Not Love Interests in manga and anime.
- ×××HOLiC:
- Doumeki can potentially be considered this to Watanuki. Early on it was determined the two of them would have some sort of connection and practically everyone around them in-story was Ship Teasing them (and so were the fans). They also wind up doing a number of Heroic Sacrifices for each other, Doumeki especially. But at no point does Doumeki ever explicitly express any romantic interest to Watanuki, and Watanuki never fully gets over his distaste for Doumeki. Also, for the first half of the series Watanuki's intensely crushing on his classmate Himawari, and then spends the rest of the series pining after his boss Yuuko for the next 100 years after she dies, and ultimately Doumeki's married to someone else aka Kohane Tsuyuri... a girl who also was implied to be in love with Watanuki.
- Yuuko is also this to Watanuki. They form a close mentor-student/mother-son relationship, one that evolves in strength and importance over time. When Yuuko dies, Watanuki is so affected by it that he makes the decision to take over and be made unable to leave the shop so he can wait for Yuuko to return someday. However, there's nothing that explicitly indicates that they love each other romantically.
- The Anthem of the Heart devotes the most screentime to Takumi and Jun's relationship, but while Takumi admits to caring about and feeling concern for Jun, as well as being grateful that she inspired him to say things he couldn't bring himself to say, he doesn't love her romantically . Jun, for her part, is in love with him but accepts that he's in love with someone else.
- In the Area 88 manga, Shin and Mickey have this dynamic. The two men are frequently in each other's company and confide in each other. Mickey protects Shin on several occasions, and when he hears that Shin has been shot down, he immediately rushes off to find him. Shin's relationship with Mickey seems much deeper than his relationship with his girlfriend, Ryoko.
- Abe is this to Mihashi from Big Windup!. Mihashi's two main cares are sports and Abe's approval. One of the Signature Scenes of the series involves them holding hands and they have a close friendship.
- In Black Cat, Saya is Train's Not-Love Interest. Her function in the plot is similar to that of a traditional dead lover / love interest; in fact, Train's affection for her is enough to cause Creed to "take drastic measures". But it's later revealed, perfectly and seriously, that Train never contemplated any romantic involvement with her.
- Bleach:
- Ichigo rushes to Soul Society to save Rukia. Regardless, they're not each other's love interests, but are instead Platonic Life-Partners. He ultimately marries Orihime and she marries Renji, but they remain best friends and it's implied their children will be close friends as well.
- Momo Hinamori is this for Toushiro Hitsugaya. Side materials imply that they're Like Brother and Sister since they were raised together, but since Momo was the first person aside of their caretaker to not fear Hitsugaya for his powers, Hitsugaya has sworn to protect her at any costs ever since they were children, and this Declaration of Protection is one of the strongest drives for their relationship.
- Count Cain:
- This is Riff and Cain's relationship. Cain has a number of Love Interests over the course of the series — and they all have a noticeable impact on him — but Riff is the person with whom all his trust and strongest feelings lie. And Cain is the only significant person in Riff's entire life. It's played around with quite a bit towards series end, though The Grand Finale managed to play the trope straight once more.
- Cassian is this to Jezebel, though the latter only acknowledges Cassian as being the "one who saved him'' moments before dying in his arms.
- In Death Note, L is this for Light. L evokes feelings in Light that he feels for no one else. L is the most important person in Light's life even after he is dead. And in the anime L is the only person on Light's mind when he's dying. Light has two canon love interests, Misa and Takada, who he cares nothing for, and neither are as important to Light or to the plot as Light's rivalry with L.
- Eyeshield 21: At the beginning of the series Anezaki Mamori joined the football club for the sake of Sena, her childhood friend and Not-Love Interest. More specifically, she joined to protect him from the bullying of the football club’s captain, Hiruma Yoichi. Initially, Sena is all Mamori cared about, getting worried over his injuries and yelling at Hiruma for picking on him. However, as the series progressed, Mamori started spending more time with and getting closer to...the aforementioned Hiruma Yoichi. It got to such a point that at the end of the manga, although Sena is still a dear friend to her, Mamori completely intends for her and Hiruma to play seriously and defeat him, since he's on a rival team now. So while Sena remains the Not-Love Interest and important to Mamori, it's hinted that at the end of the day, sticking by Hiruma is higher on her priority list.
