gSHR-072/GSHRB-048: Virgin Nude

Actress: Tsubasa Aizawa (20)
Studio: REbecca

Release Date: 2014-07-03
Runtime: 60 Minutes

6.5/10

Introduction

Tsubasa Aizawa is another one of those short lived actresses in the world of JAV and Gravure. Having debuted in May of 2014 in JAV and subsequently with REbecca for a handful of IVs, Tsubasa quickly disappeared from the scene in less than a year. This film marks her first entry into Gravure around 2 months following her JAV debut. The Virgin Nude series produced by REbecca is a special series that seeks to show off new actresses in the Gravure world and generally to nude content as well. However, the timing can sometimes be off if the actress is also doing JAV because studios all have their own production timelines. So in the case of Tsubasa, audiences were already exposed to her nude and also having sex, a bit off the mark. The Virgin Nude series is also a little different in how it is filmed and produced overall in contrast to the main REbecca releases, a bit less polish and budget goes into these films. With all that said let’s see how this debut Gravure fares.

Production & Setting

The film starts off with a montage (what a shocker), and following that we get into the meat of the film. After a short introduction the first scene starts with Tusbasa in a bedroom for the typical casual light hearted scene many IVs are known for. The lighting is good and natural, the set design is brightly lit with white walls, sheets, and Tsubasa’s clothing. An added touch of darker color from the furniture to contrast with these elements serves to make the backdrop more fleshed out. They also serve to compliment Tsubasa who has color aspects that aren’t as white as the bedding. The music isn’t anything special and is a little too repetitious, even by Gravure standards, but it works with the intent of the scene. Tsubasa is visually enthusiastic at least with regards to her face, body movement wise is a little slower than ideal given the tempo but given this is her first attempt, some things may be lacking to start. The next begins outside which serves to add a lot of visual dynamic as there are a variety of colors and lighting elements in play, but this does not last long before it’s back indoors. Once inside its a typical brightly lit room with some color gradients added via the furniture and drapes to prevent the scene from being entirely whited out. Tsubasa’s outfit is more complex this time around and does add some better color matching, however, the interaction between the clothing and the environment mixed with music that is much more energetic and a bit off base with Tsubasa’s movements leads to a slight mismatch of components. That wouldn’t be that bad until the ending portion of this scene is an odd masturbation bit. First thing to note, the music is a bit much for this type of scene and the next is Tsubasa doesn’t really sell it, at least not based on expressions. 
Moving to the third scene, the music is dialed back a bit but still maintains a fast tempo. The room setting is more muted in its color palette and isn’t blown out by the natural light from prior scenes. Tsubasa appears a little more enthusiastic in this scene, the added exercise ball prop certainly helps prevents some of the prior issues of being unsure about hand placements. The camera movements are smooth, there aren’t too many sudden jump cuts but when they do happen they can be a little off putting, a reshoot likely would have resulted in a better end product. The scene was an improvement in certain respects and a bit of a step back in others. The fourth scene is the shower scene. Any self respecting IV needs one. This one has a slower tempo track with a nicely lit room. The outfit choice for Tsubasa adds a nice contrast to the scene and it isn’t overly saturated which is good. Tsubasa actually undresses almost fully underwater with no visibility through it, not a common thing that I’ve ever seen in Gravure. Overall the transitions are still a little too quick, some one-shot flowing changes would be nice. The soap part is really soapy, that’s about it. 
 
The penultimate scene is an interesting one. First is the music, it’s like they took a late 90s Sega arcade racer, stripped it’s EDM tracks, then laced a jazzy percussion beat over it and then readjusted the timing to give it some sexy feel. The track kinda works, but it’s still too upbeat for what is happening in the shot. As for the shot itself, the room is dark with basically the camera providing the lighting, which does add some depth at certain angles, but it feels a bit low effort, not much is done to work with the shadows instead of just making them and zooming in on the appropriate parts of Tsubasa. Regarding Tsubasa herself, her expressions are basically a no show during this shoot, or at least they attempt to convey some sexy vibe but it doesn’t really work. The last scene is a return to a bedroom scene, it’s a slightly more lit set but there is definitely more work paid attention to the added depth the shadows present when looking at Tsubasa’s figure. The music is still a little too fast for what is being pulled off visually, but it’s hard to say if this is the fault of the production team or Tsubasa, given the inexperience of the latter, it likely is the former. The shoot has some good set pieces to it and more work with the shadows and the dim lighting would have been great. Sadly however the scene shifts into a POV glass dildo sucking contest and then a simulated sex scene with an almost silent performance by Tsubasa, which even by IV standards is really weird. A disappointing end to at least an alright film in some respects. 
 
