Even a student and a guidance counselor can form a sweet bond.
Doug: I need your help. I can't tell you what it is, you can never ask me about it later, and we're gonna hurt some people.
Jem: [thinks about it for a moment] ...Whose car are we gonna take?
Jem: [thinks about it for a moment] ...Whose car are we gonna take?
— The Town
The best friend (also commonly referred as "the bro", "the bestie", "BFF" etc.) is a character's closest non-romantic associate and confidante in the story (though they're not necessarily immune to a Relationship Upgrade). Very often, the two of them will be Foils to each other, but they're just as likely to be Birds of a Feather. The best friend's importance to the plot can range anywhere from being a Satellite Character, to part of the support cast, or even the Deuteragonist if they're the best friend to The Protagonist.
A group of best friends becomes True Companions.
Super-Trope to:
- Best Friends-in-Law: Sometimes, they marry into the family. Or you do.
- Childhood Friends: They've known each other since they were kids and have a nigh unshakable bond because of it.
- "Dating Best Friend's Sibling" Drama: Have a crush on your bestie's sibling? Uh-oh!
- Fat Best Friend: Differences in body weight have no meaning for two best buds.
- Gay Best Friend: 'cuz you know you're close when differences in sexual orientation is a moot point.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: When you go beyond friendship into bromance.
- Muggle Best Friend: The hero's best friend has no supernatural abilities, to give an everyman POV to the work for viewers.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Proof that men and women can be close, without being romantically involved.
- Token Black Friend: When your best friend is black to make your white ass look cool.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Who else can talk shit about each other (and get away with it)? It's a sure sign that they're close.
For list of works titled "Best Friend" or its plural form, go here.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Kaneda from AKIRA sees Tetsuo as his best friend, which is why he goes to ridiculous lengths in an attempt to redeem him or, at least, to save his life.
- Attack on Titan:
- Eren and Armin are Childhood Friends and best friends. After Eren meets Mikasa, Mikasa also becomes his second best friend.
- Their foils Bertholdt and Reiner are also childhood friends and best friends.
- Bloom Into You: For most of the series, Sayaka and Yuu had a rivalry of sorts, and while they got along, they weren't exactly friends. Chapter 45 implies, and Saeki's light novel series outright states, that the two have basically become best friends, with Saeki saying she actually sees and talks to Yuu far more then Touko. Chapter 45 tells it best when Yuu shows she not only knew Sayaka had a girlfriend when Touko did not, but has already met her.
- Candy♡Candy: Annie Brighton and Candy White as children. They were inseparable, declared each other as sworn sisters, and promised that no matter what, they would always be friends. Sadly, Candy holds up her end of the bargain, but Annie doesn't. She rejects Candy as her friend for a long time at the Academy, until Candy makes it clear that she doesn't mean any harm towards Annie and she will always see her as an equal no matter what.
- Captain Harlock's best friend is Tochiro Oyama — the brains to his brawn, who has constructed Harlock's signature Cool Starship, Arcadia, for him.
- In Code Geass, Suzaku has been Lelouch's best friend since childhood, but life had tossed them apart when Japan was conquered by Britannia. When they meet again, they have unwittingly placed themselves on the opposing sides of the barricades and their friendship heavily deteriorates as a result. They join forces one last time in the finale.
- In Cross Ange, Salamandinay quickly becomes the title heroine's best friend by the virtue of being one of the few people able to hand her ass back to her, as well as by having a calming and humanizing effect on her wild nature. Reincarnation flashbacks imply that Ange and Salamandinay have been lovers in their past lives, but they don't share a romantic attraction in this one.
- Don't Meddle with My Daughter!:
- Clara and Mei have been close friends since middle school. Mei is even aware of Clara's secret identity as the Eighth Wonder, which she's kept hidden to protect her.
- Also applies to Risa, Kisara, and Jun, who're always seen in each other's company. The events of chapter 5 proved the depths of their loyalty, when they were gunned down while trying to save each other. Thankfully, the girls survive the shooting and are seen in the infirmary afterward. All three eventually make a full recovery.
- Dragon Ball:
- Goku and Krillin are best friends, despite the fact that Goku completely outclasses him as a fighter early on. Krillin's second death was what pushed Goku over the edge to become a Super Saiyan. After this he spends more time with Piccolo or Vegeta who trade off on being The Lancer in battle, but Krillin remains the best friend in downtime.
- Gohan becomes best friends with Dende during the Namek arc since he's the only other character around his age. They have the most heartfelt goodbye when Dende has to leave earth. They don't interact that often afterwards but there are shades of being Old Friends after Dende returns as earth's guardian.
- Future Trunks considered Future Gohan both his mentor and best friend as the last two Saiyans. Present Trunks' best friend is Goten since they're much closer in age. They are rarely seen apart as kids to the point that their signature technique is to Fusion Dance into Gotenks.
- Mr. Satan eventually becomes best friends with, of all people, Majin Buu, despite Mr. Satan’s initial efforts to try to (fruitlessly) kill Buu. It’s his friendship with Buu that actually manages to make the blob monster pull a Heel–Face Turn, as Mr. Satan is able to convince him on what’s right from wrong, and allows him to live peacefully on Earth. They’re almost always together in Super and even in the Distant Finale, years after the conclusion of the Buu Saga.
- EDENS ZERO: Rebecca was abandoned by her family and was left alone to wonder the streets while Happy is a cat from a planet called Exceed who was abandoned on planet Blue Garden (where Rebecca is). Rebecca found him and called him Happy. The two of them became best friends.
- Gamma features a surprising number of very close non-romantic relationships, the most prominent being the Bash Brothers Hornetman and Blue Train, as well as Miyuki and Midori (a.k.a. the Ret-Gone other Lily Cure) in the back-story.
- Haikyuu!! has quite a few best friend duos:
- Kenma and Kuroo from Nekoma are Childhood Friends and still best friends.
- Oikawa and Iwaizumi from Aoba Johsai are also childhood friends and best friends.
- Tsukishima and Yamaguchi are childhood friends and best friends.
- Hunter × Hunter: Gon and Killua are best friends, although Gon is far more open about it whereas Killua gets embarrassed when Gon brings it up.
- Every finished part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has a Best Friend as part of its cast.
- REO Speedwagon to Jonathan in Phantom Blood, as a Noble Male, Roguish Male combo.
- Caesar to Joseph in Battle Tendency, as Vitriolic Best Buds and Bash Brothers.
- Kakyoin to Jotaro in Stardust Crusaders, as the only person who Jotaro can have normal conversations with.
- Okuyasu and Koichi to Josuke in Diamond is Unbreakable. Rohan believes he's this to Koichi, but Koichi isn't entirely convinced.
- Mista to Giorno in Golden Wind, even while among the True Companions of the rest of Bruno's gang.
- Ermes to Jolyne in Stone Wind, as the Tomboy to Jolyne's (still fairly tomboyish) girl.
- Gyro to Johnny in Steel Ball Run, doubling as Student–Master Team.
- Komi Can't Communicate: Her dream may be to have a hundred friends, but the one that will always hold a special place in Shouko Komi's heart is Hitohito Tadano, who becomes her First Friend and promises to help her gain the other 99. Which eventually evolves into him being her boyfriend.
