Odd Friendship

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    "We are as close as an elderly gay man and a straight teenage boy can be."
    —Mission Hill

    A friendship which develops between two characters that would seem unlikely to be friends. Through their friendship, they learn more about each other and about themselves.

    The characters in an Odd Friendship may have little to do with each other initially—or even begin as bitter enemies—and their friendship grows over time.

    Distinguished from an Odd Couple in that these are usually two characters in an ensemble show, or a regular character and a Recurrer; whereas an Odd Couple usually consists of the two main characters in a show.

    See also: Intergenerational Friendship, Action Duo, Vitriolic Best Buds.

    Compare Friendly Enemy.

    Examples of Odd Friendship include:

    Anime & Manga

    • May and Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist. A cute little princess with an adorable pet panda and a serial killer out on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. They get along surprisingly well.
    • In Tower of God, Anak, who plots to kill the entire family of Zahard, and, well, Androssi Zahard.
    • Toji Suzuhara (sports jock) and Kensuke Aida (Military Otaku) in Neon Genesis Evangelion
    • Ichigo and Minto of Tokyo Mew Mew. And Ichigo and Zakuro, and Ichigo and Ryou.
    • Ahiru (or Duck) and Fakir in Princess Tutu.
    • Genki Girl Yuzuriha Nekoi and Gentle Giant Kusanagi Shiyu, in X 1999 with a twist: she is a Dragon of Heaven, he is a Dragon of Earth, two people from forces fighting against each other. Also, it later changes to an Odd Couple of sorts after Yuzuriha confesses love to Kusanagi, and he apparently returns the affections, though his intentions remain platonic since she's a 14-year-old girl. Kusanagi seems to be the only one aware that she is supposed to be the enemy, though.
    • Asuna and Ayaka's friendship from Mahou Sensei Negima mostly consists of beating each other up and insulting one another. They really are friends though, read any of their arguments as if they were friends and it makes way more sense than if read as if they really did hate each other. Such as this one. (Read ahead about four pages also.)
    • In Naruto, Hidan and Kakuzu certainly have a very odd friendship. Despite bickering like crazy, they still look out for each other's wellbeing and seem to be genuinely concerned for each other. Even though they initially don't seem to get along at all, it can be seen that when the time comes and they get serious, they work together quite nicely.
      • It gets weirder than that. The reason they're partners is because Kakuzu has very little patience and killed his past partners. However, Hidan is immortal, and Kakuzu can patch him up if needed. Also Kakuzu attacks very indiscriminately, but with Hidan's immortality that's not a problem and allows unexpected strategies.
    • Admirals Lindy and Leti from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. The former is laid-back and very approachable while her best friend oozes professionalism from every pore.
      • The roles reverse when there's alcohol involved; Leti downs wine by the bottle while Lindy desperately tries to keep her under control.
    • Virtually any combination of any two Yes! Precure 5 characters who were not already friends at the end of the first episode. The one that seems to have surprised the fandom the most is Komachi and Urara, although Rin and Karen are most in the spirit of the trope.
    • Gil and Alice from Pandora Hearts are like this. Connected through their care of their fellow pal Oz They grow an odd bond though neither of them are likely to admit it,so they settle for giving each other endearing insults such as "Seaweed-head" and "Baka-Rabbit". They begin to trust and like each other more throughout the series.
    • Kyon and Haruhi from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Kyon is laid-back and doesn't believe in anything strange or supernatural and Haruhi is an over-the-top, borderline sociopath who starts her own club (ironically at Kyon's suggestion) devoted to the strange and supernatural. Despite this, they've become best friends who can trust each other with almost anything.
      • Kyon and Itsuki as well. And in the 7th book of the novel series, Yuki and Mikuru develop one.
        • Kyon and Itsuki are a really strange case. On the surface they seem to be buddies, as they are often seen hanging out and playing board games in the club room. However, Itsuki irritates Kyon to no end due to his tendency to go into long-winded metaphysical/psychological spiels, his playful teasing, Poker face, and his willingness to go along with Haruhi's outrageous schemes. That being said, they are what you would call "friends" as Kyon is the only member of the club whom Itsuki can share his theories, and Kyon reluctantly comes to admit that he trusts Itsuki.
    • Plucky Comic Relief Helen and uber stoic Deneve in Claymore.
    • Lithuania and Poland from Axis Powers Hetalia. Lithuania is gentle and serious-minded, whereas Poland is bossy and frivolous, but the two are Heterosexual Life Partners at the very least. America and Japan have also entered one in the modern day comics; America is talkative, energetic and somewhat ditzy, Japan quiet, emotionally reserved and relatively level-headed, but that doesn't stop them from bonding over video games or celebrating holidays together.
      • In the anime dub, France acknowledges that the friendship between Germany and Italy "makes absolutely no sense."
    • Gohan and Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z (Piccolo originally kidnaps the young Gohan for some Training from Hell and forces him to fight against the invading Saiyans).
    • Kuwabara and Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho, who are usually hostile toward each other, but have each other's back when it counts the most, particularly at the climax of the Chapter Black saga.
    • Book Dumb Gentle Giant Kurita and Trigger Happy Sociopathic Hero Hiruma from Eyeshield 21. Kurita is huge, friendly, gifted with physical strength (although he does work very hard) and enjoys football because it's football and he likes playing with his friends. Hiruma is skinny, barely average in a lot of athletic areas, ruthless, terrifying and only interested in winning. They're best friends.
    • Harima and Yakumo in School Rumble.
    • Shizuo Heiwajima (who personifies the Naritaverse tendency towards Crazy Awesome and Dysfunction Junction like no other) and Tom Tanaka (Nice Guy and Only Sane Man) from Durarara!!. His Intergenerational Friendship with the Yakuza princess Akane Awakusu also counts.
    • Conrad and Yozak of Kyo Kara Maoh weren't actually an odd friendship when they became friends. Both halfbreeds about the same age, Conrad's father rescued Yozak, only survivors of their regiment in which Yozak was Conrad's trusted lieutenant, it's all good. But when the audience finds out they're best friends it seems extremely odd. Court-raised perfect guy with absolute discipline and fanatical loyalty and the cross-dressing Kansai-drawling muscle-bound spy with no respect for authority?
      • Not to mention Conrad threatened to kill Yozak in the second episode they appeared in together, if he messed with the king. That scene is so much weirder and you totally feel for Yozak (and his attitude toward Yuuri, the new center of Conrad's life) when you watch it knowing they've been close friends for at least fifty years, and the only real friend either has that's still alive.
      • Their two major fights are also frighteningly serious, one because of a cursed mountain that turns people against each other and the other during Conrad's apparent Face Heel Turn on a Mission from God. Interestingly, what Yozak's protecting in the second one he only resolved to protect in the first place partly for Conrad's sake.
    • Joe and Gomamon from Digimon Adventure certainly fit this. Of all the human-digimon pairs, they're the two who have the most incompatible personalities, yet they get on surprisingly well.
    • Unanimated Lucky Star manga discussed why would Hiyori, "an Otaku in every sense of the word" be friends with "honour students" Minami and Yutaka.


