Bento Box of the Week: Halcali were a Japanese J-pop duo consisting of Halca and Yucali from Meguro, Tokyo, Japan. Its name is a portmanteau of Halca (ハルカ, Haruka) and Yucali (ユカリ, Yukari). Their debut album, Halcali Bacon, reached #5 on the Oricon charts, making it the first album by a female hip-hop artist to enter the top ten in Japanese history.
Halcali also made their American debut in May 2008 as the musical guests of honor at the Anime Central convention. They performed again in America at Central Park, New York City on June 1, 2008, as part of a Japan Day Festival as part of a Japanese tourism campaign. As Halcali did not renew their contracts with Epic Records Japan, they did not have any outstanding presence from 2013 to 2024.
In 2024, "おつかれ Summer" experienced a resurgence in popularity on TikTok, where videos featuring the song's audio were viewed billions of times. The track also accumulated tens of millions of streams on Spotify and entered the top 50 of the platform's Viral Chart in 35 countries. Following its renewed success, For Life released new promotional material for the song. An animated music video premiered on September 19, 2025, reaching one million views within 24 hours and three million within two weeks. Halcali later appeared as surprise guests at Koyabu Sonic 2025 on September 15, 2025.