NozoEli

NozoEli is the femslash ship between Nozomi Toujou and Eli Ayase in the Love Live! School Idol Project fandom.

Canon
Eli is Nozomi's first friend. Nozomi often switched schools when she was a kid, and as a result, didn't have any friends. Finally she settled at Otonokizaka High School, and was in the same class as Eli. Nozomi liked Eli and eventually introduced herself to her. After that, the two became best friends.

Both Eli and Nozomi are president and vice president of the school council respectively. They are both third-years and depend on each other. They usually eat parfaits after school. Nozomi is very supportive for Eli.

While µ's is preparing for the preliminary finals, Nozomi suggests that the group writes a love song for their performance. Most are not as enthusiastic about it, but Eli is surprisingly supportive of it, to the point where Maki gets suspicious.

In the game's story, Nozomi mentions she would give chocolates to who she loved. In her side story, she talks about giving chocolates to Eli. In the game, Nozomi said "If we were a family, Eli-cchi would be dad, and I would be mom." Eli supports Nozomi, just like Nozomi supports Eli. And also, in the anthology (or Diary), created by Sakurako Kimino and Oda, that was called 'Love Live! School Idol Diary', in one of the diaries there's one that has Nozomi and Eli going somewhere to look for a location for their PV.

Nozomi called this outing a date and the title of the story is called 'Dating Pair'. Near the end, Eli buys a ring for Nozomi and begs for her (Nozomi) to buy the same one. Nozomi thinks this is because of Eli's ring necklace with lots of memories of her mom and thinks this is the last time they'll probably going to spend time with each other. Nozomi gave Eli the one she bought and Eli inserts the ring to Nozomi's left pointer finger. Nozomi thought this was a rehearsal of them exchanging rings. Even though, Nozomi ends thinking "I will honorably sympathize with a future Eli's lover"; thus implying that Nozomi does not want to be in such place, or that she rather wants yet she knows this scenario will never happen again anytime soon.

In a special event in the game, Nozomi invites Eli to go around visiting hot springs with her, so that Eli can destress herself. They also share a UR card based on this story. They also sing in a duet called "Garasu no Hanazono," (or "Garden of Glass") and the lyrics are almost explicitly about romance between girls.

Quotes
"I'd love to see Elicchi in a sexy dress."

- Nozomi about Eli, wanting to tease her. "Elicchi... Always cool as a cucumber. The two of us held hands, both wearing our new rings, and looked out at the sea."

- Nozomi in their story "Dating Pair" "I love you, too, so I hope you know you can also lean on me. Never apologize, okay?"

- Eli in their story 'Hot Springs and Power Spots'

Fanon
NozoEli is shipped due to Nozomi and Eli understanding each other more than anyone else. Their empathy and respect for each other defines their relationship as a lasting and meaningful one, which is very important to its shippers. Many believe a relationship or at least feelings between the two are heavily implied, with canon potential throughout all Love Live! media.

On AO3, they are the most written ship on the Love Live! tag. They are also one of if not the most popular ship in the fandom, contending with NicoMaki for the top spot. The most notable rival ships are NozoNico and EliUmi, but they don't stand much of a chance due to NozoEli's overwhelming popularity. The ship is so popular that even their voice actresses, Aina Kusuda (Nozomi) and Yoshino Nanjo (Eli) are shipped as well.

NozoEli is often paralleled to KanaMari, the ship from the second Love Live! series, Sunshine. This may be because both are pairs of third years. Nozomi and Eli are sometimes compared to be similar in looks or personality to either Kanan or Mari.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Eri/Nozomi tag on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR

FAN ART
 * Nozomi/Eli tag on Pixiv

Trivia

 * Their voice actresses ship them.
 * They have two UR pairs in the game, Love Live! School idol festival.
 * They dressed in traditional Japanese marriage clothes in a magazine.
 * They've played Romeo and Juliet in a school play. (Nozomi as Juliet and Eli as Romeo). During this, Eli kissed Nozomi's forehead, and they blushed a lot. This story is found in the manga and the game.

Variations

 * NicoNozoEli refers to the ship between Nozomi, Eli, and Nico Yazawa
 * μ's refers to the ship between the two and Honoka Kosaka, Kotori Minami, Umi Sonoda, Hanayo Koizumi, Rin Hoshizora, Maki Nishikino, and Nico Yazawa