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alt title(s): Unlucky Osananajimi 
Arm in arm we laughed like kids
At all the silly things we did
You can't finish what you start
If this is love, it breaks my heart! — Naked Eyes, "Promises, Promises"
So I started walking home,
Sowing teardrops in the snow
We'll be friends forever, but
I'm afraid you'll never love me
—Jeremy Messersmith, "Beautiful Children"
Lovers and friends are two very different relationships (read C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves for details), and it is often difficult, if not impossible, for someone to see the latter as the former.
To that end, an osananajimi (or "childhood friend"), a character type that shows up frequently in harem anime, is a girl (males are uncommon, but do exist) who finds herself doing just that. The childhood friend is often (although not always) introduced first, either waking up the main character or walking to school with him, making her a candidate for First Girl Wins. Unfortunately, she is often seen as a sister by the protagonist, if he thinks about her that way at all, and her chances of ending up with him are slim: being a childhood friend more than offsets the advantages of being the first girl introduced. (Or does it?)
The Unlucky Osananajimi gets extra pathos points if there's a Childhood Marriage Promise involved. In series like Kanon, where every girl turns out to be a childhood friend (with one exception), the cousin (Nayuki, for example) or sister (blood related or not) generally gets this plotline. Sometimes it's even the villain.
Note her failure to win doesn't always indicate lack of popularity. Fandom inevitably springs up around her courageous, dogged, and often awkward attempts to act on her feelings; she'll often be the second most popular character. And some of the fans will even bash the Winning Girl and/or the male lead because they're "Sooooo Meeeeeeean", even if the unlucky girl actually gets along with them.
This has some real-life basis in the theorized Westermarck effect, which states that people who live in close domestic proximity during the first six years of their life (the first six years of the person in question's life, to clarify) are desensitized to later sexual attraction (whether or not they are related by blood). Why this only affects one character is rarely brought up.
Contrast with Victorious Childhood Friend.
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Examples
Anime & Manga
- Yumizuka "Sacchin" Satsuki in Tsukihime gets screwed over (particularly in the game) to the point of Memetic Mutation. The lack (and continual promise) of an eventual Satsuki route is a Running Gag in the continuity.
- Poor Satsuki's position is actually worse then average. She wasn't even really a friend of Shiki, to him, she was just a casual acquaintance, a classmate that he had talked to a few times. The defining moment that made her fall in love with him? He didn't even remember it until she told him.
- As mentioned above, the girls of Kanon, specifically Minase Nayuki.
- Ukyō Kuonji in Ranma ½, even though she doesn't show up until the third season. Bonus points because Ranma thought Ukyō was a boy. On top of this, Ukyō tends to act and dress like a guy, so she really isn't helping Ranma think of her as anything other than his boyhood friend. Unlike most of Ranma's other suitors, Ranma actually enjoys her company and sees her as a friend, and often goes to eat at her restaurant.
- Mousse doubtlessly considers himself this, as well, but in practice comes off more as the Stalker With A Crush. Particularly seeing as how it's shown that Shampoo has been ignoring him and beating on him since they were kids together, and has basically grown even more disdainful of him since.
- Nishino Mari, Takemoto Takeru's cousin and childhood friend in This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, stands no chance against the human alien Hikari.
- Daidōji Tomoyo in Card Captor Sakura likes her childhood friend and second cousin, Kinomoto Sakura (this is CLAMP, after all). A partial subversion, as Tomoyo doesn't seem to mind that Sakura doesn't share her feelings. This Troper has even seen fanfic that ships her with Li Meiling, the other local Unlucky Childhood Friend. (Then again, in the world of fanfic, this isn't too surprising.)
- The fact that Tomoyo/Meiling is So Damn Cute helps a LOT. And it helps spare Meiling from the Die For Our Ship bashing she often goes through.
- Haruhi Suzumiya: Kyon's (female)middle school friend Sasaki may very well end up like this. She rather explicitly comments on this when she talked about how in Japanese, only High School used a different spelling for "school" than the other educational levels.
- Chanohata Tamami in Mahoraba likes her childhood friend, landlady Aoba Kozue, but of course doesn't stand a chance against newcomer Shiritori, for the mere fact that her rival is male. Lesbians in anime sure have it tough.
- Both Tira and Chocolate Misu (Sorcerer Hunters) have crushes (a sweet and quiet one in Tira's case, a much more explicit and open in Chocolate's) on Carrot Glace. They are the only females he doesn't chase after since they were raised together and therefore he views them as if they were his sisters.
