Odd Friendship / Anime & Manga

• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You has several examples, including the following:
  • Rentarou's eighth and ninth girlfriends, Mei and Iku, tend to be paired up despite being very different from one another - Mei is a maid who's completely devoted to her masters, and struggles with asserting her independence, while Iku is a masochistic baseball player. The two have a Strange Minds Think Alike moment in Chapter 46's hide-and-seek game when they both come up with the idea to hide on the ceiling; in chapter 89 Iku invites Mei to join her in ascetic training, and one of the sequences in chapter 120 has Mei putting in extra practice to properly paddle Iku's posterior, feeling left out when Rin does it instead, and being happy when Iku and Rin invite her to join in.
  • Girlfriends 13 and 16, Naddy and Yaku. Naddy is a Japanese woman obsessed with (badly) emulating American culture in active rejection of her strict upbringing to be a Yamato Nadeshiko. Yaku is an actual Yamato Nadeshiko, age 89 though looking much younger, who has a great deal of trouble with anything that isn't classically Japanese. Not only can Yaku not pronounce "Naddy" correctly, she's regularly shown to never have any idea what Naddy is saying in her utterly broken beyond repair English. Regardless, the two often demonstrate a Commonality Connection in their similar upbringings. In chapter 80, Naddy turns off the faux American during a crisis so Yaku can understand her, only for Yaku to encourage Naddy to be herself even though she's otherwise incomprehensible to the older woman, and in chapter 118 writes a heartfelt declaration of friendship to a senior teacher giving Naddy a hard time that brings Naddy to tears. Naddy affectionately calls Yaku "el grande madre".
  • Girlfriends 18 and 23, Ahko and Suu. Trendy gal Ahko notices Suu's self-loathing as she struggles to integrate herself with Rentarou's family, and helps her use her Number Obsession to memorize everyone's names using number puns as mnemonic devices. The chapter ends with the reveal that Ahko is the one girl Suu remembers without needing such a trick. Later, in chapter 128, Suu is uninterested in taking part in Fall Kids until Ahko expresses a desire to see her participate.
• After War Gundam X has Number Two Sala and Bridge Bunny Toniya. Sala is buttoned-down and takes everything seriously. Toniya is a flirt who takes nothing seriously. They're very close friends regardless.
• Alice and Yoriko from Arachnid. Yoriko bullied Alice for fun at the beginning and Alice almost killed her in retaliation after receiving combat training. With all the evil assassins lurking about, though, Yoriko needs protection and Alice needs shelter and is desperate to have a friend, so the two wind up getting along. Some weeks later, Yoriko even says that if they learned to care for each other despite their flaws and lies, then they are good friends, indeed. It's to be seen if their friendship will be able to endure Yoriko actually being the Real Big Bad Boss of the Organization...
• Assassination Classroom:
  • You wouldn't think a courageous, reckless, and confrontational guy like Karma would be friends with a meek, shy, and soft-spoken boy like Nagisa, but they are.
  • Another Shrinking Violet Karma is also close friends with is Okuda, the only girl in the class who doesn't find him scary. In return, Karma doesn't feel the need to be cautious around her, and even confesses to her about his insecurities regarding his lack of fear. The guidebook even refers to their friendship as the most easygoing of the male-female relationships in Class E. The oddness of their relationship doesn't go unnoticed by their peers, who are as baffled as well.
• Attack on Titan: Kenny and Uri. Everyone who knows about it is weirded out by the fact that a king and his assassin can become best friends. (Although Kenny was only trying to kill his friend's niece for personal ambitions and because his friend's brother was a total dick.)
• Bleach:
  • Isshin Kurosaki and Ryuuken Ishida have been cordially vitriolic friends and colleagues (as fellow doctors and Retired Badasses) for at least 20 years, despite the fact that they have dissimilar personalities (waaaay overeager vs. infuriatingly aloof), diverging career tracks (GP vs. hospital executive), and were born on opposite sides of a spiritual war between the Shinigami and the Quincies. Their shared Mysterious Past only begins to be explained in the final arc.
