History Main / LetsJustBeFriends

[[folder: Web Comics]]

A standard breakup line, commonly used in RealLife. One member of a couple suggests to the other that their romantic attachment end and they stay BetterAsFriends. The listener usually takes this badly (UnluckyChildhoodFriend, EntitledToHaveYou, "friend zone", etc.). The speaker may or may not actually wish to be friends, or indeed ever have contact with their ex again, but wants to spare the other's feelings in any case.

* In ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'', This is basically the line Anne Shirley hands her childhood friend Gilbert Blythe when he asks her to marry him. Twice. [[spoiler:[[VictoriousChildhoodFriend She comes around eventually]]]].

* Happens twice in ''Series/LivingSingle'' to give closure to a couple failed relationships, once between Regine and her then-boyfriend Keith when he says that he hopes they can "still be friends", Regine quips that they can still be friends ... just not with each other. The second time it was between Overton and his ex-would-be-fiance Melody when she moves to New York to try and win him back, after being dismissed she expresses hope that they can still be friends, to which Overton replies ''"I believe it was Lord Byron who said, `The best way will be to avoid each other without appearing to do so.' Letter of April 25, 1814. Goodbye, girlie."''

** And then [[spoiler:Jake to Jane]] after she denies having feelings for him and he says that he really needs a friend right now. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, [[CannotSpitItOut Jane was lying.]]]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2009-04-17 Fuschia anticipates it.]]
* In ''Webcomic/BlasterNation'', [[http://www.blasternation.com/index.php?id=99 Matt falls into this.]]

-->'''Becky: (punches Kevin) Oh yeah, ''"friends"?!'' (punches Kevin again) I'll give you "friends"! (punches Kevin a third time)

* The song "Can't We Be Friends?"

[[quoteright:303:[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mario1_736.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:303:Yeah, that's about how it works.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' episode "[[Recap/Kim PossibleS3E2EmotionSickness Emotion Sickness]]", despite Kim for all intents and purposes seeming to be totally in love with Ron, and Ron even admitting that he has thought about having a romantic relationship with Kim, he ultimately [[IDontWantToRuinOurFriendship doesn't want to ruin his lifelong friendship]] with her [[note]]Though he ultimately changes his mind and decides the risk is worth it in ''[[WesternAnimation/KimPossibleMovieSoTheDrama So The Drama]]''[[/note]] and gives her one of these speeches. Unfortunately, it's at that moment that the Moodulator switches from "serious" to "sad" and Kim takes Ron's rejection ''very'' hard.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' episode "Emotion Sickness", despite Kim for all intents and purposes seeming to be totally in love with Ron, and Ron even admitting that he has thought about having a romantic relationship with Kim, he ultimately doesn't want to ruin his lifelong friendship with her and gives her one of these speeches. Unfortunately, it's at that moment that the Moodulator switches from "serious" to "sad" and Kim takes Ron's rejection ''very'' hard.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' this is the gist of [=FemShep=]'s conversation with Jacob Taylor if she breaks up with him. It includes words to the effect that they wouldn't work because they're too much alike.

[[quoteright:303:[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mario1_736.jpg]]]]

See JustFriends for a type of RomanceArc that the LetsJustBeFriends line can be used to [[ShipSinking end]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Terry's Friend Dates a Robot",]] one of Terry's nerdy friends named Howard gets a robot girlfriend that's ''[[{{Yandere}} too]]'' devoted to him. When Howard uses this line on her, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Ei_cuVPLw it does not go well.]] Terry even {{facepalm}}s when Howard says it.

* In ''Webcomic/BlasterNation'', [[http://www.blasternation.com/index.php?id=99 Matt falls into this]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Terry's Friend Dates a Robot",]] one of Terry's nerdy friends named Howard gets a robot girlfriend that's ''[[{{Yandere}} too]]'' devoted to him. When Howard uses this line on her, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Ei_cuVPLw it does not go well]]. Terry even {{facepalm}}s when Howard says it.

* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', ''Vortex'', Chloe breaks up with Clark like this because she knows he is still crazy over [[SatelliteLoveInterest Lana]].

->'''Howard''': Wrong thing to say?
->'''Batman''': Is it ever the ''right'' thing?
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', "Terry's Friend Dates a Robot"

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* In ''AnneOfGreenGables'', This is basically the line Anne Shirley hands her childhood friend Gilbert Blythe when he asks her to marry him. Twice. [[spoiler:[[VictoriousChildhoodFriend She comes around eventually]]]].

* Also, [[{{Vocaloid}} Just Be Friends]].

* In the intro movie of ''SamAndMaxHitTheRoad'', the titular cop duo save a MadScientist's date from being zapped after she tells him she wants to just be friends.

* Tony states this to Whitney after they had been dating for a few episodes mostly because he kept missing their dates. Probably one of the few times where they both agree to this and show no hard feelings about it.

* Naomi tries this very line with Emily in ''{{Skins}}'' (not because she doesn't want their relationship, but because she's terrified of it); Emily's response is "We say that, don't we?". It lasts all of about twenty seconds before Emily breaks her defences down with the armor-piercing "I'll miss you."

->'''Batman''': Is it ever the ''right'' thing to say?

* From ''[[DNAKpts4tv Death Note: The Abridged Series (kpts4tv)]]'':

* ''Series/TheLWord''. PlayedForLaughs when Jenny takes home another girl after her first lesbian crush, only to find that their awkward fumblings lack chemistry. At the end the two girls blurt out simultaneously, "Let's just be friends."