With Friends Like These / Anime & Manga

Questionable friendships in Anime and Manga.

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• Bakugan Battle Brawlers: A lot of the first season sees Dan getting into disagreements with his friends, particularly Drago, Runo, and Shun. But he soon realises his flaws and becomes more friendly with them.
• Black Lagoon: Revy and Eda. Somehow, the two are best friends despite over half of their dialogue consisting of the two insulting each other, and they even pull guns at each other several times.
• Death Note: L considers Light Yagami his only friend, but remains consistently suspicious of him being Kira, who he's determined to catch. Light only cares about getting rid of him and kills him. Subverted as Word of God says L never thought of Light as a friend and his proclamations of friendship were most likely an act to throw Light off.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The main trio’s relationship is initially like this, while Tanjiro is mostly nice with them, Inosuke often assaults Zenitsu and repeatedly tries to challenge Tanjiro into fights, while Zenitsu gives both Tanjiro and Inosuke nothing but grief when he believes they are being traitorous in some way on another (usually when it involves girls).
• D.Gray-Man: Kanda is like this with the few people who can put up with him. Lavi seems to enjoy his company, having fun teasing him while Kanda keeps insulting and threatening him. He is a bit softer with Lenalee but often makes very crude comments to her. Then there is a very odd case with Allen with whom they are True Companions while genuinely hating each other.
• Doraemon: Among Nobita's closest friends are Gian and Suneo, who are also The Bullies that pick on him almost every day. Even his nicer friends Doraemon and Shizuka occasionally laugh at or overlook his misfortunes. Some of this animosity is not entirely without reason, either, as Nobita often annoys all of his friends with his lazy and immature tendencies.
• Failed Princesses: Both the main characters suffer from this trope. When Fujishiro starts trying to befriend Kurokawa, some of her friends, like Miki, take it badly when Fujishiro sticks up for Kurokawa, straining their relationship. Miki, who'd previously looked up to Fujishiro, is especially harsh with her, although Izumi tries to play peacemaker. As for Kurokawa, her group of "friends" suddenly kick her out when they notice her associating with Fujishiro.
• Future GPX Cyber Formula: Gudelhian and Heinel. They often get into fistfights, but they work together in order to pursue their dreams.
• Galaxy Angel: Forte and Ranpha are constantly bickering with each other. In later seasons, the Ojou Mint starts to join in thanks to Flanderization of her Trickster personality.
  • And of course, it's done all over again in Galaxy Angel Rune, where Space Pirate Anise Azeat (who happens to be in debt to Mint) and Lady of War Lily C. Shebert (taught by Forte) are much more quick to resort to violence upon each other than their predecessors.
• Goldfish Warning!: Chitose and Wapiko, and also Chitose and Aoi. They all have this oil-&-water chemistry. Sometimes Chitose puts in the effort to be as friendly with Wapiko as Wapiko is with her, but most of the time she is filled with contempt for her, turns down her ideas, and leaves her behind.
• Gundam:
  • In the original Mobile Suit Gundam we're repeatedly told that Hayato was friends with Amuro when they lived in Side 7. It doesn't show, with Hayato going so far as to desert when Amuro isn't executed for, wait for it, desertion. Amuro, for his part, seems to barely be aware that Hayato is alive.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ: We are constantly told that Beecher and Mondo were really good friends with Judau and Elle (in fact, we're told that Beecher has a thing for Elle). It's never demonstrated, with Beecher's whole personality boiling down to "I'm not Judau's cheering section" and endangering the entire crew to try and maximize his profits. He eventually betrays the Argama to their enemies, and drags Mondo along for the ride; even after this, the show insists on telling us what great friends they are.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Kira and Athrun. They are childhood best friends, who for a time hesitated in fights trying to find a way out of having to kill each other. That is until they both kill friends of the other. Then the gloves came off. And even after burying the hatchet and joining forces, they admit to not fully being over it, and even wanting to kill each other still.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers:
  • China is friends with America, Russia, France and England (making up the Allied Forces). However, he is easily the woobie of the group, getting hell from the others, from being forced to make lunch for them to assembling airplanes for them.
    • Shown in the strip where Russia, England, and France are helping China get his land back after being defeated by Japan in the first Sino-Japanese war, but they soon start demanding things from their comrade, causing him to panic.
  • Lithuania often feels dragged around and abandoned by his selfish and eccentric best friend Poland, though in recent years Poland has become much more considerate to Lithuania's feelings.
• Highschool of the Dead: A couple of One-Scene Wonder characters demonstrate this. When her so called Best Friend Forever gets dragged down on a staircase by zombies, what does the other girl do? She kicks her in the face to get free. She only gets about half a step before the zombies get her as well.