    Comic Books

    • Of course, there's the iconic friendship of Batman and Superman. One would not expect the big blue boy scout who works with the law to consider the terrifying vigilante with issues his best friend, but there it is. Heck, Supes is even solar-powered, while most incarnations of the Bat have him refusing to operate in the daytime. Their methods, attitudes, and philosophies differ hugely. But that won't stop them from teaming up to curbstomp anyone stupid enough to come to Earth looking for a fight.
      • Their friendship was not portrayed as particularly unlikely and rocky during the Golden Age, Silver Age, and for much of the Bronze Age. It wasn't until the Crisis on Infinite Earths Continuity Reboot that suddenly the idea of them being friends was considered odd.
      • And yet it also makes sense- both are alienated from humanity in a way. Superman due to his powers and alien heritage, and Batman because... well, he's Batman. Theirs is a friendship founded on mutual respect, trust, and admiration, even if they don't always see eye-to-eye. In what may well be a moment of heartwarming, both of them hope and assume that, should they die, the other one will be there.
        • Not to mention that both of them are hardline adherents to the "no-kill rule", and they both lost their (biological) parents at a young age. And despite the fact their very different respective outlooks on life, they both have a strong sense of right and wrong.
    • Cable, a messiah wannabe/ Time Traveler/ Shell Shocked Senior, and Deadpool, a Bunny Ears Assassin/ Deadpan Snarker/ enemy of the fourth wall.
      • Deadpool and any of his friends, really.
    • From Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl, we have one of the most extreme cases of Intergenerational Friendship: Lenore, an imaginative, Chaotic Stupid, 10 years old, dead girl and Ragamuffin, a Deadpan Snarker, level-headed, Magnificent Bastard vampire, trapped in a cotton doll.
    • Wolverine and everybody, Nightcrawler being a particularly prominent example. In the Claremont run where both characters first appeared, they were together almost all the time.
    • Archie Comics: Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge. Their friendship goes against the very logic that governs every aspect of the universe, and yet...
    • In Watchmen, Rorschach is a broke, insane, psychopathic vigilante, the only one operating after the Keene Act has passed. His best friend Dan Dreiberg, the Nite Owl II, retired after the Keene Act and kind of half became the mask to Rich Idiot With No Day Job. He's friendly to the point of being a doormat (look at when he invites Laurie to stay with him and she keeps talking over him.) Even in appearance they are opposites, Dan being tall, plump, brown-haired, and when he takes his glasses off, handsome, whereas Rorschach is incredibly short, skinny, red-haired, and is "fascinatingly ugly".
    • The short lived (2 issue) team-up of Spider-Man and Loki went a lot like this. Loki wants to save one of his mortal offspring from the Chaos Sorceress possessing her. Spider-Man wants to save the world from that sorceress (and get her to stop hitting on him). They work together. Awesomeness ensues. On Loki's end, complaining that Spider-Man isn't giving him enough respect as a god and wondering why mortals are all so weird. On Spider-Man's, wondering what working with a mostly-evil guy like Loki means and buying chili dogs to share with Loki.
      • Plus, at the end, Loki decided he owed Spidey one, and gave him a sort of talisman that he can cash in for that favor. Even though the arc is never brought up (again, it was only 2 issues) fans are hoping it could be a possible Chekhov's Gun to undo One More Day or something. Only time will tell.
      • Also, snarky god meets snarkier webslinger. Who doesn't want to read that?
    • Prior to the accident that forced them together forever, Reed Ritchards and Ben Grimm, near perfect personifications of the Hollywood Nerd and (seemingly) Dumb Jock, yet were the absolute best friends ever. Reed never missed one of Ben's football games, and Ben gave Reed the championship winning game ball, despite Reed not knowing the significance. Reed kept the ball forever.


