√AtoZ

Today's the day of the awaited date~
💐🎀🎈🎁🛍️☕

Welcome to my ramblings and lovemail for √AtoZ!

I care about this shuffle unit a lot. I love their event story, their song, and their interactions! They are constantly on my mind, so I'd like to make this site dedicated to them <3 Please click any of the chibis to take you to my thoughts and make sure to have the song playing as you look through hehe. Clicking the banners above will take you my Date Plan bot + its carrd.

WARNING: this is so wordy you might as well consider this a dissertation for a PhD.

Lyrics Analysis

Lyrics can be found here if you'd like to give them a read yourself. Here are some things I noticed myself :3c

♪ Chiaki’s solo line has him wondering about how he should greet you “Good morning.” In Date Plan Chapter 2 (Meeting 1), he excitedly tells Kaoru good morning and encourages Kaoru to match his boisterous greeting.

♪ Niki’s line about Plan B has him saying he’ll just act as usual. This refers to how even though he had trouble trying to formulate his date plan (since he tried going for a restaurant date); instead, he chose to go for what he loves to do by making a homemade meal date plan.

♪ Mitsuru and Niki singing about how bad they think the date is going and apologizing pokes fun at how these two had the most trouble with making their date plans.

♪ Kaoru’s line about Plan C puts a smile on my face, since he asks to take the lead in the date. The event story is very Kaoru-centric, showcasing his doubts and fears about being named the leader of the A to Z shuffle unit (especially as someone who used to slack off a lot; its a position he's not used to), but by the end of the event story, he’s able to confidently assist and lead the unit.

♪ Part of the lyrics in the final chorus talk about how the distance between the two looks smaller than it had been earlier in the date. I thought those lyrics were a cute callback to how Kaoru talks about how he wishes to close the distance between him and Anzu/the player character in ! era stories.

♪ Natsume singing about not wanting to miss your smile refers to his date plan idea, where he wants to give you an unforgettable memory, part of that being your smile.

♪I find it interesting and endearing that Chiaki and Kaoru switch their solo lines in this song. During the intro, Kaoru sings the line about counting down, then Chiaki sings the line about his heart racing. In the pre-final chorus, the two switch, with Chiaki counting down and Kaoru's heart racing.

♪ more will be added as I continue to think about date plan hehe

MV and Choreo

note: some of these details have been noticed by others too but i wanted to compile everything here heh
note 2: this is a REALLY long section (as if the others weren't already long) so be prepared!

MV and Choreo Analysis
❥ 0:00-0:06 The opening dance move has the A to Z boys doing a countdown with their hands then immediately pointing to the side (just like a hand of a clock). Kaoru sings about counting down to the time of the date.
❥ 0:06-0:10 Chiaki is putting his hands onto his chest, as he sings about how his heartbeat is speeding up as the time for the date approaches.
❥ 0:13 Mitsuru (pretty sure everyone else does this move too though) does a cute little pose by putting thumb under his chin to signify looking at himself in the window (the line being sung).
❥ 0:24-0:27 Mitsuru actually starts off his solo segment by walking forward, while he's singing about taking a step forward. He also does a small A with his hands, since he sings about Plan A.
❥0:27-0:31 Niki tapping his chest and giving us a cute smile alongside a B symbol (for Plan B!) is absolute Niki behavior! He sings about acting like his usual self.
❥0:31-0:33 Natsume's line here talks about not wanting to miss out on your smile. At the same time, he points and smiles at Niki, who was giving us a goofy grin just a few seconds ago.
❥0:34-0:39 Kaoru's solo segment is pretty typical idol dance moves here, but I think it's adorable. Especially when he winks at the camera like yes sir you can monopolize my smile today <3
❥0:39-0:41 Chiaki puts his hand up like he's waving hi to you, while singing about how he should say "Good Morning."
❥0:48 The boys have a finger up (actually Chiaki is the only one who wags his finger) to signify no, as they start singing about there being no point to all these thoughts once they see you.
❥0:52 The boys do a light thump to their chest; the lyrics here are about a loud heart beat.
❥1:26-1:29 THIS PART PUTS A BIG SMILE ON MY FACE because they're singing about enjoying the date and all of them look happy and relaxed with each other. I mean look at Chiaki's smile and how Mitsuru, Niki, and Natsume are all coming together happy. Also the cute poses they do before going into the final chorus AHHH so cute there are tears in my eyes,,,
❥1:31-1:34 We go back to talking about counting down to the date, but this time it's the day. Chiaki counts with his hand once more, then does a pose similar to his usual Ryuseitai one. But he also nods his head to signify that it's time for the real date.
❥1:34-1:37 Again, with repeating the previous choreo, Kaoru puts his hand over his heart since he's singing about the rapidly increasing heartbeat.
❥1:44-1:47 The move where they bring one arm up then bring it around is reflective of the lyrics. By bringing their arm up, it's almost like showing that the day has gone by. While bringing it around looks as though they're asking you how the date went.
❥1:51-1:56 This one has a lot going on! First, the boys form a square with their hands to represent the show window. Next, they bring their pinky and thumb together and clasp those fingers together, as they sing about how the two of you have gotten closer than you were in the morning. Honestly, it's making me cries
❥2:05-2:08 They form an A with their hands, which goes into a Z. I don't think this one needs much explanation. :3c
❥ I would write more about every move but a) idk how to explain it or b) i'm already reaching really hard OOPS

