Hold on to your tentacles! It’s Inkopolis News Time!
Splatoon is, without a doubt, one of the biggest gaming surprises of 2014. The ink-redible Wii U title first made its début at E3 2015, where Nintendo showed off a brief trailer and a number of play sessions with their Treehouse translation team.
From that moment, it was clear that there was something special about the squiddy shooter. Social media was buzzing, fans of all stripes were talking, and the creative community was on fire. Through a strong marketing push, which involved global previews and tons of media saturation, Nintendo found a title that would boost their flagging Wii U console.
When the title hit Japanese store shelves on May 28, it was an instant phenomenon. The game sold through a staggering 144,818 copies, or 97.3% of its initial stock. It was a darling with numerous creators, who took to sites like Twitter and Pixiv to share their love of being both kids and squids in one game. Squid Girl creator Masahiro Anbe, Puyo (The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan), and Inio Asano (Solanin), among numerous others, published their own takes on the Inklings.
In the second-to-last reporting week of 2015 (12/21/2015 – 12/27/2015), Splatoon crossed a million sales in Japan, becoming the first new IP to reach the milestone since Wii Sports in 2006.
In the world of the series, fans trek their way to Inkopolis: a metropolis for squiddy citizens that resembles downtown Shibuya. The daily news is delivered by idol duo Callie and Marie. Collectively, they’re known as The Squid Sisters. The pair quickly found a fanbase, with their fresh sense of fashion, lively dialogue, and musical performances that have become synonymous with the franchise.
Now, they’ve come to inkvade the real world.
Earlier today, at NicoNico Tokaigi 2016, the Squid Sisters hosted a concert at the Makuhari Messe center. Much like vocaloids Hatsune Miku and Ia, the show was hosted using holograms, along with a live band playing the backing tracks. And, as one would expect, the Squid Sisters packed the house!
Though the performance is over, the concert is available for fans across the globe thanks to diligent YouTubers.
There are a few bits of spoken dialogue, which are presented in Japanese text. You can check out a rough translation below:
Introduction
Callie: Hold on to your tentacles!
Marie: It’s Inkopolis News time!Callie: Let’s unveil the current stage!
Marie: All right!Monitor shows a shot of Makuhari Messe
Callie: This is a huge hall! I want to battle it out here!
Marie: But with a place this size, you won’t finish in three minutes.Callie: I wonder how many attendees are here?
Marie: I’m getting nervous…Callie: Really? I’m feeling great!
Marie: But you were just hyperventilating earlier.Callie: Er, that was… a warm-up exercise.
Marie: …right, I’ll let that slide for now.Callie: Anyway, we should hurry to the stage!
Marie: Right. Let’s get pumped up!Callie: Let’s get moving!
Calie & Marie: Staaaaaaay fresh!
Intermission 1 (8:15)
Callie: Good evening again, everyone! I’m Callie!
Marie: And I’m Marie.Callie: And together we’re the Squid Sisters!
Callie & Marie: Staaaaaaay fresh!Callie: We’re idols from a big city in the Squid World called Inkopolis!
Marie: That’s right.Callie: We’ve come all the way to your world, to the Tokaigi 2016 and Makuhari Messe to bring you this live show!
Marie: Clap clap clap clap.Callie: Marie, give us a pun!
Marie: Come on, you know they’re punbearable.Callie: My bad! There really are a ton of people here, though!
Marie: There are.Callie: This is the first time we’ve ever performed in front of an audience this big!
Marie: It’s more than we see at the Splatfests.Callie: You’re right! Speaking of, let’s get into the Splatfest spirit with our next song!
Marie: Let’s do it!
Intermission 2 (13:00)
Callie: Thank you, everybody!
Marie: Thanks much!Callie: You know, we’re actually cousins!
Marie: We’re even the same age.Callie: We’ve been singing as a duo since we were little. We even won the “Youth Folk-Singing Contest” together!
Marie: Gramps was really proud.Callie: After we made our big début, though, there was a long stretch where things didn’t work out so well for us…
Marie: … Speaking of which, doesn’t this place remind you of Walleye Warehouse?Callie: Ehehe! Yeah, we worked there for a while when we were starting off, right?
Marie: We got used to the “Hat and Mask” look back then.Callie: Yeah. But I’m super happy that we can sing on such a gorgeous stage today!
Marie: Seriously, thank you very much.Callie: We’re going to fill this next song with our memories of those early days!
Marie: We hope you enjoy it.
Intermission 3(18:05)
Callie: It looks like our show’s almost over.
Marie: Time flies.Callie: The next song will be the last one for today.
Callie: By the way, the Splatoon Koshien event that was held earlier really was great.
Marie: Yeah, you humans can actually hold your own.Callie: I’m looking for the excitement of tomorrow’s national tournament!
Marie: Aside from that, I’m still undefeated today.Callie: H-hey! I’m getting better, too!
Marie: Yeah, this is my impressed face…Callie: Grrr…
Marie: Hehe~Callie: Well, I can’t change who you are.
Callie: Please continue to support us going forward!
Marie: Please do.Callie: For our last song, we’ll go with this!
Marie: Let’s do it!
Ending News Segment
Callie: So, how did your like our concert? Did you have a good time?
Marie: We really did our best.Callie: That’s true, but I’m not tired at all! I wonder why…?
Marie: Good question. It’s probably because we perform all day during Splatfests?Callie: That’s probably it! Thanks for watching, everybody!
Marie: Thank you very much.Callie: We’ll see you again in Inkopolis Plaza!
Marie: Yeah.Callie: Let’s give this last one a lot of pep!
Callie & Marie: Staaaaaaay fresh!
For another take on the dialogue, Redditor Amillias delivered his own translation.
