Erotica
Nine long months: that’s how long it’s been since we’ve had a Natsume Rio DVD. With her return disc, Erotica, it seems that someone in Rio’s camp is trying change Rio’s image over totally from the cute, bubbly girl-next-door to a sex bomb. While it’s true that Rio’s last few discs have been showcasing the more sensual side of Rio and she has been becoming more and more natural presenting that persona, I found Erotica, while a solid entry into Rio’s library, a little disappointing considering her recent absence from the gravure idol scene.
This is generally not Rio’s fault however, although she does have a problem or two in some scenes. The blame for the disc's shortcomings can be laid at the director or producer’s feet: the pacing of the disc is generally extremely slow with the exception of one scene, and that scene feels out of place. Likewise, the music here gets repetitive and doesn’t help the slow pace of the disc with its monotonous droning. The camera work is also in question at times – some of the angles are not flattering to Rio at all.
There are ten glamour tracks on the disc, most of them going for the erotic (or, as Rio says, sexy gal) feeling. To start, Rio rolls around and writhes on a bed in some nice lingerie. The lingerie is appropriately form fitting and Rio looks great, although the make up artist went a bit too heavy here in my opinion. Given the theme of the disc, there are a fair number of close up shots on various body parts, but it generally works quite well and never stays too long on a single area. There is a minor issue with overexposure in some shots, but nothing which detracts from the scene significantly. Following that, Rio’s now in the bathroom wearing a very sexy leather (or PVC) outfit. The camera zooms in and out on Rio whiles she moves slowly in time to the music – for the most part, you’ll have a hard time taking you eyes of the screen. However, the aforementioned issue with the bad camera angles does come into play here, although only in one or two shots. Also, although she generally plays up her sensuality very well here, Rio does over do it a couple of times: running her tongue over her lips once is sexy, but she kind of kills the effect by the end of the track.
Next is a fun track which is completely enjoyable, but feels totally out of place on this disc. Rio plays around with various kinds of sports equipment while wearing a small, silver bikini. Among her work out equipment are a bar used to strengthen your arms, a balance ball, boxing stuff (Rio does a cute little routine where she “boxes” the camera), and one of those weird machines that looks like a miniature mechanical bull. For obvious reasons, that final piece of equipment is probably the most suggestive. Once this cute segment is over, we’re back to sexy Rio. Really sexy Rio – against a completely black background, Rio, wearing a vaguely stripper-esque outfit teases and taunts the viewers by slinking around a pole, sucking on a lollipop and then an ice cream bar, and just generally threatening to pull off her small bikini top. Utterly fantastic scene and Rio nails it here. The main problem with this one is that the camera is often too far from the action to get a good view of her fabulous body.
Next up is a scene which takes place in a rocky shore line… it looks like the same place as the opening track on her DVD Waterdrop. In any case, Rio poses on the rocks in some black, leather Daisy Dukes, fishnets and a low cut red top. It sounds a little weird but damned if Rio doesn’t make it work. The camera zooms in on her cleave and boobs here from various angles, which is nice enough, but when Rio pulls up her shirt to expose some under cleavage… wow. However, with this track, the sameness in pacing and music starts to take its toll, and a sense of ennui creeps into the proceedings. The sense of déjà vu continues into the next scene, even though it’s completely different – Rio’s wearing a two-piece bathing suit in big bathtub. As would be expected, the tub is eventually filled with soapy water and Rio doesn’t hesitate to soap herself down thoroughly. Taken on its own, this is a very erotic scene, and Rio has never been sexier. As part of the whole, however, you can’t help but feel as if you’ve already seen this about four time already – the pacing, music and overall feel of this track is exactly the same as all the previous ones on the disc (the fourth track not withstanding).
Next up is Rio pretending to be a hostess in very psychedelic dress. From the point of view of the client, Rio, introduces herself, mixes you a drink, lights your cigarette (ugh…) and then does another posing routine. This was pretty much a waste, as Rio clothes really weren’t flattering and concealed way too much. She does her best here, but this one just wasn’t interesting at all. Rio’s back in lingerie and a bedroom next and implores the viewer, “Look at me! More!” Anything you say, Rio. This one pretty much mirrors the first the first scene with the exception of Rio’s occasional, voice over comments (“Where are you looking?”, “Stop looking only at my chest!”). Aside from the pacing and music issues, this is a solid, but somewhat forgettable scene. Her overactive tongue does make an appearance towards the end though. Rio winds up at the beach for the next-to-last scene and the first thing I noticed was that her boobs looks much bigger than normal here. I’m shallow that way. Anyway, she rolls around on the sand and gets covered in the same. Although there are a couple of very striking images of Rio here (there is a killer visual of her giving the camera a come hither stare as it pans up her body, pausing at her breasts), this one again follows the same formula as most of the previous tracks.
The final scene was marred by the producers need to be arty – Rio’s in a darkened room with a TV feed of the camera in one corner, sitting on a silvery platform covered in jelly of some kind (KY, maybe?) while a light fog rolls by. Rio scoops up the substance and begins rubbing it all over her body as the camera gets in nice and close to follow her busy hands. Near the end of the scene, Rio undoes all the straps on her bikini top, leaving her clutching her hands over her impressive, slippery bosoms at the end of the scene. Again, the pacing her was the same as the rest of the disc, but they tried something a little different with scene and it generally worked quite well. Rio did lose her focus in one or two of the shots, but overall looked very sexy.
Of course, there is also the ‘bonus track’, which, naturally, is a behind-the-scenes thing. Although I usually don’t mind these things, Rio seemed a little annoyed in some of the scenes by the presence of the camera which didn’t really make this too watchable.
In the final analysis, Erotica is not a bad DVD, and Rio fans will probably enjoy it, but it does have some very serious drawbacks. Due to the monotonous pacing and music, this seems like the sort of disc where you’re watch one or two of the tracks then go do something else rather than watch the entire thing. I’m not convinced that the sex goddess route is the right one for Rio, but I do applaud her for trying something new in a genre where originality is lacking.
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