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 performances ...

gravure model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though mo ...

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 writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

. Originally debuting as a model, she transitioned to AV in 2012, becoming an exclusive performer for Soft On Demand 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. 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 Soft On Demand. 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 DMM.com, formally , is a Japanese joint stock company involved in the distribution of adult videos (AV) and adult toys. The firm, founded in March 1990, is headquartered in Tokyo at the Ebisu Garden Place Tower. By late 2008, DMM was handling p ...

. In 2013 she was named Best New Actress at the

Adult Broadcasting Awards The Sky PerfecTV! Adult Broadcasting Awards are given for performances in adult video programs shown on SKY PerfecTV! satellite TV channels in Japan. The awards complement those presented by the AV Open / AV Grand Prix contests which are given fo ...

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 ''Yakuza 0'' is an action-adventure game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. It is the sixth main entry in the '' Yakuza series'' and a prequel to the original game. It was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in J ...

'', 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 is a Japanese manga series by Shohei Manabe. It won the 56th Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga. It was adapted into a live action television drama series in 2010 and into a live action film in 2012. A second live action film, ''Ush ...

'' 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 is a 2014 Japanese science fiction action film directed by Shusuke Kaneko starring Rumi Hanai, Rina Takeda, Kayano Masuyama (a former member of the Japanese idol girl's group AKB48) and Nana Seino. It was released in Japan on September 27, 2 ...

'' released in September 2014. She was once again a winner at the 2015

, 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 is a Japanese film director and screenwriter first known for his soft-core pornographic ''pink films'' of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Kazuhiro Sano, Toshiki Satō, and Hisayasu Sato, he is known as one of the . In recent years, he ha ...

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 Abema (, stylized as ABEMA) is a Japanese live TV streaming website owned by the entertainment company, AbemaTV, Inc. that provides over-the-top media services to customers in Japan. The website primarily acts as an online television network, ...

'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) * ''

'' (2014) * ''

Karate Kill (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian ...

'' (2016)

Television

* ''

'' (2014) *'' Akiba's Trip: The Animation'' (2017) - voiced role

Video games

* ''

'' (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