    Film


    Literature

    • Pride and Prejudice: dour, brooding Darcy and light-hearted Bingley, particularly in the Keira Knightley movie—whenever they're together, Darcy seems itching to punch Bingley in the face. The vibe in the novel, on the other hand...
      • In this case the Ho Yay is all fanon. In the BBC TV adaptation they are clearly Heterosexual Life Partners, and their relationship in the novel can easily be interpreted that way too.
    • From Hell's Children: theirs Precision, an evil alien bent on killing all humans who’s best friend just happens to be a little human girl.
    • In Peter S. Beagle's "Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros", a professor is friends with what he insists is a talking Indian Rhinoceros. It says it's a unicorn. Despite this difference of opinion and other differences, it's a quite close friendship.
    • Spenser and Hawk from Robert B Parker's stories. Spenser is a moral, honour-bound PI and Hawk is a semi-sociopath who makes his living as an enforcer and has no qualms at all about killing.
    • The Lord of the Rings: Merry and the entire royal house of Rohan. Especially his close friendship with Eowyn.
      • Also Gimli and Legolas.
        • Especially odd given that, up to that point, Dwarves and Elves weren't on the best of terms and their parents didn't get along in The Hobbit.
    • This is the entire plot of The Actor And The Housewife, pairing a Colin-Firth-esque British movie star and a Mormon housewife/mother of four/part-time screenwriter. People think their best friendship is entirely strange.
    • Clear and Present Danger: Representatives Alan Trent (a gay Democrat from Massachusetts) and Sam Fellows (a Mormon Republican from Arizona), both members of the House Select Intelligence Committee. Later in the series, the oddness of the friendship is explicitly commented upon.
    • Griboyedov (tall, thin, coldly contemptuous, outwardly stoic, brilliant poet and playwright) and Bulgarin (fat, easily excited, trashy writer and scandalous journalist) in The Death of the Vazir Mukhtar.
    • In Percy Jackson and The Olympians- Clarisse and Silena. One's the daughter of Ares, God of War. The other's the daughter of Aphrodite, Goddess of Love.
    • Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens. The respective representatives of Heaven and Hell on Earth, over the milennia they've become more attached to Earth and each other (not like that) than to their respective sides.
      • Although the 'not like that' bit is debatable.
    • In Animorphs, Cassie the down-to-earth, Technical Pacifist farm girl is best friends with Rachel, a shopping-obsessed beauty who develops more and more (Dark Action Girl) Action Girl traits as the series progresses.
      • From the same series we have Ax, a stranded alien Straight Man who is nevertheless unintentionally hilarious, and his shorm (best friend) Tobias, an angsty human teenager accidentally stuck in the body of a red-tailed hawk (the two bonding as the "outsiders" of the otherwise human group). For added weirdness, Ax is technically Tobias' uncle as well.
      • There's also Jake, the serious and often guilt-laden leader with Marco, a Plucky Comic Relief guy who can also be quite serious and even ruthlessly strategic, but their comparably milder. K.A. Applegate seems to like this trope, though.
    • In Honor Harrington Sphinxians and Treecats have an interspecies friendship for each other.
    • Sharpe spends most of his time struggling against evil aristocrat officers, but has a long-standing friendship with one upper-class officer, William Lawford. The two of them were captured together in India and Lawford taught Sharpe to read and write while they were rotting in Tippoo Sultan's dungeons.
    • Marasi and Wayne in The Alloy of Law. She's an academic, impoverished noble, logically minded, girly-girl, who's a good shot with a rifle, whilst he's a rough thief who operates on Insane Troll Logic and thoroughly dislikes guns.


