End of the line for Japan’s top adult video magazine as final issue ships to convenience stores

08:10 cherishe 0 Comments

Parting is sweet, sticky sorrow for loyal fans of Soft On Demand as commemorative edition marks the end of an era.

Japanese convenience stores are great places for hungry people, since they’re always stocked with a huge variety of tasty bento boxed lunches, onigiri rice balls, pastries, and all manner of salty and sweet snacks. They’re pretty good for thirsty people too, what with their lineup of canned coffees, bottled teas, sodas, beers, and even a modest selection of sake.

And until pretty recently, Japanese convenience stores were also an accommodating place for the horny, in that they sold a wide variety of printed pornography. Shifting social attitudes and economic patterns have been gradually eroding that aspect of convenience stores, though, and in the latest sign of the times, Japan’s most popular smut-specializing company, Soft on Demand, has released the final edition of its monthly sold-in-convenience-stores magazine.

Soft On Demand DVD Volume 99 is officially designated the September issue, but came early, going on sale July 18. Splashed atop the front cover is the message “To all of you dirty-minded guys, we’ll meet again somewhere!” Underneath this is the memorial reminder “Once upon a time, you could buy porno magazines in convenience stores.” Other text declares “The convenience store porno mag is dead,” while oversized red kanji characters remind us all that this is the “Final Issue.”

▼ Adult film actress Mana Sakura, who was interviewed for the final issue, poses with a copy.

Soft on Demand describes the final issue with:

“Soft on Demand DVD, the leading adult video information magazine for many years, reaches its final edition in Volume 99! Gracing the cover are 11 SOD stars!! As a special treat, a look back through the years is included with a collection of covers 1 through 99.

Also inside is a list of the best adult videos from the first half of 2019, the most anticipated actress debuts of the summer, a one-year collection of Hiyoko Girl photos…an interview with our fan-favorite employee Asumi Yoshioka, and many other exclusives you won’t find anywhere else!!…It’s our last issue, but we’re still going full throttle to bring you the latest news from the adult video world as quickly as possible…keep your eyes on us until the very end!!!”

▼ Adult video actresses Meru Ishihara and Chiharu Minagawa are also featured in the final issue.

Ordinarily, most people try to keep their pornography purchases on the downlow, but the special circumstances of Soft on Demand DVD’s final issue (which comes bundled with a DVD, all for just 580 yen [US$5.40]) have driven some fans to proudly see the magazine off by posting snapshots of their copies on social media.

▼ “Today, I bought a porno mag at the convenience store. ‘Don’t tell people that on Twitter!’ some of you are probably thinking, but when I saw the cover, I couldn’t not buy it, and I can’t not talk about it. It just feels so sad, reading those good-byes.”

▼ “The convenience store porno mag is dead.”

Others commenters took a moment to reminisce about their memories of this fading aspect of pornography distribution.

“That feeling of excitement they gave me in junior high♡Porno mags…thank you!”
“You knew you were growing up when you started sneaking a peek at the porno mags in the convenience store.”
“I was always embarrassed to have the clerk see the cover of the porno mag I was buying, so I’d hand it to him face-down so he could just scan the barcode on the back.”
“Maybe they’ll go back to selling porno mags in vending machines, like they did in the old days.”

Others felt that words alone weren’t enough to express the powerful emotions they were feeling, and augmented their reply tweets with images.

▼ “I’m crying…”

▼ “No matter how the times may change, I love you, prono mags.”

Of course, while the Soft On Demand DVD magazine may be winding down, Soft On Demand the company is still going strong in Japan’s ever-robust adult video industry. And even those who can’t make it to a convenience store can purchase the magazine’s final issue through Amazon, where it’s spurted to the top-selling position for its category (there’s even a digital version, though it doesn’t come with the DVD the print version includes).

Meanwhile, if you’re sad to have one less pornography-related reason to get out of the house, you can take heart in knowing that Soft On Demand’s adult video actress-staffed bar is still open in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, and the company’s flair for creative marketing means it’s probably only a matter of time until they stage another event that asks participants to come and offer their “virgin power” for the good of the planet.

Source: Twitter/@se3to9mo via Otakomu, Amazon Japan
Featured image: Twitter/@SOFT_ON_DEMAND
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