- Maken-ki!: Kimi Satou used to spend her time reading manga alone, until she met Akaza Chacha who noticed what she was reading. They soon bonded over their mutual interests in manga and cosplay and have been virtually inseparable ever since.
- Athrun Zala and Kira Yamato in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED have been best friends in their childhood, but end up as members of opposing armies in the present. Towards the end of the series, after much trauma, they recommit to their old friendship and team up to essentially change the world.
- My Hero Academia:
- After not having any friends for most of his life due to his Quirklessness, Izuku finds two of them in his first day at U.A., Ochako and Tenya.
- Aizawa/Eraserhead and Hizashi/Present Mic. They’re total opposites but have been close sense they were U-A students. There was a third but sadly Shirakumo died and both other boys were hit hard. And it got worse with them learning Shirakumo was turned into a nomu. Likely explains why Mic has been shown as so willing to lay a Super-Scream beatdown on anyone who hurts Aizawa.
- Though they rarely act like it, Naruto and Sasuke become best friends somewhere during the first story arc. This becomes a plot point after Sasuke's Face–Heel Turn. He fights Naruto as killing your best friend is one of the ways to unlock more of his hidden powers, but he ultimately spares him. The friendship is one-sided on Naruto's part for the next several years but deep down, Sasuke still considers Naruto his bestie throughout.
- One Piece:
- Monkey D. Luffy has the members of the Straw Hat crew, particularly Zoro and Usopp.
- Zoro was the first to join Luffy's crew. He's seen by the general public as Luffy's right-hand man and acts more like a disgruntled older brother to him. Despite Luffy's recklessness and questionable decisions, Zoro carries them out without second thought, possessing an unwavering loyalty towards his captain and willing to risk life and limb for him.
- Meanwhile, Usopp is a more traditional best friend in the sense that he and Luffy share not only the closest age gap between any two members of the crew, but also the same childish and fun-loving nature. Being a duo of idiotic teenagers with a shared dream, Usopp has a way of amplifying Luffy's fun side that nobody else possesses. Their bond is so deep that their breakup in the Water 7 arc caused the longest period Luffy went without smiling in the entire series, with both of them ugly crying once Usopp rejoined the crew.
- Gold Roger had Silvers Rayleigh; though Rayleigh was largely indifferent and somewhat annoyed by Roger upon the two first meeting, he would end up becoming the first mate of his crew. Decades after Roger's death, Rayleigh is brought to Manly Tears when he sees how alike Luffy and his former captain are.
- Monkey D. Luffy has the members of the Straw Hat crew, particularly Zoro and Usopp.
- In The Seven Deadly Sins Meliodas and Ban are this, with Ban stating that Meliodas is the second most important person in his life, his girlfriend Elaine being the first.
- Simoun: Paraietta's been Neviril Best Friend since childhood, and she's always harboured romantic feelings for her. This strong emotions give her endless pain, since Neviril, while loving her platonically, doesn't return them.
- Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!: Sakaki was Shinichi's best friend before Hana started college, alongside being his only friend at the time.
- Variable Geo: The strength of Yuka and Satomi's bond is the cornerstone of the OVAs plot. They studied Kyokushin together under Yuka's grandfather, which is how they met and became friends. Despite drifting apart, their bond has remained as strong as ever, to where Yuka can literally sense what Satomi is feeling through her aura — regardless of distance.
- Wandering Son: Nitori and Takatsuki meet in fifth grade and quickly become best friends, but unfortunately they go to separate high schools and their friendship dwindles to the point where they go years without seeing one another.
- In Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, Ryuuzaki "Kencho" Kenichiro is Akira's best friend from college and teammate on the rugby team. He and Akira have stuck it through thick and thin, and he's the first person Akira reaches out during the Zombie Apocalypse when wireless calls become available again. They soon catch up on old times and make up for their last argument a year ago, getting into all kinds of trouble while scratching off their bucket list together.
Comic Books
- Maggie in Allergic ends up with two: Claire, a slightly older girl who just moved next door to her, and Sebastian, a boy who goes to her school and is allergic to eggs.
- Archie Comics have Betty and Veronica. Best friends ever and forever, who always share everything and only disagree when it comes to Archie.
- In The DCU it's kind of an unwritten law that a Super will always be a Bat's best friend and vice versa.
- Traditionally, Superman and Batman are best buddies. Early World's Finest (1941) often depicted them enjoying leisure activities together like shooting hoops or going swimming. Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was decided that their personalities were too incompatible to be good friends and they remained uneasy allies until the early '00s restored their friendship, with the following years cementing that they're far and away each other's closest friend, especially post-DC Rebirth merging the continuities of Post-Crisis and New 52.
- Similarly, Supergirl has been consistently treated as Batgirl's best friend since the latter was created. Even though they weren't often seen together during the Pre-Crisis period, Barbara Gordon was the one to give the eulogy at the Kara Zor-El's funeral, saying she "was often my confidant and always my friend".
- Their Earth-Two counterparts, Power Girl and Huntress (Helena Wayne), had a relationship even stronger. In the Power Trip (2005) arc, Kara turns to Helena Bertinelli as undergoing considerable emotional turmoil because, even though her Pre-Crisis memories had been wiped out, she instinctively remembered she could always rely on Huntress.
- Robin/Red Robin Tim Drake was very upset when his best friend Superboy Kon-El was killed. Tim considered cloning Kon, along with their friend Bart Allen and Tim's father and girlfriend who had all died within a year of each other. When Kon returns Tim finally starts loosening up again after becoming incredibly closed off due to all of the losses he'd suffered and Kon is the first person since Bruce's "death" to accept Tim saying Bruce is actually alive without question. Steph had been willing to listen but that was ruined due to Dick's interference and Tim's mental state at the time.
- There were two solo titles exclusively focused on the friendship between Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne.
- Even Krypto the Superdog and Ace the Bat-Dog has been depicted as buddies in some comics and media like DC Super Hero Girls.
- While Bizarro isn't usually considered a member of the Superman family per se, he's been recently hanging around with Jason Todd/Red Hood for a time, and he's grown quite close with both him and Artemis as a Power Trio.
- They're not as close as they used to be prior to the Flashpoint reboot, but the crux of the story of Birds of Prey revolved around the best friend-ship between Barbara Gordon and Black Canary.
- Batgirl: Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown are best friends who bonded over training, similar backstories, their desire to help others and their contrasting personalities.
- Robin (1993): Outside of the caped community, and prior to becoming part of it, Tim's best friend is Ives. Ives isn't aware of what exactly is taking up so much of Tim's time, and really doesn't want to know which indicates he has an idea, but is willing to ruin his other friendships sticking up for Tim and is very casual about forgiving Tim for forgetting his birthday, since he knows Tim doesn't even tend to remember his own.
- Mary Marvel (1945): In the Golden Age, Mary Dudley, a.k.a. "Freckles Marvel", is Mary Marvel's best friend. Freckles totally idolizes Mary, and in turn Mary is caring, supportive, and is always ready to help Freckles out or give good advice.
- Black Magick: Rowan has been best friends with Alex since they were children. She serves as Rowan's confidante, support system and ally. Both are also in the same coven, as practicing Wiccans/actual witches. They are so close it comes off as them being lovers at times, and they're taken as such once (this is not the case however).
