HALCALI -- Giri Giri Surf Rider （ギリギリ・サーフライダー）

Back when I first started "Kayo Kyoku Plus" in 2012, I did mention the hip-hop dynamic dance duo HALCALI performing the cover of Kome Kome Club's "Roman Hiko"（浪漫飛行）very briefly and up to tonight, that has been it for Tokyo's Halca and Yukali（ハルカ・ユカリ）. Actually, I had thought that the ladies hailed from Okinawa.

Well, allow me to rectify that. I used to see a number of HALCALI music videos on one of the Japanese music stations, and to be honest, I was drawn more to the duo's mesmerizing choreography than the actual songs. And the same holds true for their 3rd single, "Giri Giri Surf Rider"（ギリギリ・サーフライダー...Last-Minute Surf Rider）which came out in July 2003. Not to say that Halca and Yukali were bad singers; their hippity-hoppity-poppity and sing-songy delivery of the lyrics added to the charm, but it was seeing the whole package together with the girls singing and dancing that made things really fun.

What I liked about the video for "Giri Giri Surf Rider" was that despite the lyrics about that cool surfer dude on the beach, the visuals concentrated on a potential rumble between a couple of 80s tsuppari gangs before Halca and Yukali save the day and the entire cast ends up dancing the day away on that pier. It was kinda like "Nishi Side Story" for the 21st century. And certainly after a hearty Sunday pancake breakfast in my apartment, the video was an excellent supplement to my coffee.

"Giri Giri Surf Rider" was written by RYO-Z and composed by DJ FUMIYA from hip-hop group Rip Slyme, and it peaked at No. 10, one of their most successful entries. It was also used as the ending theme for the final episode of a CGI anime series "Garakuta Douri no Stain"（ガラクタ通りのステイン...Ga-Ra-Ku-Ta: Mr. Stain on Junk Alley） which came out in early 2003. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a video that had the final episode's end credits, but here is HALCALI's "Tandem" which served as the ending theme song for the first 13 episodes.

Without me having to drone on about the history of HALCALI, you can read about them at the Wiki article here.