- In the manga, Carrot marries Tira, leaving only Chocolat to fit this trope. And considering how her sister and Carrot aren't exactly happy after 10 years, it may have been for the best....
- Tomari in the Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl anime, though the OVA episode turns the tables in an abrupt and contrived way.
- Subverted in the manga. While Hazumu does show great interest in Yasuna for most of the manga,and doesn't show much care for Tomari until the end,she [[still hooks up with her.
- Asuta also qualifies as a male example, being Hazumu's friend since childhood. Of course it gets a bit more complicated since Hazumu is a boy who turned into a girl, making Asuta very confused about his feelings.
- Shiho Munakata in Mai-HiME has a thing for her so-called "big brother" Yuuichi Tate, but he initially sees her as more of an annoyance, since she's always following him around and getting angry at him when it looks like he's taking interest in other girls.
- Kaede Fuyou in Shuffle actually lived with her childhood friend Rin for a while, but when he starts taking interest in another girl, she, um...loses it. She gets better, though.
- Neneko Izumi from DearS.
- Kirie from Girls Bravo, but she is more of an unlucky childhood tormenter than friend.
- Paraietta in Simoun is a milder version than the above two. She also gets better.
- The members of the Genshiken are all impressed that Saki is Makoto's osananajimi, as they've seen this trope over and over in anime. However, the two of them really do end up dating.
- Likewise, Claus and Lavie wind up together at the end of Last Exile, despite being childhood friends.
- Takamizawa Natsuki in Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro Na and its failed anime adaptation, Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro Na ~Crescent Love~.
- Kizaki Tamayo in Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer. In the anime, she does get her childhood friend; in the manga, she moves on to someone else.
- In Kami-sama Kazoku, Tenko is an angel whose job it is to guard Samatarou, the son of god. She has feelings for Samatarou but doesn't feel he values her as much as she values him. Samatarou actually falls for another girl and tries to win her over, making Tenko feel a little jealous. Samatarou eventually decides that Tenko is more important to him, though, making her not so unlucky after all.
- Jun Aoi from Martian Successor Nadesico is trapped in Yurika's "friend zone" throughout the series, eventually devolving into a Butt Monkey for his lack of screen presence. Yurika seems to be in this role for Akito, although that may be because of him being Tsundere towards her, and she gets him in the end.
- In Oh My Goddess!, it is revealed in the OAVs only that Keiichi and Belldandy actually first met as children.
- The main character of Doujin Work is named Osana Najimi, in an obvious reference.
- Lovely Complex is about the efforts of a high-school girl to win the heart of her classmate, who at first sees her only as the better half of their All Hanshin-Kyojin comedy duo.
- On that note, Mimi — yandere fashion model and Otani's childhood friend — is a little more fitting of this trope.
- Sakura in the Fate Stay Night anime and two of the three game scenarios. (She wins in the third... after killing everybody.)
- Cruelly twisted in Yu-Gi-Oh GX: Ekou, Amon's oldest childhood friend (who by all appearances was a gift from his rich foster family), was "unlucky" not because Amon didn't love her back, but because he did... and then killed her.
- Both Lucy and Yuka from Elfen Lied could be regarded as examples of this trope in regard to Kouta. Yuka because of Kouta's amnesia and her own emotionally needy personality and Lucy because she murdered his sister Kanae and his father in front of him in a jealous fit.
- Kei from Ef A Tale Of Memories fits this trope to a T.
- Otome Katou from School Days. She and Makoto are friends from junior high times, but Makoto seems to see her only as a friend. She actually bullies Makoto's first girlfriend Kotonoha and becomes his "other woman", having sex with him several times behind his second girlfriend Sekai's back because of it, and dumps him in the end when she sees he's not worthy of her feelings.. Subverted in the games, where there's an ending where Otome becomes a Cheryl Blossom, does have sex with Makoto and hooks up with him.
- In the Spiral manga, Kōsuke and Ryoko are unlucky because all of the Blade Children were artificially conceived and have the same father. While Ryoko is initially upset with Kousuke when he tells her not to call him 'big brother,' wanting to still be the one closest to him, she calms down when he explains that he wants to still be able to dream of being with her.
- In the hentai game and anime Bible Black, the main character ends up with the childhood friend Imari in the "best" ending of the game and in the anime itself, despite quite a bit of competition and his initial resistance to the idea.
- Technically happens in the "good" EVIL endings of the game as well except she's not quite herself. Or alone.
- Played straight and subverted in Captain Tsubasa.
