Former Takarazuka actress’s porn debut canceled by legal pressure

Soft on Demand has canceled the release of a porn film featuring the debut of a 21-year-old former actress who graduated from a “noted musical school.” No names were specified but it is an open secret that the school was Takarazuka, who have brought out the legal guns to stop their name being “tarnished.”

Takarazuka is of course the all-female cabaret theatre troupe based in the Osaka area that inspires a devout following among fans, who travel from all over the country to see the women play either the male or female roles in kitschy musicals at theaters in Osaka, Tokyo or other major cities.

The troupe is famous — not unlike AKB48 — for having a no-dating policy and being run by men (natch), and it has launched the career of several major actresses and models. It is also not without an erotic element, being a sort of quasi-lesbian all-female spectacle of hot ladies dressed partly as men.

However, many of the stars fade after their time in Takarazuka and, also like AKB, there have been problems with the way it is run. Actresses train in a special school and have to live in dorms. This cultivates bullying and a very secretive, closed society. In seems that when you have lots of beautiful women trapped together without boyfriends, all hell breaks loose.

The actress in question, Rena Takatsuka (which may not have been her original name when she was at Takarazuka — it can also be written “Takazuka”, which is suspiciously similar to the school’s name!), had trouble fitting in with the regimented way of life demanded by Takarazuka. She is said to have taken the school to court in 2009 over bullying, as well as having been dismissed from the prestigious ranks over accusations of shoplifting in 2008, just half a year after entering the school. In 2010 she got her dismissal overturned and she was given a graduation certificate. She then returned to Tohoku, where is from.

The world was rubbing its hands in glee at the prospects of Rena Takatsuka’s porn debut, not least because she was said to have a G-cup beauty!

Amazingly Takarazuka has got Soft on Demand — Japan’s biggest porn producer — to back down from releasing the film, which has no doubt cost SOD millions and millions of yen not only in potential revenue, but also in the amount they have already spent producing and promoting the title. It was set to be one of its major winter releases but now may never seen light of day.

We can at least console ourselves with Rena’s debut photo book Starlight — from which some of the images in this post are taken — that should hopefully still see a release.