#it was tendo-san's idea sakuragi-sensei!!!

[leefi]

*slides $20 bill* thoughts on mayakaren?

BOY OH BOY AM I GLAD YOU ASKED

cutest ship in revue starlight change my mind

i have so much to say. and such little time. where do i begin with mayakaren.

I think that Karen's impact on Maya is way bigger than the other way around. Like, out of the entire cast, I think that Maya is one of the people most drastically changed by Karen's actions. It was Karen's brilliance that forced Maya to re-evaluate her entire philosophy towards the stage, and no other stage girl has had that power over her.

Pre-anime I don't think that Maya would even give Karen the time of day, save for basic courtesy (she's very polite and friendly, not saying that!). Post-anime I think that alongside Claudine, Karen is one of her biggest inspirations.

Maya is already at her "endpoint" in terms of success. She's the star of every show. Of course this isn't to say she doesn't work hard - but her goal is to maintain her position rather than advance it (unlike all of her other peers) and continually raise the bar to keep ahead of her peers (especially Claudine). In the anime, this nearly makes her Karen's opposite. Karen is the scrappy underdog blasting full speed ahead to revolutionize a system that Maya is practically the embodiment of. She *is* old theatre, established and thoroughbred and strictly adhering to the system it perpetuates, because why wouldn't she? She clearly thrives in it.

This is why Maya all but laughs Karen off in the Revue of Pride - she's trained, and studied, and worked so, so hard her entire life, devoting it to her craft. Karen wants to become the top star in, like, two weeks. Her goals are almost disrespectful, and Maya doesn't even give her pipe dream the time of day.

But then it's Karen who defeats her! Why? Not out of pure skill or harder work, but out of love! Pure, unfiltered love for Hikari and all of her peers and the stage they're trying to create! And Maya knows love for the theatre! She loves it more than anything, just like Karen! So to see someone's passion outshine hers really forces her to step back and re-evaluate everything she's been doing so far! And what she's been doing so far is acting as a detached God. There's a reason why she's assigned to The World arcana - she embodies (distant, oft unattainable) endings and fulfillments. (There's so much I could say about how she contrasts Akira's Emperor and how it reflects their respective leadership styles and positions as Top Stars but that's a conversation for another day. I'M DERAILING). Karen drags Maya back down to earth and teaches her that collaboration is possible. Trust is possible in a world as cutthroat as theatre. And victories are far more earned when they come at the behest of people you dearly, truly value as your equals. It's empty, and lonely, otherwise.

Conversely, Maya disciplines Karen and offers her wisdom and perspective to counteract her often gung-ho and overly optimistic nature.

Overall, I think that Karen is one of the few people utterly unshaken by Maya Tendo's presence, while Maya has come to learn just what a reckoning Karen is. Karen also teaches her to look to everyone equally - not just people she deems worthy of her acknowledgement.

It definitely isn't entirely one-sided, though! Maya's actions in the anime force Karen to finally start taking herself and her goals seriously. Dreams aren't just achieved through love and passion. They require a lot of hard work, and no one is a harder worker than Maya Tendo. I headcanon that after her defeat, Karen would watch her practice to figure out how to get better more quickly. Ultimately, Karen would have never been able to defeat Maya - and therefore revolutionize the top star system - had she not learned her lesson from her once before. Karen breaks the throne that Maya sits on, but ultimately, they're both better for it. They would seriously be a phenomenal power couple post-canon. They complement each other perfectly.

Maya is also a tough nut to crack, and like Hikari and Junna, I think that Karen would be really invested in getting to know her better before they graduated.

TL;DR I think their dynamic is "Look, it's Maya Tendo, renowned primadonna and genius of the theatre!! Who the hell is that she's following? ...Karen Aijo? Former classmates??? Is Tendo carrying a notepad and taking notes???????"

I also think their dual roles as the Goddesses of Arrogance and respective castings as Claire and Flora are really, really interesting, though unfortunately I don't have the energy to dive into the Arrogance parallel now. As for Claire and Flora, however, I would kill to see a Starlight between these two as the leads. Seriously. Out of all the revstar fic I want to write this is the one I want to do most.

I also think their dynamic is just very, very cute together. INFJ/ENFP supremacy.