Mafuena & Their Place in Fandom (2026)
Here it is. My first post about the annoying girls that have been my oshis for 2.5 years now... is everyone ready?
If you're following me, I'm sure Mafuena needs little to no introduction. It's the pairing between Mafuyu Asahina, the calm and collected lyricist, and Ena Shinonome, the hot-tempered artist, of the fictional music group Nightcord at 25:00. They're opposites who balance each other out, to put it simply.
Mafuena has had somewhat of a resurgence in recent months, even though there hasn't been any new content focused on them as much as Ena3 since... Ena3 (2022). I think this is largely because of the artists who continue to draw content of them, which keeps them relevant in people's minds. So, it's only right to say that fanartists are the backbone of the Mafuena community. However, relying solely on fan works for content also presents a unique challenge: the increasingly warped perception of how these characters actually behave and interact in canon.
Mafuyu and Ena are foils – characters meant to highlight the more undesirable aspects of another through their contrast. In the main story, Ena was jealous of Mafuyu's innate talent and disliked her for failing to be grateful for that. Meanwhile, Mafuyu was jealous of how raw and emotional Ena was supposed to be, and how Ena was so sure in herself and her identity. These two possessed each other's deepest desire. Throughout the many events over the years, as Mafuyu works through her struggles, Ena grows to be more caring for her, worrying for her so much that even Mizuki calls her out on it. While they still tease each other and get on each other's nerves, there's a clear sense of love and care here that wasn't previously present. Unfortunately, it seems Colopale has completely lost interest in developing this pairing, or any other side pairing for Niigo, after the overwhelming success of Mizuena & Kanamafu events, most notably Mizu5, Ena5, and WL2.
So how are these two characters interpreted in fandom? The answer is that it depends on who someone ships them with. But how come? The core characterization of a character shouldn't change so easily. Which is true, but the dynamics of these ships are often forced into one or two boxes of tropes, with no nuance further than that. While this isn't detrimental to pairings that do have a main overarching conflict and theme, with several events dedicated to introducing, experiencing, and resolving them, it makes the pairings with only one or two events' worth of in depth characterization look painfully shallow.
Mizuena is only about Mizuki's secret. Kanamafu is only about Kanade saving Mafuyu. Mizumafu is only about Mizuki telling Mafuyu to run away in Mizu4. Mafuena is only about Mafuyu & Ena never getting along. Kanaena is only about Ena's crush on Kanade. Kanamizu? What's that?
And yet, it pains me to say that Mafuena fans are painfully bad at characterizing the girls properly (only behind Mizuena and Kanamafu fans, but that's to be expected given their popularity). Almost always, their bickering is completely blown out of proportion. Countless tweets of half-serious Mafuena depictions where Ena's borderline verbally abusive and Mafuyu's almost as stupid as rocks blow up, and the worst part is that they might even reach outside our small Mafuena circle.
Ena is characterized as this bitter, angry person with a vendetta against Mafuyu, which is simply not accurate at all, and in my opinion, a grossly dishonest portrayal of her character. Ena reacts strongly to Mafuyu's blunt comments, sure, but she doesn't just blow up on Mafuyu for no reason at all. Most importantly, she wouldn't insult Mafuyu (or anyone for that matter)! Ena herself struggles with critique, and she has never went out of her way to purposefully hurt anyone in Niigo. Ena may not have always been fond of Mafuyu, but she has clearly always empathized with her situation and compared it to her own.
Mafuyu's characterization in Mafuena is like a wild card. I suppose it can't be helped, because Mafuyu being in any relationship already requires some suspension of disbelief, as she still struggles with identifying her own emotions and the implications of said emotions.
An interesting thing to note is that Mafuyu is often portrayed more masculine (whether it be as butch, transmasculine, or a genderbend) in the Mafuena and Mizumafu communities, even in the JP side of the fandom. This stems from Mafuyu's identity crisis and good girl persona, which can be read as Mafuyu feeling forced to perform femininity when what she truly wants is androgyny or masculinity.
However, this masculine interpretation also becomes watered down over time, affecting how shippers view Mafuyu's place in these dynamics. A masculine Mafuyu is often pushed into almost heteronormative stereotypes, where she's portrayed as a grumpy playboy, a far cry from her character in canon.
The way Mafuena is portrayed now, Ena is a girlboss who steps on her malewife Mafuyu. It's a totally misguided, borderline unrecognizable interpretation of their relationship. This depiction of Mafuena attempts to retain their primary dynamic by characterizing them as polar opposites, but this in turn erases the deeper nuances of their relationship such as Ena's caring personality and Mafuyu's appreciation for Ena.
Mafuena in fandom now essentially reads like a comedy, cheapening their struggles and making them seem less important than they actually are, when they used to really resemble a tragedy.
There are two extremely important events for Mafuena's characterization: the main story, and Ena's third focus event. The former released with the game in 2020, while the latter released on JP servers in November 2022, and on EN servers in November 2023. So, it only makes sense that early characterizations would hinge almost entirely on their interactions from the main story, which was Ena lashing out at Mafuyu and admitting she was jealous of her, and that she didn't understand why she wanted to die.
In past years, Mafuena used to be portrayed as toxic, doomed yuri – as soulmates forever destined to clash, or maybe, lovers who were never even soulmates at all. This portrayal is still flawed, relying heavily on tropes. But despite that, it still used canon as the main basis for their characterization, and it fit the darker themes of Niigo much more.
What could’ve caused such a drastic change? There’s only one answer: different people. As Mafuena began to receive less and less content, their older fans who valued official content would slowly lose interest in them, and in turn, new fans who were fine ignoring official content and enjoying their present dynamic solely through their own headcanons were left.
Can I blame the teenage fans who just want to have fun? No, not really. I'm just a little disappointed in what I believe is the downfall of my favorite ship. By refusing to acknowledge that their rocky relationship comes not only with bad moments but with good ones, much of the fandom misses the forest for the trees. Mafuena was so special because it was one of the most interesting and nuanced pairings within not only Niigo but Project Sekai as a whole, allowing both of the characters' flaws to deepen their relationship instead of ruin it. Maybe this downfall reflects Colopale's decision to let go of Mafuena for the foreseeable future. But... I'll still keep shipping them and loving them together. Nothing can change that. :-)
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