Konatsu (actress)

Konatsu (向夏) is a Japanese pink film actress. She has appeared in award-winning pink films, and was herself given a "Best Actress" award for her work in this genre in 2005.

Life and career

Konatsu was born in Japan's Nagano Prefecture in 1982.^[2][3] After graduating from junior college, she moved to Tokyo where she worked in the beauty industry and did some gravure modeling in 2003.^[3] She made her acting debut in the July 2004 V-cinema production Forbidden Fruit (禁断の果実, Kindan no kajitsu) directed by Yuji Tajiri.^[3][4]

Konatsu had her film debut in director Mototsugu Watanabe's Beppin kyōshi: toiki no aibu (べっぴん教師 吐息の愛撫) (2004).^[2] Her first leading role was later that same year, in Mitsuru Meike's Bitter Sweet.^[2][5]

January 14, 2006, the premiere date of Shinji Imaoka's Paid Companionship Story: Girls Who Want to Do It (援助交際物語　したがるオンナたち, Enjo-kōsai monogatari: shitagaru onna-tachi) aka Frog Song, was also Konatsu's birthday. The director and staff presented Konatsu with a surprise birthday cake on stage at the occasion.^[6][7] The film was named the best pink release for 2005, and Konatsu was given the award for Best Actress for her performance.^[8]

She gave birth to her first child in February 2007 and as of 2011 was working for a "well-known clothing company".^[3]

Filmography

• Beppin kyōshi: toiki no aibu (べっぴん教師 吐息の愛撫) (September 2004)
• Bitter Sweet (October 2004)
• Paid Companionship Story: Girls Who Want to Do It (June 2005)
• Blind Love (August 2005)
• Ikusa (戦 ＩＫＵＳＡ) (October 2005)
• Tokyo Zombie (December 2005)
• Riaru men: Sutando! (リアルメン・スタンド！) (January 2006)

Bibliography

English

• Konatsu at AllMovie
• Konatsu at the Internet Movie Database

Japanese

• 向夏 こなつ (in Japanese). www.allcinema.net. Retrieved 2009-07-10. 
• "進化する女優・向夏と傑作ピンクの甘い誘惑 (Evolving Actress: Konatsu and the Sweet Temptation of Pink Art)" (in Japanese). www.walkerplus.com. 2005-11-30. Retrieved 2009-07-10. 
• "新着情報―ピンク映画女優　向夏さんに独占インタビュー (Interview with Konatsu)" (in Japanese). www.otoshin.jp. 2005-11-25. Archived from the original on 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2009-07-12. 

Notes