Squid Sisters

"Staaaay fresh!"

- The Squid Sisters' catchphrase

The Squid Sisters (Japanese: シオカラーズ Shiokarāzu, lit. Sea O' Colors) are a pop idol duo in Inkopolis, consisting of Callie and Marie (アオリ、ホタル Aori and Hotaru). Together, they host Inkopolis News, announcing events, updates, and the current stages in rotation. They also host Splatfest events, with each Sister representing one of the two teams. Despite their name, they are actually cousins, not sisters.

Songs
For solo songs, see Callie and Marie.

Callie
Callie's color scheme is magenta and black. She has an edgier design in comparison to her cousin, with angular eyes and perked-up ears. Her tentacles are long and black, tied in a large bow on the back of her head and fading to pink on the ends. She is very excitable and positive, often making innocent, straightforward comments with a grin on her face. Her solo song, Bomb Rush Blush, is a fast-paced and exuberant pop song, showing her energy and playfulness as she runs around the stage.

Her favorite type of weapons are rollers, and she has been seen to use a.

Her amiibo entry reads as follows:
 * Callie is the cheeriest member of the pop idol duo known as the Squid Sisters in the Splatoon™ game. Along with Marie, she hosts Inkopolis News and Splatfest events, in which Inklings pick one of two sides and battle the opposing team in Turf War. These two cousins rose to fame after winning Calamari County’s first annual Youth Folk-Singing Contest, and their remarkable voices continue to rock Inkopolis!

Marie
Marie's color scheme is lime green and light gray. She has a more laid-back design in comparison to her cousin, with heavy-lidded eyes and slightly drooping ears. Her tentacles are long and light gray, tied in a large bow on the right side of her head and fading to green on the ends. She is less excitable, usually only giving a small smile. Many of her comments are sarcastic, though never outright intended to be mean-spirited. Her solo song, Tide Goes Out, is a slow, serene song, with movement kept mostly to her arms.

Her favorite type of weapons are chargers, and she has been seen to use a.

Her amiibo entry reads as follows:
 * Marie is the sassiest member of the pop idol duo known as the Squid Sisters in the Splatoon™ game. Along with Callie, she hosts Inkopolis News and Splatfest events, in which Inklings pick one of two sides and battle the opposing team in Turf War. These two cousins rose to fame after winning Calamari County’s first annual Youth Folk-Singing Contest, and their remarkable voices continue to rock Inkopolis!

Inkopolis News
Inkopolis News is Inkopolis' news program, announcing events and updates on new features in Splatoon. Inkopolis News Studio can be found on the upper level of Inkopolis Plaza, where the Squid Sisters can be seen in their studio.



Splatfest
The Squid Sisters also hosted Splatfest events, a multiplayer event in which players of a region divided into opposing team, with Callie and Marie each representing a different team. Callie's team was always shown on the left side of the Splatfest artwork and Marie's team on the right. For the duration of the event, their clothes and tentacles temporarily changed color to match that of their team's ink and they performed a live concert in Inkopolis atop trucks outfitted with stage equipment.

At the top-left corner of the box showing the player's Splatfest Power was a pair of eyes representing the Squid Sister they had sided with: players on Callie's team saw her angular eyes, and those on Marie's team saw her heavy-lidded eyes. Both versions had their signature pupils, but with a dark red color instead of the usual gold.

During the results of the fifteenth North American Splatfest, Early Bird vs. Night Owl, Callie got sick of Marie's attitude, causing the duo to argue about who won more Splatfests before getting personal. This hinted at the announcement of the final Splatfest, Callie vs. Marie, which was confirmed to last 48 hours, as opposed to the usual 24-hour duration of a standard Splatfest.

After Splatoon
After the last Splatfest of Splatoon, the Squid Sisters grew in popularity, but Callie and Marie took separate paths for a time, leading to the events of Splatoon 2. The story of Callie and Marie's separation was told in Squid Sisters Stories, a series of stories made available on official Splatoon websites.

The Squid Sisters reunite at the end of the Octo Canyon missions. Callie later mentions that they have performed alongside Off the Hook, referencing the real-life concert in which they performed together.

The Octo Expansion suggests that the Calamari Inkantation may have magical powers, as Marina claims that no Octoling can hear it and willingly continue to live in Octarian society.

Live performances


On 2016-01-30, a real-life Squid Sisters concert called "Shiokalive" (Japanese: シオカライブ, Squid Sisters Live) was held at Niconico Tokaigi 2016, a gaming event in Chiba, Japan. It starred digital projections of Callie and Marie, using unique, high-quality 3D models instead of those used in-game. They performed all five of their songs, most of them being extended or remixed slightly, ending with Calamari Inkantation.

On 2016-04-29, the second live performance by the Squid Sisters was held at Cho-Ongakusai 2016, a music festival featuring a variety of popular artists that was held as part of Chokaigi 2016, also in Chiba, Japan. The concert featured the debut of two new songs: Bomb Rush Blush and Tide Goes Out. They were solos sung by Callie and Marie, respectively. The following day, it was revealed that the new songs would be unlockable with the new Callie and Marie amiibo figures that launched July of that year.

On 2016-07-08, their third live performance was held at Japan Expo 2016, a convention dedicated to Japanese pop culture in Paris, France. It had the same setlist as their second concert, with the dialogue in between songs shown in French. The live band's stage presence was also given more of an emphasis in this concert. Later that month, a live album featuring recordings of the first two concerts, Splatoon Live in Makuhari -Shiokalive-, was released in Japan on 2016-07-13.