- Subverted: Sanae has been crushing on the male lead Tsubasa for three years and she's getting frustrated, since she's pretty much the poster girl for Unlucky Childhood Friend... But right after one of the big tournaments, it's revealed that Tsubasa does like her but has been waiting for the right moment to tell her; after a rocky incident with her Stalker With A Crush, and with the blessing of a former romantic rival turned into The Cyrano, they hook up. And later get married.
- Played straight: The girl who actually helped Sanae and Tsubasa to get together, Kumi, becomes the Unlucky Childhood Friend
- Male version in The Prince of Tennis: Akira Kamio and his unrequited crush on his team captain's beautiful sister, An Tachibana.
- Another male version can be argued in Bleach — Renji Abarai and Rukia Kuchiki are close and grew up in the slums together, but while Renji cares about Rukia rather doggedly and has been hinted to have pent-up feelings for her, she hasn't been shown to reciprocate these thus far. (Also, his odds are sadly decreased due to not being the main character. Then again, it's not like Rukia shows open feelings for said main chara as well, so Renji may still have a chance...)
- The main character of Ojamajo Doremi, Doremi Harukaze, takes it to the extreme, to the point where she calls herself "The unluckiest Bishoujo in the world!" (she even gets called Dojimi sometimes). She never gets a boyfriend, but at least accomplishes her goal of confessing to the boy she liked at the end.
- Shinobu Miyake in Urusei Yatsura. Making it somewhat worse was that she and Ataru were supposed to end up together, but Rumiko Takahashi found that Lum was unexpectedly popular. Cue Ship Sinking in almost all of Takahashi's other works.
- Uh... this troper admits he's not 100% on the minutia of Urusei Yatsura, but wasn't it Ataru Moroboshi who lusted after Shinobu, while Shinobu tolerated it because they were old friends? With her agreeing to marry Ataru if he won the "Tag Tournament" simply a way to motivate him so that the human race wouldn't end up as slaves? And this troper is positive that she loses any and all interest in Ataru after he hooks up with Lum, partially due to his Accidental Marriage, primarily because Ataru is a Loveable Sex Maniac. In fact, this troper is sure that Shinobu actually spends most of the series pining after Shuutaro Mendo, and that she finally finds love with the shy, klutzy, Inaba.
- Actually, early chapters of the manga had her to like Ataru but just unable to get past his perversion and him being a Weirdness Magnet to become his official girlfriend. Also one chapter early in the series with Ataru's future offspring that was revealed at the end to be hers.
- Pretear has fun with this when the resident geek Yayoi digs up the fact that Himeno's stepmother Natsue and her driver Tanaka were classmates. Yayoi immediately assumes there had to be some romance going on between the two since their childhood, with the unlucky one being Tanaka — he got to work for Natsue and stay close to her, but she chose somebody else over him twice. Made even more funny when it is hinted that not only it is not just a product of Yayoi's crazy imagination, but Tanaka actually still likes Natsue.
- It appears that Mahou Sensei Negima seems to setting Anya up for this in relation to Negi. It does not help that she is a full-blown Tsundere convinced her old friend is being lured into temptation by all those overdeveloped middle school girls.
- On the other hand, it's also pointed out that he's much less formal and more relaxed with her, she's the only one of the girls who's his age, and (aside from his cousin) the first one he met, timeline-wise. So who knows? Anything could happen.
- Then we have Asuna, who has some Unlucky Childhood Friend traits toward Takamichi.
- G, Ai's childhood friend (and the love of her life) in Real Bout High School. An orphan, he would eventually be adopted by a rich paranoiac and trained to be a killer. This brutal training involved assembling a gun while blindfolded and firing before the boy across from him could, and being forced to kill a wild dog he had befriended with his bare hands. This training would eventually break him (and blind him in one eye), and he and the other boys revolted and escaped. He's since become a sadistic street fighter and criminal mastermind, but Ai knows he's in there somewhere...
- Mikako and Tsutomu in Gokinjo Monogatari.
- Shirley Fenette from Code Geass is one particularly Unlucky friend, in regard to Lelouch. So much that she ends up dead.
- Everyone keeps saying that Shirley is Lelouch's childhood friend but I have yet to see any proof. Lelouch was sent to Japan when he was 10 and Shirley has known him since he first enrolled into the academy (Lelouch, most likely, was a teenager and not a child when he enrolled into the academy).
- Wouldn't she be a sort-of Unlucky Teenage Friend, then? Other than meeting Lelouch when they were older than the standard, she fits scaringly well...
- Suzaku Kururugi fits better as the Unlucky Childhood Friend, IMHO.
