Ex-porn star Ai Uehara releases AI photo book with digitally generated version of herself
July 4, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
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 ...
Fictosexuals in Japan band together fight discrimination
July 3, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
Over four years ago, the media in Japan and globally went bananas about a Japanese man who "married" a virtual character.
These stories are catnip to editors who love "sexless Japan" and "wacky Japan" content. The tale of Akihiko Kondo and his love for popular Vocaloid idol Hatsune Miku was too much to resist, and the world lapped it up.
For little discernible reason, Kondo (who is now 40) is back in the news.
The Mainichi Shimbun sat down for a fresh interview with him and find out how his "marriage" is going. (The newspaper also published a follow-up story in January 2022.) Apparently, ...
Is future of AI gravure in trouble after photo book withdrawn?
June 16, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
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 ...
Fully AI-created gravure idol looks uncannily similar to real gravure model
June 2, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
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 ...
Japanese netizens go wild for AI cosplayer art
February 24, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
It seems that everyone is using AI these days to make art, photos, and even essays. The results are often very impressive. Perhaps even worrying.
But here's some AI that's really worth getting excited about. Kanyon Industries, which seems to be based in Hong Kong, posts examples of AI art featuring sexy cosplayers -- all digitally rendered, of course.
Heavily influenced by Japanese sources, it was inevitable that the results would strike big among Japanese netizens (as in, almost 31 million views and counting for this one tweet).
People say that AI still struggles with hands but ...
AV Splatoon: Japanese VTubers chroma key porn into Splatoon 3 gameplay streams
October 11, 2022
/ Tadashi Anahori
Splatoon streaming and virtual YouTubers are both big in Japan. What happens when they get together? A whole lot of craziness, it seems.
Some streamers are facing a backlash from players worried that Nintendo might ban all Splatoon livestreams after VTuber Kikaze Kimiko and others modded their games to show an adult video while they played.
They chroma keyed the enemy ink to make it transparent and play over it a live-action cosplay porn featuring DeepWebUnderground, a popular virtual YouTuber who has already inspired her own adult toys.
The results looked like Splatoon 3 with porn playing ...
Meet N-ko, the sheep-human female Netflix anime VTuber
May 5, 2021
/ Tadashi Anahori
Netflix is ramping up its Japanese-market content, not least successful drama series like The Naked Director (second season coming soon!) and movies like Ride or Die. It is also getting into producing original anime and has even opened an academy for training the next generation of talent.
And now it's created a virtual YouTuber as its anime ambassador.
Launched in late April, N-ko is a bilingual sheep girl character (officially, a "sheep-human lifeform"), since you can't go wrong with kemonomimi and moe anthropomorphism to build a fandom.
Apparently aged 24 and (like Netflix) from Los ...
Japanese cosmetics brand uses digital and android models to promote products
April 27, 2021
/ Tadashi Anahori
It is sometimes tempting to discard music idols as cookie-cutter enterprises whose ranks are filled with identical-looking young women.
But at least they are flesh and blood. The models of the future may well not be.
Digitally created models or even androids might be the faces of major commercial brands one day. After all, they don't age, nor is there the risk of your brand ambassador landing herself in hot water with a clumsily worded tweet or drugs arrest.
The cosmetics brand Kate has released a 30-second commercial with an innovative lineup of talent: two virtual models (imma and Ria) ...
Virtual YouTuber DeepWebUnderground invites you to fuck her nipples
June 16, 2020
/ Tadashi Anahori
Sexually provocative VTuber DeepWebUnderground has already released her own range of tie-in adult toys with top brand Tama Toys.
But now DWU and Tama Toys have given us another -- and rewarded us for our patience with a breasts toy.
Oh, and it's super inventive, too.
The DWU Inverted Nipple Fuck Onahole is not just a replica of DeepWebUnderground's breasts. It's more than yet another paizuri bust toy, which are pretty familiar by now. No, this toy lets you penetrate the nipples -- and they are inverted. It's a tittyfuck or titjob taken to the next level.
We saw a similar ...
Japanese sexy virtual YouTuber idol DeepWebUnderground inspires series of adult toys
June 24, 2019
/ Tadashi Anahori
While there are plenty of adult toys endorsed by and made in collaboration with Japanese porn stars, various others kind of idols also exist out there. And not all of them are real.
Top Japanese adult brand Tama Toys was quick to see an opportunity when the virtual YouTuber DeepWebUnderground (aka DWU) started to attract fans.
The cute character has amassed tens of thousands of subscribers to her YouTube channel since it launched in 2018, helped by her moe looks and willingness to talk about sexy topics.
And now those fans can get closer to DWU's videos than ever before with this series ...