- Gals! has Ran and Otohata. They come across each other when Ran tries to steal Otohata's bag, and their first meeting is framed like a Meet Cute moment. They cross paths several times afterwards, and Otohata often serves as Ran's savvy guy, frequently calming her down when she gets too worked up. Even though Otohata admits having a crush on her at one point, and Ran's boyfriend Tatsuki frequently feels threatened by their continued interactions, their relationship never becomes romantic.
- Gamers! (2015) has Keita Amano and Aguri Sakurano, whose example lines up pretty much exactly with the way it’s described in the "Deconstructed” part of the Playing With page. They repeatedly demonstrate how important the other is to them, eat out at a restaurant together on a regular basis, and have a much more playful Vitriolic Best Buds dynamic than he does with his Sitcom Archnemesis Chiaki. Ironically, their friendship was founded on a mutual Romantic Wingman support for each other’s respective love lives, yet that same friendship is itself one of the greatest sources of strain on their relationships. It eventually gets to the point that Tasuku temporarily breaks up with Aguri because he wants to be as close to her as Keita is, and both of Keita’s actual love interests view Aguri as their biggest rival to his heart more than each other.
- Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku:
- Gabimaru and Sagiri. Sent as a pair to the highly dangerous Kotaku Island in search for the elixir of life, the two develop respect for each other's strength/resolve, and care for one another's well-being. However, Gabimaru is Happily Married to someone else (in fact, his entire motivation throughout the plot is to be reunited with his wife), and while Yuzuriha often teases Sagiri over her closeness with Gabimaru, she denies any romantic attraction towards him, and even manages to get along with his wife, Yui, when the journey is over.
- Shion and Nurugai. Shion is the mentor of Tenza, whom Nurugai falls in love with, and takes Tenza's place as her guardian after he dies. He is similarly dedicated to ensure Nurugai's safety, and even promises to leave the Yamada Asaemon clan in order to better keep her safe, and promises to help her find her now scattered tribe. Unlike with Tenza, however, Nurugai never expresses any romantic desire for Shion, and a later chapter shows that their relationship is more like a father and daughter than a romantic couple.
- Hunter × Hunter:
- Gon is this for Killua. He cares for Gon even more than his family barring one exception, becomes Tsundere whenever Gon compliments him and calls him his best friend, constantly puts his wellbeing and desires first over himself and was ready to die by Gon's side than live without him. Hisoka even says that Gon is Killua's "most beloved" and the one he "spent the most time with" when talking about how Nanika's victims include the wisher's loved ones who fit the mentioned criteria. That said, they are only extremely close friends and he shows the same devotion for his sibling Alluka.
- Meruem and Komugi over the course of the Chimera Ant Arc. At first, he's dismissive of her before gradually respecting her as she beats him in Gungi over and over, eventually learning to care for her that he begs for Pitou to protect and even save her when she's injured. When Meruem learns that he's dying, he has no qualms kneeling before Palm to ask for her help in finding Komugi so he can spend his dying moments playing Gungi with her. Komugi decides to stay with him and die alongside him and both died holding each other's hands. Despite this, there's no confirmation if what they feel for each other is romantic or not.
- Kagerou Project: Shintaro and Ene start with a dynamic that would imply a romantic relationship will develop (she's his sole companion as a Hikikomori, and — Trolling aside — is constantly trying to get him outside and participating in things), but when Ene's backstory as Takane Enomoto is revealed, it turns out that she was in love (and still has feelings for) Haruka Kokonose — a.k.a. Konoha, while Shintaro is revealed to have a mutual She's Not My Girlfriend dynamic with Ayano Tateyama, but no one believes them when they say it.
