# Back Street Girls -GOKUDOLS- (2018)

> Three failed yakuza are ordered to become female idols, and their criminal habits collide with unexpected fame.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/69115

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 10
- Episode runtime: 24 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, animation
- Network: BS11
- Cast: Daisuke Ono, Satoshi Hino, Kazuyuki Okitsu, Keiji Fujiwara, Kaori Maeda, Yuka Nukui, Junichi Suwabe, Natsuki Hanae
- TMDB rating: 6.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8693818/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: irreverent, absurd, crude, bright, darkly comic, warm

## What critics say

Audiences find the outrageous premise of reluctant yakuza turned idols funny and absurd, though the broad comedy divides viewers.

## Synopsis

Back Street Girls -GOKUDOLS- (2018) is a Japanese animated comedy series created for BS11 and adapted from the seinen manga of the same name. Three failing yakuza, including Kentarō Yamamoto voiced by Daisuke Ono and Ryū Tachibana voiced by Satoshi Hino, are given a grim choice by their boss: take their own lives honorably or undergo sex reassignment surgery in Thailand and return as female idols. The engine of the show is their struggle to survive a brutal year of training and then the bewildering popularity of their debut, while old gangster habits, loyalties and violent reflexes keep colliding with pop stardom. Each episode is built from rehearsal disasters, fan events, backstage squabbles and underworld errands that spill into the entertainment business. Across a single ten-episode season, the show balances crude humor and a suicidal premise against warm camaraderie and a surprisingly tender look at identity. Its tone is irreverent and absurd, with a bright idol-show gloss laid over a dark, grimy yakuza core. Fans of Gokushufudou and Oshi no Ko will find resonance in its gender swap comedy and satire of pop culture. Anime comedy fans wanting something sharper and stranger than typical idol fare will find it here.

## Shows like Back Street Girls -GOKUDOLS-

- [Love Stage!! (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/54852)
- [Hinamatsuri (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/66443)
- [Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/174130)
- [Asobi Asobase - workshop of fun - (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/69063)
- [Back Street Girls: Gokudols (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/75365)
- [ONIMAI: I'm Now Your Sister! (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/123886)
- [Armed Girl's Machiavellism (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/61962)
- [Cromartie High School (2003)](https://ember.film/tv/11438)
- [忍者と極道 (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/190906)
- [From Today, It's My Turn!! (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/70940)

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