• Hunter × Hunter: Leorio & Kurapika. Though fans will tell you that they act like a bickering old married couple.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Zig-zagged in the Phantom Blood arc. Dio Brando antagonizes Jonathan Joestar from the very first day he invades the latter's house. Seven years later, they seem to get along fine enough for the neighbors to call them buddies, but Jonathan senses there's no real friendship between them, especially since Dio plans to kill Mr. Joestar and inherits his fortune. After the messes Dio causes, Jonathan sympathizes with Dio, then concludes their relationship, in his words, was a bizarre friendship.
  • Played straight in the Diamond is Unbreakable arc with Josuke and Rohan's relationship — they're certainly allies when it comes to stopping the serial killer hiding in Morioh, but other than that the two can't stand each other and don't even bother hiding it. This especially comes into play during the Highway Star arc, where they work together to defeat the Monster of the Week Stand despite clashing with each other while fighting it.
• Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger: One has to wonder how the Eto Rangers managed to stay together as teammates. Their interactions are regularly shown to be a powder keg, with a minor slight sending the entire squadron into a frenzy, they often resort to casual violence towards each other, total humiliation of another Ranger is never out of the question — such as summoning Pakaracchi just to muzzle him and trade him away for a bundle of cloth — and then there's their Jerkass Ball moment when they all ganged up on Tart about her physique. They really do care about each other when it counts, but looking at them during times of peace, one certainly couldn't tell.
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: Maki claims to view Kashiwagi as a precious friend, yet openly states her contempt for her for "stealing" the boy she has a crush on (and deliberately tried to sabotage their relationship on at least one occasion). Kaguya has a similar relationship with Fujiwara, viewing her as her best friend one second and mentally declaring her eternal contempt the next (only to instantly flop back to friendship when Fujiwara unknowingly wins her favor again). Rather appropriately, Kaguya and Maki are second cousins twice removed.
• K-On!: Mio and Ritsu. Ritsu often scares and bullies Mio while Mio is quick to retaliate with a Cranial Eruption, yet they're still best friends.
• Little Witch Academia (2017): An interesting case between Akko/Lotte and Sucy. Despite the fact that meeting Akko is what Sucy considers to be one of her most precious memories, she has no qualms using her as an unwilling guinea pig for her potentially dangerous experiments, and the world built in her subconscious shows her regularly laughing at Akko's misfortunes (stylized in the form of old cartoons). She'll also throw blunt insults Akko's way at any chance she gets, even if Akko did little to nothing to deserve it, and will often join in when Hannah and Barbara make fun of her. In the first episode she was even willing to trick Akko and Lotte into making themselves bait for a giant monster, all just so she could swipe a rare feather from it for her poison experiments. She even leaves them for dead after obtaining said feather, and never apologizes for the entire situation. It's amazing that Akko and Lotte still consider her a friend after that.
• Maria no Danzai
  • On the surface, Okaya and his posse are friendly towards each other and happily torment the latest sap to get their attention together. When it comes down to it, however, it's made clear that Okaya's so-called "friends" are terrified of incurring his wrath, and very deep down they know that he doesn't really care much for any of them.
  • The only reason Okaya became friends with Kowase is because he was "really good at making money".
  • Kumiru texts Okaya often as part of her efforts to get his affection, but Okaya only ever replies with the bare minimum and has never had a real conversation with her. Kumiru only realizes this when she's at Maria's mercy and checks her text history while trying to contact him for help.
• Mazinger Z: Kouji and Boss are real good friends. You would not guess it from watching how they treat each other, though. Kouji is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold constantly picks on Boss, and Boss is a Small Name, Big Ego with bullish tendencies gets angry at Kouji when he taunts him or just shows him off.
• My Hero Academia: This very much describes the relationship between Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo. While Bakugo is a very talented, driven, and intelligent individual with a powerful Quirk, he's also a colossal asshole with a massive Inferiority Superiority Complex and Hair-Trigger Temper to boot. Especially since he was The Bully to Izuku for their childhood (at least after Bakugo developed his Quirk and Izuku didn't). No one is sure why Izuku sticks up for or remains friends with him, even still referring to Bakugo with a childhood nickname of "Kacchan" (though interestingly enough, Bakugo never tells him to quit calling him that.) While Bakugo is revealed to have some moral center and caring and gains some camaraderie with his classmates, his relationship with Izuku still stands out as exceptionally fiery from his end.
  • An extra chapter has Uraraka note their childhood friendship and coming to the conclusion that Bakugo is afraid of Izuku, which is why he tries to keep him a distance. The panel prior has a discussion that says that Bakugo fears Izuku's spirit in the same way Izuku envied Bakugo for his strength. The implications are that because of Bakugo's Inferiority Superiority Complex, he projects his insecurities onto Izuku (thinking his compassion is pity or looking down on him) and that despite his own talent and Quirk, it's Izuku, the Quirkless child looked down upon by society, that is more worthy of being a hero than him. And to someone who holds themselves in high esteem and afraid of showing weakness, it unsettles him.
• My Monster Secret: Near the end of Part 1, there's a serious Not What It Looks Like moment where Asahi and Aizawa have an Accidental Kiss right as Youko enters the scene, breaking her heart and leaving Asahi a wreck. Asahi's friends respond to the situation by defending Aizawa's honor...which they do by spreading the rumor that he's entirely to blame since he's a shameless womanizing playboy. Homeroom teacher Akari intervenes, chewing out half the cast for destroying Asahi's reputation for the sake of a quick laugh when he needed emotional support more than ever. The characters concede the point (except for Shimada and Akane), and intervene to help smooth things over.
• My Two Mommies: Himari, the protagonist, is initially friends with two other girls, who come off as rather shallow. After she starts taking care of a kitten together with her classmate Kanda, the others criticize her for spending so much time with someone she used to dislike, and wonder why she's so concerned about some kitten (not realizing that Himari feels responsible). Himari then chooses to go home with Kanda rather than go out to karaoke with her friends, acknowledging that her friendship with the other two is probably over, and not seeming all that bothered by it.
• Naruto: Naruto considers his rival Sasuke his best friend, even after Sasuke's Face–Heel Turn (and increasing slide down the slippery slope that makes it look even more one-sided on Naruto's part). By the final arcs, everybody else has given up on the Uchiha and think he's better off dead so he won't conquer or destroy Konoha in his single-minded quest for revenge and Naruto just won't hear it. However, it turns out Naruto was entirely right. In his final battle with Sasuke, Sasuke begins breaking down and by the end, openly admits that Naruto is his best friend. While he did admit in their clash pre-timeskip, it turns out it remained like this no matter how much he denied or suppressed it. As adults, their friendship is a lot healthier.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Ayaka Yukihiro and Asuna Kagurazaka literally have this as the defining point of their relationship, to the point where their fellow classmates start to worry when they don't fight with each other. There's a reason for it, though.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Ritsuko and Misato are presented like close friends since they were college students. However, the former constantly mocks the later's bad traits, such as her being lazy, a slob, or an awful cook, or taunts her about her and Kaji's relationship. On the other hand, Misato actively ignores her taunts or complaints. However, during the course of the series, she starts treating Ritsuko more coldly due to her growing suspicions about Nerv's real mission.
• One Piece
  • All of the Straw Hats are like this from time to time, but Zoro and Sanji are the straightest example in that they seem to genuinely dislike hanging out with each other and only respect each other as warriors, while the others members are shown to be able to have fun with each other even if they bicker a lot and are more like Vitriolic Best Buds. Case in point: when Sanji is being blackmailed into leaving the crew during the Whole Cake Island arc, Zoro just wants them to forget about him and leave him to his fate.
  • Dorry and Brogy, the giant pirates, have been best friends since they were pirate captains together. They've also been trying to kill each other for 100 years because they are both members of a Proud Warrior Race who had a dispute over who killed the biggest sea monster.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • Initially in the Kanto era, Ash and Misty's bickering brought this question to mind, though it balanced when Brock joined. It subsided over time with Character Development as Ash became a better trainer and Misty got a chance to grow out of the shadow of her sisters.
  • Quoted almost verbatim by Brock in episode 9 when the Power Trio learns what a young Pokemon Tech student has been put through for his entire time there. A later episode has the saying turned on its face by James in a dub-exclusive Actor Allusion:
    James: With enemies like that, who needs friends?
  • Chespin and Pancham in the XY series. They bicker nearly every time they're seen on screen together, most of the time this being Chespin's fault. When they work together, though, they generally work well.
• Ranma ½: Ranma has this kind of relationship with virtually every other character (except possibly Kasumi, but even she has her moments). Almost all of them greet him with either death threats, taunts, or glomps which incite the wrath of any nearby fiancees. Despite this, they stand up for him when he's weakened, accompany him on treacherous journeys (though they often supply the treachery part), and willingly stand with him against impossible odds.
  • Ranma does this even more than most of his friends. He bullies them, beats them up, and manipulates them on a heartbeat, but he'll help them when they're down.
• Reborn! (2004): Squalo's relationship with Xanxus. How Squalo manages to put up with all the projectiles Xanxus throws at him (including a chair) and still remain so loyal is beyond comprehension. Though many people seem to have their theories...
• Sailor Moon: Usagi (Sailor Moon) and Rei (Sailor Mars). They constantly argue and pick on each other, but they actually do share a very sister-like bond and care quite a bit about each other. Of note, the 90's anime made the Senshi Adaptational Jerkassses who take cracks at Usagi more than once per season, especially apparent with the Outer Senshi, and The '90s English dub ups this where the other girls pick on Serena even more.
• Saint Beast: Initially Pandora and Cassandra get along, but their rivalry for Zeus's attention turns friendliness into more of a necessary pretense.
• Saiyuki: Sanzo and Gojyo bicker hilariously in one arc when they have to work together without Hakkai to mediate, while Gojyo and Goku constantly toss insults back and forth, to Sanzo's eternal frustration (it's no wonder he goes from smoking few cigarettes occasionally to full-blown chain smoker).
• Shaman King: Ren Tao seems to demonstrate this towards everyone. Especially Chocolove and Horohoro.
• Slam Dunk: Hanamichi Sakuragi's gang is always there to celebrate his rejections in love, and when he starts playing basketball, they made bets on how long he would last in the matches before fouling out. That said, whenever he's in trouble, they come to his aid without hesitation, and their support in the matches grows more and more genuine as he improves over the course of the story.
• Soul Eater: Earlier chapters and episodes show that this is the nature of the relationship between Soul and Maka, with Soul constantly teasing Maka for being flat, having fat ankles, being violent, having no sex appeal - you get the point - and Maka often chiding Soul for one thing or another, hitting him over the head with books, making all the decisions without his input, and talking about how horribly sexist men are. That being said, Soul goes absolutely hysterical whenever something happens to Maka, no matter how small. Maka herself becomes brokenhearted when Soul is hurt and blames herself, deeming herself to be an unworthy meister. They also have several moments that show how much they really do care about one another, even holding hands, hugging, and blushing around one another.
  • Interestingly enough, it's a progression of their Character Development. Despite their bickering, they were pretty close to achieving their goal and did trust one another. However, after being forced to restart and later Soul nearly getting killed (which in turn led to Maka's blame at herself) did they really mature and thus this did not occur.
• Tokyo Mew Mew: Retasu hangs out with a few other girls from her school who treat her terribly before joining the Mew Mews. She believes they have a certain problem in their lives, and she, by being around them, can help them get over it.
• Urusei Yatsura: Lum's Stormtroopers, a group of four Ascended Extras in the 1981 anime adaptation, replaced Kousuke Shirai and Hokuto in the role of "Ataru Moroboshi's male friends". Whereas the duo they replaced were largely just Those Two Guys, the Stormtroopers have a far more mixed relationship. Whilst they are frequently shown hanging out together both in and out of school, and have been friends with Ataru since they were all kids together, they are far more interested in Ataru's Cute Monster Girl wife Lum than they are in Ataru, and want her for themselves. This causes them to frequently either plot against Ataru or attack him for (in their eyes) hurting Lum. The tone of their relationship is largely set from their debut in the second half of the first episode, where they abduct Ataru and torture him to make him agree to help them try and resummon Lum to Earth. When this causes them to instead accidentally summon an alien taxi driver who demands a ruinous fee, they push all of the blame onto Ataru, who didn't want to partake in the ritual anyway. When Ataru refuses to agree to Lum's demand he let her live with him in exchange for paying the bill, they promptly beat him until he agrees.
• Wasteful Days of High School Girls: Although she's a nuisance for most people that meet her, Tanaka is a particularly deficient friend towards Loli, as the former regularly convinces the latter of outrageous stuff that her classmates have to correct later. She doesn't proceed out of malice, however, as she's not intelligent enough to do something like that out of her own volition. She's just ignorant and neglectful.
• Who Decided That Blues Had To Be Cool?!: Minami claims to be Azusa's Only Friend, but she isn't above needling Azusa for her more embarrassing personality traits, including reminding Azusa that she made a less than stellar first impression on her schoolmates and ended up with no other friends. As for Azusa, she doesn't particularly enjoy hanging out with Minami, finding her rather annoying even if she occasionally enjoys her company.
• ×××HOLiC: Watanuki and Doumeki. Watanuki loathes Domumeki entirely because he thinks Doumeki is a rival for Himawari's affection, and Doumeki is just the type to give Wananuki crap just because the guy is easy to wind up. Despite this, they save each other's lives quite often. It used to be even worse. As of now they just snark at each other; according to Doumeki, Watanuki tried to drop kick him when they first met.
• Yuri is My Job!: The vast majority of Hime's friends from elementary school are not exactly good people, since they care more about her cute façade than her as a person. All of said "friends" dislike Mitsuki, and when Hime starts practicing to do a piano duet for the recital alongside Mitsuki, they spread rumors that Mitsuki is bullying Hime. When Hime is forced to back out of the recital, thus causing Mitsuki to believe that Hime betrayed her and expose her as a liar, Hime's friends quickly abandon her. As a result, Hime doesn't really care for said friends and seems more upset about Mitsuki's betrayal than losing her friends.

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