The voice actress Saki Kosaka has made her swimwear gravure debut in an issue of Weekly Playboy that went on sale on Monday.
Known for voicing the role of Gold City in Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, Kosaka is also releasing her first gravure photo book, a digital release also published by Weekly Playboy.
Voice actresses are often popular idols in their own right and can have long and successful complementary careers in gravure. This might prove the case for Kosaka if her initial foray is well received.
Kosaka's age is not available publicly, though we assume from her career that began ...
Last week, we reported on the gravure side career of 31-year-old comedienne Angor Soncho. This weeks brings news that another female comedian is branching out into gravure.
Are we witnessing the birth of a new trend?
Kintalo. is a comedic tarento (general TV celebrity) and impressionist who is usually seen dressed up in silly makeup and pulling a wacky face. The 43-year-old married mother of two, whose real name is Shiho Tanaka, has decided to make an unexpected foray into gravure.
Even more unexpected is that it's not even her first try. She already did this 11 years ago, she says, ...
It takes either desperation or confidence to launch a gravure career as a step sideways from another existing career. (Normally, gravure idols try to do it the other way around: break into other types of work while starting out in gravure.)
This is a rare example of a comedienne branching out into modeling, especially gravure modeling.
Angora Soncho is one half of Nyanko Star, a moderately successful comedy duo active since 2017. She has now turned 31 and to mark the milestone, will release a photo book in July from major publisher Kodansha.
A graduate of Waseda, one the most ...
The gravure idol and businesswoman Saya Akane recently updated her social media to announce her marriage.
"I recently got married," wrote the 31-year-old on the platform note, and promised (unlike many other idols) not to stop working in entertainment even after her marriage.
Akane thanked her fans, saying, "It's been more than 10 years since I came to Tokyo. [...] The stages of life change little by little, but I hope to continue moving forward at my own pace."
However, it wasn't all felicitous tidings for the gradol. Akane also explained the reason for her lack of social media posts ...
As regular readers will know, we have a strong interest in the afterlives of music idols, gravure models, and porn stars.
The situation is particularly tough for the latter, who face discrimination and criticism if they go public with personal details like pregnancy or attempt to branch out into more "respectable" professions.
The former adult video star Yua Mikami had one of the most successful careers among performers of her generation. She already reinvented herself once, graduating from a career as a music idol in SKE48 to JAV, where she known by her birth name, Momona Kito.
Since ...
Back in 2020, amidst the fug of the pandemic, we gleefully reported on the gravure comeback of Asami Kumakiri. The mature hottie was then a ripe 40 and posed for a nude shoot that showed off her slender, sexy figure. She has since released several digital photo books.
Well, Asami is now 44 and still going strong.
She just did her first shoot for gravure magazine Flash in 13 years, generating headlines in the media. She is shown covering her naked breasts with her hands, her body covered by white pearls. The issue even comes with a DVD featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the ...
Most careers in entertainment are all too short and many stutter and fade before they even really get going. That is true perhaps especially of gravure, an industry obsessed with the next idol, the latest body, the newest boobs.
But some women are an exception, like Yoko Kumada, whose gravure career has continued even as she has got older, had a family, and suffered a scandal (domestic violence) -- or perhaps, it's precisely because of this. Kumada is a lady with experience and who knows how to handle herself, a very attractive quality for a woman.
The 42-year-old divorcee and ...
Stand back, guys, because there's a new gal in town.
She's called Mimi Yuzuki (柚月美美). She apparently works as a regular office lady for a company while moonlighting as a cosplayer. And now she's a gravure idol after making her debut in the April 21 issue of Weekly Playboy.
"I was nervous. It was not just the gravure-style poses I had to make, it was also my first time to work with a professional cameraman, makeup artists, and stylist."
The shoot has also resulted in a digital photo book.
Besides her obvious beauty (which has drawn comparisons with ex-gradol Misako ...
The veteran Japanese gravure model Miho Abe has released her first hair nude (full-frontal nude) photo book.
The 37-year-old Hokkaido native is currently freelance. She made her debut in the industry in 2007 and has gone through some professional name changes over the years.
Though she has done nude shoots before, such as in 2018, this is a her first full-frontal nude and is very welcome, not just because Miho Abe is a fantastic jukujo with a mature body, but because we want the hair nude to enjoy a revival. With the honorable exceptions of Yuka Someya and Biru Otsuka, few models and ...
Hina Kikuchi was the joint winner at Weekly Playboy's Gravure Japan Awards 2024 announced in December, and it's clear that the public is lapping her up as well.
The 20-year-old's highly anticipated third photo book, memory, is a hit, selling 50,000 copies across physical and digital editions since March 19.
As the weather warms up in Japan, fans are clearly connecting with the photo book's summery theme.
Since she's still only 20 years old, we suspect Hina Kikuchi -- with her slinky body and pale skin -- has a long and fruitful gravure career ahead of her.
She got her break as a ...
