Top 25 JAV Stars of the Decade (2000 – 2009): 5 of 5
Posted Under: Features
This is it, the final five, the best of the best, the greatest Japanese porn stars of the past decade! But first here are a few honourable mentions that were considered for the top 25, but didn’t make the cut: Minori Aoi, Asami Ogawa, Ichigo Milk, Shou Nishino, Azusa Itagaki, Kirara Asuka, Saori Kamiya, Ryoko Mitake, and Yuka Osawa (aka Elly Akira).
Any favourites of yours that aren’t on the list? Anyone make the list that you think shouldn’t be there? Let us know in the comments section!
Top JAV Stars of the Decade: 5 – 1
5. Akane Hotaru (2004 – 2008)
The Shiofuki Queen. I had seen female ejaculation before I came across Akane, but I had never seen anyone do it like her. She popularized a former niche genre into one of JAVs most popular sub-genres. But she’s no one gimmick porn star. Akane is an excellent performer, whether it be with experienced male actors, amateurs, or when performing with other women. Akane was one of the best lesbian performers in JAV. She has been recognized for her talents by winning several awards including Newcomer of the Year in Weekly Playboy’s 2005 AV Academy Awards, and she won a special award for Excellence at the 2006 SOD Awards. She picked up a special actress award at the 2005 Moodyz Awards and she co-starred in the Best AV Title as awarded at the 2004 Takeshi Kitano Awards. Akane also appeared in uncensored videos.
4. Ami Ayukawa (1999 – 2004)
At the start of the decade, Ami was absolutely huge. For a couple years it seemed any rental shop you went to in Japan, Ami was always in the number 1 position in the most popular AV star section. The other positions were in constant change, but Ami was always up there. With her amazing figure, great breasts, and enthusiastic performances, it’s easy to see why. When she joined studio Atlas, they called her the best actress in AV history (sure, they’re a bit biased, but not everyone gets that kind of push).
3. Riko Tachibana (2003 – 2008)
I’ve noticed on JAV forums, every once in a while someone will come on to ask which actress give great performances, or which women have realistic orgasms on screen. Without fail, one of the first suggestions given will be Riko Tachibana. Like the rest of the girls on this list, she’s hot, has a killer body,and is a great performer. But her intense body shuddering orgasms really set her apart. One of the hottest JAV scenes I’ve ever seen was Riko basically having sex with a car. On paper it sounds like a dumb idea, but somehow Riko made cars look like the ultimate sex toy for women! Riko was also a great lesbian performer, and in fact had several really hot movies where she got it on with our number 5 girl, Akane Hotaru. Riko has also done uncensored work.
2. Sora Aoi (2002 – Present)
Of all the women who starred in Japanese porn over the past decade, no one else has attained the level of fame as Sora Aoi. In Japan, even people who have no interest of porn have often heard of her. Within the porn world, it’s hard to match her popularity over the course of her entire career. Yes, she does get criticized a lot these days, and most of the criticisms are valid. But I’ve never met a JAV fan who wasn’t a fan of hers at some point. She may not have much variety in her porn portfolio, but what she does do, she does very well. She hasn’t lost any of her passion or enthusiasm over her nearly 9 year career. I’ve never followed a porn star for as long as I’ve followed Sora Aoi.
1. Yua Aida (2004 – 2007)
When Yua Aida was in her prime, she was, in my opinion, the greatest porn star of all time from anywhere. This woman, with her perfect body and cute face, didn’t just fuck on camera. She transcended porn. Watching her move her body as she rides some lucky guy is almost art. In all honesty, Yua could not have been human. She was some alien from a planet of insanely hot, perfect women. If you haven’t seen a Yua Aida movie, you have not experienced the pinnacle of porn. Unfortunately, whatever planet she’s from, their kind’s sexual appetite seems to have a short life span. In the final year or so of her career, Yua lost her spark and it seemed she was just showing up for a pay cheque. But in a way, her lackluster departure elevates the prime of her career that much more. Before that spark left, it really seemed like she was enjoying herself. She was a porn goddess.