Fan Works
- Adventures of a Line Hopper:
- During the early years of Slayer Institution, Dawn and Ria are each other's closest friend as Ria sees Dawn's overlooked potential during her reform of the organization, which Dawn greatly appreciates. This leads to Dawn becoming both Ria's right-hand woman and maid-of-honor duing her wedding. They are close enough that Ria is the only one who keeps trying to make Dawn feel useful when the Institute has gotten used to forgetting Dawn after she spends a year wearing Perception Filter, although Ria is too busy for the attempt to take and Dawn leaves to become Seo's companion soon after.
- Alison quickly becomes Seo's closest friend in the first season of The Child of Balime, as Seo doesn't have much friends anyway and Alison is the one Seo always turns to when she wants to socialize. It works the other way around too as Alison loses her old friends after moving to London and she can't share her alien-fighting experience with her normal friends. The friendship is deep enough that Alison is willing to drop everything to help Seo and, in return, Seo is willing to share secrets about her nature to Alison without prompting.
- Blood Flow: Anita, Jennifer, and Jermaine have been best friends with each other since early childhood.
- Chip Tunes: After meeting during their second grade year at Clyde C. Crashcup Elementary School, Jeanette and Jermaine hit it off just fine because they're both quiet, shy kids who LOVE fantasy and science. Their shared love of reading also contributes to them becoming fast friends. By fourth grade, they're best friends.
- Clown Therapy: Harleen and Jermaine basically become best friends overnight after meeting each other on their first day of kindergarten and are inseparable from that point on.
- The Cool Kid and The Loser: Despite barely having anything in common, Jermaine and Kim almost instantly become best friends on their first day of preschool after he manages to fend off an all-male trio of big kids who were bullying her.
- Fairy Friends:
- Unlike in canon, Trixie and Veronica are genuinely best friends and have a close relationship.
- At the end of "Go-Getter Girl," Chloe tells Jermaine, Tootie, Trixie, and Veronica that all of them could be best friends and expresses a desire for the five of them to hang out more. This comes to pass in the following chapter.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità
: Germany and Japan were both best friends to Italy. They had stuck with each other through WWII and the Cold War. However, both Germany and Japan wanted something more, but Italy seemed oblivious to their desires. Key word being seemed.
- The Gates of Friendship: Not long after moving to Fairmont Crest, Jermaine's parents quickly befriend and get along famously with Anita and Vernon. Both sets of parents basically become best friends with each other overnight.
- Girl Adventurer: Sarah becomes this with Triana, as the two both have to deal with the fact that they're the most normal members of their respective families.
- Beth and Monica from Glee Reprise have been best friends since they were young.
- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: The last lines are a magical oath of close friendship, sworn by Hermione Granger to Harry Potter, promising "to help him and trust in him" among other things.
- Hoenn Happenings: At the end of "The Bickering," Jermaine refers to himself and May as best friends when they reconcile after spending most of the chapter arguing with each other.
- In Her Hands: Hailey and Jermaine have been best friends since preschool.
- Kalos Quests: At the end of "The Lure," Serena calls Jermaine her best friend during her tearful emotional breakdown outside Hotel Z after their battles with a Rogue Mega Chandelure and a Rogue Mega Froslass in Dormez Bien Cemetery earlier that night. He returns the sentiment.
- Mer Tales: Ariel and Jermaine basically become best friends overnight not long after he moves to Atlantica.
- Outer-Space Girl: Betty and Jermaine basically become best friends overnight and hit it off just fine because of their shared love for music and science fiction. Both of them being intelligent also strengthens their friendship.
- The Power of Friendship (gelefant): Jermaine and the Powerpuff Girls gradually become best friends with each other over the course of the story.
- Pretty Princess Powerhouses: At the beginning of "The Melodic Tomboy," Jermaine calls Ariel and her daughter Melody his best friends. At the beginning of "The Sun Drop," he refers to Rapunzel as his best friend. At the beginning of "The Bayou Beauty," he calls Tiana his best friend. At the beginning of "The Water Woman," Ariel refers to herself and Jermaine as best friends.
- Princess Tales: It's made pretty clear during the first two chapters that Jermaine is best friends with both Ariel and Tiana. Melody says as much during her and Rapunzel's Anger Born of Worry moment towards him in "Friends in Need." In "Battle of Royals," both Rapunzel and Melody tell the attacking villains that Jermaine's their best friend in the whole world when said villains have him in their clutches.
- Ruby Pair: Zita becomes this to Tenn, who befriends her in order to increase her human cover, but seems to legitimately enjoy her company.
- Skyhold Academy Yearbook has a number of these.
- As in canon, Marian Hawke and Varric Tethras are completely devoted to each other in a Platonic Life-Partners kind of way.
- Dorian Pavus explicitly refers to Evvy Trevelyan as his best friend more than once. It creates a brief playful rivalry with her other best friend, Mahanon, whom she's known since childhood; Evvy resolves the matter by telling Mahanon that Dorian is indeed her best friend, while Mahanon is "like my other self or something." He's okay with that.
- There are also the three student characters who call themselves the Partners in Crime; they even frequently address one another as "bestie."
- A Spectacular Spider: Gwen and Jermaine first met during kindergarten. They hit it off just fine since they were both HIGHLY intelligent, VERY shy students with a passion for science. Their shared experiences of being bullied was something else they bonded over. Despite their drastically different interests and personalities, she and MJ basically become best friends overnight after he introduces them to each other during high school.
- Stars and Waves: Jackie and Jermaine have been best friends since kindergarten. After he and Star defeat Ludo and his minions, she declares him her best friend while giving him a big hug.
- Teenage Robot Life: At the beginning of their sophomore year at Tremorton High School, Jenny and Jermaine basically become best friends overnight and hit it off just fine thanks to their mutual love of music. Both of them being intelligent also plays a role.
- The Tenn Duology: Sigma becomes Tenn's first and closest friend during the latter's time undercover on Meekrob. In fact, just how strongly Tenn holds to that friendship is the Point of Divergence between The Tragedy of Invader Tenn and The Rise of Tallest Tenn — in the former, it's not enough to make Tenn embrace her Heel–Face Turn and she kills Sigma while conquering her planet, while in the latter, it is.
- Till the Day We Die: After the events of the film, Pacha becomes Kuzco’s closest and most enduring friend. Their friendship spans decades, surviving political intrigue, assassination attempts, family life, and old age. Even after Kuzco marries and starts a family of his own, Pacha remains the first person he turns to for advice, emotional support, and perspective. By the end of the story, Kuzco considers Pacha family in every sense of the word, even naming his son Pachi after him.
- Shikamaru Nara is Naruto Uzumaki's best friend in True Potential. This is a friendship that began when the Nara became the first one, during one day at the academy, to argue in favor of the Uzumaki possibly becoming Hokage one of these days.
- Unova Undertakings:
- Iris and Jermaine.
- At the beginning of "The Dragon Masters," he notices her new hairstyle and new outfit. She tells him the reason she invited him to Dragonspiral Tower for a friendly rematch was because she wanted to see how strong he'd gotten since their last battle. After he wins said rematch, she's nothing but happy that they were able to battle again. Later on in the chapter, he gives her three Full Restores and three Revives to use on her Pokémon once a Zekrom appears and challenges her to a battle. When she catches Zekrom in an Ultra Ball on her first try, he's both impressed and stunned. At the end of the chapter, she profusely compliments both him and his Pokémon after he catches the Reshiram that challenged him.
