to do so. It's chock full of insights, focused on looking at various trends and how actresses are doing long term. Anyway, let's jump into this month's report.

Top Actresses

Mei Satsuki in first place is a surprise to be sure. Even though it's only two more spots it's still a big deal that she's seeing serious success now. Looking at Mei's career it has changed quite considerably lately. She was previously exclusive to a lower tier studio in Deeps but recently switched to going freelance. We've seen a lot of actresses benefit from going freelance and Mei is just the latest in that line. She's worked for a ton of different studios now including Fitch, Moodyz, Wanz Factory, Kawaii, Madonna, Premium, E-Body, Das!, Honnaka, Oppai - the list really does go on. It's crazy just how far across the board she's managed to get in just a couple short months. I'm personally quite excited for her upcoming release at Oppai, it's in my favourite series and will definitely be the first of hers that I check out. If you're interested in something now, her Wanz Factory video is in a series I have enjoyed and it's probably a solid place to start.

Hana Himesaki continues to be at the top of the charts. While she's not in first place this month, 4th place is still quite high, and she's been in the top 10 each month this year. It's quite impressive to see her be such a force from out of nowhere and she still has plenty of videos coming out. May actually had her starring alongside an industry favourite, Eimi Fukada. If that doesn't signal your career going well I don't know what else would. I'm hoping to see Hana's career continue to blossom and look forward to more quality content from her.

Rin Natsuki is this month's big debut actress, yet another Faleno debut. Faleno has really been killing it with debuts, it's absolutely insane. Mino Suzume, Natsu Tojo, Yume Nikaido, Momojiri Kaname - the list goes on. Interestingly, this isn't Rin's debut month, so she climbed up the charts big time having missed it completely last month. It's hard to tell where Rin will ultimately land but being able to compete with big names such as Arina Hashimoto and Yume Nikaido, fellow Faleno actresses, is a big deal.

Minami Hatsukawa also appeared on this list out of nowhere. Most likely it's due to her upcoming retirement. I think fans will pay more attention to an actress for a very short period before they retire, grabbing a couple of their last videos before they're gone for good. This is especially true for Minami Hatsukawa, who's going out with a bit of a flare. She's a 7 year industry veteran and spent her entire career with Moodyz, minus a couple of special cross-studio performances. However, lately she's taken her works elsewhere and her next few releases are all with different studios (Madonna, Honnaka, Das!, and Kawaii among others). Whether you're a fan of Minami or not, this is an exciting time for her career and as good a time as any to check her out.

Ruka Inaba and Ichika Matsumoto are both up quite a lot this month and it's probably because of their duo video together. Ichika has been insanely popular and Ruka is no stranger to the charts either. Of course a video starring the pair would dominate the charts. The video says it's some sort of battle, I've certainly been disappointed by that theme before and I'm a bit weary of this. Still, it's as good an opportunity as any to check out either of these actresses if you haven't. Those who know me know Ichika is pretty far away from what I like but you can't ignore how well she's been doing for herself. Ruka Inaba is much more to my tastes and if you're an Ichika fan not watching Ruka, this is definitely one to check out.

For the life of me I cannot figure out why Kanon Kanade is so high up the charts. Her May releases don't seem like anything noteworthy and many of them were VR too. Kanon in VR is certainly unique compared to most as her hairy pussy really comes out in full force. Her and Urara Kanon have some of the hairiest bushes I've ever seen and I watched the pair in VR. In all honesty it's probably a matter of people watching older things as we often see older releases contribute stronger to digital sales.

Karen Kaede is on the list thanks to some of her older releases selling well. I for one, can't help but wonder if it was tipped because of the major omnibus release from IP. Eight hours of Karen content is sure to add a good chunk to her popularity. Especially in a month that seems kind of underwhelming with a lot of actresses jumping up the charts it's not all that surprising to see a name like Karen jump up as well. I know we've seen her randomly jump up like this for a month before, so maybe the omnibus was the tipping point.

Honoka Tsujii still remains a force to be reckoned with. I'm personally not too sure where I stand with Honoka yet, she's got all the qualities to make her a star but she still has a bit of a way to go before she's some perennial all-star. That being said, her variety in May certainly had to have helped her cause. With both a pegging and BBC video I feel like it's only a matter of time for her. I'd love to see her variety increase even more and can't help but wonder what she could be like if she embraced all of the hardcore fetishes like another certain Honoka. Regardless, Honoka is definitely someone to keep an eye out on these days.

Sora Shiina's had a rise like this coming for a while now. While certainly she didn't do as well over at Faleno at the start of her time there they've been doing a better job of utilizing her lately. The more spunky attitude of her last couple of releases have certainly helped her attract fans that have come to know her for it. While those videos certainly have trouble comparing to her hits at Moodyz it's still good to see her in more suitable content. Hopefully Faleno continues to pump out similar content and we can finally see Sora back where she belongs.

Kaho Imai has been doing well for herself and I consider her one of the better 2019 debuts. If you're interested in catching her with some other recent debuts, PPSD-055 features her alongside fellow 2019 debut Yuria Yoshine and 2020 debut Nene Tanaka. It's a pretty impressive cast of newcomers and a solid video if you enjoy big tits in swimsuits. If instead you'd prefer to catch her with some veterans then you can check her out in MIRD-202 alongside Tsubasa Hachino and Kurea Hasumi. Even though it's a submissive performance from the cast, it's hard to go wrong with a trio like that.