    Live Action TV

    • Seven of Nine and Naomi Wildman in Star Trek: Voyager.
      • We also have Seven and Captain Janeway, Tom Paris and Harry Kim, and the Doctor and ... well, everyone. You could also say Tom and Chakotay, but that was more like a cease-fire than an actual friendship.
      • Not to mention Neelix and Tuvok after the brain damage episode.
      • Spock and McCoy got there first.
    • Londo and G'Kar in Babylon 5 in the sense that there are times they're trying not to kill each other.
      • It is at least implied that this ends up being actual friendship, rather than a truce; some would argue that they're true friends by the time Season 4 is through.
    • Spike and Joyce on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
      • Spike and Dawn as well. Buffy's family seem to be the only people Spike treats with some measure of respect/hasn't attempted violence against. Though Spike and Joyce at least were both addicted to soap operas.
      • Andrew and Dawn seem to have gotten to this point by the end of the show, though they might have bonded over the shared position of The Smart Guy/The Chick. To the point where when the First tries to get Andrew to kill the Potentials, it repeatedly assures him that this will not include hurting Dawn.
    • To a certain extent, Maj. Winchester and Cpl. Klinger on Mash. (Although it was more of an "understanding" than an actual friendship.)
      • Klinger and Margaret also develop something of an understanding-bordering-on-friendship late in the series.
    • Blair and Jo on The Facts of Life began as an Anvilicious riff on Class Warfare and turn into a surprisingly subtle tale of people overcoming differences and becoming best friends in the process.
    • Sharon Cherski and Rayanne Graf in My So-Called Life.
      • Also, Brian Krakow and Rickie Vasquez.
    • Quark and Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Also, Odo and Garak. And Garak and Bashir. And Bashir and O'Brien.
    • On The Nanny Fran and Niles friendship is a departure from most sitcoms where the Butler and the Nanny characters would normally be enemies.
    • Towards the end of Firefly, Jayne and Book looked like they were heading in this direction.
    • Elliot and The Janitor in Scrubs. Sometimes it seems Janitor is only her friend just to piss J.D. off.
      • Although it is revealed that The Janitor has a crush on Elliot. He tried to propose to her once!
      • Not to mention The Janitor's "Brain Trust" buddies.
    • House and Wilson, anybody? They have nothing in common personality-wise, as one's generally empathic and just plain kind (Wilson), and the other is a sarcastic, narcissistic misanthrope. But all of Wilson's wives have been "damaged". He has a complex about rescuing people.
      • The main reason why they become friends is because they do not bore each other. House first noticed Wilson because Wilson was the only interesting thing at a medical conference they both attended (he ended up bailing Wilson out of jail).
    • In that same vein, how about Sherlock and John in the BBC series?
    • There are two of these in Stargate SG-1, both involving Colonel Jack O'Neill. First is O'Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson, who he thinks little of initially but by the end of Season 1, they're on their way to being best friends. The other is O'Neill and Teal'c. Teal'c was actually the dragon for SG-1's enemy and captured O'Neill and his team. Jack got through to him and got Teal'c to join their team. Jack has been Teal'c biggest ally and supporter ever since.
      • Jack and Teal'c aren't actually so odd. They may be polar opposites in build, mannerisms and skin color, but their personalities and backgrounds are more similar than any other two characters on the series.
      • There's actually a third one - the odd, antagonistic yet strangely friendly relationship between Jack O'Neill and Harry Maybourne. Jack's an honorable, courageous USAF officer (albeit with a very shadowy past), and Harry is a convicted traitor and every bit the weasel that that implies. Jack bailed Harry out of jail, and repeatedly let him go when he could have easily dumped him back into prison, no matter how much he annoyed him. Albeit, Harry proved himself quite useful on several occasions, but still, Jack got him his own planet in the end.
      • Also the friendship between Vala and Teal'c, who get remarkably close even though he's an honorable, stoic warrior and she's a volatile, unprincipled thief. In one of her early episodes, she even gets him to bump hips with her after scoring a goal in basketball.
    • In Stargate Atlantis, McKay and Beckett. McKay and anyone who would consider him a friend, really, the man is not easy to get along with.
      • Also, Ronon and McKay.. At least they are somewhat friends.. They seem to get along well for being opposites.
        • Might as well point out McKay/Sheppard. They spend an unusual amount of free time together despite the military-vs-scientist divide. They played that game-that-wasn't-really-a-game, they race RC cars down hallways in isolated parts of the city, and Sheppard was the only person McKay told that he intended to propose to Katie Brown.
