MBR-BA069: A Beautiful Debut

Model: Satsuki Asakura (24)
Studio: Spice Visual

Release Date: 2020-12-18
Runtime: 87 Minutes

6.6/10

Introduction

Satsuki Asakura is a relatively new entrant into the world of JAV and Gravure, having debuted in both during the fall of 2020. Satsuki (Aya Shiomi in JAV) has so far, a single IV to her name and that is with Spice Visual’s Blue Ribbon label. She is marketed as a model and kickboxer, however, I’m not sure to what extent that is accurate to her prior life or if it’s just a theme to drum up interest in the release. SV’s Blue Ribbon label is known for being visually appealing, however, the enthusiasm and creativity in the sets and actresses doesn’t always translate into stellar products, so let’s see how this debut fares.
 

Production & Setting

Starting off we see Satsuki in a familiar outdoors setting, garden on one side, stone walkway in the middle, white building on the other side. This is a typical backdrop used by other IV producers such as REbecca and is often seen accompanying new entrants into the genre. It’s a simple setup with a good amount of contrasting colors and visual elements. Satsuki’s outfit also follows a common theme by using a white top contrasted by a vibrant lower piece. This opening scene has little going for it beyond hitting the baseline design requirements. Satsuki isn’t really doing a whole lot and her expressions leave much to be desired. Furthermore, perhaps they should have done something to address the bruises and marks on her backside, it’s fine she has them, but they are quite glaring when the camera zooms in for the butt shot. 
 
From there its on to the indoors piece with Satsuki performing the vibrator toy play session (without any undressing). The setting here is rather average, the colors are fine, a bit on the light side and they don’t really work to bring out any additional detail from Satsuki, with a minor imbalance caused by the green plants and natural sunlight in the few shots that show the background. The music cuts out for this part but to be honest, the sound of a vibrator is a godsend compared to whatever played prior of which was one of the worst pieces of music I’ve heard in a Gravure production, at least tracks with lyrics are comically bad. 

Moving from this lackluster start we are now in a kitchen setting. Satsuki’s outfit is much better this time, with bright colors and patterns aiding to contrast the white and tan colored cabinets and surrounding room decor. The music is also an upbeat track and on its own a significant step up in energy, it feels like we are back in the prime years of arcade racing games in the 90s. However, outfit and music aside, Satsuki is still leaving a little too much on the drawing room floor. It’s evident that full or partial nudity is going to be a very rare occurrence in this film. While the performance isn’t great, visually the set and Satsuki look good, and then all is lost as we move to a POV style glass dildo sucking scene. It’s bad, moving on.

Next shoot has an even better outfit, denim ripped jeans and a nice purple-white bikini top. The music is early 2000s dance inspired but that’s alright, it’s a bit too upbeat in parts but it works to an extent. The set is bland, at times too noisy due to white walls and tan floors, but they change the angle as Satsuki does some undressing against a railing. She looks good, but still lacking any real enthusiasm in the scene. She shows some personality as she removes pieces of her ensemble until she is finally topless, but she hides those goods once more, even through the terrible vibrator toy part that comes next. This is a recurring pattern unfortunately with the film unfortunately.

The bathtub scene is up, and it looks good. The set is still uninspired white plain white walls and a typical green plant to add some color, but nonetheless it works. Satsuki’s outfit is nice, her colorful underwear looks great and as a welcome shot of color into her plain white outfit and the surrounding colors. Satsuki is also far more interactive in this shoot, playing with the soap suds as she undresses, and we finally get some nudity, albeit mostly obscured but at least its something. The music is an interesting piece, an orchestral track that would suit some fantasy setting, perhaps as an intro or outro cinematic. It takes a turn into a more subtle light percussion EDM track in the latter half of the scene and really brings down the energy and pace, which works somewhat, although the music is mostly playing when the camera is zoomed in on Satsuki’s butthole, so it’s an interesting place to change up the energy present.
 
The last two scenes are a mixed bag, the first of this pair starts outside with some lively kickboxing from Satsuki before moving indoors. The outfit looks great with bright colors and form fitting physique. The music is upbeat akin to a modified version of Sonic’s Casino Nights tracks. The setting, however, is still just a plain white room with some natural lighting and a couple green plants to add some depth, but that’s about it. Then, unfortunately, it nosedives into a fake sex scene where you can see the cameraman being used as a stationary post for a doggy style sex position. He is still wearing his jeans, and they still manage to cover up Satsuki’s breasts. Really? I’m all for non-nude Gravure, but this is lame on all counts. The final scene is almost entirely fake sex as well, with the sole exception being the short intro. Satsuki has a nice piece of lingerie on and her hair being a mix between bed hair and combed is nice. The usage of natural lighting to give some sheen to parts of Satsuki is good and if they utilized more of those artistic devices this scene could have been even better. The music is a bit out of place with the energy it presents in contrast to the tone being presented by Satsuki and the backdrop. The sex scene that follows isn’t even much of a sex scene, it’s more of an oil rub down of her butt, and we get some up-close butthole shots again. Then the scene just ends, no music, no “The End” screen, no BTS segment, no credits. It’s an odd way to close it out that’s for sure, especially for a debut Gravure production.
 
