Mana Sakura says she wouldn’t have become a novelist without her AV career

Conflicts as a Woman

“AV actresses are easily exposed to the gaze of people with ill intent, but by being subjected to all kinds of words, I’m able to observe what kinds of thinking people have. Being able to convey reality through novels might be, for me, a kind of life-prolonging measure that allows me to continue working as an AV actress.”

An AV actress and a novelist—Mana Sakura (32), a one-of-a-kind dual-career writer, smiled alluringly. She began gravure work in 2011 and made her AV debut the following year. At the SOD Awards 2012, she won six awards, including the Best Actress award—the first in history—rising to the ranks of a top actress.

Calling herself an “ero-ya” (erotic professional), she has appeared in over 200 works to date. Then in 2016, when she released her first novel The Lowlife, it sold out at bookstores nationwide. Having been nominated twice for the Noma Literary Newcomer Award, Sakura’s talent as a novelist blossomed. On February 12, she published her 10th book, Ano Ko no Kawari (Kawade Shobo Shinsha). The theme she depicts is pregnancy and childbirth. The story follows Yura, a makeup artist, who is thrown into uncontrollable, almost deranged emotions triggered by the pregnancy of her close friend, Arina.

“When you work in AV, people—out of curiosity, for better or worse—often ask about marriage and children. Questions like, ‘Wouldn’t it be hard for an AV actress to give birth?’ are difficult to answer. As those questions piled up, I started becoming aware of these issues whether I liked it or not from my twenties. In my thirties, as people around me began having children one after another, friends would tell me, ‘If you want to have kids, sooner is better, which made me even more conscious of the countdown to the age limit for pregnancy.’ Four years ago, I also adopted a rescue dog, and through that pseudo-parenting, I began to think more realistically about the challenges of raising a child. Of course, I understand that humans and animals are different. Still, the theme of pregnancy and childbirth has always been within me in different forms, and it became an opportunity to reconsider how I want to live my life going forward. That’s why the protagonist’s conflict reflects my own as much as possible—though I haven’t spiraled into madness quite like Yura (laughs).”

The Resolve to Continue

For Sakura, writing is indispensable to remaining an AV actress—one of her most irreplaceable pursuits.

“My main profession is, first and foremost, being an AV actress, but this year marks the 10th anniversary since I started writing novels. More people have been saying, ‘Both are your main professions, right?’ Even so, I love who I am as an AV actress, and I believe it’s my absolute primary career. My desire to continue for a long time hasn’t changed since my debut.”

In her steady gaze, a strong sense of resolve was evident.

While working across different fields, Sakura also revealed that she draws clear boundaries in managing her schedule.

“For the past 14 years, I’ve set a rule of releasing one AV work per month, so filming is only one or two days a month. Besides that, I appear at events related to my work, on variety shows, and as a commentator. Recently, there have been more opportunities where I’m invited in a role that combines being an AV actress and a writer. Even so, I make sure to write every day. Since it’s not a fixed schedule, the amount I write varies daily, but when I once had a conversation with Akutagawa Prize-winning author Shinya Tanaka (53), what he said left a deep impression on me: ‘It’s important to write even just one sentence or one word every day.’ Since then, I’ve tried not to let a single day go by without writing—even if it’s just on my smartphone.”

Behind the glow of her success lies steady effort and an unshakable determination.

In the February 19 release of FRIDAY (March 6 Issue) and the paid edition FRIDAY GOLD, she speaks candidly about the creativity” born from juggling two careers and her future outlook.

For more details and additional photos, see below ↓

From the March 6, 2026 issue of “FRIDAY”