Mafuena

"Even though I hate you, there's a part of me that doesn't want you to disappear. A part of me that wants to keep listening to your music! So, don't disappear... make more of it! If you have talent, then for the sake of those who don't, keep writing! I won't forgive you if you just up and disappear now!"

- Ena to Mafuyu in Niigo's Main Story Chapter 18

Mafuena is the femslash ship between Mafuyu Asahina and Ena Shinonome from the Project SEKAI fandom.

Canon
Mafuyu and Ena are both members of the group Niigo (Nightcord at 25:00), where Mafuyu is their lyricist under the alias "Yuki", and Ena is their artist under the alias "Enanan." The two are also second-year high school students, but attend different schools and at different times (Mafuyu goes to school at regular times, while Ena attends night classes).

The two are broken and depressed in their own way. Due to Ena's father calling her art boring and remarking she has no talent when she was in middle school, she developed a huge complex, constantly seeks attention through social media and is jealous of people who have talent but refuse to use it. Meanwhile Mafuyu is and has been constantly burdened by her parents', teachers' and classmates' expectations of her, causing her to deviate from her initial dreams in order to please them and as such, lost sight of her real self as well as the ability to enjoy life. As a result, when she is interacting with someone who isn't a Niigo member (especially around her parents), she keeps on a mask of being a friendly, good and modest girl. Despite this their personalities are very different, as Mafuyu, when she isn't keeping up her mask, speaks in an apathetic voice and appears emotionless, while Ena is very expressive and considered a tsundere.

Unsatisfied Pale Color
At the beginning of the event, the group is looking over Mafuyu's newest lyrics and while Mizuki compliments them, saying they're now witnessing a new side of Mafuyu, she apathetically answers and Ena angrily asks how she can write such good lyrics without recognizing or realizing her talent. Ena then laments the fact her art account has barely any new followers but backs down on advertising herself as Niigo's artist in order to gain more followers. As the event goes on, Ena becomes more and more desperate about her art skills, thinking how she truly is talentless and nobody recognizes her art because of that, to the point of trying to throw away all her art tools and wanting to stay at the Empty SEKAI forever so she can disappear. When Ena mentions how her art is just a "nice add-on" to their music videos, Mafuyu says she doesn't understand what Ena is trying to say, causing Ena to snap at Mafuyu telling her she especially can't understand her struggles as she is praised for things she puts no effort into, yet Ena never gets recognition no matter how hard she tries. She logs off early and Mafuyu sits in silence wondering what she did wrong. Right after Ena regrets lashing out at the others realizing there's no point in doing so because nothing will change.

Entering the group's SEKAI, Ena thinks to herself finally realizing why Mafuyu enjoyed being there so much. As the group plans on going to confront Ena, Mafuyu asks if she really should tag along because she doesn't understand Ena's feelings, so it wouldn't make sense for her to join as well. However Mafuyu ends up entering the Sekai and searching for Ena together with the other two. When the girls find Ena, Mafuyu asks if the need to be recognized is truly such a horrible thing, helping Ena to snap out of her state and return to the real world.

Quotes
"What do you mean, 'This is how she is?' For your information, I've been doing a ton for Mafuyu and tiptoeing around all of her problems."

- Ena to Akito in "Distant Summer Festival" first side story

"(Okay, I get that it's hard for her to speak up. I get that. But... From where I'm standing, despite trying to suppress her feelings, Mafuyu looks visibly shaken by what happened. So... Why didn't she say anything? Doing as her parents say without bothering to speak up about what's on her mind... Isn't that just going to make her suffer even more...?)"

- Ena thinking to herself after Niigo's conversation in Hope Will Someday Go Beyond the Morning Episode 2 "Repressed Feelings"

Fanon
Mafuena is one of the most popular ships in the fandom, as well as the second most popular for Mafuyu and Ena. It is mostly rivaled by Kanamafu and Mizuena. During the main story and the first few events, many find it or have called it toxic and problematic due to Ena's negative attitude towards Mafuyu in general as well as the latter's depression in Niigo's Main Story, and Mafuyu's brutal honesty as well seeming indifference towards Ena's problems (when in reality she just doesn't understand). However, many fans enjoy it due to their gradually changing opinions of each other and sense of respect, with Mafuyu appreciating Ena's ability to be upfront with her when she messes up and admiring her passion towards art, and Ena growing to be more compassionate towards Mafuyu's issues and being more open to receiving criticism from her on her artwork. Many shippers also enjoy the clash between their personalities and find their opposing natures interesting.

It is the 8th most written ship in its fandom on AO3, as well as Mafuyu's 2nd most written ship, and Ena's 3rd most written ship.

The first Mafuena Week was held from July 25 to July 31, 2022 under the. Prompts for the first day were "Hello／How Are You or Totemo Itai Itagaritai", "aquarium or flowers" for the second day, "painting or similarities" for the third day, "angst or growth" for the fourth day, "date or soulmate" for the fifth day, "fantasy or childhood" for sixth day, and seventh day was "free choice or summer". A second Mafuena Week was held on July 25-31, 2023, under the. Prompts for the first day were " or ", "art gallery or theme park" for the second day, "portrait or rain" for the third day, "warmth or memories" for the fourth day, "sleepover or confessions" for the fifth day, "medieval or future" for the sixth day, and seventh and last day was "fate or free theme."

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION


 * FAN ART


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 * TWITTER
 * (Korean "Mafuena" tag)
 * (Korean "Enamafu" tag)
 * (Korean "Mafuena" tag)
 * (Korean "Enamafu" tag)
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Trivia

 * Their ship is referred to with the "❄️🎨" emojis.
 * Their Kizuna Rank titles are: "So Close They Argue?", "Secretly Envious", and "Expressing Feelings".
 * Some of their Cheerful Carnival Team names are "Gets Along Despite Fighting?", "They Fight Because They're Close?", "Tell Me In Private Later" and "Think Of The Light That Shines".
 * They have a 4 cm height difference, with Mafuyu being 162 cm and Ena being 158 cm.
 * So far, Mafuena have covered three songs together (, and ).
 * In 's 3DMV on the official Project SEKAI YouTube channel, Ena wears Mafuyu's outfit, and in 's 3DMV, Mafuyu wears Ena's outfit.
 * According to a Japanese survey about the most popular femslash ships on Pixiv between the time period of April 2021 and March 2022, Mafuena ranked 1st.