Mafuyama

"He held so much sadness in such a small frail body... If he were to ever love again, I wish I was the one he would come to love"

- Uenoyoma's thought's about Mafuyu

MafuYama is the slash ship between Ritsuka Uenoyama and Mafuyu Sato from the Given fandom.

Canon
Ritsuka usually goes to sleep between classes on the top of a stairway, but one day there is another guy already sleeping there, Mafuyu. When Mafuyu wakes up he looks at Ritsuka and offers him a seat. Mafuyu is carrying a broken guitar with him and asks Ritsuka if he can fix it for him. Ritsuka agrees and when he is done he tunes the guitar and plays a tune to test the sound. Mafuyu is amazed by this and asks Ritsuka to teach him how to play like that. Ritsuka wants to decline the request because he has never taught someone before, and tells Mafuyu to go to the light music club instead if he wants to learn, but also tells Mafuyu that if he's serious he can show up to one of his band's practice sessions. They end up going together, and Mafuyu is greatly impressed by the band's performance and asks if he can come again, but Ritsuka once again tells him to go to the light music club.

Mafuyu didn’t show up to the stairway after that and Ritsuka wonders why he is so uneasy. Later, Ritsuka arrives at the music studio together with Akihiko and is furious to find Mafuyu there. His anger transforms into confusion as Haruki points out to him that Mafuyu has changed his guitar strings by himself. Mafuyu tests the sound and asks Ritsuka if it is tuned, who in return asks Mafuyu if he visited the light music club. He did, and he learned some things, but he thought Ritsuka was cooler than them so he came back to ask him once again if Ritsuka could teach him how to play the guitar, and Ritsuka finally agrees.

He starts teaching Mafuyu one on one, and the two gradually get closer, which is also pointed out by Ritsuka’s classmates. They think it’s odd, considering he’s not that sociable and completely different from Mafuyu.

Ritsuka asks Mafuyu to join the band after hearing him sing, but Mafuyu declines because he thinks he is not that good at expressing himself to others. When Ritsuka finds this out, he  hugs Mafuyu and tells him he’s wrong and that Ritsuka himself felt touched by Mafuyu when he heard him sing a song that was stuck in his head. Releasing him, Ritsuka asks him to sing the song again. Mafuyu eventually joins the band anyway.

Ritsuka starts composing a song for him, including the tune Mafuyu sang multiple times. He tells this to Mafuyu one day, and is surprised by his starry-eyed reaction as Mafuyu tells him he’s so cool. Ritsuka finishes the melody alongside Akihiko and they decide Mafuyu should sing it and want him to come up with lyrics. Mafuyu doesn’t know what to write for the lyrics in the upcoming days to the live performance so the band decides to stop practicing for a bit. They later decide it’s fine if he doesn’t sing because they were originally an instrumental band anyway, but on the day of the performance, Mafuyu does end up singing and everyone is touched by his song. After the performance is over, Ritsuka drags Mafuyu backstage and kisses him. They begin dating shortly after.

Fanon
Mafuyama is the most popular Given ship. People were amazed about Uenoyama's and Mafuyu's relationship, as well how Uenoyama helped Mafuyu to improve his mental state. After an anime adaption from the manga was announced many Given fans were happy to see Uenoyama's and Mafuyu's love story to be animated. When the anime then was airing, the ship gained a lot of popularity.

Mafuyama is often compared to Kagehina from Haikyuu!! (With Kageyama being compared to Uenoyama and Hinata being compared to Mafuyu) due to their hair and eye colours being similar. The mangaka of Given, Kizu Natsuki also used to make Haikyuu!! doujinshis.

Mafuyama is a well received ship among manga readers and as well among people who only watched the anime.

Given Manga & Anime
"You did so good out there."

- Uenoyama praising Mafuyu

"Mafuyu, I like your sound. I was trying to give you a little push, but before I realized it, you were the one pulling me up. Ever since you showed up, my sound’s been scattered, disconnected, and warped… It’s just a mess. But I’m having so much more fun now than when I was just playing the chords I was told to play."

- Uenoyama to Mafuyu

"believe in you, son."

- Uenoyama to Mafuyu

"I like you, Uenoyama. I love you"

- Mafuyu to Uenoyama

"I mean in a romantic kind of way"

- Mafuyu to Uenoyama

Fandom
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