Gokudols Niji-gumi/Kan-gumi -- Gokudol Music The Album（ゴクドルミュージック）

My anime buddy was wondering when this would finally come in, and it finally came in a couple of weeks ago: "Gokudol Music" the song album.

Considering that a majority of anime have 12 or 13-episode seasons, I was a bit caught off guard on hearing that "Back Street Girls" finished up after just 10 episodes. I actually enjoyed the show as did my friend although a number of anime fans didn't buy into it since the animation was more of no-animation. Usually when a live-action J-Drama wraps up after a mere 10 episodes, that's not a good sign, but I'm not sure what the case is like in anime land. Personally, I hope that there is a second season.

When I first saw "Back Street Girls", the theme song and the day-glo opening credits grabbed me right from the start. Of course, it was the post-operation Niji-gumi（ゴクドルズ虹組）who took care of the singing of the fun and bubbly "Gokudol Music" for most of the episodes, but for Episode 7, the pre-op Kan-gumi（ゴクドルズ漢組）, consisting of the three gangsters played by Daisuke Ono（小野大輔）, Kazuyuki Okitsu（興津和幸）and Satoshi Hino（日野聡）, took over the microphones.

A lot of comments have been made stating that the Kan-gumi version is better than the Niji-gumi original. I don't agree but I have to say that the Niji-gumi's take is more hilarious especially when the guys go into the chants near the end. Just imagine the guys in the Corleone family singing ABBA's "Dancing Queen" at karaoke (Take it away, Sonny!). As I mentioned in the article for "Gokudol Music", Masayoshi Oishi（大石昌良）wrote and composed the opening theme that has ensured that I will never be able to hear that yakuza trumpet fanfare the same way ever again.

A number of songs were showcased through the 10 episodes of "Back Street Girls", and in-universe, they were all written by the Godfather of the Inugane Gang and the guy who started off this whole gangster-to-aidoru craze, Kimanjiro Inugane（犬金鬼万次郎）. However, in real life, it is Jasmine Gyu（ジャスミン・ギュ）on lyrics and the band Gesshoku Kaigi（月蝕會議）on music.

One song that I heard fairly often next to the opening and ending themes was "Koi no Sakazuki"（恋のサカズキ...Sake Cup of Love）by the Niji-gumi. I think Gyu and Gesshoku Kaigi got the alphabet aidoru group thing down pat when they whipped this one up. The song is AKB-lovely but the lyrics are also funny since they talk about exchanging sake cups and likening them to the famed anime trope of kansetsu kiss (indirect kiss). Plus, I don't think I've ever heard the description of cutting one's pinkie off being so fluffy.

"Okottenno?"（怒ってんの？...Are Ya Mad?）is perhaps even closer to AKB48, and I think the oyabun may have created this to let out his frustrations on paper instead of using his bat on the noggins of his young charges. It happened quite a lot on the show.

To finish off, we're back to the Kan-gumi and their rendition of the ending theme "Hoshi no Katachi"（星のかたち）. It's not quite as hilarious as their take on "Gokudol Music" (aside from the sighing), but one wonders what the scene must have been like in the recording booth. Once again, Ono and the gang got their chance in the sun at the end of Episode 7.