Kuromaya

Kuromaya is the femslash ship between Claudine Saijou and Maya Tendou from the Revue Starlight fandom.

Canon
Claudine and Maya are both students at Seisho Music Academy and rivals. Despite their rivalry they are often practising together during class and privately, as well as sitting with each other at meals. Claudine is often more aggressive about their rivalry as she feels she is unable to best Maya, however Claudine's passion and ambition is also what drives Maya not to become complacent in her position at the top.

The two first met at the entrance exam for the academy where Claudine approached Maya to be her stretching partner after having heard rumours of how good a performer Maya was. This backfires on Claudine as Maya was even better than expected and Claudine feels out-shined by her, thus starts their friendship and somewhat one-sided rivalry. During the first production of Starlight, Maya and Claudine play the lead and supporting lead. After the performance Claudine tells Maya that she won't lose to her, showing that she is still aiming to get the lead role in the future.

The following year when the underground "Revue Starlight" auditions start taking place Maya and Claudine both take part. When the Revue of Desire happens, Maya defeats Claudine in their own duel. Upset by the outcome of the duel, Claudine comes in late to school the next day but stays late to practice on her own. Futaba comforts Claudine, allowing Claudine realise she had grown complacent in her talent and that she needs to work harder to beat Maya.

On the final day of the auditions, the giraffe announces that the final audition will be a duet battle, and lets the four remaining performer pick their partners. Maya and Claudine face off against Karen and Hikari. They initially have the upper hand but eventually Maya is loses to Karen. Claudine is unable to accept this and rips off her own button while blaming herself and telling everyone that Maya "never loses". Maya then speaks to Claudine in French, assuring her that they haven't lost yet, only that this stage simply does not belong to them. She offers her hand to help Claudine stand and tells her she looks cute when she cries, which flusters Claudine. Afterwards, they resume their old routine of practice and hanging out but are much less antagonistic about it.

Fanon
Kuromaya is one of the most popular ships in the fandom due to Claudine and Maya's rivalry. The ship was popular enough that during their reconciliation in episode 10 a separate stream was hosted with with their voice actresses, and ship name trends of Japanese Twitter. Their dynamic falls easily into the enemies/rivals to lovers trope and it often portrayed that way in fanworks. It is currently the most written Revue Starlight ship on AO3.

Whereas "Kuromaya" is more used in the Western fandom, "Mayakuro" is more popular within the Eastern fandom.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

FAN ART

TUMBLR

TWITTER
 * (Korean "Mayakuro" tag)
 * (Korean "Mayakuro" tag)
 * (Korean "Mayakuro" tag)

Trivia

 * During Re LIVE's collaboration with Symphogear XD, Maya and Claudine covered together.