- In "The Subway Bosses," he refers to her as one of his closest friends. After Elesa's fashion show, he hugs Iris and compliments her on her new look for the show. Once Elesa suggests that he take on the Battle Subway since fashion isn't really his thing, Iris encourages him to try the Battle Subway (which he ultimately does).
- In "The Spartan Mayor," Iris is present for Jermaine's friendly rematch with Drayden at Dragonspiral Tower. After said rematch is over, she makes it clear she really enjoyed watching their battle and seeing how much they've both grown.
- At the beginning of "The Battle Resonance," Rosa tells Jermaine he's the best buddy ever after he says he always has a good time when he hangs out with her and Hilda following Rosa asking him if he's currently having a good time at their picnic at Liberty Garden.
- Iris and Jermaine.
Films — Animation
- In Turning Red, Miriam is heavily implied to be this to Mei amongst her group of besties, being the one to interact with her the most, on top of being the first to comfort and reach out to Mei when things go awry. The film's page on Pixar's website seemingly confirms her to be this by stating that "she's the bestest best bestie a girl could ever have". Subsequently, she appears to be the most hurt when Mei didn't stand up to her mother for them.
Films — Live-Action
- The Babysitter (2017): 12-year old Melanie is Cole's closest and only friend at school. He explicitly refers to her as such, just before the film's climax, when he apologizes for putting her in danger by taking refuge at her house.
Cole: [hushed tone] You're my best friend and I'm sorry I got you mixed up in this.
Melanie: [understands] You were being shot at!
Cole: Especially because we're being shot at. - Goodbye Charlie: George is Charlie's best friend. With Charlie's new sex, George is tempted, but rejects the romantic possibilities. Charlie, on the other hand is open to them.
- It's a Wonderful Knife (2023): Cara is Winnie's best friend, with them having Christmas together every year and being very close. Winnie is left very depressed by Cara's murder, and it leads to her misguided wish that she'd never been born.
- Miller's Girl: Winnie is Cairo's. They live together, dish on their pursuits with each other, and hang out most of the time when they aren't busy with schooling. By the end of the film it's apparent their friendship is over however as Cairo blackmails her.
- In The Room (2003), Mark is Johnny's best friend, as all the characters will constantly remind everyone.
- Shall We Play?: Emma is Stacy's, with her being unwaveringly supportive of her and concerned about whatever problems she has. Jess on the other hand seems like this too at first, but soon shows it's all a facade in her case.
- Doug and James/Jem in The Town. When Doug asks Jem for a potentially dangerous favor that they'd never talk about again, the only thing Jem asks is whose car they'll be taking for it.
- The Wedding Days: Zig-Zagged: Giovanni and Giacomo know each other since childhood, but while Giovanni thinks they are best friends, to the point he's actually seeing their children's marriage, by extension, as his own marriage to Giacomo, Giacomo, at least in the present, can barely stand Giovanni, and tells his son Elio that he's still working with him only for their business' sake.
Literature
- This was part of the characterization for every single one of the American Girl historic characters—each of them either started the series with a best friend or met her in the first or second book. Several of them were later created as part of the Best Friends line, which had the character share the time period with the original historical character. This includes Nellie O'Malley for Samantha, Elizabeth Cole for Felicity, and Ivy Ling for Julie.
- In the autobiographical poem Anna Snegina, the old miller was so glad to see the narrator that he couldn't "put two words together".
- In the backstory of the Arcia Chronicles, the future emperor Ankhel and the future saint Erasti Cerna had been bros for life since their rebellious youth and have toppled a corrupt empire together. Too bad Ankhel betrayed their common ideals and, eventually, Erasti himself after their victory. In modern times, Erasti's descendant Raphael Kerna becomes the best friend of Alexander Tagere.
- Big, Beautiful Fun: At the beginning of their second grade year, Elaine and Jermaine hit it off just fine and basically become best friends overnight because of their shared love for Pokémon. Their mutual love of light blue is another thing that strengthens their friendship.
- Bridge to Terabithia has the relationship between Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke, two outcasts in school who only had each other.
- Choosing Death: In the letter Ayla wrote Jermaine while he was in the hospital, she refers to herself as his bestie. When she came to see him after he was discharged from the hospital, he called her his best friend.
- Discharge! (gelefant): At the beginning of "Future Tripping," Blythe reminds Jermaine that he's always been one of her best friends during her rousing You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech to him meant to alleviate his anxiety and fears about their future together after graduation.
- Earth's Scariest Monsters!: In "Lunar Lures," the vampire Vorigan tells the werewolf David that they're best friends as Vorigan pleads with David to come back to his senses after losing control of his Samhain Form and viciously attacking Vorigan and the witch Diana (both of whom are also currently in their own Samhain Forms) during a nighttime training session.
- Glasses Stories:
- Ellie and Zach were Jermaine's best friends during childhood.
- Alecia is Jermaine's current best friend.
- Gloomy Goth: Winona calls Jermaine her and the other Luv Monsters' best friend after they rush over to the park and try to help save his life following him getting shot in the arms, back, chest, and stomach MULTIPLE times by a white policeman.
- Harry Potter: Ron Weasley quickly becomes Harry's best friend, and sticks with him for the rest of the series, through the good and the bad. Hermione also becomes Harry's other best and most loyal friend after he and Ron save her from the Troll. She and Ron tend to be more Vitriolic Best Buds with a helping of Belligerent Sexual Tension thrown in. Eventually Fiery Redhead (and future wife) Ginny, resident Cloud Cuckoo Lander Luna, and the bumbling Nice Guy Neville become Harry's other closest friends, the six of them forming a group of True Companions. Luna even painted a mural of the other five to show how much she valued their friendships.
- Harry’s father, James befriended Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew upon meeting them en route to Hogwarts. They called themselves “The Marauders”. Their friendship continued in adulthood, until Peter betrayed James and his wife and Harry’s mother, Lily, by revealing their location to Voldemort.
- Severus Snape was this to Harry’s mother, Lily, until Snape’s Worst Memory
- Holiday Heroes: In "True Friends," Annette refers to herself as Jermaine's bestie at the end of the letter she writes him while he's in the hospital. When she comes to see him off after he's discharged from the hospital at the end of the chapter, he calls her his best friend.
- Idlewild (2023): Nell and Fay. They spend nearly all their time together, are close as can be, and even called themselves "the F&N unit".
- Magic Hour:
- The mermaids Arabella and Calista are best friends. During the second half of "Love by the Sea," Arabella calls Jermaine one of her best friends as well.
- Ophelia and Clarisa are best friends because of their shared love of art, fairy tales, and princesses.
- Mangoverse: Shulamit and Rivka grow into best friends, with them bonding intensely during the course of The Second Margo. They continue to be close after this and help each other out in everything.
- In The Neverending Story, Atreyu and Bastian become best friends after Bastian finally enters Fantasia. Subverted later on when Bastian's power goes to his head and Atreyu leaves in disgust, even battling him atop the Ivory Tower. Double-subverted in the end, when Bastian shows repentance and Atreyu forgives him, helping him return home and taking all of Bastian's unfulfilled obligations in Fantasia upon him.
