BACK STREET GIRLS – GOKUDORUZU: Toei’s Gender-Swapping Yakuza Crime Romp Gets An Official Trailer
What do you get when you take three hard-as-nails Yakuza underlings and give them a sex change as part of their penance? Possibly one of the wackiest tales ever featured in any medium, but you can bet Jasmine Gyuh was up to the task back in 2015 upon birthing the hit manga, Back Street Girls, from Kodansha.
A ten-part anime soon followed in Japan from director Kon Chiaki which, from what I hear, bodes just as wacky as expected and you can now find that one on Netflix. At some point therein, Toei took it upon themselves to produce a live-action adaptation of the hit Kodansha IP with director Hara Keinosuke at the helm, and as such, an official trailer has now arrived following a teaser last month
A group of 3 yakuza failed their boss for the last time. After messing up an important job, the boss gave them 2 choices: honorably commit suicide, or go to Thailand to get a sex reassignment surgery in order to become ‘female’ idols. After a gruesome year training to become idols, they successfully debut, with overwhelming popularity, much to their dismay. This is where their tragedy truly begins.
Don’t be surprised if you hear some bits backlash from folks critical of the film industry’s treatment of transgender hires for specific roles in film and TV. That issue was raised here in the states when actress Scarlett Johansson departed from a film called Rub-And-Tug which is still in pre-production; I’m not entirely sure of this is a thing in Japan, but if it is, I’m intrigued as to what will play out in the dialogue and how that echoes for Westerners in my corner of the world.
The respective roles of Kentaro, Ryo and Kazuhiko will be played respectively by their actor/actress counterparts: Shirasu Jin/Okamoto Natsumi, Masaki Reiya/Matsuda Ruka, and Hanazawa Masato/Sakanoue Akane. Back Street Girls – Gokudoruzu opens in Japan on February 8!
Native New Yorker. Lover of all things pizza, chocolate, pets, and good friends. Karaoke hero. Left of center. Survivor. Fond supporter of cult, obscure and independent cinema - especially fond of Asian movies and global action cinema. Author of the bi-weekly Hit List. Founder and editor of Film Combat Syndicate. Still, very much, only human.
