Prestige Parts Ways with DMM/FANZA/R18
If you live under a rock, or refuse to buy AV works, you may have not heard that Prestige and DMM/FANZA had parted ways. Prestige is the "largest studio and distributor". Prestige is probably known by the western communities for their Absolute Best series, but their amateur videos on MGS are quite popular as well. A spokesman in 2019 for Prestige said "Our strength is our ability to discover" and substantially lowered the entry bar into AV by going for people with looks, rather than hiring well known talents.
Why does this matter? Primarily, the lack of English support on MGS's website (and the payment hurdle, requiring points for non-JP credit cards) will essentially lead to a block off of new users who strictly use R18. Not their greatest move, but hopefully it'll generate a larger push towards their amateur videos from studios such as Moon Force and Jackson. Prestige does gain the fact that they don't have to deal with DMM's 70% cut, which is already a win… at least short term.
Somewhat related, is the removal of Mercury and First Star studios, which also pulled out of DMM/R18. While netizens have claimed rumors about SOD pulling out as well, there is no basis for this, coming from inside sources. Meanwhile, AVER had shut down its website, and it's parent KMP, has moved from Top Marshal to DMM, which caused the shutdown of sites like AVER.
Where is Meguri?
As I'm sure many fans are aware, we had a blog update sometime last year regarding her temporary hiatus due to her eggs being frozen, along with being part of a new blockbuster movie, Lockdown. So why isn't she back to doing work?
Well, there's something that you may have heard of… called a pandemic. Yes. Unlike most of her counterparts, Meguri has been avoiding going back to filming due to COVID. She stated on Twitter that in the case of work, there isn't an option to avoid kissing etc. to prevent the spread of COVID, especially in her line of work.
I honestly wouldn't save my breath for too long, as she'll probably be out for awhile. If I were to speculate on the future situation of Japan, I suspect COVID will be prevalent by the end of 2021.
In the mean-time she continues to frequent the FANZA live chats on DMM (requires a VPN if outside Japan), which pays out at 200 yen/minute per person. By my estimations, she makes 1.5k-2.5k USD per session off that alone, so you don't need to worry too much about her; although, I'm unaware of the percentage she takes home, as there's staff to pay, and it's done in a studio.
She also now has a ManyVids profile, which is censored... and without content for now.
Abe Mikako Tests Positive for COVID
Speaking of COVID, Abe Mikako was the first big AV actress to be diagnosed with COVID and she took to sharing her suffering on Twitter. As of writing this piece, vaccines have only been available to health care workers in Japan.
Due to the nature of how AV is filmed, all staff workers are in close contact with each other, there's not really an option to "social-distance", putting all workers at risk. (examples can be found below)
Abe noted issues of severe ear pain, but no fever and still has normal smell and taste. In addition, she's also losing her appetite and having trouble concentrating.
Abe has since moved to an "epidemic hotel" which has been used to allow people to recuperate in isolation for the safety of others, and decrease the stress on the hospital system. Based on her SNS posts, it seems that she's mentally toughing it out, and trying to show her strong side to fans, despite the decrease in appetite.
Nanami Kawakami Retiring?
Also, Nanami Kawakami has announced her retirement, which I'll explain in detail along with a translated interview, so be on the lookout for that.
I left you on a cliff-hanger? So sue me :)
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