- Played With in Reflections of Eterna: Aldo Rakan and Robert Epine are best friends, but they understand their relationship very differently. For Robert, it means Undying Loyalty towards Aldo, to the point of Cruel to Be Kind. For Aldo, however, their friendship means merely giving Robert the second pick of trophies (after his own, of course) on his quest for power.
- In A Song of Ice and Fire, there are several examples:
- Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark had the friendship that took down the Targaryen dynasty.
- Ilyrio Mopatis and Varys are a rather villainous example, as they're trying to destabilize the Seven Kingdoms for their own benefit.
- Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly cement a quick bond when the latter arrives to the Wall.
- Jaime Lannister and his cousin Daven are shown to be this, as the former is the "Kingslayer" to everyone except Daven, who knows him intimately and can attest to Jaime's true character.
- Aegon Targaryen's best friend was his bastard half-brother Orys Baratheon. He specifically launched the War of Conquest because King Argilac the Arrogant refused to marry off his daughter to Orys and even killed Aegon's messenger to make a point. The Targaryens killed Argilac in return and entrusted the Stormlands to Orys.
- For some inexplicable reason, Dandelion the Quirky Bard is Geralt's only associate who sticks with him through the good and the bad throughout The Witcher novels and games.
- In the first Warrior Cats book, the first Clan cat the main character Firestar met was Graystripe, and when he joined the Clan they instantly became best friends. Throughout the series, they go through thick and thin together, and while Firestar is leader he makes Graystripe his deputy. Even in Graystripe's Vow, when Graystripe is the oldest cat in ThunderClan and Firestar is long dead, he still thinks about his best friend frequently and regularly speaks of him to younger cats.
- World's Greatest Animals: At the beginning of "Prehistoric Pals," Jermaine calls Alice his best friend. Considering how long they've been friends, everything they have in common, and how much she enjoys hanging out with him, it's clear that the feeling is mutual.
Live-Action TV
- The Barrier: The Minister of Health Luis and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Álvaro are this to each other. From Luis' perspective, the fact that many of the people that he can call friends are putting up with him only because of his status makes the situation verge on Only Friend.
- Castle: Ryan and Esposito are best friends with Esposito being the Best Man at Ryan's wedding. Almost borders on Those Two Guys since they are rarely seen apart. Lanie is also Beckett's best friend and is not above calling her out mostly in regards to Kate's obvious feelings for Castle.
- Dexter: Batista is likely the closest thing Dexter Morgan has to one. He's one of the few people Dexter genuinely likes, although they rarely interact in later seasons.
- First Kill: Ben and Juliette have been this for each other from childhood.
- Ganbare!! Robocon: Robocon's best friend is Makoto. He's the most insistent about Robocon joining the family, often sneaks him into the house without his parent's knowledge, frequently showers him with praise and is closer to him than any of his siblings.
- Goodbye Charlie: George is Charlie's best friend. George wants to help Charlie, but has different moral guidelines from Charlie that make it hard for him to do so.
- High Fidelity:
- After they broke up, Simon became Rob's. He also works in her store.
- Mac's Cameron's, and he's not pleased to learn he broke contact with Mac over his relationship with his sister Rob collapsing after learning she'd actually cheated on him.
- In My Skin: Bethan has two, Travis and Lydia. They almost constantly hang out and all support each other, though Bethan never lets them know about everything she deals with. Poppy temporarily also becomes a best friend of Bethan's (though she wants more) but this ends after they kiss.
- Kamen Rider:
- Kamen Rider Gaim: Mitchy starts off as Kouta's best friend, and for a time was the only person he trusted to talk to about his suspicions on Yggdrasill and the Helheim Forest. Unfortunately their friendship gets broken to Mitchy's Sanity Slippage, growing jealousy of Kouta and eventual defection to the Overlord Inves. Kouta however still considers his best friend, to the point of allowing Mitchy to kill him just to give him a chance at redemption.
- Kamen Rider Ghost: Makoto Fukami was Takeru Tenkuji's best friend as a child. They were separated when Makoto and his sister Kanon were trapped in the Gamma World, and when the two finally reunite Makoto has come to view him as a rival. They do become friends again after Takeru sacrifices his first chance at life to save Kanon.
- Kamen Rider Ex-Aid has an interesting case in Parado, a Bugster born out of Emu's desire for a friend to play video games with after he was infected by the Bugster Virus. Post-Heel–Face Turn he's able to fulfill this role.
- Kamen Rider Build sees Sento and Ryuga become best pals, confidantes and back-to-back fighters over the course of the series.
- L.A.'s Finest:
- Syd and Nancy, along with being police partners, definitely are this. Both call and will help each other out when off work with different things (illegal ones included), clearly caring deeply. In fact, they seem to be each others only friends most of the time.
- Izzy's is Letti, a girl she hangs out regularly with from her school.
- My Dead Ex: Charley and Wren are this for each other. They both give each other constant support and advice.
- One of Us is Lying:
- Keely is Cooper's best friend, making her willing to pretend she's his girlfriend and thus cover up that he's gay.
- Janae was Simon's best friend, and is left devastated after he dies.
- Psych: Despite their bickering and snarking Sean and Gus are thick as thieves.
- Scrubs:
- From collage to the present day, J.D. and Turk have been practically married, to the point that Carla, Turk's actual wife, is jealous of their relationship and frequently half seriously jokes that Turk loves J.D. more.
- It took a while, and they defiantly started on a bad foot, but Elliot and Carla eventually firmly became so close that Carla considered Elliot closer to her than her own two sisters. There even times that, much like Turk and J.D., they seemed more into each other than their boyfriends.
- The Janitor and Ted (of all characters). The Janitor is the only one to be consistently nice to Ted (for the most part) and Ted is one of the few characters The Janitor actually trusts enough to hear his opinion.
- Shockingly, Kelso of all people becomes this to Dr. Cox in season 8 when he begins helping Dr. Cox navigate being the new chief of medicine.
- Sex/Life: Billie and Sasha have been best friends for years. While they have different lives (Billie's married with two kids at the start, Sasha's happily single) they remain close and always there for each other.
- The Summer I Turned Pretty:
- Laurel and Susannah have been best friends for years. Every summer, they vacation together at Susanna's house with their kids (their husbands too generally, though not always).
- Belly is best friends with another girl named Taylor.
- You Me Her:
- Emma and Carmen are these, living in the same neighborhood while doing things such as yoga together often while they confide with each other.
- Izzy and Nina are not only this, but also roommates who attend the same college classes pursing a psychology degree. In fact, the two of them are so close, it goes right into Pseudo-Romantic Friendship.
- Young Sheldon: In "Snoopin' Around and the Wonder Twins of Atheism", Coach Wilkins claims his wife is his best friend. George might not even be Wilkins's best male friend, but at least George is Wilkins's best white friend. Considering that Wilkins' wife ends up cheating on him and getting pregnant, this isn't exactly the best scenario.
Puppet Shows
- This is the central source of conflict in "Friends at Play" from Bear in the Big Blue House. Tutter is greatly hurt when Ojo refers to the rabbit Christine as her "best friend." Bear eventually helps smooth things over by explaining that it's possible for someone to have more than one best friend, which everyone is willing to go along with, the traditional definition of "best friend" notwithstanding.
