Romantic Two Girl Friendship - Television Tropes & Idioms

Are they gonna kiss? Are they gonna kiss?

It was perfectly acceptable at Baker & Inglis to get a crush on a fellow classmate. At a girls' school a certain amount of emotional energy, normally expended on boys, gets redirected into friendships.

— Middlesex

What the hell?! You two spend all week fighting, and now you're hand-in-hand like Japanese schoolgirls offering up a hint of sexual tension and seductive lesbian secrets?!

— Something Positive

The Japanese believe that young girls are expected to have friendships with each other that emulate boyfriend/girlfriend relationships. This is considered safer and temporary, and is known as "class S

" (pronounced exactly that way). This is similar to the Western concept of bi-curious teenagers, though the latter is rather played to demonstrate open-mindedness.

The given cultural explanation is that they can then graduate from these friendships to real relationships with boys, now that they have the confidence and experience. To remain in a "Class S" relationship is seen as a sign of immaturity. If especially overdone, the implication is that the girls should stop being close period, romantically or no. No, this should never become physical that way; it would sully the Incorruptible Pure Pureness. Which is then traded in for marriage.

When this is shown in anime, the Western response is usually bafflement, since they're automatically pegged as Schoolgirl Lesbians because of Sitch Sexuality, as well as this conflicting with the Western concept of heterosexual and homosexual identity. (Granted, something that's under spirited debate in the West as well.) When the bafflement wears off, most Western viewers' attitudes start taking a very different turn. It has been noted by The Other Wiki that the Romantic Friendship

isn't quite alien in our writings as well.

Some viewers have to ask... is this really an accurate depiction of a Romantic Two Girl Friendship; or did writers use Schoolgirl Lesbians to draw in readers, and then take the easy way out?

It remains to be seen how this attitude will develop in the modern age, as series get more and more daring. It's noticeable that characters who have actually had sex, or even kissed, are treated much differently than those with chaste relationships.