  • Subverted with the Generation Xerox, Ichigo Kurosaki and Uryuu Ishida. Their initial rivalry turned into a Fire-Forged Friendship very quickly. While they try to project the kind of vitriolic bickering their fathers engage in, the other characters Lampshade the respect this conceals. Neither Ichigo nor Uryuu appreciates having this pointed out.
  • There's also the friendship between Orihime Inoue and Tatsuki Arisawa: Orihime is the gentle All-Loving Hero with red hair, while Tatsuki is a fiery tomboy with black hair. Orihime has a Story-Breaker Power and regularly fights supernatural beings, while Tatsuki is an Empowered Badass Normal who can see spirits and can fight hand to hand but is otherwise not a threat against the big beasts. Despite these differences, the two are inseparable as friends and constantly protect and look after each other throughout the series.
• In Claymore Plucky Comic Relief Helen and uber stoic Deneve.
• In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, the setting states that Demons don’t normally work together and are very vindictive of each other’s turfs, even established groups under their leader Muzan don’t usually get along and are only there to follow orders, other times a stronger demon is violently forcing demons weaker than them to go along with their whims; Susamaru and Yahaba however were unusually cooperative and not condescending of each other in any way, the Manga volume’s extras even stated they had just met before Muzan requested their services to search and destroy, yet they got along well enough.
• 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. Joe is the straight-lace worrywort of the group whereas Gomamon is the carefree jokester.
  • Jen and Terriermon have a similar dynamic to Joe and Gomamon.
• Doraemon: Loser Protagonist Nobita's main friend group consists of a Do-Anything Robot from the future, the kind and popular girl who he has a crush on, and the school bully and Rich Bastard who pick on him almost every day.
• Dragon Ball Z:
  • Gohan and Piccolo. Piccolo originally kidnaps the young Gohan for some Training from Hell and forces him to fight against the invading Saiyans.
  • Also we have Hercule and Majin Buu. While Hercule at first only got close to Buu to try to kill him he eventually formed a genuine friendship with the pink demon. The friendship was even enough to convince Buu to make a Heel–Face Turn.
• In Durarara!! Shizuo Heiwajima (who personifies the Naritaverse tendency towards craziness and Dysfunction Junction like no other) and Tom Tanaka (Nice Guy and Only Sane Man). Also his Intergenerational Friendship with the Yakuza princess Akane Awakusu also counts.
• Eyeshield 21:
  • Book Dumb Gentle Giant Kurita and Trigger-Happy Sociopathic Hero Hiruma. 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.
  • Taki and Akaba get along very well, despite seeming almost ridiculously incompatible.
• In Failed Princesses, the two main characters are Nanaki Fujishiro, a vain and superficial, yet highly attractive gyaru, and Kanade Kurokawa, a plain-looking otaku. The two don't get along at first, with Fujishiro making fun of Kurokawa for her appearance, and Kurokawa secretly hating Fujishiro, but they gradually become close as a result of standing up for each other at their lowest points. Since this is a Yuri Genre manga, they may eventually become more than just friends.
• In Fruits Basket, main character Tohru Honda is a Nice Girl and (at first glance) Stock Shoujo Heroine whose best friends are Arisa Uotani (a former delinquent who's still a bit rough around the edges) and Saki Hanajima (a quiet, stoic Goth with Psychic Powers). The three of them couldn't be more different, but they're still close friends.
• 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. Bonus points for being an Intergenerational Friendship as well.
• Gamers! (2015) revolves around an (initially imaginary) Love Dodecahedron largely between people who love video games or are part of some gaming-centric group. Aguri—a Gyaru Girl who is the only non-Gamer Chick of the girls—happens to have the closest bond with the protagonist Keita Amano—who is more Serious Business about games than any of them—over a mutual Romantic Wingman support of each other’s love lives. This ironically elicits a Green-Eyed Monster reaction from Aguri’s boyfriend and Keita’s love interests, who all think their relationship is too compatible for their disparate personalities to be the Platonic Life-Partners bond they claim it is.
