Kanaena

"Therefore, Kanade too... I want you to also follow the path that can make you feel happy."

- Ena to Kanade in "The Tone Played On That Day" Chapter 7

Kanaena is the femslash ship between Kanade Yoisaki and Ena Shinonome from the Project SEKAI fandom.

Canon
Kanade and Ena are both apart of the same music circle, "Nightcord at 25:00", also known as Niigo or Nightcord. Kanade is the leader and composer, and Ena is the illustrator. Ena has a strong willed personality, with a tendency to get irritated easily, but treats Kanade much more gently than she does others. Whereas Kanade has an introverted and reserved personality, rarely leaving the house and having rather poor social skills. Currently, Kanade is a 3rd year student attending online school, and Ena is a 3rd year student who attends night classes at Kamiyama High.

Kanade and Ena first met when Kanade invited Ena to be the illustrator for her music group, thinking highly of her art. Ena had struggled with believing her art was not good enough in comparison to others, and was very happy by Kanade's gesture.

Unsatisfied Pale Color
Angered by her father talking down on her, Ena begins to make a painting for an art competition. While out buying art supplies, she runs into Kanade, and tells her about the art contest. When Ena admits that she is worried, Kanade reassures her, telling her she likes her art. Later at her house, Ena thinks about what Kanade said and is happy she ran into her.

Later, despairing about not winning anything in the contest, Ena pulls up Niigo's comment section for reassurance on her art skills, only to find people saying her art style is peculiar, and talking to her father only makes her feel worse. In Niigo's voice chat, Ena lashes out at Mafuyu, accusing her of especially not understanding what she's going through and then leaving call to go to the Empty SEKAI, leaving Kanade and Mizuki confused on what happened.

While Ena is in the SEKAI she starts to understand why Mafuyu stayed there so much. Kanade talks in the chat about how Ena's art helps the group's music reach more people, saying that she isn't an accessory and helps them get more views. While the group is wondering where Ena went, Kanade comes up with SEKAI, where Mafuyu was before.

In the SEKAI, Ena again thinks about how Kanade said she liked her art. Rin starts to sing a song that Kanade just made for Ena, which attracts her over. Later, Miku tells Niigo to head over to the SEKAI, where Ena apologizes to everyone for making them worry. Ena tells Kanade the songs she makes are soothing to the point they make her heart ache. Kanade tells Ena she wants her to draw something for the song, but Ena says that she is scared because no matter how much she draws, she never gets recognition. Kanade and Mizuki comfort her, and Kanade tells her that if she needs someone to notice her art, she would be that person, and that she's essential for Niigo.

Quotes
"I know you're concerned about helping Mafuyu get back on her feet, but show some concern for yourself too, okay?"

- Ena to Kanade in "Lifelike" second side story

"I was ready to just give up on everything, but you made that song for me, K... After listening to it, I felt a lot better and even decided to draw again."

- Ena in Carnation Recollection Episode 2 "Luka's Words"

"I think that makes you an incredible person, Ena."

- Kanade to Ena in "When The Sound Becomes Clear" second side story

"That's why I want you to remember that we're there to help if you ever get stuck. We want to help you find the right answer. We're all in this together."

- Kanade to Ena in "When The Sound Becomes Clear" second side story

"Because Kanade has done so much for everyone...! If Kanade doesn't feel any happiness from it, it'll definitely be wrong."

- Ena to Kanade in "The Tone Played On That Day" Chapter 7

"And me, I want Kanade to smile in that way..."

- Ena about Kanade in "Gloomy Afternoon" first side story

Fanon
Kanaena is not particularly popular within the fandom, though it does have a moderate amount of fans. Most Kanaena shippers enjoy Ena's kindness towards Kanade and Kanade's encouragement towards Ena and her art skills. It is a common headcanon with the shippers that Ena is in love with Kanade, and that she truly regards her as her savior, due to the way she treats Kanade differently, compared with her other groupmates, often being the first one to defend her. Kanaena is rivaled by the more popular ships such as Mizuena, and Kanamafu. It is usually paired alongside Mizumafu, or they are all shipped together in a poly ship, Polyniigo.

However many shippers were disappointed, and some ended up dropping the ship due to the "And Now, I Wear This Ribbon" event retconning the story behind Niigo's formation, as well as their self-intros and some of their older card stories. Although the developers, Colorful Palette, tried to explain that "Kanade wasn't the first person to literally discover Ena's art, but the first person to actually see value in Ena's work and recognize her as a real artist" following the backlash created by the event story, it was met with mixed reactions. While many took this as a clarification that Kanaena is canon or were happy with the sudden development, many were also not convinced by it as most of the story focused on Mizuena. What also did not help was the fact that Colorful Palette announced they were going to remake the members' self-intros, changing previously stated lore that Kanade originally found Ena after seeing the latter draw art of Kanade's songs. Although, Kanaena has received a lot more content since then, which has led to a small increase in shippers, and has made many Kanaena fans happy to see the ship getting more screen time.

Kanaena week starts February 5th through February 12, 2024. The prompts for the first day are "Sore ga Anata no Shiawase to Shite mo or Mousou Kanshou Daishou Renmei", "flowers or childhood" for the second day, "music or date" for the third day, "royalty or fantasy" for the fourth day, "shopping or late night calling" for the fifth day, "stargazing" for the sixth day, and the seventh and last day is free day.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION


 * FAN ART


 * TWITTER

Trivia

 * Their ship name is referred to with the "🎼🎨" emojis.
 * Their Kizuna Rank titles are: "My Seal of Approval", "We Need You", and "The Light That Turns Grey".
 * Their Cheerful Carnival Team names are "Thank You For Seeing My Art" and "Make Sure You Eat Right".
 * Kanade and Ena have covered three songs together (, and ).
 * In Ena's 2022 Valentine's menu line, she wonders why Kanade is so insistent on not telling where she lives as she wishes to send Kanade Valentine's chocolates.
 * As of the "Tied By Painful Hope" event (May 2022), Ena has said Kanade's name 409 times.