Sayaka Ando – Duet
Wani Books
Catalogue # – WBDV-16 – Region 2 Disc

The Skinny: Finally – a gravure idol DVD with no beaches, no bikinis, or big boobs. And guess what? It is simply a terrific video.

Sayaka Ando is her name. She’s likely to be a success in anything she chooses to do. She began as a race queen and now is a top-of-the-line model. We are going to see her in a variety of modes – including one that we rarely see in these DVDs – as a regular girl hanging out.

After the artsy montage, we find ourselves out in the country in a town (?) called Kawaguchiko. It’s a rainy afternoon. A sweat suit clad Sayaka doesn’t seem to be bothered by the wet.

In fact, the closest we will get to a beach is a muddy rain puddle and Sayako dives right into it. She not only gets wet, but later, she also is up to her eyeballs in the weeds. Bravo. After each scene, there’s a small interview with the model. They use a dual image technique which isn’t so great visually, but hearing the model talk and laugh about what happened is fun.

Next we have Sayaka in a white shirt over a black bra and panties. Yes this is definitely on the glamor side of the ledger. All our girl does is to fool around on the bed and on the sheets.

Next Sayaka is set down near some falling water. She’s close enough to get wet but not so close that she’s under the deluge. As the camera retreats from the closeups we can now see that she is in a jacuzzi.

When Sayaka climbs out of the jacuzzi and takes a view of the town, she mentions Fuji-san, the affectionate nickname all Japanese have for Mt. Fuji. We hope we will get a view of this majestic mountain later in the DVD.

After a few chatty questions in lieu of a formal interview we join Sayaka in bed, sorry – we join Sayaka who is on the futon. She’s in a playful mood and we are limited to just watching. No problem with that, as I am reviewing the DVD not performing in it.

Soon she’s in a big chair, and she still has that certain something that grabs your attention.

The next is scene is straight out of fashion magazine. A high concept shoot with Sayaka in flashes of red, black underwear, a staircase, a fedora, and lot of light behind her. Simply marvelous.

The next scene opens with Sayaka looking straight at us. Her lips are a rich red, and her eyes are mesmerizing. This is another of those fashion-centric style of scenes. We see an unusual tattoo on the inside of Sayaka’s hip. The location is a grungy tiled shower room.

The last image from this section is Sayaka in costume but no longer in character. Though she is still in front of the camera, she’s no longer a model in a role – she’s just Sayaka Ando.

The next scene begins with a few flashes of green – outdoors, but quickly shifts to an indoor location. Likely a basement as we see pipes, and wheels, and we know the sunshine doesn’t reach this place. But this is just an interim scene, and we can grab just a few facial closeups before it ends.

Sayaka emerges from the basement into the sunlight and we can capture some bright pics for you. Are you beginning to see that this isn’t your garden variety of a bikini gravure model? The images are startling as well as beautiful.

Deep in the forest, the crew is at work. Sayaka wears an unusual costume. And I don’t mean unusual for deep in the forest. This dress would stop people in their tracks, anywhere. Check it out. On the other hand, they change the angles and her position, but Sayaka is pretty much still throughout this scene.

The next chapter is also deep in the forest. This time Sayaka wears black and pink. It is nearly night, the trees create their own darkness for those below them on the ground. Sayaka wears some sparkling and reflective eye make-up with some dark eyeliner creating shadowy effects.

Startling isn’t it?

As the next scene starts, Sayaka will use a sheet as a prop. She’ll hold it up in front of her, shielding us from seeing her until she lowers the sheet with a new and different facial expression. Eventually she’ll discard the sheet and we see her in just a small bra and panties.

The next chapter is called Ending. Sayaka wears the same small bra and panties again, this time with a floor length sweater coat. It is a natural extension of the previous scene and has superb lighting. Just look at the beautiful skin tones.

The credits roll but the DVD still has some more wonderful moments for us. The last five minutes include an interview segment with Sayaka being completely relaxed and being herself. They also show us some making of scenes of Sayaka at work modeling for a still photographer. Finally we see some looks from behind the scenes views of Sayaka just being a 26 year old girl having fun.

Summary: Just a superb 54 minutes. Some of you might say this isn’t a bikini idol, or she doesn’t have a big bust, or even that this DVD was a little too much on the side of high fashion. And all of that would be true. But it was still superb. End of story.

Sayaka is a beautiful woman, and we were glad to have an opportunity to watch this DVD. The title Duet refers to the duality of watching this DVD – Beauty and Cruelty, which appeared on each of the Chapter cards. Sayaka is beautiful and the cruelty is that we aren’t going to get a chance to know her except through the medium of Video.

She evens drives herself around. Did you catch the summer image of Fuji-san behind Sayaka on the shore of Lake Ashi? Four point five with a recommendation as a Must-See.