Joemaru

Joemaru is the slash ship between Joe Tazuna and Ranmaru Kageyama from the Your Turn To Die fandom.

Your Turn To Die
Joe and Ranmaru never interacted in canon. The real Ranmaru died in his First Trial, and Joe was executed before he could meet the Doll version of Ranmaru. Doll Ranmaru is aware of Joe's existence, as he was programmed with the information that Joe was Sara's best friend and a non-participant, as well as overheard a bit about him from Midori. He knew enough about Joe to guess that the dog charm in the fifth floor classroom belonged to him.

In the Kanna lives route, right before the second fight with Maple, Ranmaru quickly confesses that he thought he couldn't amount to anything, but if he put the Joe AI inside his body, he could become Sara's salvation. During this time, a CG is shown depicting Ranmaru in the security office, talking to the Joe AI.

As far as similarities go, both of them are male high school students who play a supporting role to Sara.

Nankidai Twitter sketches
June 18th + 20th, 2021: In Nankidai's Kimigashine Gakuen AU, Joe and Ranmaru are classmates. Kurumada approaches them, with the knowledge that they are Sara Chidouin's classmates, and asks where she is. Ranmaru worries about what they're going to do, as Kurumada could easily beat them up. Joe says he has an idea, which turns out to be him claiming to be Sara. Ranmaru is appalled by this, and watches Joe with a dissapointed look as he shouts for Ranmaru to run away while being assaulted by Kurumada.

Fanon
Both characters are much more commonly shipped with Sara, and the polyship combining Joesara and Ransara can sometimes lead to Joemaru being shipped as well. As Sara and Ranmaru are similar personality-wise, some may ship Joemaru because they prefer a slash ship with Joe.

Since Joe and Ranmaru have never met each other, the ship is based entirely on fan speculation about what their interactions would have been like.

A reason for this ship may be the height difference, with Joe at 174.8cm and Ranmaru most likely being below 164.5cm, as in one dialogue option he asks Sara not to make fun of his height, implying that he is shorter than her. Another may be the loud and optimistic personality matched with the quiet and serious personality. Joe is often associated with dogs, as he owns a dog keychain and is extroverted, and Ranmaru sometimes a cat for his introverted nature, making it a fun "cat and dog" dynamic.

The two's contrasting personality also comes out in their clothes. Joe's colour scheme consists of over 5 different colours, indicating his colourful personality, while Ranmaru's colour scheme consists only of different shades of white and grey, showing his more subdued nature. The contrasting outfits, and their representation of their personalities are another factor behind the shipping of this pairing.

Since Ranmaru and Joe are so different, they are considered a great example of the trope.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

INSTAGRAM

TUMBLR

Variations

 * High School Sweethearts refers to the ship between Joe, Ranmaru, Anzu Kinashi, Kugie Kizuchi, Ryoko Hirose, and Sara Chidouin
 * Joesaramaru refers to the ship between Joe, Ranmaru and Sara Chidouin.
 * Ryojoemaru refers to the ship between Joe, Ranmaru and Ryoko Hirose.