• Hanayamata: Hana and Naru look like this to outsiders, what with the former being ridiculously cheerful and outgoing, while the latter is initially possessed of an almost paralyzing case of shyness. Turns out that they have more in common than either first realized, as revealed in their conversation during the second episode.
• Haruhi Suzumiya:
  • Kyon and Haruhi. 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 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 with, and Kyon reluctantly comes to admit that he trusts Itsuki.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers:
  • Lithuania and Poland. Lithuania is gentle and serious-minded, whereas Poland is bossy and frivolous, but the two are Heterosexual Life-Partners at the very least. A shared piece of their history probably has something to do with it.
  • 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." It does if you followed World War II.
  • Finland and Sweden. Finland is exuberant, friendly, and talkative, while Sweden is stone-faced, straightforward, and rarely speaks. They're extremely close regardless. Though considering that Sweden is said to be playful and emotional deep down, the two may be more alike than they seem at first glance.
  • Norway and Denmark. Denmark is perpetually-energetic, fun-loving and boisterous, while Norway is quiet, deadpan, and somewhat sarcastic. Finland remarks that despite Norway's apparent annoyance with Denmark, the two get along well — he even compares their relationship to his and Sweden's.
    Finland: Whatever happens, it seems like Nor spends a lot of time with Denmark.
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War:
  • Kaguya's friendship with Fujiwara is something of an enigma, given that they are almost complete opposites (she's cold and calculating while Fujiwara is cheery and random). Despite this, she considers their friendship to be of equal value to her crush on Shirogane... most of the time anyways.
  • Onodera and Miko come from completely different social circles and have almost nothing in common, but the two apparently grew rather close when they were on the Culture Festival committee together. Notably, Onodera is one of only two people that Miko addresses by their first name (the other being her Childhood Friend Osaragi).
  • Kei is one of the more grounded characters in the series (rebellious phase aside) yet is somehow best friends with Moeha, who is wierd even by the standards of her family. Unlike just about every other relationship in the series, we never get an explanation for how this came about.
• Kengan Ashura has many of the fighters develop unlikely friendship.
  • Suekichi Kaneda practically stole Ryo Himura's position as Ginokuniya's fighter, but Ryo doesn't hold it against him, and the two would become close friends, alongside Rihito and Okuya).
  • Gaolang Wongsawat and Yoshinari Karo come from different countries, age groups and have vastly different fighting styles. Both are also The Stoic, and are unlikely to initiate a conversation. Despite this, the pair are almost always seen hanging out together in the 4-Koma strips.
  • Kaede and Sakura Akiyama (secretaries to the Nogi Group and Magatanien, respectively) are good friends with Wakatsuki, Sekibayashi and Murobuchi, despite those three being fighters representing other companies. Lampshaded by Rin, who wonders what they have in common when Kaede shows her their group picture when they all go overseas to cheer on Sekibayashi's wrestling match.
• Kill la Kill: Ryuko Matoi and Mako Mankanshoku. Ryuko is the only person in the series that comes anywhere near what may be considered normal, while Mako is such a Cloudcuckoolander that even other people in Honnouji find her strange.
• Lapis Re:LiGHTs has the friendship between the two youngest members of the cast, Salsa of IV KLORE and Kaede of Kono Hana wa Otome. They are nearly complete opposites, the former being a werewolf Genki Girl Bokukko Tomboy while the latter is a reserved, polite Ojou but still get along well. One has to imagine their being roommates and The Baby of the Bunch of their respective groups help.
• Unanimated Lucky Star discussed why Hiyori, "an otaku in every sense of the word", would be friends with "honour students" Minami and Yutaka.
• Admirals Lindy and Leti from 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.
• Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid:
  • Fafnir is a dragon who would sooner kill a human than talk to one, yet he manages to bond with Takiya over their shared love of Otaku culture (not that he'd ever admit it).