Score: 6.5/10 (Production), 6.5/10 (Setting)

Music

The music throughout is a bit of a mixed bag. Some hits and misses. The first track is a nice evenly paced piece with some light percussion and keyboard synths. It matches the scene fairly well and doesn’t outpace Tsubasa, even when the undressing portions are done, which is a fairly common thing among Gravure producers. The second track, however, is a bit off the mark. It’s more energetic with a more pronounced percussion and guitar lead and at times what sounds like a trumpet, or at least some form of brass instrument sound effect. It’s off pace with most of Tsubasa’s movements and doesnt really suit the aesthetic presented either, not to mention it’s odd continued use during the masturbation scene, but I won’t fault the music for that. it does fail to match what is going on screen in this respect though. 

Moving on, the third track is good, once again it’s a more light hearted casual electronic piece, something akin to synthpop of the mid 2000s. It speeds up with some added percussion as the scene progresses and while in some instances the timing is a bit off with the on screen action, overall it feels like a good pairing. This is of courses aided by a more enthusiastic Tsubasa. The shower scene track is a slower tempo light percussion track with more prominent guitar, kinda has a latin flair to it, good on-hold music. It works with the setting. The song is a little short for the scene, but that’s pretty hard to avoid unless one in placing entire classical ensembles into their films. The last two tracks, i’ll keep it brief, one is basically a cyberpunk style dance club track akin to the Afterlife track in Mass Effect 2 (the game), and the last track is basically a variant of any song from a futuristic racing game from Sega in the 1990s. Both tracks are energetic with the last certainly being the higher tempo with the former having a bit more of a seductive vibe to it thanks to the dirtier synths. The execution is a little hit and miss with the timings, however, this is something that would be hard to address without working more on Tsubasa’s performance.  

Score: 7/10

Aesthetics & Performance

Set design and wardrobe variation wasn’t anything particularly amazing, the outfits looked good on Tsubasa overall and the backdrops were fine, if not a little basic. None of the outfits were out of place with their respective scenes, with the first outfit being the most visually pleasing of the group. Tsubasa herself was easily the star of the show from a visual standpoint. One of the cutest looking people I’ve seen in the industry and despite having issues on the performance side of things her smile was easily her best feature. The only issue in this regard is that she smiles too much and doesn’t do much of anything else at the same level of enthusiasm, save for the third scene. Which brings us to the performance part.

Sadly this was not a great showing in the performance department. Tsubasa’s facial expressions were bright and cheery and hard not to like. However, the rest of her was rather disconnected. Her body expressions during most of the scenes was akin to going through the motions. With the exception of the third scene with the exercise ball, the rest were just sort of Tsubasa smiling and then going through the typical take off clothes and show selling points, which is boring. The worst offender however were the masturbation/fake sex scenes, which were just bad. Tsubasa’s expressions weren’t good and she made basically no noise during either, even if the music was playing too much at certain points, there simply wasn’t any audio coming from her to make a difference. It is unknown as to whether this was filmed prior to her JAV debut given they are weeks apart, but if it is, then that could be an explanation for the performance, if it isn’t, then I wonder how her JAV debut fared. Cut these parts and the film would be better.

Score: 6.5/10 (Aesthetics), 6/10 (Performance)

Summary

The Virgin Nude series is one of those interesting “Firsts” series’ that exist within the Gravure industry. Often they are hit and miss in their presentation. This could be because more attention is given to established actresses and labels, its hard to tell. Either way, in the case of this debut, the results speak for themselves. Some parts work, others don’t, that goes for both the post-production work and Tsubasa herself. Tsubasa has the inklings of being an energetic and enthusiastic Gravure model, however, it just doesn’t quite land in this debut. As previously mentioned, it is possible this is her first foray into nude modelling and subsequently JAV, it isn’t clear given the proximity of JAV and Gravure production timelines. 

Tsubasa’s performance was hit and miss, she certainly looks the part and her smile is the best part of her acting in the film, but the rest of her movements are a bit stiff and going through the motions. It is likely a combination of Tsubasa being unsure how to act in these types of films, as having sex is quite different than understanding how to pose or interact with oneself for aesthetic purposes. The studio has been doing this long enough they should also be aware of how to direct newcomers and there appears to be at least some effort made via prop scenes and such, but it sadly isn’t enough. It’s not the worst IV to come out of REbecca for sure, it’s just about average.

 
Score: 6.5/10
Pros

– Tsubasa is pretty cute
– The outfits were nice
– Tsubasa smile (yes it gets its own spot)

Cons

– Uneven music usage
– Tsubasa’s performance
– The masturbation/simulated sex scenes