Last month, we reported on the controversy over a new gravure idol who was supposedly AI-generated but seemed to be just a slightly different version of a flesh-and-blood gradol. The publisher eventually withdrew its much-hyped photo book featuring Ai Satsuki.
As we noted in a follow-up post, artificial intelligence has major implications for gravure, making it possible to churn out cheap photo books with almost now overheads (no expensive photo shoots, no model fees, etc.). It has meant the market is currently flooded with cheap or even free photo books.
The issue of AI and gravure has ...
We recently wrote about AKB48 idol Mion Mukaichi's somewhat surprising decision to do a semi-nude photo book while still a member of the supergroup.
As we mentioned in our post, most music idols wait until graduating before posing semi-nude or nude. And in fact, they are often forced to do something like that to build any sort of career in a crowded marketplace.
A case in point is the ravishing Satomi Kaneko, who carved out a name for herself as a provocative, sensual model after a brief stint in AKB48 in 2007.
She started doing gravure in 2014 after an acting role in a sexploitation movie ...
Miri Hanai (花井美里) turns 39 this October but these recent photos prove that she's as alluring as ever.
The mature gravure idol and musician has firmly entered jukujo territory, and though she's no longer enjoying the success of her twenties, when she pumping out photo books several times a year at one point during the mid-2000s, she's still got her fans and released a new photo book in 2021.
Known for her busty looks (a J or H cup, depending on the marketing), she made her debut in 2003. That's a 20-year career, a milestone few in her competitive industry achieve, and one that ...
It sparked both hype and controversy, and then just as quickly vanished.
When publisher Shueisha released a digital photo book featuring a fully AI-generated gravure model on May 29, it felt like the tipping point of something.
But then netizens were quick to point out that the "model" Ai Satsuki was uncannily similar to a real-life gravure idol, Hikari Kabashima (previously known as Yui Asakura), suggesting the AI was simply recycling images of Kabashima/Asakura from the Weekly Playboy shoot she did (Shueisha publishes the magazine).
Shueisha responded to the controversy by withdrawing ...
This story has been percolating since early June and has now become a very interesting incident generating national headlines, and with potential implications for future gravure events.
Swimwear photo shoot events in public pools in Saitama have ignited an intense debate. During the events, idols and models gather at the pool for fans to take photographs of them in their swimsuits. Admission to such events is expensive, costing from ¥10,000 to ¥36,000.
Various locals voiced concern to the public parks association in late May about the sexy nature of the gravure-style poses. Local ...
Akane Takiyama (瀧山あかね) is the latest Japanese TV announcer trying to forge a concurrent career in gravure.
She works as an announcer for shows on ABEMA (she joined the streamer in 2018) and is a former NMB48 "research student" (in 2011 and 2012, while in high school). The 29-year-old has now branched out into gravure with a cover shoot for Weekly Playboy that is making waves and rapidly expanding her fandom.
In the summery swimwear shoot for a June issue of Weekly Playboy, she is channeling some Kyoko Fukada vibes with a sporty beach body and radiant, smiling ...
The popular Korean YouTuber Pyo Eunji has built up a huge following on social media and is hoping to capitalize on her popularity by releasing her first print photo book for the Japanese market.
The book, Rondo, comes out from Kadokawa on August 10 and has a suitably summery vibe, featuring the Korean hottie naked in a bath among other enticing scenarios.
Forgive the clickbaity title we gave this article: the shoot was nude but the bath prevents us from getting a clear view on her body under the water.
The previews are already doing the rounds online and generating interest for reasons ...
Back in 2011, AKB48 briefly seemed to be on the cusp of some sort of technological tipping point when it played with a fully digital member of the group. Sadly, or not, Aimi Eguchi was created just for an ad campaign and this "digital idol" trend didn't continue.
Instead, we got dribs and drabs of sensational digitally created idols like Saya, the ultra-realistic schoolgirl who wasn't real, and were teased with an all-digital supergroup.
The VR boom in the 2010s also seemed to be a major new chapter in the relationship between sex and technology (not least, its implications for watching ...
Former AKB48 idol Nana Owada is already celebrating her tenth anniversary in the entertainment world, even though she's still just 23 years old.
Her new photo book marking her decade-long career, encounter, comes out June 15 and the previews are setting the internet on fire.
One image features a curvy Nana Owada standing naked in a bath with her arms covering her breasts.
In other shots, she shows off her naked back, including a great pic where she's lying nude on a bed, though sadly only the top of her butt is actually visible.
In another photo, she's sitting nude on a bed with ...
The beautiful gravure idol and actor Miyu Kitamuki recently released her third photo book. Shedding (Dappi) is another nude book for the star, who also appears in TV shows and movies.
The photo book came out in Japan on May 25, published by Wani Books, and Kitamuki held a splashy promotional event in Shinjuku over the weekend.
In the photo book, at least based on the previews we have seen (included here, originally from the May 23 edition of weekly magazine Flash), we get to see the stunning 23-year-old's naked body -- with her butt fully on show (especially in the picture where she's ...