          • Don't forget in "The Shrine" when McKay wakes up terrified of completely forgetting himself and immediately runs to find Sheppard.
    • Stargate Universe: Greer is a stoic soldier with a deadpanned humor, Eli is an excitable Geek a little too uncertain in himself. Greer sincerely respects him and offers him advice regarding his love life.
      • In fact, Eli is one of the few civilians Greer does sincerely respect.
    • Pullo and Vorenus on Rome.
    • Dan and Blair in Gossip Girl as of season 4.
      • Nate and Chuck. In the books they're not friends, but on the show they started out as Heterosexual Life Partners. Nate is a sweet, gentle borderline goody-two-shoes who at the start of the show has had a steady girlfriend since kindergarten. Chuck is a depraved, ruthless, manipulative bastard who sleeps with everything that enters his line of sight and tries to rape people on occasion (though oddly since the show started Nate has been the one jumping from girl to girl while Chuck has been consumed with Blair). Or as Gossip Girl herself puts it, they're a white knight and a dark prince.
    • Sheldon and Penny in The Big Bang Theory, or even Penny and anyone else in the group.
      • Sheldon and Raj and Wollowitz, too. He's such a Jerkass to everybody.
    • Dean Winchester and Castiel on Supernatural. You wouldn't think a very agnostic hunter and an obedient angel would get along very well, but they've developed an interesting relationship—one that has caused Castiel to doubt his angelic orders and duties.
      • Their friendship has actually escalated to the point where Castiel turns his back on Heaven after Dean pretty much begs him to help him and even stays behind to hold off an Archangel and possibly a few more of his brothers so they won't go after Dean.
      • Although, Cas has a few shades of Woman Scorned, particularly when Dean tries to say yes to Michael. Castiel takes it as a grievous insult, and well... it wasn't pretty.
          • Cas and Dean closeness does seem a bit odd if you decide to ignore the usual explanation, but they do fight alongside each other which breeds closeness. Also, Dean loves to tease and fool around with people, and The Comically Serious, Adorkable Cas would make an excellent fall guy. For Cas' part, well: it seems like he would struggle to develop close personal relations with anybody. Yes, he's likeable enough with plenty of good personal qualities (besides the obvious one), but he's extremely serious and has major trouble understanding non-verbal ( and even some types of verbal) cues, so and any overtures of friendship which he made to other people (particularly the angels, who all happen to be his work colleagues and aware of his excessive devotion to his duties) would likely be misinterpreted or seem too rehearsed. It's also likely that he has frequently misread and ignored the cues when other people/angels have tried to initiate friendship towards him, so its likely that the people who he ends up closest to are much more outgoing people who find that teasing him gently without his knowledge and listening to his charmingly peculiar conversational style are sufficiently entertaining reasons to forgive the trouble he has expressing his emotions. Also: as Dean also seems to be a) extremely bossy, b)very isolated beneath that social butterfly act of his ( especially after Sam starts doing demon blood) and c) a bit of a Stepford Smiler while Cas seems a) ridiculously obedient, b) probably very isolated and capable of deep loyalty, and c)fairly uninterested or unknowledgeable regarding facial and speech cues but able to mind-read), the whole thing might be considered a match made in heaven.
    • Eliot Spencer and Alec Hardison on Leverage. Eliot is the grouchy badass, while Hardison is the hyper tech genius. They spend much of the first few episodes hating each other, but end up with a grudging friendship.
    • Similarly, Angel characters Wesley Wyndham-Pryce (the strait-laced, stuck-up bookish Brit) and Charles Gunn (the street-smart, snarky, badass former gang member) form a very tight bond, despite later fighting over a girl.
    • Don't forget the grandmother of them all, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy from Star Trek: The Original Series. Kirk and Spock, especially, were... close. Very close. Close to the point where Kirk sacrificed his ship, his career, and almost his life to get Spock back. Is it a wonder these guys invented slash?
    • Skins. For goodness sake, Skins. Particularly in the second generation. JJ, Cook and Freddie seem to have nothing in common, but they're still friends. Also Effy and Pandora become friends in Season 1 despite having very different personalities. Pandora is The Ingenue and Effy Emotionless Girl.
      • Even more so in Gen 3 with Heterosexual Life Partners metal-head Rich and plucky comic relief Alo. They-along with Franky befriend Pollyannish Grace and, eventually, the rest of the Girl Posse. In the final episode, Mini even goes as far as to call herself Franky's best friend and has grown to deeply care about the girl who she once taunted and picked on.
