Mashiran

Mashiran is the femslash ship between Ran Mitake and Mashiro Kurata from the BanG Dream! fandom.

Canon
Ran and Mashiro are both the vocalists of their respective bands, Ran for Afterglow and Mashiro for Morfonica. Ran's a year above Mashiro, going to Haneoka Girls' Academy while Mashiro attends Tsukinomori Girls' Academy.

The two girls are both quiet introverts although in different ways. Ran is a strong-willed and hot-headed girl, but is very socially-awkward. She's embarassed easily and comes off as cold or distant sometimes but inside she cares for her friends very deeply. Meanwhile Mashiro is a highly anxious and shy individual. She's a dreamer at heart with an active imagination, although being somewhat unskiled she puts herself down and speaks negatively often.

Their first interaction would be in the 2nd Main Story in the game, where Mashiro attends the live concert hosted by the bands Poppin'Party, Afterglow, Pastel*Palettes, Roselia and Hello, Happy World! and watches them perform. Later Mashiro gets emotional talking to Popipa's leader, Kasumi Toyama, and Ran gently scolds Kasumi for making Mashiro cry.

Their second interaction is in the "Luminary Sakura Symphony" Event Story, in which the girls of Morfonica are invited to a sakura-viewing party with the other bands. While the other Morfonica members head out to interact with the various other girls, Mashiro is placed with Ran and the rest of the band vocalists. Mashiro is easily frightened by Roselia's vocalist Yukina Minato, Ran notices and asks if Mashiro is scared because Yukina is staring. Mashiro notes to herself that Ran looks a bit scary too, thinking she might be mean. Mashiro later runs off in a panic after getting overwhelmed, prompting Ran and the other vocalists to go look for her. When they finally find her, Ran and the other vocalists are relieved. After hearing what Ran and the others went through to look for her, Mashiro's anxiety about the vocalists being scary is quelled. She thinks to herself about how Ran was concerned about her, so she might not be as scary as Mashiro originally thought. The story ends off on a good note as Mashiro thanks Ran and the other vocalists for their support.

There aren't any other interactions in-game between the two, however there is a lot of official artwork with the two depicted with each other alongside all the other band vocalists.

Fanon
An exact origin date is unknown, but after the release of the Cup Noodle collaboration illustration, which featured all 7 vocalists and more notably the two next to each other with Mashiro smiling directly at Ran, there seemed to be a small boost in the ship's popularity. The two's similarities in their introversion, along with the fact that their colors contrast (Mashiro's white hair with Ran's black hair, and Mashiro's character color a soft blue with Ran's a vivid red) seemed to be factors that most fans seemed to enjoy.

So far 3 out of 5 illustration in which both Mashiro and Ran are present (with the other vocalists) have them near or next to each other, 2 in which one is seemingly smiling at the other. Fans began to consider what a dynamic between the two would be like, and it's generally seen to be a more softer and sweet pairing, and with the two being socially awkward around others, it is thought that the two would be able to relate to some extent.

Although it's been slowly on the rise in the western fandom in particular, ultimately the pairing is still a rarepair. Mashiro is still a relatively new character, so most fans don't focus on her nor does she have much content in the first place. Ran, having been a character from the start of the game's release, is often preferred in other ships that already have more content or have a known dynamic (ex. Mocaran and Yukiran).

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Trivia

 * Both Ran and Mashiro dislike Peas.
 * Aside from being the vocalists of their bands, they also write the lyrics for all their songs.
 * Mashiro is one of the only ones who had a 2022 Birthday menu line for Ran.