  • Tohru and Elma used to be like this, having traveled together for several decades despite the former being a Chaos Dragon and the latter being a Harmony Dragon. These days, they're more like rivals with a dash of Vitriolic Best Buds (though Elma wishes that they were still friends, and they do eventually rekindle their friendship).
• Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun:
  • Nozaki and Mikoshiba. Sakura points out the two have very different personalities so it surprises her that they're friends. Nozaki admits he initially only took interest in Mikoshiba for character ideas, though they soon became true friends.
  • Sakura and Seo, who have rather contrasting personalities. Nozaki assumes their friendship was as a result of an event in which they considered each other a Worthy Opponent after a fierce battle. However, they became friends solely because they sat near each other in previous classes.
• In Moriarty the Patriot, Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty are good friends despite being arch-nemesis with entirely different views on how to save Britain.
• Musuko ga Kawaikute Shikataganai Mazoku no Hahaoya: Lorem is brash, outgoing, and ditzy Retired Monster. Eliza is a reserved Shrinking Violet who's grown up ostracized for not having abilities like other demons do. The two are so different their mutual human-demon liason Minami actively questions their becoming friends when she hears about it. Lorem was encouraged to reach out to her after seeing Eliza had a baby about the same age as her son Gospel, since it would give Gospel a playmate and Lorem a fellow mother to bond with.
• My Hero Academia has a few:
  • There's the loud, wacky, fun-loving extrovert Present Mic, who is best friends with Aizawa, a glum, morose, withdrawn introvert who stays out of the limelight. They've been friends for more than 15 years.
  • There's violent, abrasive, self-important Bakugo and his complex relationship with the kind, empathetic, and selfless Midoriya. They were childhood friends until Bakugo turned into a bully, and the events of the series detail how Bakugo is slowly learning to be friends again.
  • Equally weird is how the loud, unpopular Bakugo is friendly with the cheerful, laid-back and generally well-liked Kirishima. Same with Bakugo and his relationship with the goofy and good-natured if somewhat perverted Kaminari.
  • In a humorously one-sided example, Shoto Todoroki thinks he's friends with Bakugo and treats him with decency. Bakugo hates Todoroki and regularly belittles him for a variety of reasons, most of them involving Bakugo thinking Todoroki has been doing things to slight him on purpose. Todoroki believes everything is fine.
  • Koji Koda is a quiet introvert with an odd appearance, while Kyoka Jiro is a laid-back punk girl. They both have sound-based quirks, but with vastly different effects and applications. Yet they seem to be fairly close friends, with Koda talking to Jiro more often than anyone else.
  • Jiro is also fairly close with Momo Yaoyorozu. Jiro is a blunt, snarky girl from a middle-class family, while Yaoyorozu is a polite and refined young lady from an extremely wealthy family.
  • Mild-mannered, respectful Midoriya gets along remarkably well with the incredibly sleazy and perverted Mineta.
• Takeo from My Love Story!! is a tall, gonk looking boy who is a Friend to All Living Things while Suna is an unemotional Bishōnen Chick Magnet. They've been best friends for years.
• My Monster Secret: Shiho is a Shameless Fanservice Girl and a proud pervert. Rin is a time-traveler who battles perverts in order to fix the Bad Future she calls home. In spite of this, Shiho is one of the first people Rin opens up to, and in turn she helps Shiho train to try and surpass her mother, who's an even bigger pervert. Making matters weirder, it's initially implied that Shiho's future self is the one responsible for the Bad Future, which would make her Rin's mortal enemy; she's not, and in fact her granddaughter is one of Rin's teammates.
• My Roommate is a Cat: At the beginning of the series, both of the people the extremely serious and introverted Subaru can call friends are much more extroverted, friendly and childish than he is.
• Naruto:
  • Hidan and Kakuzu certainly have a very odd friendship. Despite bickering like crazy, they still look out for each other's well-being 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.
    Considering their personalities (Kakuzu only cares for money and the sure-fire peace of mind it gives him, Hidan for his bloodletting deity to whom he sacrifices people), it's hard to say whether they're actually friends or not. Making it even stranger.