    • Damon and Alaric from The Vampire Diaries. They may not be best friends yet, but they're certainly heading that way.
    • Harper and Alex from Wizards of Waverly Place. Again Harper is The Ingenue, while Alex is a darker character. Yet, they're best friends.
    • Brennan and Angela on Bones. Brennan is an Insufferable Genius and Angela is The Heart.
      • Booth and Brennan, total opposites of each other, yet close friends.
    • The entire cast of Glee with each other. Any two characters could easily qualify, but none so much as Artie and Puck.
      • Actually, Santana and Brittany could give Artie and Puck a run for their money. Santana is basically the meanest, most manipulative person in Glee Club. Brittany is naive, sweet, and dumber than a jar of mayonnaise. The two of them were virtually inseparable during the course of season 1.
    • Murdock and Face on The A-Team. The insane, delusional, wise-cracking pilot and the suave, handsome, unrepentant Con Man probably shouldn't be best friends, but they are. Then again, they're both chameleon-like tricksters during scams. In fact, of the whole team, they're probably the most alike. You just can't tell at first glance.
    • Keen Eddie: Deceptively scruffy American detective, Eddie Arlette, is deep, noble, sensitive, protective, brave, uptight, a hopeless romantic, and honest, while his foppish partner, British inspector Monty Pippin, is shallow, selfish, callous, immature, craven, laid-back, hedonistic, and a compulsive liar. Despite this, the two are fast friends and generally get along swimmingly.
    • Oscar Madison and Felix Unger, The Odd Couple.
    • Pilot and Aeryn from Farscape. One's a Starfish Aliens symbiotic pilot to a living ship, the other is a former soldier from a military dictatorship. Both bond over their shared desire to be something more than they used to be. The episode "The Way We Weren't" deals with the (temporary) breakdown of their friendship when it is revealed that Aeryn was a member of the firing squad that killed the previous Pilot of Moya
      • From the same show we have Rygel and Zhaan. One is a deposed leader of an interstellar empire who seems to have been something of The Caligula when he was Dominar, the other is a former revolutionary who was jailed for killing her lover who became a priest while in prison. Rygel is easily the most selfish member of the crew, while Zhaan is probably the most selfless. However, Zhaan is the member of Moya's crew who seems to see the good in Rygel the most, and despite his protestations Rygel is obviously quite affectionate towards the "big blue bitch"
      • Rygel and Chiana have elements of this as well, bonding over their shared sneakiness, although Chiana is easily irritated with Rygel.
      • Finally, there's Chiana and John. Their relationship is about 10% UST (Chiana is mostly more interested in getting John together with Aeryn rather than trying for him herself, although she did take his virginity when the crew traveled back in time to 1985 Earth) and about 90% a sort of surrogate Big Brother/Little Sister relationship (with John subbing in for Chiana's actual big brother).
    • The Law and Order: Criminal Intent episode "Cuba Libre" features two villains in an odd friendship. One is an elderly, white, Ambiguously Jewish, multimillionaire businessman. The other is a middle-aged, black, Malcolm Xerox drug kingpin. They commit crimes. Ironically, the trait that cements their friendship (which at times seems to verge on Undying Loyalty) is actually their paranoia: each believes with all his heart that the world is out to get him, and this brings them together. Unfortunately for them, the drug kingpin did not share the full extent of his Evil Plan with his friend, which allows the police to play on his paranoia to drive a wedge between them.
    • Fraser and either Ray on Due South
    • Merlin and Arthur on Merlin have a lot of differences, yet have become friends.
    • Jen with Moss or Roy in The IT Crowd. They're both anti-social computer geeks, and while she isn't normal, she's considerably more social, and doesn't know the first thing about computers. Case in point - she doesn't know what IT stands for.
    • White Collar: Neal Caffrey and Peter Burke, to a truly adorable degree.
      • Mozzie - conspiracy theorist and unrepentant con artist - with both of the Burkes, especially Elizabeth.
    • Daryl and Carol on The Walking Dead. Violent Hick and Shrinking Violet? Pretty Odd. Though I think many other friendships in the show may fit this trope as well.
    • The five main characters on How I Met Your Mother are all so different that pretty much every permutation of the gang is this trope or its romantic equivalent (in fact, while Ted and Robin have a very happy Odd Friendship, their romance didn't last precisely because they were so different). The only exception is Ted and Marshall, who are very alike, particularly in the earlier seasons, with the exception of their chronically different relationship statuses, but even they started out as this trope when they were roommates in college (Marshall being an obnoxious slacker and Ted a pretentious hipster who bonded while trapped in a stalled car during a blizzard).