Nao Jinguji is up a surprising amount this month in what seems to otherwise be a rather normal month for her. From what I can see, people have instead been watching some of her older content. I guess I'm just glad people have taken my suggestion they should be watching her. She's pretty fantastic and definitely someone to pay attention to. I'm already looking forward to a deepthroat video she has coming out in July as if I don't already look forward to her monthly releases. Make sure to go check her out like everyone else has been doing.

Julia has been having a fun run now that she's no longer a dual exclusive like she has been for so much of her career. While she has mostly been sticking to the same studios (Wanz Factory, Tameike Goro, Bi, Honnaka, and Premium) and sticking to two releases per month, the simple fact is that variety is good. One studio can only do so much but when you've got multiples competing it forces them to be a bit more creative. I still feel like Julia has a lot more left in the tank and that we can get some good stuff but I also can't ignore that we have already gotten some good stuff earlier this year. Only time will tell if she continues to do well but considering she's had at least one banger this year I'm quite hopeful.

Top Videos

Unsurprisingly Rara's release is the top spot. It's really not surprising to see her there, even as I know releases are often bad. I'm actually, for a change, quite excited for this one. It's a series I like and one that I think has a plot she can excel in. The plot manages to not require too much out of the actress, and sweaty Rara sounds amazing. If you're tired of underwhelming Rara stuff, this is most likely the one to look at, and if not, at least Rara is hot as hell.

This video is Shoko Takahashi's (better known as Takashou) fifth anniversary release. It's a bit interesting as a release because it's only 100 minutes long but it's also priced at just 500 yen (under $5 USD). It's also special content specifically made to celebrate her anniversary. That makes the price so extraordinary, it's unheard of for new releases to be priced that low, they're usually 8 or 9 times more expensive. I guess part of that comes from it not having any intercourse but even still... What makes it even more interesting is that it has a cast of 12 actresses in total, and at 100 minutes long... I can't even begin to fathom how that actually worked out, and a review in the comment section said as much too. Still, it's interesting content, especially seeing them make a big spectacle out of five years. While five years might not seem like that big of a deal it's pretty big in this industry, and not that many actresses actually get to that mark. While we're certainly getting a few names that have made it much longer in this day and age they still represent such a small part of the industry. People tend to look at the big names like Yui Hatano, Hitomi, and Julia (who are all at 10+ years) not looking at the hundreds of one-and-done actresses. Anyway, I'm excited to see more of this type of content and I wouldn't be surprised to see more of this from Moodyz knowing a lot of actresses were recently there (probably for more of this type of content).

Karen Yuzuriha made some kind of splash this month as she occupies three of the top spots: 5th, 7th, and 8th. She's also up 68 spots on the physical rankings to place in the top 25. We see her latest really propelling her, but we interestingly see people looking at her older catalogue. In my New to Me series I rate on a scale of how willing I am to watch the actress again, and it seems like fans are calling Karen an S tier debut. Being willing to watch her older, less interesting stuff just to see more of her really speaks volumes. Granted that debut releases actually do sell well domestically, seeing a non-debut, non-recent release for her is quite remarkable. I definitely have my eye on this H-cup beauty for when I do my 2021 debut posts.

Our 10th place VR film is really quite a spectacle. It's nearly five hours long and features some pretty great names in Yuri Oshikawa and Nene Tanaka. What would a studio even do with a VR that's five hours long? How about all of these actresses riding you over and over again as another grabs their boobs. Or, if that wasn't enough lesbian content for you there's actual straight up lesbian stuff. While five is certainly a bit of a crowd the sheer amount of content is simply wonderful, and I suspect a lot of the content will be quite enjoyable.

Our fourth place (and eighth place) video, STARS-361, has been getting some traction as people seem really big on the actress in question. Going only by Anna, she's listed as being half-Russian. We've been seeing a trend lately as studios are much more willing to expose other ethnicities, not just actresses who are clearly foreign (like June Lovejoy) but those who are not full Japanese as well (like Maria Nagai). I'm told that Anna looks a lot like Marina Shiraishi, a fan favourite. One has to imagine that might give her a bit of a leg up on the competition, pun intended.

Another name to take a look at is Minamo, whose debut is in 7th place this month. She comes from the world of gravure, which for those that don't follow it too well, is non-nude shooting akin to Sports Illustrated. Gravure actresses moving over happens all the time and it's not uncommon for there to be some buzz around them. It wasn't long ago that Kaoru Yasui, former gravure star, made the switch, which created a lot of buzz (although in Kaoru's case half of that came from her debuting at a studio everyone thought was dead). Fellow blogger Fried Chikan wrote about her so go take a look if you're interested in more about her.

Hitomi is no surprise to the spotlight but I found it interesting her top video wasn't her latest release. Hitomi actually skipped her May release cycle and her top listed video is actually half a year old. No doubt there were some sales to help with it, though the video is under $5 and worth it at that price. I do think it's pretty key to watch her best videos as not all of them are quite that good, and Panking rated this one quite highly. Certainly one to check out if you're looking for Hitomi stuff to watch.

Our fourth and seventh place videos are quite interesting being VR omnibus videos. I've always wondered why VR omnibus didn't sell so much better because they seem great to me. VR is often plagued by being too short and uninteresting but that kind of goes away when you're getting so much content. S1's compilation is close to 1000 minutes and Natural High's is over 1000, so either of them have more than enough content to enjoy. Especially at the banger of a price both of them are at, can't really go wrong. S1's is great if you like their roster, and let's be real, everyone seems to love their roster. If you'd like a little more variety then you could go with Natural High's, which features a wider array of actresses such as Nene Tanaka, June Lovejoy, Yuri Honma, and Erina Oka. Definitely a great choice if you want a lot of variety as there's clearly something for everyone.