RinMaru

RinMaru is the femslash ship between Rin Hoshizora and Hanamaru Kunikida from the Love Live! fandom.

Canon
Rin and Hanamaru never meet, but Hanamaru looks up to Rin as idols. When looking at μ's magazines, seeing Rin's picture from when she was the center in  inspired Hanamaru to give being an idol a shot. Afterwards when she gave up the Trial Period, she was seen looking at the same picture again, and sadly said "goodbye" as she closed the magazine. Rin thought she wasn't fit for a school idol, even though she actually really wanted to do it, just like Hanamaru.

Both fulfill the Smile attribute of the first years, and are the 5th members to join their respective idol groups. Both are part of the Pure sub-unit of their respective idol groups, and also have the image colour yellow. Both have a shy, idol-loving best friend who they look up to and care for. Hanamaru and Rin are similar yet different in the way that Hanamaru is quiet but can be surprisingly outgoing, and Rin is outgoing but can be surprisingly shy sometimes.

Both have a word they attach into their sentences. Rin says "nya" and Hanamaru says "zura". Hanamaru occasionally ends her sentences with zura with the same inflection as Rin, such as when she says Ikuzura! the same way Rin says Ikunya! While Rin much more explicitly cat-themed, Hanamaru is like a cat too. She wears a paw print on her practice shirt, is posed like a cat at the end of , and in one episode lays in the warm sun and refuses to move.

Fanon
RinMaru is a less popular ship in the fandom due the two having never met in the canon storyline. The ship is more popular than other cross-idol group ships because of how similar the two are. In the begininning, Hanamaru seemed very different, with her long hair and shyness, so people didn't associate them together. As Hanamaru's similarities to Rin shone through, the ship became more popular.

Cat motifs and the color yellow are fairly common in fanworks. The ship is often compared to other cross-idol group ships like HonoChika and RubyPana.

Fandom
FANFICTION

INSTAGRAM

PIXIV
 * りんまる tag on Pixiv.net

Trivia

 * Hanamaru dislikes noodles, while Rin loves them (specifically ramen).
 * In 2018, SEGA did a collab with School Idol Festival where Rin and Hanamaru were chosen to get a UR card of them and Sonic the Hedgehog.