Tabletop Games
- Seizhi/Suzy in Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine, despite being known as The Best Friend, is a deconstruction. A lot of Seizhi's issues relate to having been literally created to be Chuubo/Shokyou's best friend, leading to a desperate pursuit of something, anything, outside that role to give him definition and make him more real.
Theatre
- Goodbye Charlie: George is Charlie's best friend. With Charlie's new sex, George is tempted, but rejects the romantic possibilities. Charlie, on the other hand is open to them.
Video Games
- American Arcadia: Angela becomes this to Trevor as she helps to break him out of Arcadia. While Angela original was only helping Trevor as a way to strike out against Walton Media, the longer she spends helping Trevor, the more she cares about him as a person. She is also the only one who genuinely cares about him as Breakout was just a fake group Vivian Walton set up as part of the show and American Arcadia's viewers only cared about Trevor as part of the show. When Trevor finally gets out, he ends up living with Angela and credits her as the reason he didn't turn out like Vivian.
- ANNO: Mutationem: Ayane is Ann's close friend and supportive hacker. Though there several moments when Ayane acts rather 'affectionate' towards Ann, the two always got each other's back.
- Batman: The Telltale Series: Bruce Wayne's best friend in this continuity is.... complicated:
- His First Friend as a child was Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot. With their parents as friends and them going to the same private school, Bruce and Oz naturally became thick as thieves, almost quite literally as Oz was somewhat of a bad influence on Bruce, getting them into trouble often, though that seemed to be what Bruce liked about him. Unfortunately, this wouldn't last into adulthood, mostly due to Bruce's father Thomas Wayne. To explain, Thomas Wayne, in partnership with Mayor Hamilton Hill, drugged Oswald's mother Esther with a mind altering compound that rendered Esther incurably insane so they could take land Esther wouldn't sell to them. When Oswald returns to Gotham in the present, despite seeming still friendly at first, as the episodes continue, Oswald makes it clear he doesn't seen any difference between Bruce and Thomas and will carry out vengeance by ruining Bruce's life, namely by stealing him company and turning Gotham against him.
- Harvey Dent was arguably Bruce's closest friend in his civilian identity at the start of the series. The pair of them believe that they could make Gotham a better and teamed up to get Harvey elected as Mayor to replace the insanely corrupt Hamilton Hill. Should the player so choice, Bruce can be incredibly loyal to Harvey, even going so far as to promise Harvey will still get Bruce's money for the campaign even as Harvey has to distance himself from Bruce due the scandal with Thomas Wayne's crimes and even stop Harvey from receiving the classic Two-Face facial scars as Batman. Unfortunately, just like with Oswald, it doesn't last as Harvey will catch Bruce with Selina Kyle, who he was casually dating, and assuming Bruce slept with her even if the player chose not too. This combined with Oswald drugging him causes Harvey's mental state to spiral until the tradition Two-Face persona surfaces. The second personally begins to take over Harvey until he starts going as far as to use his position as mayor to bomb parts of Gotham, killing several civilians in a self absorbed quest to be the one who stops the Children of Arkham and then attempts to burn down Wayne Manor. If the player chooses to stop Oswald and instead of Harvey at the end of episode 4, Harvey will demand Bruce face him (pun not intend) at Wayne Manor less he execute hostages where Bruce can actually coax the real Harvey back out and Harvey will apologize for what he has done and ask Bruce remember him the way he was before as he attempts to shoot himself, though thankfully Bruce will stop him.
- In season 2, John Doe, aka the future Joker, shockingly becomes this, at least definitely on John's end and possibly Bruce's too should the player chose to reciprocate. Despite Bruce's rocky introduction to John in the first season, when he shows up again, John in the span of just the first episode names Bruce as his emergency contact, gives Bruce a get well card when Lucius Fox dies, and provides Bruce a lead on The Riddler. This continues through the season as John follows Bruce's advice to a tee while helping with him with Harley Quinn and Mr. Freeze when infiltrating The Pact. If the player makes the right decisions in the 4th episode, John will actually become a vigilante inspired by Batman rather than a criminal. While John's fragile mental state eventually breaks him and he becomes willing to kill to enact his own vision of justice and has to be sent back to Arkham by Batman, but if even then Bruce reaffirms that they are still friends, the end credits will show Bruce visiting an excited John in Arkham showing that they really are still friends and Bruce hasn't given up on John.
- As Batman, his best friend is predictably Lieutenant/Commissioner Gordon. While in a lot of the first season, Gordon was very hesitant to trust Batman, by the start of season 2, they are full on partners with Gordon trusting Batman's advice in the police's work. While the player can hurt their relationship by making choices that Gordon would view as a betrayal, the can alternatively be incredibly loyal to Gordon in the face of Amanda Waller basically taking over all law enforcement activities while investigating the super villain team The Pact. While it will be tested as Gordon begins suspecting Bruce has turned to crime (which is actually just Bruce undercover in The Pact) and Batman won't bring Bruce in (for obvious reasons) and Gordon will try to bring in Catwoman instead despite knowing she and Batman are friends, Gordan will apologize to Batman for this in episode 5 and tell him working cases with him feels like what he is meant to do with his life.
- Dragon Age:
- Varric Tethras is Hawke's best friend in Dragon Age II, as evidenced by him being the one person who knew where the Champion was all along in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Having served as a sidekick to both the Champion of Kirkwall and the Herald of Andraste, it is pretty obvious with whom he shares a deep personal bond and whom he accompanies out of respect and a sense of common cause.
- An Inquisitor who maxes out Dorian's friendship in the third game without romancing him will get to hear the mage describe them as "my best and only friend" during the celebration following the main game's final battle.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Link is Saria's closest friend; much to Mido's chagrin. The narrative emphasises it by first having her give Link the Fairy Ocarina as a parting gift, when he first leaves Kokiri Forest. And later, she teaches him her song while they're in the Sacred Grove, so he'll be able to communicate wlth her no matter how far they're apart. Though they're eventually forced to part ways for good, after Saria awakens as a Sage, she hands him her Forest Medallion as a memento of their imperishable friendship.
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Link grew up with Mayor Bo's daughter, Ilia, who's shown to be his best friend in Ordon Village by tending to Epona for him. She also made the Horse Call for him, to wish him well on his journey to deliver the Ordon Sword and Shield to Hyrule Castle, but was abducted by King Bulblin before she had the chance.
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Prince Sidon isn't Link's friend at first since he doesn't know who he is. Once he realizes that Link was very close to Mipha, who was Sidon's sister, Sidon treats Link as his best buddy and tries to make him feel welcome among the other Zoras in Zora's Domain. After Link manages to stop the rampaging divine beast that is Vah Ruta, Sidon tells Link that he'll always be his most treasured friend and is welcome to visit him anytime he wants.
- Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah, and Liara T'soni in the original Mass Effect trilogy gradually become Commander Shepard's closest confidantes (although Tali and Garrus are Promoted to Love Interest in part two and Liara is pretty much Shepardsexual from the get-go). Depending on whether the player romances one of them, either the other one or all three of them qualify for this trope. Overall, Garrus is best able to identify with Shepard as a fellow soldier and leader and the needs that come with those, Tali places absolute faith in Shepard's abilities as a leader and always supports his/her decisions, while Liara is best at being consistently able to get Shepard to drop their stoic mask and share their worries and stresses with a sympathetic ear. It's noted that out of all squadmates that Shepard gathers and assembles throughout their journey, only Garrus and Tali join Shepard in all three games. Liara too joins Shepard across the trilogy, but while she is an NPC during the second game's main campaign, she is a playable squadmate throughout the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC which is pivotal to the whole story. Even with her non-involvement throughout the second game's main plotline, she is responsible for retrieving Shepard's body and gives it to Cerberus in order to revive them. On the non-playable squadmate side (except for the Wham Episode at the second game), Joker is also the only character who is guaranteed to be by Shepard's side for the entire trilogy, given his role as the pilot of Shepard's ship.