  • Akatsuki is pretty full of this trope, essentially seen in every functioning partnership — besides Pain and Konan, pretty much all the other members share an Odd Friendship. Thoughtful, stoic Itachi and boisterous, violent Kisame might be the best example as they're different as day and night, yet genuinely respect and like each other in spite of it. Similarly, Sasori worked rather well with Orochimaru (until the latter betrayed the group and earned his partner's loathing), and despite his philosophy being the polar opposite to Deidara, the two also had a mutual respect outside it (it helps that Deidara strives to not disrespect people on principle just because they mightn't agree with him). Finally, while they aren't actually partners, Tobi has one with Zetsu, which probably stems from their history together (which goes back to before even the Kyuubi attack).
  • Naruto and Shikamaru. On the surface, they seem to have nothing in common, with Naruto being the Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero and Shikamaru being The Smart Guy yet Brilliant, but Lazy, but they have a strong friendship that is one of Naruto's few normal ones. Bonus points for the fact that even in their Academy days, although Naruto didn't consider him one of his True Companions back then, Shikamaru was one of the few people in their age group (the others being Kiba and Choji) whom Naruto seemed to get along with well enough to actually spend time in his company (although that was only shown in filler, not in canon). Not quite friendship then (more like friendly acquaintance), but it forms a basis for one when the series began and they (along with the rest of the Konoha 11) gradually become Fire-Forged Friends.
  • Short-lived though it was, the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke was one of the oddest friendships in the series. At the time, Sasuke was a quiet, moody prodigy who was ridiculously popular despite wanting to be left alone, while Naruto was a loud, obnoxious idiot who was shunned despite wanting friends more than anything else. Not to mention that they started out hating each other, their first real interaction as classmates being a fight, and they desperately wanted to fight each other before and after they became teammates. Despite all this, for a brief time in the series they had a very strong friendship marked by mutual respect and trust. This bond was, in fact, so strong that Naruto insists that Sasuke is still his best friend despite Sasuke trying to kill him on three separate occasions. There was a brief and unspoken moment of understanding back in their Academy days however; a few days after Sasuke lost his clan, Naruto found him near a pond and Naruto wanted to talk to him. Both looked at one another and said nothing, but there was an unspoken bond. Naruto himself confessed that he actually wanted to befriend Sasuke, but it ended up to where he viewed him as his rival. Naruto does reflect on how things would be different had he approached Sasuke like a friend in the first place.
  • Kakashi and Gai: they're about as different from one another as possible. One is an aloof, eccentric genius, the other is a boisterous, painfully oblivious fitness fanatic. In fact, the only thing they seem to have in common is their desire to protect Konoha, yet somehow they're pretty much each other's best friends.
  • The Tailed Beasts and their Jinchūriki hosts. Especially odd considering that for centuries, the Tailed Beasts were thought of as nothing more than living, malevolent weapons made of chakra that needed to be controlled, instead of the sapient beings that they are. This made the Beasts very distrustful of humans, but several of them began to warm up to each of their recent Jinchūriki hosts, usually because they treat their Beasts with respect. The first friendship like this seen in the series was between Killer B and Gyūki the Eight Tails, were the latter serves as the Straight Man as opposed to the former's goofiness. It's kind, in a way, so much so that after seeing how those 2 get along, Naruto expressed his desire to be friends with Kurama the Nine Tails. This friendship finally came to pass starting with Chapter 570.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
  • Asuna and Ayaka's friendship 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. Asuna even admitted near the end of the series that meeting Ayaka "might have been the best luck she had in her life."
  • Even more odd is the fact that Chamo and Chachazero get along great. You wouldn't expect a perverted talking ermine, and an Ax-Crazy Creepy Doll to hit it off. It's almost like a Crack Pairing became canon.
  • As well as Chisame and Jack Rakan, which also crosses over into Odd Couple. Meta Guy meets human personification of all that is awesome. And then there's her reaction to his death...