Examples

Anime and Manga

Despite being perceived in the West as the "flagship" Schoolgirl Lesbians series, Maria-sama Ga Miteru only has one couple that actually crossed the line into a full Schoolgirl Lesbians relationship — at which point, one of them promptly left the school to become a nun, probably in an attempt to show how dangerous it is to "go too far". Most of the rest of the cast participated in (much safer) Romantic Two Girl Friendships with other Lillian students.
In Ultra Maniac one of the two main girls finds out the other has a crush on her. She scoffs it away, saying that it proves the other girl is just a child.
In Tenshi na Konamaiki, when Megumi insists that she likes Miki "that way", the other girls comment that she really is a kid. Of course it's a bit more complex than that.
Much of Futari Wa Pretty Cure is based around this precise sort of relationship.
Hyatt and Ropponmatsu #1 seem to develop a platonic romance for the short time they are together in Excel Saga. Also, Ropponmatsu #2 has feelings for Excel, as seen in her made-up flashback.
- Although in this case, the Ropponmatsus were programmed to fall for the first person they saw upon activation, which (due to a delivery error) was Excel and Hyatt.
In Love Hina, Motoko has three female groupies, classmates of hers; at least one seems to have a genuine crush on the swordswoman. Also, Suu appears to have desires on Motoko; while the anime only hints at this, Suu announces in the manga that she wants to take Motoko as a lover. Suu is also responsible for giving Shinobu her First Kiss.
Gokujou Seitokai has a large chunk of the student body in... admiration of the student council president, Kanade Jinguuji.
On Keroro Gunsou, all the girls at Natsumi's school seem to idolize her obsessively, and Koyuki actually has a crush on Natsumi (though this is far less blatant than in the manga, where it dives headfirst into the realms of Schoolgirl Lesbians).
Nana O and Nana K's relationship in Nana.
Shinobu's feelings for Kaede in Ninin Ga Shinobuden.
Fate's relationship with Nanoha in the first two seasons Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha; the third season toes the line. Post-StrikerS, though, Fate/Nanoha/Vivio is canonically referred to as the "Takamachi Family", and no mention is made of the rival ferret. So...?
- Alisa and Suzuka from the same series are also shown to be very fond of each other.
- And Teana and Subaru from season three.
At the beginning of Episode 7 of Lucky Star, Konata starts abruptly acting out this trope towards Tsukasa and Kagami. Kagami is visibly disturbed by this, and her response to this behavior and the explanation that Konata has become hooked on Marimite is "Are you a kid?!"
- Which is a tad strange, since they are actually in the acceptable age for this behavior. Though, given Kagami's attitude to life, it's not surprising, coming from her...
- Also, Minami and Yutaka.
- Possibly Misao and Ayano. Possibly. Though, Ayano says she has a boyfriend.
In ROD the TV Series Hisami's relationship to Anita was such that she even turned down the boy who was interested in her because of it. She regularly compares the two of them to Anne and Diana from the book Anne Of Green Gables (in Japan it's called "Red Haired Anne"). Both sets of girls refer to themselves as "Soulmates."
- It also leads to a very heart-wrenching scene when the girls say their goodbyes.
- The manga also has them holding hands intimately and sharing a romantic dance around the school festival bonfire.
Kaorin and Chihiro in Azumanga Daioh, though it's obvious that Kaorin's growing out of it... into a genuine Schoolgirl Lesbian with a crush on Sakaki.
- It seems likely from various hints that Yukari and Nyamo were probably like this when they were young. It could easily explain some of the couple-ish mannerisms they still exhibit, and Yukari's taunting of Nyamo over an unexplained love letter (implying that Nyamo may have gotten a bit too caught up in it, leading to the teasing).
  - Then again, writing each other love letters is not out of the ordinary for girls in a Romantic Two Girl Friendship. It will likely forever be a mystery what happened and why those two are still friends. It may just be straight and simple Les Yay, really.
  - If you were Nyamo would you want to admit that you fell in love with Yukari?
This trope appears to be the main element in Venus Versus Virus. There are numerous intimate and tender moments between Luc ia and Sumire, causing Sumire to turn bright red every so often. The series has even been called a shounen yuri manga/anime by the official manga translators, even though it doesn't go beyond subtext. The romantic element is certainly there though, and gets a lot of focus, especially in the earlier volumes.
In ARIA, Alicia and her apprentice Akari appear to be very enamored with each other. Alicia postpones Akari's promotion to Prima since she doesn't want to leave her alone before retiring...to get married, of course.
- Aika also has a totally obvious crush on Alicia for most of the series.
Pacifica and Winia from Scrapped Princess like each other a lot when they first meet. Alas, their relationship gets cut short since Pacifica has to keep on running.
Hiro and Sae in Hidamari Sketch are very close and are frequently subjected to Ship Tease. Hiro talks about giving Sae chocolate for Valentine's Day and how Sae watched over her all night when she was sick; the first season OP even has a Not What It Looks Like moment with Yuno walking in on them (with the context not even being given until the second season). Sae spends an entire episode (the 2nd special) freaking out when Hiro gets a love letter in her shoe locker, complete with an excited Yuno and Miyako misunderstanding the letter as coming from Sae. And then there's the second season's opening...