    Professional Wrestling

    • One of the most popular tag teams in WWF/WWE history was the Rock 'n' Sock Connection which consisted of The Rock and Mick "Mankind" Foley. The former was a hip, electrifying, good looking young man with a bit of a bullying streak. The latter was an overweight, scraggly dork who took every opportunity to look "uncool" as possible. Despite their very obvious differences (which included a very, VERY vicious feud earlier in the year), their chemistry as both a tag team and a comedy duo was undeniable and led to THE most highly rated segment in WWE Raw history. The Rock originally had a tolerable disdain but grew to respect and like Mick as time went on. Though the actual team-up was relatively short-lived, the two have since become kayfabe best friends. In fact, the first time the Rock returned to the ring after his semi-retirement in 2003 was to come to the aid of Mick against Evolution.
    • The friendship between WCW Professional Wrestlers Sting and Lex Luger was often portrayed this way, as Sting was a Face and Luger was (more often than not) a Heel.


    Video Games

    • Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic and Tails probably seemed like an odd friendship at the time, since the Fox is a natural predator of the hedgehog.
    • Career driven Uzuki Yashiro and laid back Koki Kariya in The World Ends With You.
    • Technical Pacifist Mega Man X and Zero. They are created by two rival scientists, Dr. Light and Dr. Wily, respectively, and add the fact that Zero is supposedly designed for the purpose of destroying X.
    • Gorath and Owyn from Betrayal at Krondor certainly qualify. A taciturn 260-ish dark elf clan chieftain and a bubbly 19-year-old human mage apprentice?
    • Ezio and Leonardo Da Vinci in Assassin's Creed II. At one point in the game Leonardo even gives Ezio a bro-hug.
      • Maybe not so odd, when you consider what the database suggests about Leo's sexuality...
    • Leon and Yuffie in the Kingdom Hearts series.
    • In Neverwinter Nights, Deekin makes friends with everyone. Even the tiefling scared of his Unstoppable Rage. Even the reformed Drow assassin. Everyone.
      • In Tales of Arterra, your entire party. Persey is a Succubus, Evanine is half-celestial and on the extreme-altruist end of Neutral Good besides, and Montador is an unexpectedly chivalrous Blood Knight. And yet they all end up the best of friends.
      • Vico and the Princess, Rizzen and the Princess, and Rizzen and Pia in A Dance With Rogues. For that matter, seeing as most of the group joins up to help out the Princess and most don't really like anyone else, the entire group counts.
    • Khelgar and Neeshka or Elanee in Neverwinter Nights 2, so long as you get his influence high enough to mitigate his Fantastic Racism.
      • Lawful!Knight-Captain and Neeshka; she has a tendency to grumble that she doesn't understand him/her at all yet still sticks her neck out for her boss on numerous occasions.
      • Chaotic!Knight-Captain and Safiya in Mask of the Betrayer, especially apparent whenever the Knight-Captain makes a silly remark.
    • Mission, the Cute Monster Girl Classy Cat Burglar, and Zaalbar the proud Wookie of Knights of the Old Republic. Also, the player character (basically a hired mercenary and is discovered to be a mind-wiped evil villain) with anybody, except maybe Canderous and HK-47.
    • Shepard of the Mass Effect series with pretty much anybody apart from Ashley and Kaidan (fellow Alliance Marines - work friends, basically) and maybe Jacob and Garrus. Mercenaries, an elderly asari, a near-sociopathic biotic, a deeply religious drell assassin, even a krogan clone.
      • Shepard and Liara isn't at all far-fetched. Pressly and Tali, on the other hand...
      • Joker and EDI, at least after EDI's blocks are removed and she takes over the Normandy. The two even get a Relationship Upgrade in the third game after EDI acquires a FemBot body.
      • Miranda and anyone, given her usual attitude towards friendship.
      • Tali and Legion as the latter comes from the race that tried to wipe out Tali's people 300 years earlier, and the former does show signs of still being bitter about that.
      • In the third game, Mordin and Wrex (if they're alive) get along surprisingly well, especially considering the fact that Mordin was responsible for upgrading the Genophage that drove the Krogans to near-extinction. At the end of the Tuchanka arc, if Mordin sacrifices himself to disperse the Genophage cure, Wrex and Eve state that they plan to name one of their newborns after him (maybe a daughter).
    • Ataru and Usagi from Mr. Driller, one is a human and the later is an Alien bunny whose original mission was to invade earth; but then his ship crashed and Ataru saved his life.
    • Genis and Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia. The genius child prodigy and the village idiot, somehow being such good friends that when Lloyd is Banished, Genis demands to be exiled with him.
    • Estelle and Rita from Tales of Vesperia. A prim and proper book-smart princess with little worldly experience, and an aggressive mage who's big on getting stuff done on her own when no one can help.
    • In Baldurs Gate 2 CHARNAME can strike up a friendship with a surprisingly cordial beholder. It helps that said beholder is a Lawful Neutral Deadpan Snarker instead of an Ax Crazy monster like most of his kin.
    • Morrigan of Dragon Age and just about anybody given her admitted "difficulties" with forming friendships. Especially evident with a more noble-minded male Warden who does not start her romance.
    • Just about any of the friendships between your allies in "Dragon Age 2". A possible odd friendship between the PC and one of his/her allies is a mage Hawke with the mage hating elf Fenris if you decide to pursue a friendship.
    • The Medic and the Heavy from Team Fortress 2 are widely known as being closer than any of the other classes - mostly because of how well they work together in battle, and several in-game lines coming from the Heavy (offering to take bullets for the Medic with "Get behind me, doctor!", "You are great doctor!", "I love this doctor!"). One of them is a German doctor implied to hail from the Nazi era, exhibiting fairly Camp mannerisms, the other a Russian testosterone-poisoned Boisterous Bruiser who enjoys calling everyone and anyone "cowards" and "babies". How strong is the Heavy's fondness of the Medic? The Medic calls the Heavy a baby in the "Meet the Medic" video while pinching his cheek. Not only does he survive, he actually comes out of it without a scratch.
    • Resident Evil gives us a villainous example with Albert Wesker and William Birkin. Wesker's a physically imposing Badass who wears his Sunglasses at Night, and rarely emotes unless it's time for a scenery chewing speech. Birkin's a skinny Mad Scientist who panics easily and rarely stops talking. Wesker is likely Asexuality; Birkin is Happily Married and has a young daughter whom he honestly seems to care about. Wesker did Umbrella's wetwork before jumping ship; Birkin's their top researcher and almost never leaves the lab. Wesker is confident of his own superiority; Birkin's a paranoid who constantly needs to reinforce his ego. Yet despite all that (and their shared sociopathy), there is every indication that they maintained a genuine friendship, having been college buddies, coworkers, and Those Two Bad Guys prior to Wesker's defection and Birkin's subsequent mutation and death. As late as Wesker's Report, the typically unemotional Wesker expresses both extreme distaste for Birkin's killer, U.S.S. agent HUNK, and a continued respect for his former colleague's ability, which is unusual for him.


