An Nanba

also known as Ann Nanba is a former Japanese adult video (AV) actress who had a long and prolific career in the adult entertainment industry. At the beginning of 2009, the DMM and Amazon sites both listed more than 250 DVDs available under her name. She retired from AV work in 2008.

Life and career

AV debut and Moodyz An Nanba was born in Tokyo on March 7, 1984. She says she was very outgoing as a high-school student and looked much older than her age. She had met scouts from the AV industry often but only decided to begin an AV career after she was robbed and needed the money. She had done some gravure model work for Bejean a few months before and she thought she was again doing photographs for a magazine and was shocked when she realized it was a video shoot.

Her contract with Moodyz was an exclusive one and she is credited with being a driving force in that studio's success. Moodyz is known for its extreme videos and Nanba participated in the various porn genres popular at the studio: bukkake (including two videos with the creator of the genre, Kazuhiko Matsumoto), anal sex, bondage, interracial sex with black actors, urination and simulated rape. The videos took their toll on Nanba, she reports that at one time she collapsed from exhaustion and had to take time off.

Later career Starting in October 2005, after more than 50 straight original videos for one company, Nanba began to appear for the first time in videos for other AV studios beginning with start-up companies Opera and Cross. She also worked with Attackers, a studio specializing in the S&M and simulated rape genres.

Nanba has been called the "Queen of Hardcore" for her many extreme videos with one director claiming “She’ll do absolutely anything” after Nanba won 11 awards at Weekly Playboy'''s "stupidest adult movie awards" in March 2006. Nanba has declared her dedication to her profession: "I will work my best to bring the fans the best movies".

In 2006 and 2007, Nanba also starred in a number of erotic softcore V-cinema productions. In May 2006, she was the subject of a documentary along with three other AV actresses. The DVD, , was directed by and published by Orustak Pictures. Nanba also appeared on TV in Episode 31 on the third series of the TV Asahi crime drama Tokumei Kakarichō Tadano Hitoshi.

Nanba was also popular in China, in part due to commercials she made for a Taiwan lemon vodka drink.

Retirement Nanba's retirement was an elaborate and epic affair called the Ann-Project by Moodyz. She filmed a series of 8 videos for 8 different studios over a period of several weeks beginning at the end of 2007. The studios involved included S1 No. 1 Style, IdeaPocket and Animaljo, companies she had not previously worked with. The videos were released starting February 1, 2008, with the last one appropriately being a virtual sex work for Moodyz, My Eternal Girlfriend, An Nanba, released on March 1, 2008. The retirement project also included a memorial book and DVD which additionally served to introduce the new generation of actresses at Moodyz.

When the major Japanese adult video distributor DMM held a poll of its customers in 2012 to choose the 100 all-time best AV actresses to celebrate the 30th anniversary of adult videos in Japan, Nanba finished in 11th place.

Video games Described as "Japan's geekiest adult video actress", Nanba is an ardent fan of video games and owns several game consoles - a Sony PS2, PS3 and PSP, a Microsoft Xbox 360, as well as a Nintendo Wii and DS. The Wii console was bought in New York City on launch day. Her favorite games have included Ninety-Nine Nights, Final Fantasy XII, Dragon Quest IV and Wii Fit. Nanba also has her own game blog on Beside Games, a site featuring well-known Japanese celebrities talking about the games they are playing. This format was repeated in a December 13, 2006 entry from Gebet, All Star Yakyuken Battle'' which teamed up Nanba with AV Idols Akiho Yoshizawa, Kaho Kasumi, Kaede Matsushima, Mihiro Taniguchi, Ran Asakawa, Rei Amami, Sora Aoi and Yua Aida. The game and video were released for the PSP and in Blu-ray for the PS3.