Among the awards Yua won during her career were a Best New Actress award at the 2004 X City Grand Prix and the Adult Grand Prix Actress award at the 2006 Adult Broadcasting Awards.
Reader Comments
A good compensative list there Max! I would agree the Yua Aida deserves the top rung of the ladder. Her S1 movies were something else at the time she was with them. Beauty Line is a movie I will always fondly remember. I can’t say I follow Sora’s career that closely but I know she has her legion of fans. Another fav was Honoka, I was especially sad to see her go. Fascinate Teacher was completely mind-blowing but I think Premium edged it over her S1 days. Akiho Yoshizawa, 7 years(!) as it been that long? I think she’s only recently come into her prime in recent years, a stand-out scene from a Rookie – can’t remember off-hand the full title ‘Apartment…’ something or other where she completely writhes in ecstasy was really hot stuff but I’ve not seen too much of her most recent productions. Maria Ozawa I thought her S1 days were her better days before in my own opinion she went too far by doing the more extreme stuff. It’s true as you say, she’ll has cemented her place in JAV history as a all-time great performer. Surprised not see Risa Kasumi though, granted she is a recent newcomer, she could well be one to watch in this decade if she carries on in the same vein. Cheers for the concise story of the last 10 years.
Mmmm, not a bad list. It was nice that you made an effort to remember girls from the earlier half of the decade – too often these lists are weighed in favour of more recent people and events. Here are my comments:
- Always knew number 1 & 2 would be Yua Aida and Sora Aoi, the only question was what order these two would be.
- It wasn’t clear what criteria formed the basis of the ranking – some are in due to high popularity, others due to the prolificness of their work, others still for the high “quality” of their work. However, I liked the overall balance of the 25 chosen.
- But having said that, my personal preference disagrees on some points. I thought Ai Kurosawa, Nana Natsume and Yuma Asami would be higher. I also don’t rate either Riko Tachibana or Akane Hotaru – the former top ten, the latter maybe top 20.
- I think also a particularly glaring ommission was Ann Nanba. I think she ticks a lot of boxes – prolific, popular, open to many genres (incuding lesbian, interracial and anal) and worked with a large number of studios and other actors. IIRC, her retirement was preceded by a month’s worth of final release by 10 or so studios, which goes to show how much of a big deal it was. I thought she would be top 5 for sure. Others which I thought worthy of possible inclusion included Karan Kisaragi, Kaede Matsushima and Mai Hagiwara.
Still, a great effort and top reminiscing.
Thanks for the well thought-out comments guys!
An Nanba should have been on the list, I messed up not including her. As mentioned, her retirement was a big deal. Over the course of a few weeks, she did 8 movies for 8 studios including studios she had not previously worked for such as S1.
yua aida is no 1. i can agree more with that. she is my live time star. could anyone tell me the list of all yua aida video release spesially her gravure ones. i need to check my collection. right now i have 23 JAV video n 5 gravure video of her. please tell me if i have miss one.
thx you so much.
You can check your Yua Aida collection against what’s listed on DMM. DMM may not have every title, but it’s a good start:
http://www.dmm.co.jp/mono/dvd/-/list/=/page=1/article=actress/id=8704/
You can also check out her wikipedia entry. The English entry is incomplete, but the Japanese page seems to have an extensive list of her work:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%82%E3%81%84%E3%81%A0%E3%82%86%E3%81%82
I’d have Hikaru Coto and Yaya Kouzuki somewhere on the list, but thats just me.
Your effort in compiling a list is very much appreciated. I am not japanese, hence never knew that JAV existed until i stumbled across Yuma Asami (chubby at that time), Maria’s first vid and Yua Aida’s vid at that time. The way she performed was fucking fantastic. She was passionate and put on a smile, she really seemed to be in to the whole sexual experience. The performance counts the most. There were others but none like Yua she had her A game from the beginning. Others like Maria, Yuma and even Saori all get batter with their later vids but non were like Yua. Thanks
Hey, Max, where are you?
4/5 of them have plastic breasts, Yua Aida being the exception (and thankfully the winner)