- Yuno and Miyako also seem to be a bit closer than average sometimes, which usually gets excused by Miyako's bubbly and innocent demeanor. Miyako also appears to be very open-minded about relationships (see Schoolgirl Lesbians) and hops in the bathtub with Yuno the day they meet, since her own water supply doesn't work. Uh-huh. One time Miyako even tells Yuno that she thinks she is very pretty (poster picture for Ho Yay, no less). Yuno in turn voices her wish to Miyako that they might one day have the same relationship as Sae and Hiro.
  - That said, Miyako might be just acting like bi-curious, which would fall off from this trope per description.
The most innocent interpretations of the relationship between Alpha and Kokone in Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou falls into this. As for the other interpretations... yeah...
The relationship between Ichika and Manatsu from Uta Kata borders on this trope, even though both girls are manifestations of the same person.
Akira and Machina in Dragonaut The Resonance have this kind of relationship, and also fit nicely into Tomboy And Girly Girl.
Kanade and Yukino from Candy Boy have a relationship that seems to follow the rules of this trope just fine, until you realize that they are fraternal twin sisters.
Saya from Bamboo Blade is definetely a bit more than just friends with kendo-captain Kirino. It doesn't appear to be mutual, though the two get along extremely well regardless.
Sakura Mikan in Gakuen Alice is absolutely infatuated with Hotaru in this manner. Hotaru goes back and forth between trying to get rid of her and actually returning her affections.
Mugi and Nono from Hitohira quickly appear to enter such a relationship after Nono drafts Mugi for her drama club. Mugi has an obvious crush on Nono for most of the series and their relationship culminates in a very heartwarming ending when they say their goodbyes.
Ran and Midori from Telepathy Shoujo Ran become like this as the series progresses — which is rather peculiar, since Ran actually has a boyfriend and Midori is openly smitten with Ran's brother. Perhaps the makers simply didn't want to drop the dynamic that works so well in similar series.
In the Gender Flipped Suzumiya Haruhi fanworks, the Ho Yay between Koizumi Itsuki and Kyon is "translated" into "Itsuko" trying to rope "Kyonko" into these dynamics. And here, Kyonko is a bit more receptive to Itsuko's flirting than in the original source.
- To be fair, Itsuki is actually interested in Haruhi and is already in a relationship in the original source, so it's probably just Kyon being an Unreliable Narrator.
  - If you're referring to the original series, there is Ship Tease suggesting that he has a crush on Haruhi, but where's the bit about him being in a relationship? And what does that have to do with Kyon's unreliable narration?
Minori from Tora Dora has genuinely deep feelings for her best friend Taiga — so much that at one point she openly questions her own sexuality.
Seen several times in Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl: first when an upperclassman dismisses Yasuna's obvious romantic interest in Hazumu as "immature", later when Ayuki reveals that Tomari once got a love letter from another girl, and still later when two unnamed classmates (literally "Girl A" and "Girl B" in the credits) get so carried away by Hazumu's exaggerated tales of Tomari's heroics while defending her from reporters that they openly declare their love for her "manliness", which mortifies Tomari to no end.
The relationship between Hanna and Suomi from Diamond Daydreams clearly has some elements of this. They witness the "diamond dust" together, just like lovers would do — and their falling out has all the symptoms of an extended lover's quarrel.
Runo and Alice from Bakugan are quite close, even closer then they are with their love interests.
Hikari and Futaba from Amanchu! rush into this headfirst. Hikari's behavior toward Futaba could be construed as flirting — and Futaba is very responsive. This is no surprise, since romantic two girl friendships are not unheard-of in works by Kozue Amano (who also made ARIA).
One of the possible interpretations for Licorice and Cleao's relationship in Sorcerer Stabber Orphen.
K-On! has the rather peculiar dynamic between Yui and Mio, which at one time gets commented on by Mugi.
- Mio and Ritsu sort of have a twisted version of this as well. Ritsu even becomes very jealous when Mio decides to spend her time with another girl. And then there's the matter about the love lyrics...
- and Yui and Azusa have a bit of this later on as well, mostly from Yui's end. Really, despite her occasionally painful obliviousness to reality (or perhaps because of it) that girl has an uncanny knack for inspiring warm and fuzzy feelings in pretty much all of her female peers....
Sakura and Tomoyo in Cardcaptor Sakura are this trope all over, despite Tomoyo's feelings being far less chaste.
Parodied in The Day Of Revolution when former boy Megumi tries to latch onto Cool Big Sis Makoto primarily because the idea of being courted by her former Nakama bothers her. Makoto's receptiveness varies based on Rule Of Funny but her role as Megumi's peer counselor/therapist means her reaction is mostly clinical.
Although the friendship / Accidental Engagement between Utena and Anthy in the Shoujo Kakumei Utena series and manga can be interpreted this way (and certainly references the trope a few times over), it more obviously applies to Utena and Wakaba. Wakaba ends up meeting a very nice young man who draws her attention away from Utena as a natural process, and Utena - well, she... grows up a bit too.
Even though Marin and Kanon's friendship in Umi Monogatari has some definite elements of this, it's rather Marin's relationship with Urin which seems to go further than mere sisterly affection—fueled, of course, by the fact that they are not actual sisters.
Michiyo from Mahoraba is shown to have feelings for Asami, but it's mostly one-sided.
- There are numerous hints about a such a relationship between Kozue and Tamami, which likely got blown up by Shiratori's arrival at the apartment complex. It does shed a bit more light on why Tamami dislikes Shiratori so much at first.