- Really, if we're looking at it from a romantic point of view, Milly Ashford comes closest here, as Lelouch is completely unaware of her interest.
- Male, Boys Love version: Hiroshi "Hiro" Nakano is Shuichi's Unlucky Childhood Friend in Gravitation. He eventually hooks up with Yuki's own Unlucky Childhood Friend, his ex-fiancée Ayaka Usami.
- Kasumi from Hand Maid May, whose problem is merely having to compete with a harem full of cyberdolls for Kazuya's attention.
- It appeared she would win when Cyber-X/Takuya Saotome is revealed to be Kazuya's descendant from the future. The series pulled a twist when it revealed, in the last episode, that Cyberdolls are equiped to conceive and bear children. Talk about "fully functionial"...
- Marmalade Boy really adores this trope. We have at least SIX Unlucky Childhood Friends in the TV series alone, both males and females:
- Ginta Suoh (male, loves Miki but had no chance to tell her... well, he DID, since she wrote him a love letter, but his male friends found it first and It Got Worse...);
- Arimi Suzuki (female, Yuu's ex-girlfriend, still loves him);
- Tsutomu Rokutanda (male, Ginta's cousin and the series' Butt Monkey, loves Arimi);
- Anju Kitahara (female, Ill Girl and Yuu's close friend, probably his first love);
- Ryouko Momoi (female, loves Namura since school times);
- Takumi Kijima (Ryouko's Unlucky Childhood Friend, who got over it and married another long time friend of his', Rei, who would've been his Unlucky Childhood Friend if he didn't give up on Ryouko).
- Note that in the case of Ginta and Arimi, they tried "dating" to make Yuu and Miki jealous... but fell in love with each other instead.
- Yuzu Yamamoto of Bitter Virgin.
- In Nana: Reira/Layla, Trapnest's vocalist, fits this trope bad for childhood friend Takumi — she's even called out by bandmate Ren when she admits to breaking up with Shin in favor of her career... Only, you know, this was less about the band and more about the fact Takumi is their bassist, further proving she's prepared to drop pretty much anything to keep what little "relationship" they have in tact.
- Ginko from Kure-nai. Sort of. Though Shinkuro doesn't return Yuno's feelings any more than he does Ginko's, he does hang with Yuuno a lot more than with Ginko. Also, Shinkuro and Ginko made a pseudo-Childhood Marriage Promise to run Ginko's family's ramen shop together when they grew up, but then Shinkuro decided to become a dispute mediator and spent eight years training in the martial arts of Yuuno's family.
- Done in Pretty Face. Granted, Randou didn't know the girl for very long (and while it's possible the version I read was mistranslated, apparently he didn't even know she was a girl in the first place) and he ends up together... sort of... with another girl that he met later in life, and then lived with for a year posing as her twin sister...
- Yoshimori from Kekkaishi pines for Tokine — a childhood friend, next door neighbor, and fellow Kekkaishi. Despite their similarities and common histories, Tokine only sees Yoshimori as the crybaby kid she used to watch out for. Tokine also likes older, taller men, and Yoshimori is two years younger than her and rather short at present. Ouch.
- In recent manga chapters, however, it is hinted that Tokine seems to be developing feelings for him. Even having a mental He Is All Grown Up moment when she imagines how Yoshimori would be when he's older. So, the trope might just end up getting subverted, but the jury is out till then.
- Tsugumi from Kannagi.
- Izumi from Kemeko Deluxe.
- Male version: Teifu, for Ryoumou in Ikki Tousen.
- An odd variation from the anime-only Great Guardians season: Since childhood, the Yamato Nadeshiko Chuubou had dreamed of marrying Koukin as per her destiny (she was the reincarnation of his past self's wife), but not only she and Koukin had not met until she went to live in his Big Fancy House, Koukin was already in love with Hakufu and Chuubou was in love with the *idea* of him. After they talked it out and Koukin told her to build her own destiny instead of holding out for a dream, Chuubou gracefully accepted this and stepped aside.
- Watarase Jun in Happiness!. He wants to marry the main character, but since the main character's straight, Jun starts to dress like woman to get with him. The main character can get with him/her (Jun can become Gender Bender) in the game expansion.
- According to Ho Yay oriented shippers, Ten-oh Hyuuga is close to hit this trope in regard to his best friend Ryuu-oh Ryouma in Shurato after Ryoma marries his Victorious Childhood Friend, Matsuri. Your Mileage May Vary, of course.
