“After all... I'm going to forfeit the soli.
― Mayu Kuroe, Hibike! Euphonium 3 Episode 11
私やっぱり…ソリ辞退するね。
Mayu Kuroe (黒江 真由 Kuroe Mayu) is a supporting character of Sound! Euphonium series. She is a transfer student at Kitauji High School in the same year as Kumiko Oumae who plays euphonium in the school's concert band.
Appearance[]
Mayu is a teenage girl of a fairly short build. She has long and straight light brown hair, with bright turquoise eyes. She first wears the uniform of Seira High School before acquiring a Kitauji uniform.
Personality[]
Mayu is an apparently very friendly and caring person but who keeps her distance. She has a calm and quiet attitude. No one dislikes her as she has no strong preferences or things that she particularly like. She would prefer to be transparent which reflects in her never appearing in her own pictures. Yet she really cares about music and could never play halfheartedly.
Midori compares her to a jellyfish, stating that she looks very pretty from afar but you have to be careful of stings if you get to close.
Background[]
Mayu comes from Seira High School, a school known for its highly skilled wind music band, where she played the euphonium. She is used to moving a lot because of her parents which is why she never got any pet.
In the past, she has lived in Hokkaido, Akita, Gunma, Tokyo, Shizuoka, Wakayama, Yamaguchi and Fukuoka, and maybe more.
Chronology[]
Mayu first appears when she arrives at Kitauji High School after being transferred for her third year of high school. She does not start school on the first day as her seat is empty but arrives in shortly after. As soon as she arrived she is interested in joining the band and talks to Noboru Taki about it. In fact she partly chose to attend Kitauji because of the band out of the schools of the area. She happens to be assigned to Kumiko Oumae's class, where Hazuki Katou, Midori or Tsubame Kamaya also are. They all welcome Mayu warmly, and along the months Mayu will grow close to Tsubame especially.
From the first time she meets Kumiko, Mayu worries about not being a bother to the band or Kumiko since they both play the euphonium. She wants to have fun playing but not angering anyone by being the newcomer stealing positions from those who dedicated years to the band already. Thus throughout the year she will constantly be asking Kumiko whether she wants her to forfeit the euphonium soli.
As the dramas of the club go on Mayu systematically takes a neutral stance stating that the club should be enjoyed and people should be able to leave.
For the Agata Matsuri, Mayu first asks Kumiko to go together, but as she declines Mayu then goes with parts of the bass section. Later Kumiko will make up to it by inviting her to the pool during the Obon break. There the two of them have an involved discussion about having preferences and feelings, where Mayu reveals more of her personality leading to Kumiko realizing what makes her feel uneasy about Mayu. She sees parts of her former self from high school, the parts that she lost when Reina Kousaka cried, upset about losing.
At the practice camp Mayu successfully obtains the euphonium-trompet soli after the second audition, which Kumiko had until there. This makes Mayu worried that the band will hate her, or that she antagonized Kumiko. Hopefully both Tsubame and Kumiko will reassure her about this. Nonetheless the band is very tense about this, and the mood worsens up until the next competition. This drives the three band executives into an argument about what they should do, which does not make Mayu feel any better. However, Kumiko resolves the issue by making an open-heart speech to the band right before the Kansai competition, which successfully appease the band, Mayu included.
After the competition, Mayu tries once again to ask Kumiko whether she should forfeit the soli for the nationals, saying Kumiko does not tell what she really wants, which is playing with Reina. But Kumiko still insist on fair competition. When the results of the audition are in, everyone is shocked as both Mayu and Kumiko are found to be equally talented. The band will then decide by vote who will play the soli through a blind audition.
Right before the audition, Mayu and Kumiko get to have a long talk about themselves. Kumiko apologizes to Mayu for ignoring her feelings and imposing fairness on a newcomer who might have been feeling like she was coming out of nowhere and stealing hard-earned work. Mayu adds that furthermore she only really cares about playing with others, not particularly getting the soli, and that a similar drama led to a friend quitting music at Seira High School. Kumiko concludes how Mayu cares about music and that she cannot lie when playing. Mayu goes on to win the soli by one vote and cries as Kumiko makes an earnest little speech to keep the band moving and erase regrets.
The performance is carried with lots of emotions, and as Kitauji is announced to receive gold Mayu cries with Tsubame, relieved about the performance and showing that she cared. She even goes on to have a picture of her taken with the certificate and her friends.
Relationships[]
Mayu is good friends with Tsubame Kamaya who she sometimes practice her solo with during the year. They are also in the same class. Tsubame really likes Mayu when she is playing music as she says that it is the only time she is her true self.
Mayu likes Kanade Hisaishi and her familiarity with Kumiko, though Kanade does not appear to like her back at the beginning. This changes slowly during the year.
Along the year, Mayu grows close to Kaho Hariya as they both discover life at Kitauji and play the euphonium, they have extended interactions in the specials and a deleted scene.
Etymology[]
- The name Mayu means "real, genuine" (真) (ma) and "reason, case, cause" (由) (yu).
- Mayu's surname Kuroe means "black" (黒) (kuro) and "bay, inlet" (江) (e).
Trivia[]
- Mayu seems to have a passion for photography, she owns a film camera based on a Contax T2. This expensive 1991 camera has surged in popularity since 2017, celebrities were seen with it and prices soared. This one was a gift from her father. She prefers film over digital for the color.
- Mayu's hobby is taking pictures of her friends but does not want to appear in those.
- Mayu is not fond of modern technology.
- Mayu's favorite color is milky white.
- Mayu does not have a special talent.
- As Mayu attended this prestigious school, she is a formidable presence in the competition circuit.
- Mayu owns her own euphonium, a silver YEP-621S.
Gallery[]
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Note: Section leaders are shown in bold text | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||