What's the point of gravure?

The Japanese are the way they are due to a combination of heritage and circumstances, as probably we all are. For Japan, their strength has always been the ability to recognize what is already good from foreign sources and perfect it, effectively making it their own. Examples include the 刀　katana, the samurai sword learned from China; 禅　"zen", Zen Buddhism, also from China and maybe Korea; and 車　"kuruma", the automobile, learned from America et al. They also learned the glamour business from the West, through the filter of the uniquely obtuse morality imposed by the post WW II Occupation. Concerning what is very broadly called 水商売 mizu shobai, "water trade", this is the Japanese world of nightlife and sex business, which by long extension includes gravure. To greatly simplify it, Japanese AV is censored partly because the Occupation imposed that on them, but maybe more so because that's the way they want it.

北村ひとみ　Hitomi Kitamura's new video, やわらかなひとみ Yawaraka na Hitomi, "Soft Hitomi" is a classic of the gravure genre, but not a step forward creatively. As anticipated, it is seriously giri giri, but could have been so much more. The successful part includes Hitomi-chan's always amazing charisma, skillfully captured by directors who recognize her "charm points", as the Js call one's physical attributes and personal appeal. The unfortunate part includes a failure to build on what has set Hitomi apart so far, that is, bouncing her awesome breasts. NOBODY bounces 'em like Hitomi-chan.

Don't get me wrong, this is better than the last release, "Nittlegenic 2006 Graduation - Memories" (they wrote it in English), which looked and felt more like a debut video than the fourth or fifth release of a major gravure star. But at least "Graduation" had a breif nod to bouncing, which Hitomi-chan made immortal in her 2006 video, ゆれる想い Yureru Omoi, what the torrent community translates as "Breasts of Love". Several scenes in the past, there was the hintiest hint of a nipple, but in "Soft Hitomi" they tease the heck out of us by showing the first incontrovertable edge of her Awesomes, the darkness of her areola clearly visible for the briefest glimpse. Overall, it is a great idol video.

However ......... For reasons I cannot guess at, most of the biggest gravure girls NEVER allow any more than the faintest whisper of a hintiest hint of their nipples to show, no matter how much boob flesh they otherwise show readily. An extreme, absurd example is かわせゆな Yuna Kawase, who is a gorgeous, voluptuous girl. Her handlers make her cover only the tips of her nipples and the crease of her snatch (which to be accurate, the Occupation prohibition against dipicting genitals would ban anyway). Otherwise, she is completely nude.

Enter 岡田真由香 Yuraka Okuda, whose bustline clocks in at 43 inches. Her newly released video, 　ニプル　パラダイス　”Nipple Paradise" boldly displays Yuraka's concealed BIG nipples, high beams through tee shirts, bikinis and sweaters. Despite some ham-handed framings, her perfect ass, flat in the classic Japanese way, is feature prominently, demanding to be seen and recognized. Nipping-out is an audacious display in gravure.