- Alisa Bannings of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Tsundere friend of Nanoha. First person Nanoha had ever befriended. Answered with a blushing "Of course I do!" when Suzuka commented that she really liked Nanoha. Got really jealous in the Sound Stages and manga when she saw how close Nanoha and Fate are in the second season. Is so completely out of the competition for Nanoha that Shipping factions don't even consider her.
- A straighter (pardon the pun) example maybe Yuuno Scrya, if the most recent Sound Stages are to be believed. Not only has he been the subject of Die For Our Ship and Ship To Ship Combat Flame War, canon seems to indicate that he's only regarded as a close childhood friend by Nanoha.
- Completely averted in Telepathy Shoujo Ran. Ran and her childhood friend Rui are totally in love with each other, although Ran is most vocal about it.
- The aptly-named Najimi in Akikan. Not the best name to have as far as romantic circumstances go.
- Video Girl Ai, due to that Unrequited Love is a big part of its plot. Between Nobuko and Natsumi... Ouch.
- Kazuya from Touch, poor guy. Even though he has everything, well almost everything, he worked damn hard for it. Maybe because he's too nice and too considerate of the feelings of others and he's less mischievous and less brave, he may had been seen as less fun than his brother. It Gets Worse.
- Fruits Basket has a weird version of this with Kagura and Kyou. Kagura is Kyou's cousin, after all (Although it should be known that they are not closely related, something like 10th cousins or something to that effect) .
- One of the most tragic versions of is Kagerou, the unfortunate Yandere from Basilisk. If not for her Death By Sex powers, she would've had a chance to marry Gennosuke, the love of her life...
- The Tsundere England from Axis Powers Hetalia is the closest to the trope, among the nation-tans. He's strongly hinted to have an unrequited crush on his adoptive brother America, but ever after the very sad end of The American Revolution... well, currently he's so unlucky that he doesn't even need a love rival.
- This Troper knows that fanwork doesn't count, but she's seen several Austria/Hungary fanfics where Hungary is in a Betty And Veronica situation with Prussia as the Veronica and Austria as the Betty. Since she knows both of them since they were children, Prussia becomes the Unlucky Childhood Friend as soon as Hungary chooses Austria over him.
- Canonwise, Prussia may be the Unlucky Childhood Friend if we read too much into Prussia's infamous and teary "Enjoy being alone" line, that apparently often pops up when Austria and Hungary are in the background, rabu-rabu-style.
- And as though things weren't messed up enough in canon, there's also Switzerland and his He Was Never My Heterosexual Life Partner/Tsundere behaviour around Austria, who grew up with him. Oh Europe.
- Gankutsuou has Franz who harbors feelings for Albert but keeps it in secret.
- Tatsuhiko Aouta from Slam Dunk, in regard to Haruko.
- Arguably, Minori from Tora Dora with regard to Taiga.
- While one of Shinji's childhood friends is victorious in the Neon Genesis Evangelion spinoff manga Angelic Days, the other, Kaoru, is not.
- Kotomi Ichinose from Clannad.
- Yui from Fushigi Yuugi is a very painful example of an unlucky childhood friend. After helping Miaka return to the real world, she is taken into the book in her place. Upon arrival, she is attacked by two men, leading her to believe she was raped. Nakago's persuasions for her to be the Priestess of Seiryuu by saying that Miaka had betrayed her don't help either, and in a series of misunderstandings, Yui is finally led to a Face Heel Turn.
- Ai frome True Tears. Her love gets taken away by one of the weirdest girls ever.
- Taichi Yagami gets to be a male version of this trope in Digimon Adventure 02, since Sora gets Strangled By The Red String with Yamato.
- Isabella towards George, and Tokumori towards Miwako in Paradise Kiss. To be fair, the Distant Finale isn't very clear on the current state of affairs between the first pair, and she did tell him she wanted to devote her life to helping him in his career as a designer, even if he didn't love her back.
- Tanda from Seirei No Moribito has been in love with Balsa since they were children, and they're now in their thirties. She obviously has feelings for him but is apparently too badass to settle down.
- Tamao from Shaman King. She did admit that she likes Yoh, even though the chances are slim to none, seeing how Yoh is already engaged to and in love with Anna.
- Junjou Romantica's Hiroki is a Boys Love example of this. He was in love with his childhood friend Akihiko ever since they were young, and 'lost him' to a man Akihiko met in highschool. Although, when they found out Akihiko's love would never love him back, Hiroki managed to convince Akihiko to have sex with him. This unfortunately led to a lot of Angst, because Akihiko regretted the decision once the deed was done.