Score: 7/10 (Production), 7/10 (Setting)

Music

The music is a mixed bag in this one. The first track is bad. A slow violin? It’s bad, doesn’t suit the theme, doesn’t work with Satsuki, moving on. The next track shows promise, light percussion, good synths, upbeat pace, sounds like it came straight out of the 90s dance music genre. The added piano bit is a nice touch as well. The song transitions into some epic synth piece towards its end, akin to say something you’d hear in Tron. Solid track, however, it doesn’t really mesh well with what Satsuki is doing, nor does it really suit the visual aesthetic of a plain kitchen backdrop. It’s nice to have the music but a different track would have been preferred and certainly anything would have been better than listening to silence and lip smacking during the toy play/fake sex part that follows. Third track is another energetic 90s EDM dance track from a video game, in fact it sounds like a modified version of the casino nights from Sonic. It moves towards the racing game menu genre shortly after with the added treble percussion in the second half. The song works albeit Satsuki really isn’t moving enough or being expressive to the point where it’s a seamless pairing.

The bath scene music works. The pace is casual, the piano and percussion create a good rhythm and as the song progresses more instruments layer on to build up the song. Satsuki’s interactions work well with the song and it slows down when she is at the undressing portion of the shoot (partial undressing, it’s just substituting a shirt for soap suds). The presence of a flute softens the energy of the song while Satsuki’s actions slow down and are less energetic than before. The music goes through moments of subtlety to an almost grand endnote with an orchestral finale. The song is then replaced by an interesting piece that has some synths and a very light percussion presence. I think it suits the scene as it winds down, it’s just the synths seem out of place.

The next track, again we are back with the synth heavy electronic arcade tracks. It’s a very fast paced and energetic song, but it does get ahead of itself in contrast to Satsuki’s rather slow movements. Following the undressing portion, the track is swapped for a percussion and brass jazzy ensemble, for about a minute before the fake sex part is up. The last track is a nice mid tempo piano and treble percussion track that suits the pace of Satsuki and the visuals, although the brass parts are a little too high energy for a slow scene.

Score: 6/10

Aesthetics & Performance

Satsuki, I feel is an example where the cover makes her look a lot better than in the video. Now Satsuki looks good overall, it’s more that the cinematography and set design wasn’t doing her many favors in certain shots. Outfit wise her third piece with the denim jeans wins, with the bathtub attire and the boxing outfit tied for second. Satsuki looked best with her hair down, however, in most of those scenes the camera work and her general lack of enthusiasm sort of left the look fall flat. The last scene certainly helped in drawing out Satsuki’s looks but it was far too limited in the poses and angles displayed. One thing to note is that Satsuki has some marks on her butt. Assuming she actually is a kickboxer outside of her adult entertainment career, which based on a short demonstration seems likely, then it’s reasonable the marks are due to this activity, but I feel they could have worked to possibly cover them up or avoid focusing on those points too much.

Unfortunately, despite Satsuki looking good at certain points, the biggest drawback to this production is her performance in the scenes. Outside of a couple exceptions such as the kickboxing skit or the bathtub scene, the rest is just fairly boring posing, little facial expressions, and the prevalence of far too many sex or toy play oriented scenes just brings the entire film down. These scenes are never done well in Gravure, even when the actress is an established JAV performer. The direction and filming is bad all around in this portion. The rest of the film has some good shots, but the majority is average and could have used some more time to work on the modelling aspect of the film had the sex bits not been so constant.

Score: 7/10 (Aesthetics), 6/10 (Performance)

Summary

Satsuki’s debut into Gravure unfortunately is a mixed bag that is held back by an over-reliance on fake sex scenes. There are good parts, nice visuals, and parts when Satsuki looks to be enjoying some of the shoots. However, the filming was average, the music choices were mostly good with only a couple questionable choices, and the abundance on poorly done sex scenes and lack of good direction to indicate how Satsuki should act throughout her scenes brings this film down a few pegs score wise. Which is unfortunate as debut releases often determine whether the actress or the studio will continue with this venture. Satsuki has made more JAV since this film and Gravure certainly isn’t for everyone, but I expected better on the part of Spice Visual, who have produced great films in the past.

Score: 6.6/10
Pros

– Satsuki looked good overall
– Kickboxing is a cool sport

Cons

– Too many sex/toy scenes
– Uninspired direction/enthusiasm in most scenes