Film

The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
The film Heavenly Creatures (based on a true story) has what appears to be a lesbian relationship between the two mid-teen girls, but one of them claimed in interviews that as obsessive as it was, it was a chaste relationship.
Nicky and Pamela in Times Square. (Although the original script apparently contained more Les Yay.) Also a Tomboy And Girly Girl Odd Friendship.

Literature

Ozma and Dorothy have this in Baum's Oz books. Completely innocent, it included good morning kisses. Betsy later gets included. Baum implied this relationship would last indefinitely because nobody in Oz ages if they don't want to.
- This is especially amusing when you realize that Ozma spent the first 10 years of her life as a boy.
- In spinoffs, there's also a romantic two-girl friendship, even though the story is changed for good.
Very prevalent in the works of Nobuko Yoshiya, an openly lesbian Japanese writer and feminist who wrote young adult novels between the 1910s and 1970s.
Anne Of Green Gables has a very close, affectionate relationship with her friend Diana. Unsurprisingly, these Canadian novels are also popular in Japan.
- Popular? Understatement. Has an anime series and the expected torrent of 34 images to go along with it.
Enid Blyton's six-part Malory Towers series has a strong tendency towards its girls pair-bonding and there's hand-holding and arm-linking too, though this is a reflection of girls' behaviour in British boarding schools at and prior to the time the books were written. One of the friendships, between a daughter of the aristocracy and a very tomboyish girl who goes by the male form of her given name has suggestions of butch-femme dynamics, and their future paths after school are described as going into business together to run a horse-riding school.
Angela Brazil, writing in an earlier and more conservative age, openly described her schoolgirl characters kissing.
- The more conservative the age, the more romantically you can describe the friendship, since it wouldn't occur to anyone to read it differently.
Main character Alysha Gale and her cousin Charlie in Tanya Huff's The Enchantment Emporium.

Live Action TV

Act 30 of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (broadcast in Japan on 5/8/2004) includes a moment where one of Usagi's female classmates declares in front of a witness that she is in love with Usagi. There is no hint in the reactions of either Usagi or the witness that this is in any way strange or perverted. This suggests (as noted above) that the behavior may not be strictly an Anime Trope.
The relationship between Sam and Carly in iCarly can be interpreted this way. In the episode "iMake Sam Girlier", Sam's Unstoppable Rage is triggered after a bully pushes Carly down.
A comfortably non-sexual [well, it depends on who you ask] version appears in the BBC version of the Merlin legend, where the peasant Gwen acts as maid, best friend and general flower-bringer to her mistress Morgana.

Web Comics

Gunnerkrigg Court has Zimmy and Gamma. Zimmy's reality-warping powers are uncontrollable except when she's around Gamma. Even though Zimmy's normally rude and dislikes everyone, she's outright stated that she loves Gamma, and indeed seems to be happy only in her presence. Their relationship is not all it seems, though. Gamma speaks only Polish, and communicates with Zimmy telepathically, with Zimmy providing translations for her - to make sure Gamma never leaves her, Zimmy intentionally mistranslates what other people say, to make Gamma think all the other students think she's stupid and ugly.
- Hinted at with Annie and Kat - they're very close, and certain strips like this make it seem like they might be more than just friends. It took Word Of God to state that they aren't kissing in the fifth panel, but that seems to be all the author's willing to say on that subject.
  - Hinted? If you consider a sledgehammer upside the head a hint, I suppose.
In Red String Fuuko finds love after she moves to Toyko, Hanae. When Hanae's mother discovers their relationship she chastises them telling that they need to grow out of it because it "Won't get them anywhere" (i.e. won't get them married) clearly disregarding their love as a "Class S" relationship.

