40-year-old ex-SDN48 idol Serina continues career revival

The former SDN48 idol Serina made a gravure comeback late last year with a new photo book released when she was 39.

It was enough of a hit to fuel a new stage in her career. She has followed up with another gravure shoot for a digital photo book produced by Weekly Friday. For a woman now aged 40, she looks stunning — and isn’t afraid of appearing in provocative erotic shoots just as sexy as the ones she did 15 years ago during the SDN48 peak.

Her latest release, Realism, is in three volumes, and follows another digital photo book in June. It has a black lingerie theme and, at least in the previews we have seen, seems to emphasize Serina’s butt.

The famously slinky Serina is unmarried and is also these days trying to establish herself as a music idol producer. Though her career peak was in the 2010s (SDN48 was active from 2009 to 2012, and she also dappled in acting in the 2010s), Serina published a self-titled print photo book in 2021 with probably her most naked shoot to date.

We seem to be witnessing an unusual series of older Japanese idols with major gravure releases or making gravure comebacks right now. Some of this is driven by simple nostalgia as publishers realize fans are older and willing to spend on past crushes, hence the return of Mayumi Yamazaki (formerly of Onyanko Club), Harumi Inoue, and Reiko Kato.

Others are just welcome comebacks after a few years out of the limelight due to career changes or starting families, like Yuka Kosaka, Mayumi Yamanaka, Megumi Kagurazaka, Mai Oshima, and Maki Goto.

But there are also stars who never went away and are powering on through their late thirties and forties just as sensual and alluring as ever, and making their maturity part of their sex appeal — especially if they are still single. Serina now firmly belongs to this jukujo camp, along with the likes of Sayaka Isoyama, Yuka Iguchi, Ami Tokito, Ayame Misaki, and Kyoko Fukada.