- Kill la Kill: Senketsu is this to Ryuko. As her father's last creation, they end up sharing a bond akin to nagging parent and child. Yet Senketsu is always there to reassure and work with Ryuko.
- KonoSuba: Kazuma and Aqua. Despite being the first girl he meets on his adventure and setting her up as the Magical Girlfriend, Aqua is the only one in Kazuma's party who doesn't fall in love with him. As for Kazuma, he states quite clearly that he just can't find anything about Aqua attractive, even when he was actually trying to. They eventually become as close as two people can be without being in love.
- Hatori is Ayumu's not love interest in Life (2002). They spend a lot of time together, Hatori is Ayumu's Living Emotional Crutch, Hatori is always there for Ayumu, and they spend a lot of time holding hands.
- Little Witch Academia (2017): Andrew is this to Akko. At first glance, he appears to fulfill the typical shoujo love interest role, being a good-looking, rich young man who starts off as being aloof and standoffish towards Akko, before developing a fondness for her over time as the two become closer and she starts to break his barriers. Akko also finds him to be handsome when she first meets him in episode 6 and has a subtle blush when her friends tease her about her having feelings for him at the end of episode 10. Despite this and the two having some slight Ship Tease with each other, both of them deny having romantic feelings for each other and their bond remains strictly platonic for the entirety of the series. Yoh Yoshinari has only further clarified this in one interview
, describing their relationship as being akin to a "playful guy-guy relationship". - Akemi and Yotsuya in Maison Ikkoku. Not only are they partners in crime in tormenting Yusaku, but there is frequent touchy-feeliness between the two during their regular booze parties. Akemi has on one occasion coldly declined to join the other tenants in spying on the mysterious Yotsuya, suggesting that she has feelings towards him, or at least a respect for his privacy, given that her own background contains a few skeletons. A romance between the two was never meant to be, however, since it would undermine the mysterious aspects of Yotsuya's character. And besides, Akemi ended up marrying her boss aka the Master of Cha-Cha Maru.
- Maken-ki!: Himegami is the manga's deuteragonist and lead female character. But, despite the early chapters making it seem she would become part of Takeru's harem, she plainly states that she has no romantic feelings for him when Minerva asks about it (chapter 12). However, she accidentally lost her First Kiss when she fell on top of him in chapter 1 and it happened again during chapter 5note . She eventually gave him his first real kiss at the end of the same chapter, as thanks for defending her, but they remained friends throughout the manga.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Despite several characters making jokes and comments about it, Setsuna and Marina genuinely seem to not have any romantic interest in each other. Their connection comes more from the fact that they are from neighboring countries and are both searching (in very different ways) for answers to the same questions. When outright asked if they were dating, they both deadpanned "We are not a couple" in unison, without any of the embarrassment or blushing this kind of situation usually entails. If anything, their relationship is more akin to that between a mother and child — and it's not helped by how Marina looks scarily like a younger version of Setsuna's Missing Mom. In the manga version of the epilogue, they actually do get married, though the author claims it's a platonic partnership and is more symbolic of their finding understanding in each other.
- Naruto:
- Naruto is somewhat attached to Sasuke, even after he leaves Konoha to join Orochimaru, then goes rogue and basically becomes an international criminal. Before then, the show devotes not insignificant amounts of time to the two rivaling each other at becoming better ninja; both is (partly) the other's inspiration. However, Sasuke is not as much Naruto's friend as Naruto would like him to be.
- Sakura plays this trope straight (and in romantic sense) for Naruto, to a point where even Naruto replies his father's Mistaken for Romance with "Kinda." The Canon movie The Last: Naruto the Movie revealed that Naruto's attraction to her was driven in great part because of his aforementioned rivalry with Sasuke — which was implied back in Chapter 3. Kishimoto has also stated in several post-series interviews that Naruto and Sakura's close friendship was nothing more than a deliberate Red Herring for the true Official Couple, Naruto and Hinata, and further explained that Sakura was never intended to be Naruto's main love interest to begin with, while Hinata always was, since the early stages of the manga.
