History Main / LimitedSocialCircle

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' is guilty of this: [[CheerfulChild Chiyo]], [[HugeSchoolgirl Sakaki]], [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Osaka]], [[BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine Tomo, Yomi]],[[BoisterousBruiser Kagura]], [[ShrinkingViolet Kaorin]], [[{{Jerkass}} Yukari]], [[HeterosexualLifePartners and Nyamo]] all go to Chiyo's summer home. That's ''[[DysfunctionJunction the entire main cast]]''. And two of those are teachers. With the exception of Kaorin (who has at least a few friends from her other class and the clubs she attends) and Chiyo (who mentioned a friend in America and keeps in touch with her elementary school friends), it seems that the only friends that they have are named above. (That counts the [[TwoTeacherSchool teachers]], by the way.)

** In general, this is subverted. While the student council is by definition an exclusive clique and most chapter only show them with each other, all five of them are shown to either already be a part of or join separate friend groups. Even most of the major secondary characters have two or three different sets of friends that they hang out with.

* Subverted in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar''. While the student council started off the series primarily interacting among each other, most of them end up becoming part of other social circles, and members of those various circles interact more often as the series continues.

** Young Bolt and his six puppy friends in “The Seven.”
** Mittens, Petey, and Petey’s dog friends in “The Survivor.”
** Pigeons Vinny, Joey, and Bobby (often joined by Kelvin the labradoodle) in “The Protection Payment.”

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': The reason the show has a MinimalistCast is because the characters only ever interact with each other (which can be explained since they live together). Mr. Cat is implied to have other friends, but they are only very rarely mentioned.

* The main characters in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' actually ''became'' this over the years. In the beginning of the series, they would frequently interact and play with other kids in the schoolyard. Over the years however, their WeirdnessMagnet has slowly pushed people away. One episode explicitly states that the rest of the kids don't really care for them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', [[CoolLoser Danny]], [[BlackAndNerdy Tucker]], and [[PerkyGoth Sam]] only hang around with each other. The three are unpopular "losers" in their high school, but they rarely seem to interact with other Goths and Nerds and whatnot. The only person who joined their niche circle permanently was Jazz (though Sam was most vocal against her joining the group) and she's Danny's older sister and she only appeared if plot called her for it.

Most shows that have this make it an integral part of the show, or at least do a LampshadeHanging about it.
Compare with CoolLoser. Possibly the result of an EconomyCast or FriendlessBackground. A limited attempt to avert this is SocialCircleFiller and TwentyFourHourPartyPeople. FoundFamilyViaWork is a potential result. A bit of TheMainCharactersDoEverything, with "everything" including everyday socialization.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': The group of six friends Ives pulls together at Gotham Heights seemed to only hang out with each other at lunch and after school. It was clear that some of Callie's basketball teammates considered her a trusted friend, but they didn't hang outside of school, and while Tim had plenty of other friends that was all in his masked life and for most of his time at GHHS his superhero pals didn't know his civilian identity.

* Somewhat {{justified|Trope}} in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Robin's from Canada and only recently moved to New York at the start of the series and, because he threw away his life before 2001, the only people that Barney knows other that the [[GirlOfTheWeek girls he sleeps with]] are his work buddies, and it's mentioned that he became friends with Ted (and by extension Marshall and Lily) after meeting him in the men's bathroom and immediately deciding to "teach [him] how to live." We know Marshall has law buddies, but, except for Brad in a couple of episodes, we don't see them regularly enough. However, we rarely see one of Lily or Ted's friends outside the circle, and we aren't really given a reason why.

* ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'': Dan, Chris, and Elise appear to have no friends besides each other (and even then, [[WithFriendsLikeThese it's... complicated, to say the least.]]) {{Justified}} in that Dan and Elise are both profoundly unpleasant and amoral people, and Chris is the only person who's enough of an ExtremeDoormat to put up with them. This becomes a plot point in "Dan vs. Dan", where Impostor Dan notes that Dan's having thoroughly alienated everyone in his life apart from Chris and Elise makes his identity unusually easy to steal.
* {{Justified}} in ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'': Since everybody knows Milo is TheJinx, people outside the main cast tend to avoid interacting with him where possible.

[[folder: Real Life]]

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''. No one appears to have any friends outside the SOS Brigade except Kyon (who has [[ThoseTwoGuys exactly two]]) and Mikuru, whose friend Tsuruya pretty much gets honorary SOS Brigade membership. Somewhat justified in that Haruhi's an abrasive CloudCuckooLander, Kyon actively seeks boredom, and the rest of the Brigade is technically just there to keep an eye on those two (though they warm up to each other eventually), and have [[ArtificialHuman various]] [[FishOutOfTemporalWater other]] [[NewTransferStudent issues]] that mean they lack any pre-existing social circles.

** This gets used as the impetus for the plot of one episode, where Frasier decides to try and use his radio show to make new friends. The one guy he does arrange to meet, however, turns out to be a total bore who only talks about esoteric things that he personally is interested in.

*** Another episode had Jerry rebuff a potential friend with, "You're a nice guy, but I actually only have three friends. I really can't handle any more."

* Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Robin's from Canada and only recently moved to New York at the start of the series and, because he threw away his life before 2001, the only people that Barney knows other that the [[GirlOfTheWeek girls he sleeps with]] are his work buddies, and it's mentioned that he became friends with Ted (and by extension Marshall and Lily) after meeting him in the men's bathroom and immediately deciding to "teach [him] how to live." We know Marshall has law buddies, but, except for Brad in a couple of episodes, we don't see them regularly enough. However, we rarely see one of Lily or Ted's friends outside the circle, and we aren't really given a reason why.

* ''Series/ICarly'' has a PowerTrio of Sam, Freddie and Carly. You can stretch that circle to include Spencer, and maybe Gibby.
** Carly seems to be the conencting point as Sam and Freddie do not like each other that much. With Sam, her lack of friends is probably due to her unruly behaivor and Carly being one of the few good things in life while Freddie has nursed a crush on Carly for a long while, though Freddie does seem to have friends outside of iCarly.

** Their lack of friends is justified in that the gang is so horrible that the only people who can stand to be around them are those who are just as messed up as they are, such as the McPoyles and Bill Ponderosa.