• Toji Suzuhara (sports jock) and Kensuke Aida (Military Otaku) in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
• Despite the diversity of the main crew in One Piece, they often aren't seen interacting with each other in a more personal way, one of the stranger ones we see is the friendship between Naïve Newcomer Chopper and the hard-edged Adventurer Archaeologist Nico Robin. Mutual love of learning aside, their difference in temperaments make it strange.
• Osomatsu-san:
  • While most of the Matsuno brothers are dysfunctional and antagonistic, Karamatsu (second oldest) and Jyushimatsu (second youngest) have a more traditionally fraternal relationship. One stinger features them singing a self-composed song together and when Todomatsu uses verbal impact arrows on the entire group, Kara can be seen pulling arrows out of a K.Oed Jyu.
  • "ESP Kitty" reveals that Jyushimatsu and Ichimatsu also get along surprisingly well, with Jyu attempting to help Ichimatsu get over his inability to make friends by finding a way for him to communicate with a cat.
• Overlord (2012) has the (human) Emperor Jircniv and the (Quagoa) king Riyuro, who bonded over both being former lords of their people who were completely and utterly trounced by Ainz. They laugh over the news that Ainz was defeated in battle while aiding the Holy Kingdom, confident they'll soon have a newly-dethroned comrade joining them.
• Gil and Alice from PandoraHearts 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.
• Sailor Moon: Usagi Tsukino and Ami Mizuno. They're about as opposite as they come (Usagi's carefree and extroverted, Ami's shy and studious), but Usagi is Ami's first real friend, and as the first two Guardians, their friendship becomes the start of something big.
• In Saki, this describes the friendship between Yumi Kajiki and Satomi Kanbara of Tsuruga. The former is an exceptionally serious, stoic and analytical individual, albeit one whose stoic facade doesn't hold up all the time (particularly regarding her soft spot for Momo). The latter is cheerful, laid-back and easy-going, but more intelligent than she seems at first glance. The two became friends after realizing each other's Hidden Depths.
• Gertrud Barkhorn and Erica Hartmann from Strike Witches. Barkhorn is a by-the-book neat freak while Hartmann is a lazy slob who couldn't care less for proper military etiquette. They fight constantly, but have remained partners for pretty much their entire career in the military and are famous for being the two best highest scoring aces in the world. So much so that in Road to Berlin, when Barkhorn thought that Hartmann was shot down by Neuroi, she goes berserk.
• In Tower of God, Anaak, who plots to kill the entire family of Jahad, and, well, Endorsi Jahad.
• Sgt. Frog gives us Saburo and Kululu. The former, a poetry-loving slacker with a radio show. The latter a sadistic Jerkass who loves nothing but torturing other people just For the Evulz and eating curry. And yet they're the best of friends. Supposedly, since we never see them hanging out on screen.
• 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 he maintains a chaste relationship with her since she's 14 at the time. (Not unlike a superpowered couple from the other famous "X-series"...) Kusanagi seems to be the only one aware that she is supposed to be the enemy, though.
• 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.
• Yuri!!! on Ice:
  • Yuri Katsuki and Phichit Chulanont. Yuri is shy, has almost No Social Skills, and rarely gets involved with social media, whereas Phichit is outgoing, highly affable and easy to get along with, and is a Camera Fiend who's almost always immersing in social networks when he has the opportunity.
  • Yuri "Yurio" Plisetsky and Otabek Altin. Yurio is aggressive, active in social media and a natural prodigy in figure skating and ballet, while Otabek is stoic, outright dislikes social media, and initially struggled with ballet before eventually leaving it and had to undergo a lot of training to become a skilled skater as compensation.
  • Yurio also has one with Yuko Nishigori. Yurio is irritable and usually very rude to other people, while Yuko is friendly and kind to everyone (at least when her daughters aren't testing her patience). Doubles as an Intergenerational Friendship since Yuko is also ten years older than Yurio.
• Kuwabara and Hiei from YuYu 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.
  • Kurama and Hiei count as well. The former is polite and pleasant (unless you piss him off), while Hiei is rude and sullen.