History Main / LongDistanceRelationship

* "So Far Away" by DireStraits.

* Long-distance relationships are the subjects of two FranzFerdinand songs ("Come on Home" and "Eleanor Put Your Boots On").

* During the ''Sailor Stars'' arc of ''Manga/SailorMoon'', Mamoru went to America to study, leaving Usagi behind for a large part of the series. (And then it turns out that [[spoiler: Mamoru actually was killed by having his Star Seed ''stolen at the airport'', and Usagi witnessed it, but she was so traumatized that she repressed this memory. In the [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]] it's slightly changed; Mamoru gets killed off a little after his plane took off, and since Usagi didn't see it she truly believed Mamoru wasn't able to contact her, unti Galaxia shows her Mamoru's Heart Star Seed and tells her how she killed him.]].)

* Variant in Manga/DetectiveConan: Ran thinks that Shinichi has run off to investigate some kind of case, but in truth he's Conan, aged down thanks to plot.
** Also, [[spoiler: Sonoko and her boyfriend Makoto, who's a world-ranked karate practitioner and is always travelling.]]

* Used in ''Manga/KimiNoIruMachi'' and ended badly, when the female lead Yuzuki decided to cut off all contact with the male lead Haruto and date her dying childhood friend as a pity date. Since this is a Seo Kouji series, [[JerkAss it never crossed her mind to explain this in any way shape or form to the male lead]].
** They try it again later when Haruto gets a job that requires him to move. He is initially encouraged when he finds out his senior at work has maintained a successful long distance relationship with her boyfriend for five years. Until she shows up at his apartment distraught and begging to sleep with him since she just broke up with her boyfriend. The distance was more emotional in her case. As much as she and her boyfriend loved each other, their dreams for the future were just incompatible. Her boyfriend wanted her to quit her job and move in with him so they could raise a family, and she wanted to stay at her job. They avoided confronting the issue for years, but it finally came to a head... to which they once again break up.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''; in the Season 2 episode "Soos and the Real Girl", Soos meets a woman named Melody who shares many of the same quirks he does, and the two hit it off. However, she's only visiting for a few days before going back to Portland, so they agree to continue the relationship via Skype. Soos is okay with this, saying he's better at talking to women through video screens anyway, and they're still together as of "Love God".

Perhaps AliceAndBob started out dating while they [[GirlNextDoor lived close together]] and one had to move away (far enough away that they can't see each other on a regular basis); perhaps they began the relationship through the mail (or, in more modern stories, over the Internet) and never met in real life at all (but may be planning to at some point).

* ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'': For Aya and Sunahara, that's already an improvement, as the last time Sunahara appears in ''The Egg Hamburg Steak Knows'' the entire set up looks more like a case of StarCrossLovers. ''The Valentine Knows'' ends with the relation between Aya and Sunahara improved to this. It is more than clear that Aya and Sunahara love each other, and they have mutually confessed in this arc. However, Sunahara's [[TheInfiltration brush]] with the JapaneseDelinquents [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood seriously bruised his reputation]] in town, so he declared ButNowIMustGo. Although he promised to meet each other. [[spoiler:Which of course appears in the novels, where he's Aya's classmate again in ''The Tanabata-hime Knows''.]]

* A nonromantic example occurred in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' A Sitch in Time when Ron's family movies to Norway (courtousy of Future Shego). Despite Kim saying they can still make Team Possible work, two times, Ron shows up late to the mission, and when they're finally together, they're out of sync, so they regrettably agree that Kim should go solo. Fortunately, Ron accidentally hits the ResetButton and causes everything to go back to normal.

* ''{{Planetes}}'' often deals with this, given that most of its characters are astronauts working in orbit. Some relationships even get more long-distance than most when [[spoiler: Hachimaki and Goro]] depart for Jupiter.

* Implied at the end of PsychoStaff.

* Used in ''KimiNoIruMachi'' and ended badly, when the female lead Yuzuki decided to cut off all contact with the male lead Haruto and date her dying childhood friend as a pity date. Since this is a Seo Kouji series, [[JerkAss it never crossed her mind to explain this in any way shape or form to the male lead]].

* This is how [[spoiler: Annie Brighton and Archie Cornwall]]'s relationship begins in CandyCandy, with them mostly communicating through letters and occasional reunions. [[spoiler: Subverted later when they start attending the same BoardingSchool and begin officially dating.]]