    Visual Novels


    Web Comics

    • Finas and Casimiro of Hanna Is Not a Boys Name are complete opposites in every way, yet the two have been practically inseparable for centuries.
      • Veser and Ples may also be headed this way.
    • They fancy themselves an Odd Couple, but Elan and Thog from The Order of the Stick get along famously.
      • Also, more recently, O-Chul and The Monster in the Darkness.
    • In the two crossover quasi-sequels to Erika's New Perfume, Erika strikes some up. Who'd expect to see a friendship between an 11-year-old in diapers and a 23-year-old with purple and green hair, or the same 11-year-old befriending a 15-year-old lesbian from the future and her superheroine crush?
    • Richard and Cale'Anon from Looking for Group, one is a sociopathic undead warlock who is probably only helping the heroes out of boredom, the other is an overly idealistic elven paladin who doesn't know he's supposed to be evil and does his best to be a Friend to All Living Things.
    • Kiki and Bun-Bun from Sluggy Freelance. Aside from both being Talking Animals, they don't have much in common: one's a Genki Girl with Incorruptible Pure Pureness, the other's a Killer Rabbit and Sociopathic Hero who is strictly apathetic towards just about everything. Despite this, Kiki considers Bun-Bun her best friend, and Bun-Bun hasn't killed Kiki (and in fact is unable to do it even when he gets pissed off), which is about as friendly as Bun-Bun gets with anyone.
    • Obsessive-compulsive Hannelore and the hygiene-challenged Marigold from Questionable Content.
    • In El Goonish Shive, the Straw Feminist Susan and the Chivalrous Pervert Tedd.
    • Homestuck has The Fool John and base-breaking Backstabber Vriska.
      • Also Equius and his moirail Nepeta: he's serious, stubborn and obsessed with caste and dignity, while she's an RP-loving wildchild who hunts down vicious animals with her bare claws. Despite their odd relationship, the two are clearly very close. When Gamzee loses his marbles and turns homicidal, the first thing Equius does is make sure Nepeta is safe.
    • All over the place in Dumbing of Age. Danny and Joe are a long-established pair. Joyce and Walky and Joyce and Billy are developing ones.
    • In The Fuzzy Five, room mates Britnee the perky blonde and Meredith the Goth.
    • Both of the main friendships in Gunnerkrigg Court are this:
      • Annie and Kat are close friends despite being complete opposites personality-wise. They also metaphorically represent two opposing forces (the forest and etherical things for Annie / the court and technological things for Kat).
      • Annie and Reynardine, who are, respectively, an untalkative young girl and a fox god. Reynard has killed at least one human and a dragon via glitched Body Surfing, and (may have) tried to kill Annie the same way, but this doesn't bother her much. Even the awkwardness of Reynard being in unrequited love with Annie's mother, along with the recent revelation that Annie is basically her mother's reincarnation, isn't enough to hurt their friendship more than temporarily.
      • As if that's not enough, we now have Shadow 2 and Robot, who have no similarities other than being named by Captain Obvious. One is a shadow-man created by Coyote as a half-assed representation of humanity, and the other is a misbehaving robot who often receives severe sword injuries. They don't fight crime, but they are together.


    Web Original

    • A number of Survival of the Fittest examples, including Adam Dodd and Julie Mikan, as well as Sean O'Cann and Trish McCarroll. Both friendships are highly circumstantial, however.
    • Cracked just did an article about this very topic.
    • Jack Raven and Michael Freeman from Behind the Veil. The former is an ex-assassin who hunts evil to make up for his own sins, while the latter is an ex-fire fighter who hunts evil to protect people. Despite first meeting only to defeat a monster, the two stuck together and became best friends.
    • It is even noted about Sasha Hunter and Iphigenie Leben in Greek Ninja that the two are unlikely friends. You've got Sasha, the tall, cool, brooding and people-hating ninja hanging out with Iphigenie, the small, cute, cheerful philosophically-inclined thinker.


    Western Animation

    Real Life

    • There are many examples of this among animals:
      • Owen and Mzee, the hippo and tortoise
      • There was one example in India where a cow and a large wildcat became inseparable friends. The villagers ended up tolerating the wildcat because its presence scared away other creatures that could be a threat to their farm.
      • A few examples.
    • Boxers Max Schmeling and Joe Louis. They fought each other twice, and Louis was a very patriotic African-American while Schmeling was lionized by the Nazi party. (Until he fell out of favor due to a high profile loss and sheltering Jews.) Many years after fighting each other, they became quite close friends. Schmeling even served as a pallbearer for Louis's funeral.
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