Western Animation

With a slight stretch, Tabitha/"Boom Boom" and Amara/"Magma" can be seen as enacting this trope in X Men Evolution. This Troper's gaydar went CRAZY when she watched their scenes on "Walk on the wild side".
- It looked for a second that Rogue and Risty Wilde were good candidates for this trope, but it took a turn for the Squick when it was revealed that Risty was Mystique in disguise, planning to use her and the X-Men for her own plans.
Courage The Cowardly Dog. Kitty and Bunny from "The Mask"... enough said.
Lisa and Juliet in The Simpsons episode, Lisa The Drama Queen as a parody of Heavenly Creatures.

Video Games

In Harvest Moon Sprite Station: For Girl this is shown quite realistically. You can marry one of the 4 Special Girls from the boy version, except you don't marry them, and they aren't your wife. You Best Friend them, and they're your Best Friend. It doesn't help that their dialogue is exactly the same in both versions. However, Natsume, when translating it to create Harvest Moon Cute, took this feature out, but left the ~~heart~~ best friend events in.
- Most likely due to the fact they're needed to pass important milestones in the game, if you want to complete it completely.
Solfège: Sweet Harmony is an odd Visual Novel / Rhythm Game hybrid which pretty much exemplifies this trope.
Project Justice, the sequel to Rival Schools, drops hints of this in the Seijyun High ending, showing Akira and Yurika to be very happy to finally see each other again.

Real Life

This troper is a teacher at an all girls' high school in Japan, and sometimes sees ichinensei (age 15-16) in these kinds of relationships. However, even by that age it seems uncommon, and certainly doesn't continue into the second or third year of high school.
At This Australian Tropers school, it is quite common for best friends to say they are in lesbian relationships, even if one or both of the girls has a boyfriend. The boyfriend is expected to put up with them cuddling or flirting with each other to tease the boys. These relationships are vary rarely sexual outside an "I like your bra" or "let's go make out in the bathrooms" (which usually results in gossip). and are often used to confuse some of the more conservative teachers.
- Oh God, it happens in this troper's Catholic(!) school as well. They always are being very huggy and they refer to each other as "lovers". I prefer to have no part in it.
  - I Read That As "pretend."
- A similar thing happens at my school: the girls joke around about being engaged/married and "proposals" happen all the time.
This isn't as uncommon in the USA as it seems. It's just not discussed as being a "relationship" due to the Les Yay surrounding that idea. This troper has been involved in a few of these herself.
- I think it really depends on how sexual/romantically involved these relationships really are. Certainly, this troper and her best friend hug each other fairly often, compliment each other's appearance, and are less self conscious around each other than they would be with others — but, then again, this troper also has good male friends of whom these exact things are true, and there's definitely no romantic attraction there either. The question is whether this is due to the nature of friendship and the human need for physical contact, or whether it's to do with this phenomenon.
- This troper was first bewildered by the prevalence of these relationships at our school, since the atmosphere of said school is so overwhelmingly conservative concerning physical contact. But as was mentioned above, the more conservative the atmosphere, the more you can get away with sometimes— no one would even think of characterising these partnerships as sexual rather than friendly or romantic. Actual lesbian couples have a great degree of freedom... provided they do not actually identify their relationship as such in words. It's frustrating, compared to the total no-tolerance policy on even intense friendship between the sexes.
- This troper has a friendship like this right now. My best friend and I are called lesbians despite the fact we both have boyfriends. We hug a lot, we cuddle when taking naps, and make the occasional Les Yay joke about ourselves. Even we were baffled but figured it was a friend thing since there's no attraction between the two of us. It's really a matter of being comfortable not only with yourself but with other people, and how much trust you have in such a friend.
- This must be really confusing for real lesbians.
- Hence the insistence by a large percentage of the real-life gay and lesbian community that there are no bisexuals; and the frequent hostility toward both self-identified bisexuals and "trendy pretend-lesbian".
This is very similar to the "LUG" aka "Lesbian Until Graduation" phenomenon common to universities in the US, particularly all-female liberal-arts schools. The lesbianism is considered an "experimental phase" that the girl eventually grows out of so that she can get married after graduating (typically as a career-focussed woman in a DINK relationship). The reaction to LUGs in the "real" lesbian community varies from amused tolerance, to dismissiveness, to outright hostility.