- More so an unlucky teenagehood friend, due to them meeting in their late teens, Mion from Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni seems to be leaning this way. Most of her affections for Keiichi are onesided, he probably doesn't even know. Rena however..
- Merle, the Cat Girl, in Vision of Escaflowne. She's known Van all their lives, is a friend of his since early childhood, and makes no secret of the fact she's got a crush on him (the main reason she's so hostile towards Hitomi, in the beginning, is because she's afraid she'll try and steal Van from her). Van, meanwhile, seems to do his best to ignore her feelings and ends up falling in love with Hitomi. Like a number of others on this page, she ends up pulling an I Want My Beloved To Be Happy and chooses to withdraw and leave Van and Hitomi to work things out, though she does give Hitomi a little "talk" about how Hitomi's inability to make up her mind over the Love Triangle.
- Played depressingly straight in Five Centimeters Per Second. made painfully tragic by the fact that everything is realistically played out. At least it was a beautiful ride.
Comics
- Lana Lang, in some versions of the Superman mythos. (Smallville is definitely not one of them.)
- Especially in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow.
- Archie Comics' Betty Cooper. See Betty And Veronica.
- Bamse has the example of former villain Vargen and his childhood crush Virginia, they meet up years later, but by then she is already married.
Literature
- Twilight: Jacob Black, despite knowing Bella for most of her life and being mortal like her, loses out to undead Edward.
- He's not too upset about it; he gets with Bella's half-vamp, beautiful daughter who will age ti legal within a few years.
- Sonya, who was given the Childhood Marriage Promise by Nikolai Rostov, in War and Peace.
- Arguably, Miro from Speaker for the Dead, with a twist: After he and Ouanda turn out to be half-siblings, he gets sent out to space, and because of relativity, everyone else ages a few decades. So while Ouanda has aged 30 years, long since forgotten Miro, and married someone else, Miro still misses her and feels abandoned. Doesn't help that he's handicapped either.
- Definitely Severus Snape, as revealed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (and hinted at since at least Order of the Phoenix). In fact, his unrequited love for Lily, and guilt over her death, was a major factor in Voldemort's downfall — not bad for the maladjusted kid who fucked up so badly with the girl he liked that he got thrown over for an ex-Jerk Jock.
- Littlefinger of A Song of Ice and Fire. He gets even by starting an awe-inspiringly violent civil war that begins with the death of the man his love married.
- Littlefinger has his own Unlucky Childhood Friend, Lysa Arryn. Whom he marries — and then kills.
- But she was batshit insane and fond of throwing people off of tall mountains, so its not like she didn't have it coming. Though most of his other actions have less legitimate excuses.
- Rand and Egwene in the Wheel of Time series.
- Cinderpelt and Firestar Warrior Cats (verified by Word Of God). She was originally Firestar's apprentice, meaning it started out as a case of Hot For Teacher, but by the end of the first series, she was one of his closest friends.
- Eponine Thenardier in Les Miserables, making this Older Than Radio.
- Mason from Vampire Academy was so unlucky, he didn't even live long enough for Rose to give him a chance.
Live Action TV
- Willow to Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- Kevin and Winnie in The Wonder Years is this and a less tragic version of Star Crossed Lovers; they clearly loved each other, but the ending narration reveals that Winnie went off to Europe and Kevin married and had a son with another woman.
- Stuart Minkus was madly in love with Topanga during the first season of Boy Meets World, while Cory could barely stand her (or so he claimed). But when Minkus went missing for three seasons, Cory came to terms with his feelings and made his move. This troper believes Minkus is still kicking himself for losing his chance.
- Subverted in Pushing Daisies where Chuck is Ned's Victorious Childhood Friend and he instead has an "Unlucky Adult Friend" in Olive.
- Although Chuck could be considered this because she can't touch him. At all.
- Chloe Sullivan definitely is an example on Smallville.
- Interesting to note that the original entry on Chloe doesn't list who she's the childhood friend too, which is appropriate, since she's shown attraction to both Clark and Lex, and been not merely ignored but lied to and manipulated by both as well. The trope really only counts with Clark within the series itself, but in the larger DC continuity, she was a friend to Lex "pre-going-evil", which can be considered a childhood of sorts.
- In Lost, arguably Kate to Tom, her childhood sweetheart, who was then married. That didn't turn out too well.
- Male example: Charlie to Megan in Privileged.
Music
- The song "Todo ha cambiado" ("Everything has changed") by Chilean music group Canal Magdalena deals with a male Unlucky Childhood Friend who tries to change his situation, yet fails.
