Great J - Erina Yamaguchi
Anticipation - you discover something, you do what ever it is that you do to start the wheels in motion. And then you don’t sleep well until you have it. You think about it all the time. Over and over you make doodles of her and you dream of the delights yet to come. The days drag by while you wait. A week seems like an infinity. Yeah, anticipation followed by waiting…it’s a wonderful thing. Not really!
All this started after I got look at Erina Yamaguchi’s first DVD which was entitled Amazing.
Technically that DVD was not what you might call a great video. Visually - Erina wasn’t the prettiest girl on the planet - there were issues as she didn’t smile often, and there wasn’t a lot of movement on her part. After adding in some credits for the marvelous Thai beach resort location, and her awesome bust; there wasn’t much else that was memorable. But the model simply overwhelmed me. I was blown away by her charms. My review ended with a great score, which was later poo-poohed in some quarters.
Except that her figure was just so delectable. And that’s where my anticipation got it’s start.
Fast forward, pun intended - the EMS (Express Mail Service) package arrived. The label showed that the package was sent from the Nihonbashi District of Tokyo. While not quite the epicenterof Tokyo, it is the heart of the business district, and not all that far from the Ginza, or the Imperial Palace, the Kabuki Theater, Hibiya Park, and the famous pumpkin pies served at Steinmetz’s.
Anyway, that’s where the CDJapan/Neowing warehouse is. And it is from there, the Erina Yamaguchi Great J DVD which was produced by Bunkasha for their Deep Kiss Series, traveled all the way across the Pacific, ultimately landing at New York’s JFK Airport. From there, my package went by truck to a postal depot, then to my local post office before finally arriving in my hands.
So much for the anticipation. Now let’s talk about the disappointment. Let me count the ways:
Every scene is the same. There’s no need for me to walk you through the individual scenes, because they are all alike. One scene fits all, with the only changes being the location and Erina’s costume/clothes.
Any Chapter scene consists of Erina posing for still photos, plus a making of segment or an off-shot segment as seen through a camera viewfinder.
Her inexperience as a model shows. There’s none of the fluidity of movement that a professional model should have. You know a small of change of position, or a minor change to the the tilt of ther head after each shot. Erina doesn’t move until the director or photographer tells her to.
And even then, we don’t see it. What we get is a stationary Erina in one pose, then a new pose and Erina is still motionless. We don’t see the set up of the shot or the positioning.
What’s more Erina is always looking at the still camera and not at the video camera. So there’s little or no eye contact between the model and the DVD audience.
And if you think this isn’t important - just watch any Yoko Matsugane DVD and you will realize just how important the eye contact really is.
The photographer seemingly isn’t able to draw Erina out. She’s quite wooden as if she’s bored, tired, or unhappy about posing. There’s no interplay at all during the shoots. It is only in some of the making of segments that we see a comfortable, relaxed and real Erina.
In total the viewing experience you get while watching Great J is not the least bit fun. There’s 14 chapters - really only 13 as the 14th is basically the credits. The bonus clip is Erina on a small shopping tour. Too bad she’s wearing a muu-muu style top which hides her figure to a degree.
Looking at a woman of beauty and a major league bosom is never going to be a negative experience. But if you enjoy the experience of watching idol videos - this one will not make anyone’s list of favorite videos.
Having said all that, Erina is still a very desirable woman. I really like her features, and even though she won’t smile very often, when she does deign to reward us with a smile, her face becomes quite beautiful.
And she’s got heavenly breasts. They’re huge, mobile, and soft. Erina is 180 degrees the opposite of Ourei Harada (just below) who is quite voluptuous with overly firm breasts.
There are some plus points about the DVD. The color, lighting, and audio are all excellent. You will have no complaints at all on those levels.
But the plusses are not enough to outweigh what is wrong with this DVD. I’ve got no choice but to bring this one in at a score of two point five. This DVD isn’t about Erina Yamaguchi having a great time at a world class resort. Instead this DVD is about a model at work. We hope we will get to see a DVD with Erina at play and really enjoying herself in the future.
Great J - Erina Yamaguchi
Bunkasha - Deep Kiss Series
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BKDV-195
http://www.gijo.org/yamaguchi_erina/review/dvd/greatj.php
November 3rd, 2006 at 6:50 pm
And you said we disagree about everything in your reply to my comments in your Karin review - I think we see eye-to-eye on this one. Because she’s not playing to the video camera, any possible charm which she might have displayed is lost. Even as a fetish video, Great J is useless as the camera work is so utilitarian that even breast lovers won’t be satisfied.
The comment about eye contact and body movement are certainly more than justified, but I’m still waiting for Erina to work with a good crew and producer - at best, the ones on Amazing were competent, and they people she had here were certainly mediocre at best. Her photobook was solid though and was capable of some connection with the viewer, but then photography and videography (is that even a word?) are completely different things.
As I mentioned in our conversations, I’m beginning to think that Erina is a one-hit wonder: with absolutlely no new promotional material from her since the release of Great J (usually idols have photos released in the weekly rags or men’s magazines to keep them in the buyer’s conciousness), perhaps her talent agency has balked?
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Having seen this DVD just this week, I have to agree with both of you. This is certainly not up to standard with the typical idol DVD that I’ve seen up to now. The comparaison with some of Yoko Matsugane’s work comes to mind. Although not as spectacularly endowed as Erina, Yoko is almost always smoldering hot and has a way of looking at the camera that is extremely sexy and irresistable. As you say, you can’t reproduce that when you simply film a photoshoot and she isn’t even looking at the video camera throughout most of it. It’s not that Erina doesn’t look superb in some of those great outfits (particularly in that stunning black bikini, that very low cut black halter top and overflowing out of that purple bikini and that certainly show off her wonderfully amazing curves). Like you say, it’s simply that there’s nothing going on, no movement and she doesn’t look at the camera. Although it’s not really exploited well here, she really appears to have a nice personnality and I feel that if they tried a little more, she could be showcased so much better. I certainly hope that she’s not a one hit wonder and that the best is yet to come because she has the physical attributs and everything else to become of the most popular idol models.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:01 pm
Hey, I wish we’d all be in agreement about how great the video was - only it wasn’t the case. And I do hope that Bunkasha and the hired gun director will some how get wind of our perspective and comments and take that into consideration in future productions. If we are saying it, likely are others in agreement.
Although cdjapan lists this DVD as the 12th ranked best seller as of November 4th - it has fallen out of the top ten. Released in late Auugust it held strong in the top 10 for more than two months.
But take note of the fact that there are NO positive reviews on the cdjapan webpage for this video. What does that tell you?
March 11th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
She is “AWESOME!”
First reply to something like this! I just had to get my two cents in. This girl is simply “out of site, beautiful!”
March 11th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Yeah, she has great looks -
But we have not seen her since this release. Maybe her hjeart wasn’t in modeling.
Maybe she didn’t want to be recognized in the street.
And maybe she’s not one to be the object of a kazillion men’s dreams.
Yeah, I wished her career had continued.
Thanks for comment and for reading the columns.
JMM