is a Japanese

AV idol An or is a type of pornographic film actress in Japan. It is a sub-category of the idol culture in Japanese pop entertainment. AV idols work in the pornographic business, often both as an actress as well as a model as the video performance ...

, gravure model and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

. Originally debuting as a model, she transitioned to AV in 2012, becoming an exclusive performer for

Soft On Demand , often known as SOD, is a Japanese adult video group of companies which has its headquarters in the Nakano ward of Tokyo. SOD was founded in December 1995 by Ganari Takahashi, who retired from the company in March 2005 and is currently worki ...

and starred over 140 adult films since her debut. Sakura is considered one of the most popular and recognizable contemporary AV idols as she managed to crossover into mainstream entertainment with regular appearances in television, films and even video games as well. She also became an accomplished author, publishing several novels, magazine essays and running columns.

Life and career

Born in Chiba, Mana Sakura studied

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

at the

College of Technology A college ( Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

. She debuted as a mainstream model at 18 in the gravure video ''18 Years Old Mana Sakura Pretty Moe Factory'', published in November 2011. In February 2012, Sakura entered the AV industry with the video ''AV Debut Mana'' released by the manufacturer

. Users at

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

recognized her as a student at the Technical College and the subsequent publicity resulted in her debut video ranking first in DVD sales for that month at the major Japanese distributor, the DMM Corporation. In 2013 she was named Best New Actress at the Adult Broadcasting Awards and at the same ceremony she also won the FLASH Award. Also in 2013 she appeared in the mainstream movie , a film adaptation of the popular Japanese late night TV variety show ''

Goddotan is a Japanese variety show, broadcast since 2005 on TV Tokyo. In 2013, Toho produced a film based on the show, ''Goddotan kiss patience Championship - The Movie'', directed by Nobuyuki Sakuma. It debuted at number 15 on the Japanese box office ...

''. In 2014 she was voted as second place in a election for '' Yakuza 0'', making her a character in the video game. She was a regular cast member in the second season of the

Tokyo Broadcasting System formerly is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network and radio network . It has a 28-affiliate television network called JNN (Japan News Network), as well as a 34-affili ...

's TV drama '' Ushijima the Loan Shark'' broadcast from January to March 2014. In the Fall of 2014, Sakura was enlisted to write a column for Gazoo.com, a promotional portal for

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

. A spokesman said that the company considered her background and interest in driving "to be suitable for their needs." She also appeared in a second mainstream movie in 2014, the action science fiction film '' Danger Dolls'' released in September 2014. She was once again a winner at the 2015 Adult Broadcasting Awards, this time taking the Best Actress Award and a second FLASH Award. On February 12, 2016 she published her first novel ''The Lowlife'', a heavily autobiographical work depicting the daily lives of adult film actresses. The book was praised for Sakura's unique prose and for its raw, honest display of its subject matter. The novel was adapted into a film directed by Takahisa Zeze in 2017. She also appeared in the movie ''Karate Kill'' in the same year and won the "Media Award" at the 2016 DMM.R18 Adult Awards. Sakura was also a member of the band Sexy-J between 2014 and 2017. By the late 2010's Sakura's career became a diversified blend of mainstream and adult film entertainment. Aside from her regular monthly AV releases from SOD, she published three more novels, became a regular columnist at online magazines, and even gave university lectures on media. Since October 2017, she has regularly appeared on AbemaTV's "Abema Prime" as a commentator, and in 2018 she was appointed as the show's news anchor.

Filmography

Movies

* '' Goddotan: Kisu gaman senshuken the Movie'' (2013) * '' Danger Dolls'' (2014) * '' Karate Kill'' (2016)

Television

* '' Ushijima the Loan Shark'' (2014) *'' Akiba's Trip: The Animation'' (2017) - voiced role

Video games

* '' Yakuza 0'' (2015)

Bibliography

* (2016) * (2017) * (2018) * (2018)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakura, Mana 1993 births Japanese women pop singers Japanese gravure idols Japanese female adult models Japanese pornographic film actresses Japanese women writers Living people Actresses from Tokyo 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers