Whoever said male and female pairings simply must be romantic hasn’t read, seen, and/or played some of the best bits of media ever put to print, film, and/or disc.Anime, for instance, is no stranger to giving us guy-and-gal “couplings” that are purely platonic, or in some cases, close enough to warrant consideration.
That’s not to say it’s especiallycommon. Indeed, examples of true “duos”, rather than characters who happen to be at separate ends of overarching ensembles, are not necessarily thenorm. But for a medium like anime, with roots going back quite a few decades, it’s bound to happen. The following is our list of the very best bound-to-happens around.
7Denji And Power - Chainsaw Man
One of the most entertaining approaches to friendship in storytelling is surely the “frenemy” angle, especially when it blossoms into something real.DenjiandPower, the protagonist and a major supporting character ofChainsaw Man, respectively, are bothrather straightforward individuals. Yet they’re straightforward in drastically different ways, which promptsquite a heated relationship between the two allies.
Power’s name rather betrays her, asshe revels in violence.Denji, on the other hand,has more of a love forlove. The poor guy’s doing whatever he can do to find romance. Funnily enough - and in a terrific twist on age-old tropes -we wouldn’t say that Denji and Power ever really have much romantic chemistry,even despite Denji’s propensities.
They’re simplyfriends, but that simplicity ought not be overstated, becausethe road towards friendship is a hard one. In the end, it’s the unlikelihood of their deep apprecation for each other that makes this platonic power couple click.
6Faye Valentine And Jet Black - Cowboy Bebop
Fayeis a woman out of time.Jetis a jaded former cop. They share a series-defining role:they’re protagonist Spike Spiegel’s closest friends. (Even if Spike might not necessarily admit that regarding Faye.) And, whileFaye develops romantic feelings for Spike, and there’s been no shortage of jokes that Jet did the same,it’s the pair’s unlikely friendship which we love most.
At the center ofCowboy Bebopis the notion of"found family", and that’s a concept which is near and dear to this article’s author’s heart. Faye and Jet hardly seem to get along, except when they do. Relatable, right? They both care deeply for their friend, and in partbecauseof this similarity,their own interpersonal relationship is captivating in its own right.
We’d characterize them almost asfire and ice, and for all the reasons such things don’t get along in real-world practice, they sure can make the dream work in fiction.
5Soma Yukihara And Megumi Tadokaro - Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma
This one’s just, as the kids (used to say),adorkable.In some ways, it’s fire and ice all over again, but more of a seared steak versus a chilled shrimp platter.Soma is a risk-taking chef not afraid to spice things up to wild results, whilstMegumi begins her Food Wars! journey in a softer state, preferringmore conventional approaches to cooking.
They both rather rub off on one another, but it’sMegumi’s culinary inspiration via Soma which sticks with us the most. Soma is a firebrand of experimental cuisine; Megumi is a creature of comfort foods. In working together,both Soma and Megumi discover more not only about the art of food prep, but about themselves.
4Banagher Links And Audrey Burne - Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
Admittedly, this is a bit of an odd one, given thatBanagher Links and Audrey Burne, the hero and heroine, respectively, ofMobile Suit Gundam Unicorn,don’t actually spend atonof time together.
The series, which began as a manga before taking Universal Century fans' collective breath away as a seven-part OVA (which was later reconfigured into a 22-episode anime), unmistakably uses them as leads, but they only sometimes occupy a shared setting, as the story splits them into separate threads.
In our minds, that doesn’t matter.Banagher and Audrey,whose true identity isMineva Zabi- inheritor of Universal Century’s powerful Zabi throne - forgethe most vital relationship in Unicorn. Banagher believes in theinherent goodness of humanity, and largely takes apacifist stancedespite avast history of internecine warfarebetween mankind’s leading factions.
Mineva,who takes the Audrey alias in part out of necessity, but also out of personal need for liberty, is caught in the perpetual crossfire as inarguablythe most important political figure in the aforementioned historical strife. Banagher doesn’t care.He refers to her as Audreyeven after learning her birthright, becausethat’s who he knows she wishes to be.
This is a relationship with profound implications, one which shapes both the leads' philosophies to the point of galactic ramification. Without Banagher, Audrey might have been forever adrift; and without Audrey, Banagher might well have been the same.
3Mikasa Ackerman And Armin Arlert - Attack On Titan
This one has some big spoilers by its very nature, but we’ve kept things relatively clean in that regard. Reader discretion advised!
It’s not exactly a stretch to say that certain events promptMikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert, protagonist Eren Yeager’s dearest friends in Attack on Titan,to spend a good deal of the show’s time alone together, rather than alongside their shared companion.
The show unquestionably fixates first and foremost on Eren, and his relationships with the pair - an unrequited love with Mikasa, and a powerful bond with Armin. YetEren’s struggles,from discovering his true nature as a titular all-powerful Titanto later revelations with even more robust consequences,bond Mikasa and Arminboth asallies in a war for survival and richly connected friends in their own right.
Mikasa’scold stoicismmasks a deeply compassionate nature. Armin’snigh-perpetual anxiousnessmasks, essentially, the exact same thing.
That might be a bit of a subjective spin -thoughts on both characters are wonderfully varied across fandom- but one thing I think it’s fair to say many of us are united on is thatMikasa and Armin are mightier together, and their mutual affinity propels them through many victories.
2Kaguya Shinomiya And Yu Ishigami - Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
Kaguya-sama: Love is Waris, ostensibly, chiefly about the title characterKaguya’s love for Miyuki Shirogane. That’s the pitch, and while it works perfectly well on its own merits,it’s the overall main cast that makes the show click.
One of Kaguya’s closest friends isYu Ishigami. Yu has his own rocky romantic journey, although Kaguya isn’t really a part of it. Instead,the two begin in such a state that the highly introverted and downright truant Ishigami genuinely fears for his lifewhen he’s around thesevere and at times overbearing Kaguya.
Of course, this is a slice-of-life comedy, so… you know. Kaguya doesn’t actually kill Yu. It’s a misunderstanding. But it’s the sort thatoffers the realized potential for both Kaguya and Yu to learn a great deal about each other, and tobuild their own forms of courage and conviction, through a fantastic friendship that might not be the show’s central focus, but it sure does crack a smile.
1Ichigo Kurasaka And Rukia Kuchiki - Bleach
This tag team hasone of the best friendship dynamics in anime, with suchsterling chemistry, both comedic and dramatic, that scores of Bleach fans really, really,reallyhoped they’d hit it off romantically. Ichigo and Rukia formBleach’s beating heartfor much of its colossal runtime.
While, for a time, we couldn’t help but feel similarly, in the final telling (or rather, the near-final, as there’s still a bit more of The Thousand-Year Blood War left to adapt as of this writing),Ichigo and Rukia probably work better as allied friends than marriage partners.
There’s a connection here, a timeless one, asRukia gifts Ichigo with his powers at the expense of her own. For a member of the evil-battlingSoul Society, that’s one heck of a sacrifice. That’s not to say Rukia doesn’t go places from thereon out, however; indeed,her journey is every bit as compelling as Ichigo’s. Including, thank goodness, eventually getting her powers back.
