It’s Day 47 of the 50 YMM! MV marathon, and today we’re watching the MV for “Gachigaki”, in which the girls trade-in their Patty Hearst-esque revolution chic outfits and now dress like street hooligans as they deal with the seedy side of late-night urban Japan…

Man, maybe it’s me, but this is kind of like the bleakest YMM! video in their whole catalog, although it does have it’s moments of light. The members of the group are getting by with life in the cynical and cold mean city. It seems Ano is especially struggling, with only her friends and her guitar keeping her head up. Kechon is her especially supportive friend who’ll get a thank you mention on Ano’s eventual singer-songwriter solo album. The girls all have each other but there’s already a dark undercurrent flowing in here…

Anyway Chiffon is hanging out with some dudes who she seems to think are pretty cool guys. (C’mon Chiffon, seriously? One of em’s wearing a Slipknot t-shirt for crying’ out loud.) She invites Younapi out to escape a boring evening at home, and soon the whole gang is meeting up with the two bros in an underpass and wouldn’t you know, it turns out these dudes are actually wretched jerks who taunt the girls and steal Ano’s guitar! What a couple of jackasses!!

There’s a moment of despair as the girls wander the city, disillusioned and hurt that they’ve been bamboozled by a couple of corner-store delinquent wannabes, but ultimately the girls rally together to take back Ano’s guitar. In shock of realizing that they might actually be on the defensive, the hoodlums let their guard down and Ano’s prized possession is recovered! Next thing you know the sun’s come up and maybe life in the city isn’t quite so crummy and ugly as we thought. It’s a story of boredom, loss, finding one’s inner strength and friendship. And fade out!

But aside from guitar theft, the other major crime here is Ano’s Zubaz pants. They were pretty awful the first time they came around, and I’m not sure if wearing them in ironic hipster style is the key to their making a comeback. Good grief, I hope not anyway. Okay, fine, Ano, who know who can pull off these nightmares of casual fashion? You, Only You. 

Anyway, I got so caught up in the storyline and the questionable fashion choices that I nearly forgot to say that this song is really terrific. Super catchy chorus and a slicker-than-usual pop vibe than YMM! usually brings, but it demonstrates that they could’ve pulled off being a more-standard idol group quite well if they had chosen that path. Well done!

                     So to recap:

• The city can be cold mean place without your friends.
• If you need to steal a stolen guitar back, then a distraction-fakeout is the best play.
• Zubaz pants are still hideous.
• Stay far away from skeevy bros in Slipknot shirts.
• The sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar.
• This is a fantastic song with great production values.
• My head still hurts from the pattern on those Zubaz pants.