- The song "Bang Bang (He Shot Me Down)" by Cher and Nancy Sinatra.
- "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift, a pop-heavy country music artist with a penchant for overly-emotional songs. That's right: a trope codified in Anime and Manga has a representation in country music. Not only are Tropes Not Bad, they also transcend cultural and linguistic barriers.
Theater
- Federica in Verdi's opera Luisa Miller.
- Micaela in Bizet's version of Carmen.
- The title character of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, although he is the lead protagonist, also functions as the Unlucky Childhood Friend to Roxane. His story is, of course, notable for pioneering the trope of the Unlucky Childhood Friend deliberately assisting the Paolo (who also happens to be his best friend, Christian) in winning the affections of his unrequited love.
Video Games
- Guillo in Baten Kaitos Origins. Other obstacles standing between him/her and Sagi include the fact that he/she is a living puppet, and the fact that Sagi probably always thought of him/her as a man (much like this Troper), even though he/she technically has no gender.
- Tia from Lufia 2, to the point where she leaves the party when Maxim marries Selan because simply seeing him would cause her pain.
- Subverted (to a point) in Super Robot Wars: Original Generation. Kushua Mizuha begins the game with a crush on her childhood friend Ryusei, but by the middle of the game, has moved on to somebody else. In the Alpha series, however, she does end up with her friend (who was not Ruysei), but since the first OG game came out between the first and second Alpha games, it wasn't quite a foregone conclusion until she appears in her Mech from Alpha 1.
- If not paired up with Staff Chick Edin (whom he's been crushing on for quite a while) or with Tiltyu (whom he's known for years) the mage Azel becomes a male Unlucky Childhood Friend in Fire Emblem 4. Something similar goes to the swordsman Holyn if he doesn't hook up with his fellow swordswoman Ayra. And to Azel's best friend Lex, if not paired up with Tiltyu. Levin/Mahnya is an odd variation; Levin is said to have had a crush on her, but it won't matter whether or not she returned his feelings since she dies halfway through the chapter no matter what the player does.
- Wil becomes this if Rebecca marries Lowen or Sain in Fire Emblem 7.
- In Fire Emblem 8, no matter who you pair up Eirika with, Lyon will end up as a specially tragic Unlucky Childhood Friend. If you pair up Ephraim with someone else than Tana, she'll also become his Unlucky Childhood Friend. Same goes to Innes if not paired with with Eirika, Artur if you don't hook him up with Lute, and Colm if you don't pair him up with Neimi.
- Lilina becomes this if you pair Roy with someone else in FE 6, and vice versa. (Logically speaking, that is. In the actual game, only Roy can have paired endings despite the decidedly romantic nature of supports like Fir/Noah and Klein/Tate.)
- Fanon depicts Rolf as this to Mist in FE 9/10, since Mist hooks up with Boyd in 10's ending.
- Dawn Star, Jade Empire's sweet-natured Chinese Yamato Nadeshiko with Psychic Powers, has it bad for a male PC. The player has the option of flirting, and eventually pursuing a relationship, with her, the spoiled Princess of the Empire, both women at once, or a dashing, clever rogue. Choosing either of the other two options, while more difficult than dating her alone, relegates her firmly into this category.
- On the other hand, if you try to pursue her with a female PC, she'll be painfully oblivious to your advances, relegating the PC to Unlucky Childhood Friend status. The clever reversal is only made strange by the fact that Dawn Star can end up with the spoiled princess if the PC is male.
- There's also a sidequest early in the game that deals with this. You come across a woman who tells you that her husband is being menaced by a gang of bandits. You later come across the bandit leader....who turns out to be said Unlucky Childhood Friend for the husband.
- Saria, Link's childhood friend from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, develops something of a crush on Link. Mido, his primary rival back in those days, states seven years later that she "really liked him" in a way that suggests that the Kokiri does not have a word for "love" in their language. Unfortunately for her, Link turns out to be a Hylian rather than a Kokiri, which kills any chance of the two of them getting together romantically because the Kokiri never grow up. She does end up as the Sage of the Forest and has Darunia as a new friend by the end though.
- Prince Komali from Wind Waker also qualifies. After he gets his wings from Valoo, he tries to express his feelings for his attendant, Medli, by picking out a flower to give her. Medli, however, considers her relationship with Komali to be more platonic, if not outright maternal. When Medli leaves to become the Earth Sage, Komali is left with his flower, wondering if she'll ever come back, and the ending isn't clear on whether or not they ever meet again.