* [[LesYay Subaru and Teana]] fell into this after ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'' when their personal goals stationed them in different posts. But as Teana told [[GenkiGirl Subaru]] [[{{Tsundere}} in an annoyed tone]] when they reunited in ''Audioplay/StrikerSSoundStageX'', the latter kept on bombarding her with so much e-mail that she didn't even notice the distance.

* In TheKingOfFighters, the few leads we have of Yuki and Kyo's relationship after the Orochi saga implies that they went from HighschoolSweethearts to this. In the ''Maximum Impact'' series Kyo is seen calling her from several phone stalls in South Town, and in ''XIII'' the pre-fight dialogue between [[DownloadableContent NESTS!Kyo]] and Athena implies that Yuki asked Athena to tell Kyo that she and others support him no matter what.
* HK-47 in VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic 2 states: "Definition: 'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope... Love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticule, and together, achieving a singular purpose against statistically long odds."

* Variant in CaseClosed: Ran thinks that Shinichi has run off to investigate some kind of case, but in truth he's Conan, aged down thanks to plot.

* During the ''Sailor Stars'' arc of ''Manga/SailorMoon'', Mamoru went to America to study, leaving Usagi behind for a large part of the series. (And then it turns out that [[spoiler: Mamoru actually had his heart crystal ''stolen at the airport'', and Usagi witnessed it, but she was so traumatized that she repressed this memory. In the [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]] it's slightly changed; Mamoru gets killed off a little after his plane took off, and since Usagi didn't see it she truly believed Mamoru wasn't able to contact her.]].)

* The anime version of ''Manga/MarmaladeBoy'' had this for a while, when Yuu takes a scholarship and goes to study in America leaving his girlfriend Miki behind. [[spoiler: It didn't work very well though: they did their best to try mantaining their bond, but Miki is emotionally exhausted due to being pursued by other two guys and, after a rather tasteless prank from a ClingyJealousGirl who's after Yuu, they break it off for a while.]]
* In ''Manga/KodomoNoOmocha'', Sana goes on an extended film project out in the woods and is plagued by rumors and [[YokoOhNo angry fangirls]] of her colleague who hate her for apparently dating him; later, the prospect of her love interest Hayama going overseas to recuperate from serious injury is enough to send her into a HeroicBSOD, though eventually she comes to terms with it and they are reunited in the DistantFinale.

** They try it again later when Haruto gets a job that requires him to move. He is initially encouraged when he finds out his senior at work has maintained a successful long distance relationship with her boyfriend for five years. Until she shows up at his apartment distraught and begging to sleep with him since she just broke up with her boyfriend. The distance was more emotional in her case. As much as she and her boyfriend loved each other, their dreams for the future were just incompatible. Her boyfriend wanted her to quit her job and move in with him so they could raise a family, and she wanted to stay at her job. They avoided confronting the issue for years, but it finally came to a head.
*** To which they once again break up.

* ''Anime/VoicesOfADistantStar'' and ''Anime/FiveCentimetersPerSecond''. MakotoShinkai ''loves'' this trope.

* During the Sailor Stars arc of ''Manga/SailorMoon'', Mamoru went to America to study, leaving Usagi behind for a large part of the series. (And then it turns out that [[spoiler: Mamoru actually had his heart crystal ''stolen at the airport'', and Usagi witnessed it, but she was so traumatized that she repressed this memory. In the anime it's slightly changed; Mamoru gets killed off a little after his plane took off, and since Usagi didn't see it she truly believed Mamoru wasn't able to contact her.]].)

* ''{{Friends}}'': Chandler and Monica in Season 9, when Chandler is transferred to Tulsa. Being HappilyMarried and hating his job Chandler eventually quits so they can spend christmas together.

* One episode of American Dad!, "The Longest Distance Relationship" is entirely about this. Naturally, it's [[UpToEleven exaggerated to the most illogical extreme]]: Hayley finds [[spoiler: Jeff Fisher after a whole year.]] The kicker? He's contacting her [[spoiler: from space.]]

* ''TheXFiles'': Mulder and Scully carry on a rather clumsily-written version of this trope in the show's final season.
* ''{{Zoey 101}}'': Chase and Zoey attempt this via webcam after [[spoiler: she overhears Chase tell his roommates he's in love with her and they switch places in an attempt to be together]], but after their video date fails, the come to the conclusion that it wont' work and resolve to try it for real when they're together again.
* ''{{CSI}}'', post season 9. Grissom and Sara are married, but Sara is working at the lab in Vegas, while Grissom travels and researches and lectures.