The other day, when I introduced Mai Shirakawa's debut with the studio Caribbeancom, a friend commented, "Why start a studio? Being an FC2 seller is more fun!"
It's true.
Why? On November 19th, a 40-year-old senior researcher at the Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) named Takahiro Yamashita was arrested. You might not recognize the name, but this chubby man, a graduate of the University of Tokyo, is a household name online:
He is the FC2 seller "孕ませマン"!
Yes, that's the fat guy. After graduating from Toyama Chubu High School, a prestigious high school in Fuji Prefecture, he went on to study at the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Engineering, earning his doctorate. Then, in 2013, he joined the Industrial Technology Research Institute, primarily responsible for inspecting the safety of large structures like roads and bridges. His salary is high, close to 9 million yen (500,000 RMB) annually, and his work ethic is quite normal…
He's married, has a wife and children—a true winner in life. However, Yamashita Takahiro is clearly full of energy. After settling his wife and children in Tsukuba City, he and his girlfriend (yes, another married man with "friends" in the city) started making doujinshi (adult videos). In Yoshiwara, Japan's largest Thai bathhouse, Yamashita paid 80,000 yen to hire the top bath girls. After the encounter, he told one of them, "I'm looking for someone to film a doujinshi video. Want to try it out?"
Thus, he, who was originally addicted to mixed parties, used brothels, Twitter private messages, and introductions from female performers to find girls. A large number of his videos were filmed and sold on FC2 (like the one featuring the sex worker mentioned above, which collaborated with "Pregnant Man" and had an amazing riding position). Although sales weren't great initially, his career skyrocketed after the organizer of a masochistic party introduced him to beautiful women for collaborations. Normally, the fee for a doujinshi (adult video) is around 60,000 to 80,000 yen (up to about 4,000 RMB), but "Pregnant Man" offered 100,000 to 200,000 yen (up to about 10,000 RMB) to attract women for collaborations, on the condition that he didn't use any fake semen and that all of them had to have real sex and ejaculation inside!
This...is more daring than most other production companies!
Then "Pregnant Man" made a fortune. He and his girlfriend worked together, one filming and the other editing, releasing 250 videos from December of last year to September of this year. Each video sold for 6,000 to 10,000 yen (up to 500 RMB), generating 180 million yen (approximately 10 million RMB) in revenue in a short period. After deducting FC2's commission and other costs, their net profit reached 100 million yen (5 million RMB)...
Although "Pregnant Man" denies breaking the law, he is just one of the many caught in the crossfire of the Japanese government's crackdown on FC2 sellers. What do you think about this in the AV industry? Needless to say, it's incredibly satisfying. Not only are uncensored works illegal under Japanese law, but more importantly, the AV industry is struggling to sell, leading some to believe that doujinshi (fan-made adult videos) are stealing market share.
However, seeing "Pregnant Man" earn 100 million yen must be disheartening for many production companies. They've invested so much in hiring so many people and spending so much money on production, only to have one fat woman with a pregnancy test go around having sex and cause such a bloodbath. No wonder some in the AV industry are hoping these FC2 sellers are all arrested—because if there are more sellers like "Pregnant Man," several production companies will probably go bankrupt.
