Back Street Girls

Did You Know?

• The live-action film, Back Street Girls: Gokudols, premiered on February 8, 2019, and was followed by a six-episode TV series starting February 17, 2019.
• Mari Tachibana's ex-yakuza father is transgender, and she suffers from hemorrhoids.

Characters

Airi Yamamoto, formerly Kentaro Yamamoto, is the leader of the Gokudols. Kentaro was abandoned by his parents and held odd jobs until joining the yakuza; he always drinks after a fight. As Airi, she always gets luxury items as gifts. Mari Tachibana, formerly Ryo Tachibana, is Kentaro's right-hand man. Ryo is a fan of actor Hitoshi Takamura, collecting his films and even trying to give herself to him as Mari (which didn't work out). As Mari, she is considered the cool member and always gets fan letters, which attracts the jealousy of the others, especially Chika. She hates sweets, to the point of breaking up with a previous girlfriend over it. Mari's ex-yakuza father is transgender. She also suffers butt problems, notably hemorrhoids. Chika Sugihara, formerly Kazuhiko Sugihara, is the youngest of the trio. As Chika, she is the ditsy one. Kazuhiko had a girlfriend whom she caught with another man at one of their concerts. She always gets cute items, much to Mari's irritation, and occasionally slips 'cute' idol words, again much to the others' irritation. It took a long time for his/her father to acknowledge him/her after transitioning. Lina, formerly George, is a Mafia member sent from the US to research the Gokudols, having also undergone gender reassignment surgery for similar reasons. However, the research plan was scrapped, and Lina was left to Inugane's hands, much to her shock. Kimanjiro Inugane is the idol-obsessed leader of the Inugane Yakuza Group who forced his screw-up underlings to undergo gender reassignment surgery to become idols. His wife is former enka singer Natsuko Tanaka, who ironically hates idols. He bullies his underlings with threats and actual physical violence. Mandarin Kinoshita is a producer and self-proclaimed 'girlology' master who shapes the girls into idols, though he's not usually successful due to being left in the dark about their secret. Kōji Nagata is the yakuza trio's captain, imprisoned by their blunder. Kimura is the Gokudols' gopher or servant boy. Initially Kazu's underling, their friendship turned sour when he was revealed to be Chika's fan, to the point of her face being on his briefs. Natsuko Tanaka is secretly the wife of Boss Inugane, a famous enka singer who hates idols after they eclipsed her in popularity. Yui Nakamura is the new trainee member of the Gokudols, a very cheerful and upbeat girl who held the Gokudols in high regard, much to Inugane's pleasure and the trio's bewilderment.

Media

The manga, Back Street Girls, is written and illustrated by Jasmine Gyuh. It was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine from March 16, 2015 to September 15, 2018. Kodansha published 12 tankōbon volumes between August 6, 2015 and January 3, 2019. The manga is licensed in English by Kodansha USA. An anime television series adaptation, produced by J.C.Staff and directed by Chiaki Kon, aired between July 4 and September 5, 2018 on BS11 and other channels. The scripts were handled by Susumu Yamakawa, and sound direction was handled by Jin Aketagawa. The anime has been licensed by Netflix. A live-action film, titled Back Street Girls: Gokudols and directed by Keinosuke Hara, premiered on February 8, 2019 in Japan. The staff and cast of the film also returned for a six-episode live-action television series that premiered on February 17, 2019.