- In the interactive romance novel Moonrise, one of the love interests, Rosario, is the player character's best friend and roommate. They and the player enjoyed many college antics before the start of the game.
- The Protagonist of Persona 4 and The Lancer of the Investigation Team, Yosuke Hanamura: not only does the latter frequently dub the Protagonist "partner" and vice versa, but he explains in Spin-Off Sequel Persona 4 Arena that "best friend" isn't enough to describe their relationship.
- Ryuji from Persona 5 is the first ally The Protagonist makes, and even calls himself "[his] best friend" during one scene.
- Johnny Gat in the Saints Row series is established as the Playa/Boss' best friend, to the point where the two of them would risk their and other Saints' lives to help each other at the drop of a hat. In Saints Row 2, while Johnny is in the hospital, the Boss is permanently in a bad mood — the longest period of intense concern they ever show for anyone in the games (with only their brief Anti-Heroic BSoD over Carlos' death coming close).
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Sega introduced Tails as Sonic's best bud, in part 2. Since then, no matter the game, Tails is almost always on hand to lend Sonic his support: whether it's giving him a lift in The Tornado, or whipping up gadgets to help him out (e.g. Sonic Colors).
- Touhou Project:
- Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame are best friends to one another, with Marisa being Reimu's closest companion and partner when it comes to resolving incidents.
- Patchouli Knowledge seems to be Remilia's best friend, and it's worth noting that she lives in the Scarlet Devil Mansion because Remilia lets her stay there, as opposed to being one of Remilia's servants. Alternatively, Remilia's best friend may be her chief maid Sakuya Izayoi, with whom she shares a deep mutual bond with. In Imperishable Night, when the two are on their own, they're even shown to trade banter like best pals rather than master and servant.
- Yuyuko Saigyouji and Yukari Yakumo boast a friendship of over 500 years. While Yukari generally sees most people, human or youkai, as pawns on her chess board, she still regards Yuyuko as an equal and clearly cares for her, and Yuyuko is one of the few who can keep up with Yukari's machinations.
- While Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya were rivals a long time ago, the two seem to have bonded over all the years they've spent co-ruling the Moriya Shrine together. Both their profiles in Mountain of Faith mention that they get along well with each other despite disagreeing on a lot of things.
- In Xenoblade Chronicles 1, Shulk's best friend is Reyn, who is The Big Guy to Shulk's Badass Bookworm. The two have known each other since they were children, and Reyn is always supporting Shulk throughout the entirety of the game. A big part of Reyn's character arc halfway through the game is his worry that Shulk has outgrown him, but even so resolves to stick by him.
- In Undertale, the monster prince Asriel Dreemurr and Chara, the first human to fall into the Underground after the Barrier was erected, have been best friends in the backstory, but their friendship ended very, very badly due to circumstances they had no control over: Chara fell ill and died, but not before asking Asriel to take them to see the surface one last time. Asriel complied, but the terrified villagers assumed that he killed Chara and lynched him for it. Asriel crawled back into the undergrou'nd before dying and turning to dust in the royal garden. Much later, a flower from said garden was injected with human determination by Alphys, creating Flowey, the Big Bad of the game, while Chara will either find peace enough to make Flowey let go of his guilt if the Player pushes through the Pacifist route, or finally snaps so hard if the Player goes into Genocide Route.
- Minecraft: Story Mode:
- The title of Jesse's best friend has been held by three different characters:
- First, there's their pet pig Reuben. Being smarter than the average pig, Reuben is invaluable to Jesse and is their most loyal and constant companion in the first 4 episodes of the season. Reuben ends up dying saving Jesse and by extension the world at the end of episode 4, a fact that still affects well into the second season.
- Then there is Olivia, Jesse's builder friend. At the start of the series, not only are they part of the same build crew, but they seem to live together in Jesse's treehouse. It's Jesse's speech that gives Olivia her second wind when she has lost all faith in everything when they are in the Farlands.
- However, by the end of the series, Petra is uncontestably Jesse's real best friend. At the start of the series, while Petra was always nice to Jesse and offers to let them tag along on her adventures, Petra is a little annoyed at how excited Jesse is at the prospect. As the series goes on however, Jesse and Petra become joined at the hip. By the start of season 2, Jesse has become something of a Living Emotional Crutch to Petra, as a major sub plot of the season is how poorly Petra is adapting to her friends and especially Jesse having less time to go on adventures with her. One of the endings has Jesse choose to leave their duties behind and begin Walking the Earth with Petra.
- It also worth noting that Lukas considers both Jesse and Petra his best friends.
- The Founder from episode 5 (real name Isa) is best friends with her pet Benedict, The Eversource chicken.
- Jack the adventurer and Nurm the mapmaking villager from Season 2 are both best friends and business partners (though considering the way Jack talks about Nurm both when he is and isn't around, it might be something else).
- Oxblood from episode 3 of Season 2 is best friends with Mooshroom cow he named Jeffie.
- The title of Jesse's best friend has been held by three different characters:
Web Originals
- The Debbie and Carrie Show: The title characters were this at the start of the saga. They later had a Relationship Upgrade.
- Dina Marino is best friends with Siria Ashen and in the past was best friends with Sofia Pipitone and Laura Pizzo.
- Gameboys - Pearl to the two leads. Cairo & Gavreel will often consult her first for any problems in their relationship.
- Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures:
- Kuromi and My Melody, a far cry from their relationship in Anime Onegai My Melody. In "Jinx", My Melody actually calls Kuromi her best friend, and in "My Melody's Friendship Ultra Blast", Kuromi is the first to notice that My Melody is stressed and give her sound, heartfelt advice.
- Badtz-Maru and Keropi are always hanging out together, gaming and doing various things like going to the movies together.
- In If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device, Malcador the Sigilite is upgraded from Emperor's most trusted servant to his best (and likely only) friend, although he didn't see himself as Emperor's equal.
- The Most Popular Girls in School: Trisha see her own two best friends, Brittnay and Mackenzie, as this even if the latter two are Vitriolic Best Buds.
- RWBY: Jaune and Pyrrha's relationship. They're basically unseparable. Pyrrha does want a Relationship Upgrade, though.
Western Animation
- Amphibia: Anne Boonchuy is Sprig's first, and best, friend. By the time of Season 2, she's basically become a Cool Big Sis to both him and Polly, given the whole Family of Choice aspect and her becoming more responsible and less selfish, not to mention a diehard Shipper on Deck for him and Ivy. Despite having grown closer to the Plantars as a whole, it's clear that Sprig and Anne's friendship and bond is something that matters dearly to each of them. Anne even calls Sprig her 'best friend, in this or any other world' when begging Andrias to spare him when he takes Sprig hostage to force the heroes to surrender the charged Calamity Box. Witnessing the tyrant apparently give Sprig a Disney Death in response proves to be a strong enough emotional response to unlock Anne's Super Mode, and when he returns to the room afterwards, Sprig's more concerned about Anne's condition than his own near-death experience.
