Noa Eikawa - Photo Album of Adultery
Translation and Timing by ZENRA


"
Misa (Noa Eikawa) grew up in a fatherless household, but things soon change as her mother remarries.  Her new husband, apparently as nice as they come, offers to cover tuition for nursing school, but not without some truly salacious and forbidden strings.
"

It's the cover that sold me.  Out of focus you've two adult-like figures.  A man and a woman.  The right, the woman, with her hands demurely clasped the 'proper' way many a Japanese housewife will do for family portraits.  The left, the husband, with a stern, grizzled hand clamping down HARD on the shoulder of his step-daughter.  She's adorable with her ears poking out and even the look of consternation can't take away from it.  That's Misa-chan, by the way.  Played by NOA EIKAWA in one of her first dramatic roles, she really goes all out and can make even those who prefer older and thicker go crazy over her rail thin frame and vivacious youth.

PHOTO BOOK OF ADULTERY--pretty much a direct translation of the original Japanese--was one of the last movies released by ORGA before going on indefinite hiatus/morphing into NAGIRA, an off-shoot that remains an active JAV maker to this very day.  I'm not privy to what exactly was going on, but a couple of years ago ORGA launched a NAGIRA sub-label helmed by the director of the same name who made a name for himself since the early aughts while working at ATTACKERS.  The stories are slick and the production is top-notch.  See for yourself with a previous update by him.  PHOTO BOOK is a kinda-sorta ORGA/NAGIRA release where both studies list it as one of their own.  That in itself is a strange story for another day and thankfully the plot of the movie is pretty straight-forward.

I can write the world about NOA EIKAWA and just how well she performed as Misa-chan, but her step-father was handled masterfully by BOKKI SUGIURA.  Just like that neighborhood orgy movie that had him as the head of the HOA, this is another role he was born to play.  Other JAV actors could have done it, but not as well as BOKKI.  He just has that creepy older man look and used it to the fullest.

The run-time of PHOTO BOOK was a bit short at 110 minutes and this was more of a JAV with a wee bit of story than a full-fledged dramatic release.  Really, outside of the first 7 minutes or so, you're looking at a title that's pretty much sex, sex, and more sex.  I'm a big believer in less is more, but here we have an example of a movie where some extra clothed footage could've helped keep the viewers more engaged.  I'm still happy with this one.  It's beautiful and if you aren't a fan of NOA yet, this one should definitely help change that.

Score:  3.5/5

Pro's:  cinematic picture quality and actors who really fit the roles.

Con's:  could have had more drama scenes.  Also big IPPA watermark.  For some JAV makers, this is now a requirement for distribution and unfortunately, we cannot remove it.