History Main / FriendlessBackground

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': At the beginning of the series, the human protagonist, [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLuzNoceda Luz Noceda]] is established as an unapologetic nerdy weirdo who lives in her own world. Despite her efforts to fit in, her weirdness caused a lot of trouble in her school, and because of that, she has no friends aside characters from fantasy books, this slowly gets played more and more seriously as the series progresses, [[spoiler: with it becoming increasingly clear just how miserable Luz was on Earth, to the point that by Season 2 when she has finally made friends her mother being there is literally the only reason she's even trying to find a way back from the Demon Realm, and that her horrible social life has left her terrified of even basic and indirect human interaction.]]

* [[spoiler: [[Characters/GravityFallsGrunkleStan Stanley Pines]]]] from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''. His only friend was his [[spoiler: twin brother, Stanford]], and after [[spoiler:an accident in high school]], their bond was shattered and [[spoiler:Stanley]] became homeless with practically no family or friends. Even as an old man, he still has no friends. This explains why he's so protective of [[spoiler:his family]]. It's the only thing he has left, and he's afraid ''he'll lose it again!''

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': Reese, being TheBully, doesn't have any friends at school. It's evidently a sore spot for him, as shown when Malcolm calls him out it. Despite this, over the course of the show, he gets a girlfriend (though they break up) and actually makes a friend offscreen during his brief military service, though the latter is a OneShotCharacter.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'', ironically. Although by the time the series starts the gang --in their early twenties-- have formed their tight-knit TrueCompanions, several of them are hinted to have been this growing up. In particular, Chandler never mentions any friends from when he was younger and is upset he has hardly anyone to invite to his wedding.

** [[PlayerCharacter Minato Arisato]] in ''VideoGame/Persona3'' was a BrokenBird who after being traumatized by the death of his parents became introverted and could come off as extremely cold and indifferent to others, but managed to slowly grow out of it after joining S.E.E.S. and befriending his comrades and classmates.

*** The manga and anime for fleshes out [[PlayerCharacter Souji Seta's]] character quite a bit, and depicts him as friendly and polite, but distant. Because his parents' work causes them to move around a lot, he tries to avoid getting attached to other people, so he won't disappoint them when he leaves, essentially like a perpetual "Newcomer" version of this trope. Naturally, a large part of the game involves him getting over that and forming social links with various people around Inaba.

** Before Alya stood up for Marinette, none of her classmates were willing to be friends with her due to her status as [[TheBully Chloe's]] favorite punching bag. This left her with such deep seated insecurities that she believes that Alya would break off their friendship over a video she accidentally deleted, and that all of her other newfound friends would follow suit.

* ''Webcomic/ScarletLady'': Adrien and Marinette both suffered from this for different reaons prior to the start of the series:

[[folder: Web Animation]]

* The title character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}},'' unless you count WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead or [[StrawFan Amelia]]. Probably [[CoolLoser Jane]] as well.

* ''Fanfic/ArcCorp'': Jaune was raised not to have any close relationships, in part because his family ([[BigScrewedUpFamily who aren't really fond of his existence]]) doubts he'd be able to handle the loss of a friend without [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie fully transforming into an anomaly]], as the death of his mother triggered a partial transformation into a fire creature when he was younger. As such, Jaune is uncharacteristically touched and overjoyed when Blake vouches for him as her friend when they visit Menagerie, since the amount of people who actually care for him beyond his usefulness as an ARC Corp employee can be counted on one hand.