On 2016-11-03, the Squid Sisters made a small appearance at Niconico Cho Party, a live event celebrating the internet subculture seen on the Niconico website in Saitama City, Japan. As many other artists were also performing at the event, they performed shortened versions of a handful of their songs, but also took advantage of the larger holographic screen set up for other virtual performers. A recording of this appearance was later included with Off the Hook's live album, Splatoon 2 Live in Makuhari -Tentalive- on 2019-07-24.

On 2018-02-10, the Squid Sisters made a special appearance at "Haicalive" (Japanese: ハイカライブ, translating to "Inkopolis Live"), which was held at Tokaigi 2018. After Off the Hook performed Ebb & Flow, Callie and Marie went on stage to perform Fresh Start, followed by Spicy Calamari Inkantation. Afterwards, both the Squid Sisters and Off the Hook performed Now or Never! as the finale. An English version of this concert was held at Polymanga in Montreux, Switzerland before the final rounds of the Splatoon European Championships on 2018-03-31. On 2018-04-28, another Haicalive concert was held at Cho-Ongakusai 2018. Their setlist was the same as the previous recent concerts, but their dialogue in between songs was different. A recording of the first Haicalive concert was included on Octotune (Splatoon 2 Original Soundtrack), as well as a limited edition Blu-ray, which both released on 2018-07-18.

The Squid Sisters' latest appearance was at Haicalive Kyoto Mix, a concert held at the Nintendo Live 2019 event in Kyoto, Japan. It took place on 2019-10-13 with an encore presentation the following day. Their performance was based off of their previous appearances at Cho Party 2016 and at the Haicalive concerts held throughout 2018. Additionally, they sported a different color scheme for part of the concert and went out on stage while Off the Hook sung Ebb & Flow (Octo), chanting as the song finished.

amiibo


On 2016-04-30, SplatoonJP announced that Squid Sisters amiibo would be released on 2016-07-07.

Using the Squid Sisters' amiibo applies all the cosmetic changes of a Splatfest to Inkopolis Plaza and the player can choose what song they perform. This is the only way to see the accompanying dances for these songs, except for City of Color, the default for Splatfests.

In the manga series
The Squid Sisters first appeared in issue 1 of the CoroCoro manga Splatoon, where they announced the CoroCoro Cup. They are hosts for that tournament. They are Agent 1 and Agent 2 respectively, appearing as agents in Book 3, escorting Agent 3 and Agent 3.5 and helping out in fights.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Bomb Rush Blush, Calamari Inkantation, and Ink Me Up can be found as soundtracks for the Moray Towers stage in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Callie and Marie appear as the Squid Sisters assist trophy. Once they appear, they sing the intro to either Calamari Inkantation or Ink Me Up while the camera zooms in and the blast lines are brought closer to the center of the stage. Once they stop singing, they disappear and the camera and blast lines return to normal. They also appear as a Spirit, and in World of Light, they both control a pink-colored Inkling.

Super Mario Maker
The Squid Sisters can be unlocked as costumes by beating the "Squid Sisters vs. Bloopers" event or scanning the amiibo variant of either one of them. This marks the first time either can be seen in squid form; they respectively are pink and green squids with yellow plus-shaped pupils and eyelashes that separate them from other Inklings.

Trivia

 * Callie and Marie's names together sound like the squid dish "Calamari", which is also Italian for "squid".
 * The voice clips used for "Staaaay fresh!" sound like something in between "Shiokarāzu" and "sea o' colors", especially in Marie's case.
 * Their names in Japanese, Aori and Hotaru, are derived from real-world species "Aori-ika" (Bigfin Reef Squid), and "Hotaru-ika" (Firefly Squid).
 * In the Japanese version, they both have a bit of a Kansai dialect.
 * Callie and Marie are presumably the second-oldest Inklings in Splatoon (assuming they are the same age), with the oldest being Cap'n Cuttlefish. However, it is assumed that other adult Inklings do not participate in Turf War and are simply absent from the game. The artbook for Splatoon 2 reveals that Pearl is also older than them.
 * The horizontal marks on their outfits resemble the cuts made in squid when grilled.
 * If the player stands outside the Squid Sisters' studio, they will notice them and wave, as pictured in the Gallery.
 * The colors of the chairs Callie and Marie sit on in the studio reflect the ink colors of the player's last match, or the colors of the current Splatfest. The main color is the opponents' color, with arrows in the player's team color.
 * The hand movement they do during their catchphrase, "Staaaay fresh!", is supposed to resemble the moving tentacles of a squid.
 * Several fans have noted that Callie resembles Bayonetta while Marie resembles Jeanne, both from the Bayonetta series. It is unknown if this was intentional.
 * Before Splatoon was released, the Squid Sisters were not idols, but were instead planned to be "shrine maidens". They were meant to transmit divine messages from God to the Inklings. This is why they were in charge of receiving and announcing Splatfests in the first game.
 * At some point shortly after the release of Splatoon, Callie's favorite weapon type was the charger and Marie's was the roller. This was eventually switched later on.
 * The Squid Sisters' grandfather, Cap'n Cuttlefish, has two small pictures of them taped up on the corner of his cabin, one of Callie and one of Marie.
 * In Octo Valley, their backstory is shown in Sunken Scroll 17, which is also their age in Splatoon.
 * Many of the Squid Sisters' attributes seem to be opposites, such as their bangs being swept in opposite directions.
 * Cap'n Cuttlefish's phone can be seen in the Octo Expansion, behind him as Agent 8 talks to him. It has a picture of young Callie and Marie winning Calamari County's first annual folk-singing contest.
 * They both seem to have different mouths than other Inklings, as the other Inklings' mouths are their ink color, but Callie and Marie have red mouth insides, like humans.

Names in other languages
Staaaay fresh!