Cute Details to Notice
☆ There's a lot of winking going on in the background, besides the easily noticeable ones. Please look through the MV yourself to find them ;3c
☆ At 0:27, Chiaki and Natsume do the A with their hands in the background. Niki also does the A when the camera switches to him, but it's a really quick frame so you have to pause to see.
☆ I've already mentioned this before, but around 0:48, Chiaki is the only one who goes as far as wagging his finger no.
☆ From 0:56-0:58, you can see Niki flub the dance moves. He uses his right arm twice rather than switching to his left. He also seemingly raises his arm higher than the others. Still love ya Niki-kyun <3
☆ At 1:38, Niki manages to incorporate his little chicken dance that also makes an appearance in Crazy Roulette and Be the Party Bee.
☆ Also around this part with Niki, Kaoru is shaking in the background I just found that funny he looks goofy.
☆ At 2:06, Niki is shown doing the Z differently from everyone else. You can take it as him making a mistake again or on purpose since he's in the center at this point.
☆ I think the part where Natsume and Niki exchange a glance with each other (around 0:33) is so sweet because Natsume antagonizes Niki at the start of the Date Plan event story, but afterwards, they develop an amicable friendship (see Natsume featured 4 star story, The Magician's Delivery for more information).

My Personal Thoughts
★彡 OK SO I CAN ADMIT THAT THIS CHOREO IS PRETTY WACKY mostly because there are parts where they aren't in sync and stuff (ahem the outro instrumental dance) BUT i think it's still endearing a lot. Also I'd like to interpret it as them being nervous cause like the song is sung from the perspective of someone who's nervous about a date.
★彡 Even with this dissonance, I love how everyone's individuality shines through (coughs in Assembly-4, Kaoru tells Niki and Chiaki that he wants everyone to be themselves) in their moves. Niki brings his bounciness from Crazy:B choreos. Mitsuru is energetic in his movements. Chiaki is precise and firm (he's taking it seriously), similar to how he dances in Ryuseitai songs. Kaoru's pretty light; I'd describe it as not being over the top (although he looks like he flings his arm around 1:11 LOL). I do have to say that Natsume looks really stiff throughout this entire choreo oopsies.
★彡Although I'll admit, I think Chiaki is probably the best dancer of the bunch here cause he looks like he's following an established choreo and is just on point. (also in Assembly 4, he comes back from practicing by himself and there's a cute scene between him and Kaoru)
★彡 I don't care what happyele says: THIS SONG IS A CHIAKAO CENTER!! I will take this to the grave with me; I firmly believe chiakao led this song and no one can argue. Yes, Kaoru is in the center at the beginning yet the center position is taken by every single member at least once. But I think it's a ChiaKao center because those two are always up front!! And their positions are either parallel or together. Also the event story may be Kaoru-centric but Chiaki's pretty involved too. So yeah ChiaKao said date plan real bye

Lovemail 💌

just me going on a tangent about how much i love this shuffle unit and its event story, its mini talks, and its song hehe

✿ the event name is super cute! √ of Love is AtoZ is read as The Root of Love is AtoZ. I interpret that as anything can be love if it means something to you, which ties in with the event story since each date plan has a flavor of each idol's personality!

✿ the song itself is very sweet-sounding. It's upbeat and bright and always manages to make me smile every time I listen to it.

✿ i genuinely think they did an amazing job with choosing the idols for this unit, song-wise. Each idol brings their own personality into the song, and they all come together very nicely. I especially love hearing Kaoru and Chiaki sing together uwahh

✿ i think the outfits make the boys look very handsome. Sure, it isn't the color some of them would wear (ahem Chiaki), but they look great! I'd love to wear a variant of this three-piece suit with a skirt.

✿ their interactions felt natural and refreshing to me. I also love the continuation of Chiaki and Kaoru's developing friendship + Niki becoming good friends with Natsume and Mitsuru (as seen in side idol stories ;3c ). I hope to see more interactions between the five in the future!!

✿ON THE TOPIC OF SPPS, I love Chiaki's SPP so much it has to be my favorite. He looks like he's taking you shopping and he's leading you around the stores and pointing things out and it makes my heart beat fast hnngg.

✿Kaoru's SPP makes me blush too. He also does the cute little point that Chiaki does to, but his wink at the end is what cups my balls.

✿Mitsuru's SPP is very cute! He does a cute little dance and he's very energetic! He'll dash dash~ while holding your purchases hehe

✿NOT TO CLOWN NIKI AND NATSUME like their SPPs have their own flair to them but I find them a bit silly. Niki tryna put in those bouncy Crazy:B esque moves, while Natsume looks very stiff oops. Still like them a lot though.

✿oh my god i Just realized while writing those lovemail prompts that all the SPPs have the cute pointing in common and its just passes out from love

✿THE MINI TALKS ARE SO DAMN ADORABLE there's so many cute moments in them i don't think i could get into them in this carrd just yet they're just packed with so much fun u should really look into them when you have the chance

✿more lovemail will be added when I think of more