- Depending on the player's actions, Colette of Tales of Symphonia will either be Lloyd's Victorious Childhood Friend or this.
- This trope is further played straight in the sequel if the player chooses to pair Lloyd off with anyone other than Colette.
- Juno from Valkyria Chronicles is Welkin's classmate from the university, but it's fairly obvious from the opening who he ends up with.
- While Minori's technically Unlucky Childhood Friend in all routes of Brass Restoration except her own, it's only really mentioned in Yoshine's. And also in Yoshine's route, there's Koutarou.
- Bianca of Dragon Quest V becomes this if the player decides to marry Nera or Deborah instead of her.
- A running theme in the World of Mana:
- Possibly role-flipped in the first Tokimeki Memorial game: it is likely for the player character to become unlucky when pursuing childhood friend Shiori Fujisaki, as she is actually one of the harder girls to win over (due to high stat requirements across the board). Of course, if you play the game the right way, you'll be victorious instead.
- In Harvest Moon "Back to Nature"(For Girl), "Friends of Mineral Town",or "More Friends of Mineral Town",Rick and Karen are a rival pairing,but you can marry Karen(boy versions),or Rick(girl versions).
- Chrono Trigger has Lucca, childhood friend to the main character Crono who ends up instead with Rebellious Princess Marle. There's no real dramatic tension between them in the game though... unless you play the Fan Sequel Crimson Echoes, where it's played up more.
- Chrono Cross clearly demonstrates this trope, with the male lead Serge already dating a girl called Leena, who later (rather unceremoniously and silently) gets shafted as Serge more or less begins to ignore her completely as the plot starts to thicken. The main ending of the game even implies that Serge and Kid (the female lead) are destined to be together.
- The player character of Shin Megami Tensei I ends up as the unlucky one when he finds out that his childhood friend is dating someone else, who later joins your party when she goes missing. Of course, it's also up to you to choose how you see her. After The End, though, she perhaps ends up the most unlucky...
Web Comics
Web Original
- Right now, it looks like Jadis from the Whateley Universe qualifies. Her bestest bud from elementary school, who she hasn't seen in years, is now at Whateley Academy with her, but already has found a girlfriend. Only Jadis is the daughter of the internationally feared supervillain Dr. Diabolik, so things could change in a lot of ways...
Western Animation
- Gender-swapped example in Kim Possible (again): the biggest roadblock to Kim's and Ron's Relationship Upgrade, mostly for Ron (it's one of the reasons he stupidly decides not to risk it during The Movie) was their long friendship. However, in the end, they get together. Ron even broke up with Kim during a pre-hookup mind control episode which made Kim hot for Ron, because of their friendship.
- The roadblock for Kim not dating Ron was because of falling to peer pressure, as well as doubt about Ron's level of maturity, but the trope still stands.
- Joan of Arc in Clone High. Abe's obliviousness to Joan's feelings for him is taken to the point of parody.
- Inverted with the relationship between Jen and Alex in MTV's Downtown. Various characters assume that the two of them are or should be sleeping together, despite their vehement protests to the contrary. Although after a conversation about how desperately horny they both are, they attempt to hook up. It's a miserable failure.
- Gwen Stacy takes on this role in The Spectacular Spider Man.
- But Her luck may be changing, as of the season 1 finale. Of course, that was only because SHE got the balls to kiss HIM, but still...
- Of course, if it follows the comic, she won't live long enough to become victorious
- In Code Lyoko, Sissi Delmas reveals in episode "Marabounta" that she's in love with Ulrich Stern since kindergarten. Her lack of success wooing him doesn't come so much from him seeing her as a friend, though, but more from Ulrich simply not liking her.
- Jack Frost from the 1979 Rankin-Bass Christmas TV special Jack Frost. He sacrifices immortality to woo Elisa who seemed to have affections for what he did at least. Taking the name "Jack Snip", he jumps through hoops like enduring imprisonment, chancing becoming a sprite again to save the town from the Ka-Nights, outwitting Kubla Kraus, and getting a house, gold, and a good horse. And after all of that, he still doesn't get the girl. Although to be fair, Elisa's father reveals to "Jack Snip" that Elisa was always in love with Jack Frost. Too bad Elisa never found out who "Jack Snip" really was.
- There are two of them in Danny Phantom: Tucker, who is the resident Butt Monkey and Vlad, who spent years in the hospital and lost out the chance to marry the girl of his dreams. Equally unluckily for him, Maddie truely loves Jack and just doesn't feel the same way for him, even without Jack.
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