Thanks to Koba's love of lore and near-total lack of straightforward communication, plus his near-obsessive protection of the girls' privacy, there are more than a few questions surrounding this group.
The origin of "Gimme Chocolate!"
"Gimme Chocolate!" is mostly understood as the conflict in a girl's mind between her desire to eat sweets and to maintain her figure, but there might be historical context behind it as well.After the end of World War II, Japan went into occupation by the American forces. Starving Japanese children somehow learned the phrase "give me chocolate"
and would beg the American soldiers for food during that time. Now Japan is one of the richest countries in the world, and their youth can afford to think twice about consuming something that was once so coveted for survival.
This also explains the machine gun dance moves during the verses, and the "Never! Never! Never!" verse. They live in peaceful times, but they won't forget the devastation and pain caused by war, especially as Su-metal and their dance mentor Mikiko hail from Hiroshima.
Chocolate can also represent how Japan and other countries see each other. It's a foreign food and used to represent foreign influence for the Japanese, while Japan's kawaii culture would also evoke images of chocolate and other sweets to someone looking from the outside. Yet most people would agree that chocolate brings happiness, and like BABYMETAL's exploration of many genres, it comes in many flavors so that even people who don't like sweets can also enjoy it.
BABYMETAL is out to unite the world into The One, through music instead of war, and they invite us to channel our violent impulses through their brutal, but safe, mosh'shpits. And they took a phrase from their nation's subjugated past and turned it into their rallying cry.
The meaning of ↑↓←→BBAB
According to a Japanese fan, besides being a reference to the Konami Code, BBAB refers to the four elements of kachou fuugetsu (花鳥風月, self-discovery through experiencing nature)... in Indonesian language. The four elements are Bunga (花 flowers), Burung (鳥 birds), Angin (風 wind), and Bulan (月 moon).- For what it's worth, Babymetal was set to perform in Jakarta in Summer 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down, and Koba drew more than a bit of inspiration from South & Southeast Asia for Metal Galaxy.
