Rinmaho

Rinmaho is the femslash ship between Rinku Aimoto and Maho Akashi from the D4DJ fandom.

Canon
Rinku and Maho are first-year high school students at Yoba Academy as well as members of the DJ unit, Happy Around!, where Rinku is their main vocalist, and Maho serves as their DJ. Although there are no "main characters" per se, the relationship between Rinku and Maho is often seen as one of the main themes of the entire franchise, as its main plot begins with their first meeting, the formation of the unit and Happy Around! itself in general. Rinku is also the one behind Happy Around!'s name, as it is her catchphrase, something she shouts whenever she feels extremely happy.

Maho saw Rinku for the first time in the 1st episode, "First Mix", when the latter, a transfer student at Yoba Academy, accidentally entered her classroom and enthusiastically introduced herself, before leaving in embarrassment. The two properly meet for the first time after Rinku hears "WOW WAR TONIGHT ~Toki ni wa Okose yo Movement~" playing, dashes around the school and then witnesses Maho DJing in one of the DJ rooms during lunchtime, as the latter is doing a "Lunchtime Groove" broadcast. She barges in and confuses Maho as she shouts how much she loves the song, interrupting the broadcast and forcing Maho to play a different track. Outside the room, she tries interrogating Rinku who realizes she left her lunch in the courtyard and then dashes off again, completely confusing Maho. After school, Rinku runs into Maho (whom she calls "the person from lunch") and apologizes and bows in the middle of the hallway before the latter pulls her into the courtyard.

In the courtyard, Rinku tells Maho what happened, and the latter is surprised to find out not only did Rinku not know the name of the song, but she got hyped because she had heard it once before at an outdoor concert. Rinku asks for Maho's name and tries to come up with a nickname, and Maho says she already knows Rinku's name because of the morning incident. Rinku proceeds to ask Maho about why she played music in the DJ room, only to learn she's a DJ and that it's not something just people in Yoba Academy are into. Curiously, Rinku asks more questions before Maho decides to take her to the Concert Hall and watch Peaky P-key's concert. After the concert, Rinku is extremely excited and tells Maho she wants to try her hand at DJing too and begs for her help. Maho insists it's not as easy as she thinks, but Rinku doesn't give up and instead tries giving Maho a different kind of seashell day after day to have her teach her. After thinking about Rinku's enthusiasm, Maho caves in and Rinku is surprised before shouting "Happy Around", puzzling the former. In the DJing room, Maho shows Rinku how it's done and learns that Rinku can feel the beats of a song with her body, after she perfectly transitions two songs. The episode ends with Maho thinking she might be able to reach her stage of dreams with Rinku.

In the 2nd episode, "Next Step", Rinku asks Maho when they're going to perform as they're eating lunch together. Maho says it's not so easy, list off things they need to do and sighs when Rinku admits she doesn't have a specific kind of performance in mind. After school, the two are in one of the DJing rooms together and Maho teaches her more of the basics of DJing. After successfully following Maho's example, Rinku dances away from the podium and Maho tells her she should be the dancer instead. She says they need to come up with some choreography for the music, and sighs once more when Rinku doesn't understand what a set list is. While struggling with the plannnig, Maho lays on her bed, states she wants the performance to go perfectly and then smiles as she looks at Rinku's seashells, thinking how it's their performance and not just Maho's.

Fanon
Although widely regarded as one of the most "important" and early ships in the franchise, Rinmaho is surprisingly less commonly shipped than Rinku's most popular ship, Rinmuni. This is mainly due to the fact that while Maho and Rinku have a lot more on-screen interaction, Muni's tsundere nature and childhood friend relationship with Rinku makes this ship subjectively have more potential and romantic dynamics than her ship with Maho.

At the same time, Rinmaho also has a significant following, not least due to the fact that both characters and their dynamics were clearly inspired by Misaki and Kokoro's ship (Misakoko) from BanG Dream!, another very popular Bushiroad franchise. Many people love their manzai or straight man x weirdo dynamic, especially in the context of the fact that despite the big difference in personalities, girls end up becoming best friends and show genuine concern for each other.

Although people started to ship them after the 2nd episode, when the girls happily took each other's hands after their first concert, their first and biggest shippy moment is considered the final arc of the anime, where Maho plunges into a very strong depression, afraid that Rinku doesn't enjoy performing with Happy Around! anymore and will instead become a member of Peaky P-key after performing with them at the Christmas concert. Although it had its context, Maho's grief was so intense and emotional that the headcanon about the romantic nature of it quickly became a popular headcanon among shippers.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

PIXIV

Trivia

 * Rinku owns a pet chameleon called Leon, while Maho owns a tank of tropical fish.
 * In the song "Kimi ni Happy Are♪", Rinku calls out to Maho twice. In the second line, she tells Maho she's thankful for everything she's done.
 * The most famous Maho meme, "dynamite", appeared after Rinku accidentally saw her naked and said cheerfully "Woah! Dynamite!".
 * In a menu dialogue in Groovy Mix, Maho poses and yells "Happy Around" before getting embarrassed and stuttering how Rinku is always doing it, so she subconsciously did it as well.