HonoEli

HonoEli is the femslash ship between Honoka Kosaka and Eli Ayase from the Love Live! fandom.

Canon
Honoka and Eli both attend Otonokizaki High School - Honoka being a 2nd year and Eli being a 3rd year - and are members of the school's idol group μ's (Muse).

The two are quite different in a lot of ways, with a few similarities here and there. Honoka being an optimist unable to see downsides and oftentimes underestimating how difficult certain tasks can be whilst Eli is a realist who always weighs out the pros and cons of her decisions. The two can have their shared moments of obliviousness - coming across as silly and sometimes a bit airheaded - though Eli's aren't as frequent and she seems to hide that side of her from people she isn't close with. They both also have a strong passion towards reaching their goals and a shared love for performing.

Love Live School Idol Project
Honoka and Eli start off as rivals of sorts in LLSIP, with the main conflict being the school shutting down once all the current students graduate due to lack of applicants. Honoka, wanting to form a school idol group, whilst Eli wants to help as school council president but is shut down by the principal not wanting her to stress over the issue. Eli is shown to have a long history of dislike for school idols, having been a ballerina and an expert of dance back when she lived in Russia and she views school idols as amateurs - clearly holding great pride in dance as an art form despite giving it up.

She consistently tries to convince Honoka to stop her plan of forming an idol group, claiming that it'll only harm the school's reputation further when they inevitably fail. She even records their first performance and posts it, expecting it to be proof that they won't be able to gain fans, but this backfires when the video blows up and μ's receives support and fans. Eventually μ's is able to bring more and more popularity to the group and, in turn, the school. Meaning that if the open campus day is well received the school won't close down. Honoka becomes relieved but Eli is quick to remind her she shouldn't be, since the possibility is still there, which helps Honoka get more on track.

Whilst Honoka and the rest of μ's begin planning a live show for the open day, Eli and the rest of the student council discuss their own ideas. A few of the student council members suggest having their school idol group perform since school idols are popular but Eli is quick to shut them down, continuing her persistent dislike towards school idols. Eventually Umi, who is aware of Eli's history with ballet, suggests to Honoka that they should learn dance from her - since they've been having trouble with being in perfect sync during practice. The other members are against it but Honoka is supportive of the idea of asking Eli for help - being the only one unafraid of Eli's serious demeanour and generally stern attitude which oftentimes is directed at her.

When approached about it the next day Eli agrees, saying she's willing to help because they're somrwhag popular. Eli's training is immediately more intensive than what they had already been doing, most of the members struggling with her training regiment. When it seems that they're too tired to continue, Eli ends the practice and Honoka is quick to thank her and ask her to help them again the next day. This seems to touch Eli emotionally, and that night she goes to her sister's room, who happens to like μ's, and listens to their song with her. Her sister's music player also happens to have a display image of Honoka for the song that Eli stares down at. Eli says that they have a long way to go, to which her sister says that it seems like they're having fun - and that listening to them makes her happy. The next day before practice Honoka says the same thing, that they're all being idols because they enjoy it.

This all leaves Eli feeling stuck, knowing that Honoka and μ's are all doing what they want because they enjoy it, even if they still have lots to improve on, whilst she gave up on what she loved (ballet and dance) a long time ago due to feeling inadequate and not being good enough. Nozomi approaches her about how she's always doing things for the sake of others and because she feels like she has to - instead of doing what she truly wants which causes Eli's emotions to spill over and she reveals that she wants to join μ's, likely yearning to dance and perform again.

After running away from Nozomi due to being upset Eli sits in a classroom thinking about what she wants. When she turns around Honoka stands there, with the other μ's members and Nozomi with her, holding out her hand for Eli and asks her to join them. Eli is quick to protest, lying and saying she doesn't want a part in it but Honoka knows she's lying because Nozomi had told them about how Eli herself wanted to join. They all encourage Eli, Nozomi telling her she won't know if she likes something if she doesn't try and Honoka reaches her hand out again but this time Eli decides to take it.

Quotes
"You're tall, you have long legs, and you're beautiful! Most of all, you look mature!"

- Honaka to Eli

"But I'm just as passionate as you are about stopping the school from shutting down!"

- Honoka to Eli

Fanon
HonoEli is decently popular due to their frequent interactions and major roles in the series. It's mainly rivalled by more popular ships such as NozoEli, TsubaHono and Honoka with Kotori / Umi or even both. It currently has 80+ works on AO3 and a steady flow of fanart. A few HonoEli shippers also enjoy DiaChika and/or ShioAyu, the three ships following a theme of shipping the main character with the student council president.

Fandom

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Trivia

 * They have a height difference of 5cm - Honoka being 157cm and Eli being 162cm tall.
 * Their character colours are complimentary to one another (orange and blue).
 * They both acted as student council president (Eli during Season 1 of the anime, Honoka during Season 2 of the anime)
 * Honoka and Eli are both leaders of their respective sub-units.
 * Both of their "Reflexes" statistics are rated ★★★★.