- Hinata becomes the most important person for Neji after his Heel–Face Turn, as one of his most important — if not the most important — priorities is to take care of her and always look after her as a brother figure. They exaggerated this so much in Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth, that Neji practically worships Hinata there. He even spazzes and has fits of despair when he finds out she actually shits like a normal human being.
- Played With and deconstructed in regards to Kakashi and Obito. Obito fulfills all the requirements of a platonic Lost Lenore to Kakashi. Everything that makes Kakashi who he is in the present storyline is an extension or product of his relationship with Obito and his grief over Obito's death. Suffice to say, Obito, dead or alive, is the most important person in Kakashi's life. The deconstruction is the fact that this isn't a good thing — while Obito's "presence" in Kakashi's life made him a better person who valued his comrades, it also served as fodder for Kakashi's raging guilt complex and self-loathing. Prior to Team 7, Kakashi could barely count as a functioning individual, and was dangerously close to the Despair Event Horizon. That's where the Played With part comes in, as Team 7 is what finally manages to open Kakashi up. They ultimately pave the way for Kakashi to finally move on from Obito, especially after Obito turns out to be one of the main villains.
- PandoraHearts:
- Oz and Alice. They first meet when Alice saves Oz from a dangerous Chain, and forms a contract with him via a kiss. Oz calls Alice "his sun" and she calls him "her property", showing how much they mean to each other. Turns out Oz was originally Alice's stuffed rabbit and gained a will of his own because Alice loved him so much. They share a very loving and special bond, but eventually the author confirms their relationship isn't of a romantic nature.
- Jack is insanely obsessed with Lacie, having spent eight years looking for her after knowing her for only one day. Soon after he found her, he lost her again when she was thrown into the Abyss, which is his motivation for wanting to bring the world down into the Abyss. At first, it's easy to assume Jack is madly in love with Lacie, but there were some hints that wasn't the case such as Jack not showing any reaction when Lacie gave him the chance to become intimate with her. Near the end of the manga, it's revealed Jack really hates Lacie because he sees her as the source of his dependency and identity issues, but he clings to his obsession with her as a desperate way to not face his inner emptiness.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Madoka and Homura. Homura is willing to rewind time again and again all to save Madoka.
- The Quintessential Quintuplets: Amongst the five Nakano sisters, Itsuki is the only one who doesn't seem to develop romantic feelings for male lead Fuutarou, unlike the other four, developing more of a Vitriolic Best Buds dynamic with him. At least until the final chapters, she wonders if she might have fallen for him after all, but by then he's already made his choice.
- In the TV series of Record of Lodoss War, Spark becomes highly commited to his mission to save Neese, as he's the leader of the group. It's even made fun of by Leaf and Raina, who put quite an effort into getting them together. In the end it seems he only manages to rescue her with The Power of Love, but once she is freed from the dark magic and awakens in his arms, she just hugs him in thank and there's never any indication that Spark wasn't just trying to protect a good friend.
- Orson and Shiris are very close, and Orson ultimately goes out like a champ to save her. But their relationship isn't necessarily romantic, just very intimate, in the technical sense.
- Rune Soldier Louie is set in the same verse as Record of Lodoss War. At first Melissa is dismayed by being ordered by her god, Mylee, to serve Louie as her "valliant champion", as he is the complete opposite of what she always hoped for. Regardless, she gradually helps him to overcome some of his worst traits and comes to appreciate his genuinely good nature and desire to help people in need. She eventually stops being embarrased by having to serve him and even stands up for him, when others call him a useless idiot. Despite all this, they never show any actual romantic interest in each other.
- Mokuzu to Nagisa from Satou Kashi no Dangan wa Uchinukenai. Mokuzu outright insists she's a mermaid who must befriend someone within a set period or she will turn to sea-foam. The two hold hands in splash pages and Mokuzu only attends a "date" with a boy to spend time with Nagisa.