- Zuko becomes this to Aang towards the tail end of Avatar: The Last Airbender which carries into the sequel comics. By the time of The Legend of Korra seventy years later, Korra goes to Zuko for advice about what he'd do because he's the person that knew Aang best. Even though Lin who was noted to also be quite close to him is in the same location.
- In Carl the Collector, Carl and Sheldon are best friends. Sheldon is a very good listener and is always there to support Carl.
- In Dragamonz, Dax's closest friend is Boaragon who he loves to battle with. When Dax is tasked with recruiting the leaders of the other factions so he can restore Dragamar to the way it was before Grimserver caused its separation, Boaragon is the first Dragamon to accompany him on his mission.
- On Franklin, Franklin and Bear are best friends and often spend time together, to the point where it's even often treated as wrong when they're not playing together. Meanwhile, Snail considers Franklin to be his best friend and often rides on his shoulder in a Parrot Pet Position, but never seems resentful of Franklin considering Bear to be his own best friend.
- The Flintstones: The Flintstones and the Rubbles are an entire family of best friends. Fred and Barney were best friends who met best friends Wilma and Betty, paired off and got married, and moved next door to each other. As neighbors, their pets Dino and Hoppy were de facto best friends. Fred and Wilma's daughter, Pebbles, and Barney and Betty's son, Bamm-Bamm, grew up together as best friends, but they started dating as teenagers and wound up getting married as adults, ultimately making their parents Best Friends-in-Law.
- Harley Quinn: The titular character was Ivy's First Friend and they've been best friends since. After a lot of heartbreak, they eventually have a Relationship Ugrade to girlfriends.
- Hey Arnold!: Most of the kids of P.S. 118 had a best friend to pair off with—the most prominent examples were Arnold and Gerald, and Helga and her best friend/assistant, Phoebe. An opposites attract duo in best friends Rich Alpha Bitch Rhonda and insect nerd Nadine. Even antagonists like the fifth grade bully Wolfgang had a best friend without whom he was rarely seen, Edmund.
- King Arthur & the Knights of Justice:
- Among the Knights, Wally and Brick are the dynamic duo, followed closely by Arthur and Lance. Less explicitly, so do Darren and Tone seem to get along very well. Squires Everett and Tyronne, although in competition for recognition, are rarely apart. Guinevere and her ladies-in-waiting Elaine and Mary are, of course, also as close as can be.
- As for cases of Villainous Friendship, Morgana and Viper have a strong case of Platonic Life-Partners going on, while team combinations Lucan-Blackwing and (for season 1) Bash-Blinder catch attention.
- In The Lion Guard, Kion's best friend and constant companion is Bunga, a honey badger who has known Kion ever since they were very young. Bunga even states that he will stick by Kion's side even if he ends up turning evil.
- Molly of Denali: Molly considers Tooey to be her best friend. They have been friends for a long time and hang out with each other more than anyone else.
- Pucca: Pucca and Garu only friends are Ching and Abyo, Ching being a very kind supportive friend to Pucca very much would love to see her best friend with Garu. Abyo is Garu’s best sparring friend, most of time fighting in arms like ninjas.
- In The Simpsons, Bart Simpson's default best friend and sidekick is Milhouse Van Houten, with whom he shares a close but abrasive relationship. In the episode "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore," Bart's sister Lisa becomes his new best friend when Milhouse temporarily moves out of town, while "The Haw-Hawwed Couple" sees him being forcibly adopted as a best friend by bully Nelson Muntz, only to two-time him with Milhouse. (By "The Debarted", Bart defines Nelson as his "other best friend.") It's also occasionally implied that even Milhouse is second to Santa's Little Helper.
- Total Drama
- Big Eater and Big Fun Owen's best friend turned out to be, of all people, Deadpan Snarker and Perpetual Frowner Noah. After becoming close in World Tour, they compete in the spin off The Ridonculous Race as a team. Their friendship is increased up to eleven in the spin-off babies show, Total DramaRama.
- Geoff was tight with all the guys of the Killer Bass back in Island, but The Ridonculous Race shows that his actual best friend is his bud Brody from back home, who he races with as a team in said spin-off. They are probably the single closest bromance in the entire franchise, to the point their team was almost named the Bromance Bros.
- Katie and Sadie are so close that the first ever team swap happened because they begged Chris to be on the same team and Izzy was nice enough to agree. Even their hair and clothes match.
- After Sierra grew out of her stalker phase (temporarily), Cody was willing to call her his best friend, but this was probably more to placate her desire to be more than friends.
- Cody's actual best friend is probably Harold, who he was in a band with and was Cody's most vocal supporter in the final stretch of World Tour.
- Cody is also this to Heather by default, being her Only Friend and all.
- After serving as Heather's toadies though most of Island, Beth and Lindsay genuinely became best friends to the point that Beth plans to take Lindsay with her to Paris if she wins the million.
- Cameron, Mike, and Zoey are literally called the best friend trio.
- Jasmine is the first person to encourage Samey (real name Sammy) to stand up to her abusive sister Amy. Likewise, Jasmine is the only one Samey trust when she impersonates Amy.
- Subverted with Dave and Shawn. They were close though most of the competition, but as soon as Dave learns that Sky had a boyfriend the whole time and was faking liking him, Dave commits to sabotaging the final challenge even if it means depriving Shawn his final chance to make things right with Jasmine.
- Priya gravitated towards Mille early on. Though Priya carrying Mille though almost every challenge (sometimes literally) she begins feeling the same way toward Priya, even canceling the tell all book that criticized the other contestants and Priya's family because she didn't want to hurt Priya.
- Raj and Wayne are the only duo to actual rival Geoff and Brody for how joined at the hip they are. They are the only two contestants in the main series to share a label (The Hockey Bros fittingly enough). Before the season came out, fans were convinced by the trailers that they would be the announced gay couple (They were half right).
- Chase and Ripper formed a bit of a bromance due Chase actually liking Ripper's grosser personality traits while Ripper is one of the most tolerant of Chase's ego. That being said, even Ripper has his limits with Chase.
- Surprisingly, Julia and MK become this too each other in 2024 season 2 despite Julia getting MK eliminated in the first season. Even more surprisingly, it genuine despite both hating the idea of having friends. They bond over their many similarities (both are Deadpan Snarker's, both generally dislike other people, both are not only fine with cheating, but love doing it) and spend almost every confession of the season together. Julia likes MK so much in fact that she saves MK from elimination, feels guilty about sabotaging her, and plans to use the million to start a podcast with her. MK for her part doesn't take Julia sabotaging her or later eliminating her personally and is the only one on her team in the finale. The pair even hug after MK's elimination.
- Work It Out Wombats!: The wombats each have a best friend. Malik's best friend is Sammy, Zadie's best friend is JunJun, and Zeke's best friend is Louisa. Out of all of the best friend pairs, Zeke and Louisa seem to be the closest, as they often play together and seem to be joined at the hip. Also doubles as Interspecies Friendship, since Sammy is a snake, JunJun is an eagle, and Louisa is a tarsier.