was a

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese popular culture, Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idol ...

project group formed by

Up-Front Promotion is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agency Up-Front Promotion and Up-Front Works, a music production and sales company that manages such record labels as Zetima, Piccolo Town, ...

in 2000 and associated with

Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but ...

. Beginning in 2000, the Shuffle Unit project was a yearly collaboration among existing Hello! Project acts, where members were recombined into three different groups to release a single for each. After a four-year hiatus, the project was briefly revived in 2009, where several old sub-groups saw a return under new names and new members. After 2009, the project became defunct.

History

2000-2005: Initial beginnings

Beginning in 2000,

Tsunku , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer, record producer, and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the rock band Sharam Q. As a songwriter, Tsunku is the primary producer for Morning Musume and other Hello! Project acts, such as Co ...

created a music collaboration project with members of

rearranged into three separate teams. The first theme, "color", consisted of , , and . All groups released their singles on March 8, 2000, with Akagumi 4's single "Akai Nikkichō" charting the highest at #2 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

Weekly Singles Charts. In 2001, the groups were rearranged under the theme "party", with the three groups , , and . All groups released their singles on July 4, 2001, with San-nin Matsuri's single "Chu! Natsu Party" charting the highest at #5 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Charts. In 2002, the groups were rearranged under the theme "happiness", with the three groups , , and . All groups released their singles on July 3, 2002, with Sexy 8's single "Shiawase Desu ka?" charting the highest at #2 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Charts. In 2003, the groups were rearranged under the theme "natural", with the three groups 7 Air, Salt 5, and 11 Water. All groups released their songs as a triple-

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

single on July 9, 2003. The project then took a brief hiatus in 2004, where Tsunku decided to promote all Hello! Project artists as "H.P. All Stars" instead. Tsunku resumed the Shuffle Unit project in 2005, with groups rearranged under the theme "elegance." The three groups consisted of , , and , all of whom released their songs as a triple-A-side single on June 22, 2005. Sexy Otona Jan's song "Onna, Kanashii, Otona" was later featured in the 2013 film '' The Wolverine''.

2009: Champloo

On July 15, 2009, Tsunku revived the Shuffle Unit project with a

cover album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

titled ''Champloo: Happy Marriage Song Cover Shū'', describing it as

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

with the intention of it being played during summer parties and weddings. He named the concept of the Shuffle Units " champloo" to describe the "chaotic" member line-up. The project also saw the revival of inactive or disbanded Hello! Project acts under new names with new members, including

High-King was a Japanese people, Japanese girl group associated with Hello! Project. The group was created to promote Morning Musume's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein musical), ''Cinderella'', titled . Their so ...

Mini-Moni was a sub-unit of the Japanese idol girl groups Morning Musume and Coconuts Musume. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2000 and associated with Hello! Project. The group was founded by Morning Musume members Mari Yaguchi, Nozomi Tsuji, and ...

(revived as ),

Tanpopo was a sub-group of the Japanese idol girl group Morning Musume and associated with Hello! Project. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in November 1998 as Morning Musume's first sub-group. While the main group Morning Musume features predomin ...

(revived as ),

V-u-den was a Japanese idol girl group associated with Hello! Project. The group was formed in August 2004 and consists of members Rika Ishikawa (Morning Musume), Erika Miyoshi, and Yui Okada, with Ishikawa being the leader. The group officially disb ...

(revived as ),

Petit Moni was a sub-unit of the Japanese idol girl group Morning Musume and associated with Hello! Project. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in November 1999 as the second sub-group of Morning Musume. Members First generation * Kei Yasuda * Sa ...

(revived as ,

ZYX The Zygii (, ''Zygoí'') or Zygians were described by Strabo as a nation to the north of Colchis. He wrote: ''And on the sea lies the Asiatic side of the Bosporus, or the Syndic territory. After this latter, one comes to the Achaei and the Zyg ...

(revived as ZYX Alpha, stylized as ZYX-α), and Aa! The Shuffle Units also released original songs on the Hello! Project's compilation album, ''Petit Best 10'', and performed as concert-only units.

Members

Member lists are adapted from

's website:

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1200 height:900 PlotArea = width:900 height:800 left:100 bottom:75 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2000 till:2009 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors= id:a value:rgb(1,0,0) legend:ColorUnits id:b value:rgb(1,0.4,0) legend:FestivalUnits id:c value:rgb(1,1,0) legend:HappinessUnits id:d value:rgb(0,1,0) legend:NaturalUnits id:e value:rgb(0,0.7,0) legend:EleganceUnits id:f value:rgb(0,0.75,1) legend:ChamplooUnits Legend = orientation:vertical position:right ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2000 gridcolor:black PlotData = color:black width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from bar:YukoNakazawa from:08/03/2000 till:25/02/2001 Color:a bar:YukoNakazawa from:26/02/2001 till:21/06/2005 bar:YukoNakazawa from:22/06/2005 till:21/12/2005 Color:e bar:MakiGoto from:08/03/2000 till:25/02/2001 Color:a bar:MakiGoto from:26/02/2001 till:03/07/2001 bar:MakiGoto from:04/07/2001 till:17/02/2002 Color:b bar:MakiGoto from:18/02/2002 till:02/07/2002 bar:MakiGoto from:03/07/2002 till:18/12/2002 Color:c bar:MihoShinoda from:08/03/2000 till:25/02/2001 Color:a bar:Danielle from:08/03/2000 till:25/02/2001 Color:a bar:NatsumiAbe from:08/03/2000 till:25/02/2001 Color:a bar:NatsumiAbe from:26/02/2001 till:03/07/2001 bar:NatsumiAbe from:04/07/2001 till:17/02/2002 Color:b bar:NatsumiAbe from:18/02/2002 till:02/07/2002 bar:NatsumiAbe from:03/07/2002 till:18/12/2002 Color:c bar:NatsumiAbe from:19/12/2002 till:08/07/2003 bar:NatsumiAbe from:09/07/2003 till:17/12/2003 Color:d bar:KeiYasuda from:08/03/2000 till:25/02/2001 Color:a

Discography

Albums

Singles

Video singles

Notes

References

External links

Official Hello! Project shuffle units discography page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hello! Project shuffle units Hello! Project Hello! Project shuffle groups Japanese idol groups Japanese pop music groups