Well just yesterday I was telling my wife that anime has been in a 10 years abyss with no hope in sight. The best stuffs are remakes like Yamato 2199 and Gundam Origin. I'm a mecha/scifi fan, she's into fantasy/mythology, we both agree it's in a sad state.
But JAV seems to be in a "golden" age, if anything. Not too long ago, B-cups tits are the norm and D-cups are rare. Now you bump into so many big and beautiful tits (often comes with a beautiful face too!) it's impossible to keep track of all of them. Not just the physical body, but the physical acting is also so much better.
I remember the time when all the S-1 stars just lie motionless on their backside let the man do his business and she would whine (not moan) or repeat "yamadae" a million times. Or the man would shove his wee wee in her mouth. A JAV performer's primary acting skill consists of pretending to be helpless. Back then it seems... only an over-the-peak, past-her-prime performer would engage in the kinkier fetishes, and back then a woman who wants to fuck was considered kinky and obscene (yeah... funny using that word from the perspective of mainstream JAV).
Then gradually the girls would be allowed to experience pleasure while being fucked or at least show less disgust/victimization while a cock is being shoved down her throat. Then the whining gradually become moans or even dirty talk. She might sometimes thrust her hips and grab the man's ass. She kisses back or suck the man's tongue. She eventually even suck cocks of her own free will. Then... the pendulum swung all the way and it seems every other vid is advertising cowgirl as its main selling point. The position that the man is lying on his back side and the girl rides on his cock and thrust her hips up and down to generate the fucking motion. For those of us who were used to the JAV stars is barely more animate than a rubber doll, this was serious nose-bleeding stuff.
Now... my my... the vids simply stopped advertising cowgirl, they just do it. Every star, every amateur, veteran or newb, all can be expected to be reasonably skillful and willing (perhaps even enthusiastic) in cocksucking, cum-swallowing and fucking and being fucked in all kinds of posture.
In terms of personality, yes I also dearly miss some all time favs Takako Kitahara, Maria Ozawa, Yuma Asami, even Bunko, but the current generation of top stars and short-termers (those with a name but with a career of 6-12 vids) and amateur (those without a name but have done anywhere from 1 to 100 vids) are as good, or even better than the old guards.
As for kinky theme/genre/fetish, I think it's also flourishing. Well I won't get into it right now, I should get back to work... But I might say lately I seem to miss the multi-top-stars in magic mirror bus or fan appreciation fest or some such. One of my all time fav was Maria Ozawa and 3 other top stars (I forgot which 3 exactly now) in a magic mirror bus vid. Is it my imagination... there seem to a lack of these lately. OTOH, a recent new sub-genre is the conversion of H games and hentai manga into JAV, speaking for myself, I find these JAV realizations to be much better than the originals.
Also the quality of uncensored JAV is also improving, I only wish more censored stars would cross over to uncensored. There's still a noticeable gap between the quality (hot bods and beautiful faces) of censored and uncensored.
So overall, it'd say JAV is better than ever. If there's a complaint, perhaps there's just too much of a good thing. Back then there were fewer hot stars and great vids are really once in a blue moon so each one is so cherishable. Now every month there are easily 10 good vids to catch, and I don't have the time to even scan each vid, let alone properly savor the whole movie. So yeah I understand if some people got jaded.