- With Snow White and Seven Dwarfs obviously being based off of the fairy tale of the same name and Takeru being something of a Knight in Shining Armor to Shirayuki, the series is occasionally mislabeled under romance—but given that Takeru is a 16-year-old teenage boy and Shirayuki is a little girl, there's zero romantic context between them, needless to say.
- Maka and Soul from Soul Eater. They're inseparable partners, their connection is really deep, they share a lot of intimate moments and they even live together. Ship Tease aside, their relationship always remains that of very close Vitriolic Best Buds and Word of God states he intends to keep it that way.
- Reina is this to Kumiko in Sound! Euphonium. Reina is a mysterious, aloof peer from Kumiko's middle school. Over the course of the first several episodes they become close friends with heavy overtones of something romantic. Despite this nothing concrete has been confirmed and Kumiko and Shuuichi become the Official Couple... However, due to differences in focus and adaptation, his role is be reduced until the final film and Season 2 ends with an emotional outburst from Kumiko to Asuka. Any prominent changes to close relationships are to be seen, of course, considering that it's KyoAni.
- Yui in Strawberry 100%. Though considered one of the four main heroines in the series, Yui is never considered a love interest nor does she ever show Manaka any affection outside of their sibling-type relationship, although she acts at times like an overprotective big sister.
- In Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, Lag found his first companion, and eventual bodyguard, in Niche, whom he rescued from a freakshow. She, in turn, is very dedicated towards him and acts like a Clingy Jealous Girl whenever he gets too close to someone else. However, their relationship never turns into romance, as Lag's true Love Interest is Sylvette.
- Tiger & Bunny: Barnaby shows up in Kotetsu's life at a critical point in the latter's career and fits into so many "love interest stereotypes" (a Troubled, but Cute/Tsundere/Broken Bird Defrosting Sugar and Ice King who bears some suspicious parallels to the widower hero's late wife and was mentored by the show's Big Bad) that the writer/artist for the manga adaptation has even joked about him being the show's 'heroine'. The creators' fondness for teasing their "wonderful relationship" doesn't help.
- Komatsu of Toriko is one of the most crucial people in Toriko's life, being the one chef that becomes talented enough to cook and prepare the former's Life's Full Course Meal. While physically weaker than Toriko and needing to be saved by him on multiple occasions, Komatsu also plays a very big emotional role for Toriko as well, to the point where his presence or encouragement can make or break certain situations. The process of making Komatsu Toriko's personal chef is even framed like an important milestone for a Gourmet Hunter, not unlike choosing a life partner (and there has been a prominent Hunter/Chef pair that was married too).
- Voltes V: Megumi doesn't fall in love with anybody, not even with Kenichi or Ippei (whom she got a little bit of teases with), they all strictly kept their relationship as Just Friends (and professional team members). This contrasts with her fellow heroines in the Robot Romance Trilogy (Chizuru ended up tying the knots with Hyouma in the end of the series, Kazuya's relationship with Erika is basically one of the main purposes of their story.)
- In The World God Only Knows, the demon girl Elsie moves in with Keima under the ruse of being his long lost half-sister. They work together to capture evil spirits that are possessing girls in the real world and Elsie gets to spend more time with Keima than any of his conquest targets and official haremettes. However, their relationship never becomes romantic and they develop an actual sibling-like dynamic instead. Thanks to a Cosmic Retcon at the end of the manga, they become real blood-related siblings.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!:
- Despite Anzu being the closest to an actual Love Interest for Yugi, Yugi himself also cares a lot about Atem and Jonouchi, and both of them are his heterosexual life partners, if not almost more than her. Jonouchi will love his sister and his best friend more than any girl or guy who enters his life.
- Kaiba only cares about his little brother and Atem, as Atem's existence 'fills him with an enthusiasm like no other' (for duelling). Exaggerated in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions — while his actions could be seen as someone distraught over losing a lover, Kaiba is obsessed with Atem because they're rivals. The ending could even be interpreted as Kaiba leaving the human realm for the Egyptian afterlife.
