Eri Kikuchi(菊池えり / 菊池エリ,Kikuchi Eri?) is an early JapaneseAV idol of the 1980s, and one of the first Japanese AV actresses to be known primarily for her large breasts.
Using other stage names, including Mai Akimoto (秋本麻衣,Akimoto Mai?), Eriko Ishikawa (石川江梨子,Ishikawa Eriko?) and Yumiko Hino (比野由美子,Hino Yumiko?), Kikuchi started her adult entertainment career in soaplands. During this early part of her career she also made appearances in several underground pornographic films. Her official AV debut was in the video Beautiful D-Cup Girl, Sister L, released in September 1985 by Cinemagic.2 Kikuchi has been called the first adult video performer whose career was built around her exceptionally large breasts for that time in Japan.3 The Big Bust genre, or "Kyonyu Boom" (巨乳ブーム,"Kyonyu Boom"?), which Kikuchi pioneered would be set "on fire" at the end of the 1980s with the debut of Kimiko Matsuzaka in 1989, and become established as a major genre of adult entertainment in Japan in the 1990s.4 Kikuchi's theatrical film debut was with Million Films in their Miss 20 Year-Old Momoko(ミス20才 快感!百合子の本番,Miss 20 Year-Old Momoko?) (1986). In August of the same year, she starred in Shintoho's theatrical pink film, Eri Kikuchi: Big Tits(菊池エリ 巨乳,Kikuchi Eri Kyonyu?)."5 This film has Kikuchi playing "Eri," a nude model and AV actress who becomes romantically involved with her manager."3 In 1988 she starred in one of Nikkatsu's last Roman Porno films, Eri Kikuchi: Big Tits Blame(菊池エリ 巨乳責め,Kikuchi Eri: Kyonyuzeme?), and in 1993 she would star in another theatrical Big-Bust title (巨乳熟女 本番仕込み), for Excess Films, Nikkatsu's post-Roman Porno line of theatrical softcore pornography.56
Kikuchi spent some time in Guam with her husband, a foreign (i.e., non-Japanese) dancer. Here she put her AV work on hold for a while, and worked mainly as a stripper. Kikuchi later returned to Japan and the AV industry.7 In 2003, she was working as a lecturer/demonstrator at the AV Cultures School, a school started by male AV actor, Shinji Kubo, to train future AV directors.8 Her recent videos for the CineMagic company are in their popular "mourning" series which feature a "beautiful woman wearing... solemn mourning [attire] with a mouth-gag," and "[fetishism] and eroticism with a mourning-clad woman tied up with hemp ropes"9 Kikuchi's performances for CineMagic were included in their compilation video of April, 2006, Best of Collect: Battered Angels '05, which included the new big-bust actress Alice Hoshi.10
In a field in which most careers last only one or two years,11 several new releases during the 2000s, including Sex Slave in Mourning in January 2007,9 show that Eri Kikuchi, now a 23-year veteran of Japanese adult entertainment, is still appearing in adult videos.
^ Domenig, Roland (2002). "Vital flesh: the mysterious world of Pink Eiga". Archived from the original on 2004-11-18. Retrieved on 2007-02-19. "Excess is an offshoot of Nikkatsu, established in 1988 when Nikkatsu ended Roman Porno production."
^ "菊池えり (Kikuchi Eri)" (in Japanese). Japanese Wikipedia. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
^ Fornander, Kjell (July 1992). "A Star is Porn". Tokyo Journal. Archived from the original on 2007-03-20. Retrieved on 2007-05-12. "If she’s only out for money, she will studiously avoid publicity and quit inside a year-the average life-span of an AV girl-with five or ten videos to her credit and an unknowing family bosom to return to."
"AV Cultures School homepage" (in English). av-cs.jp. Archived from the original on 2003-08-01. Retrieved on 2007-06-07. (Shows Kikuchi as lecturer/instructor)