History Main / IJustWantToHaveFriends

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': When she was in junior high, Mimimi became so enthralled by the beauty of fellow classmate Nano that she secretly signed her up for the school beauty pageant in the hopes of becoming friends with her. However, the latter was so committed to maximizing efficiency in her life that she completely brushed off the former without a second thought. They meet again some years later when Mimimi becomes Rentarou's 10th girlfriend and challenges Nano to a beauty seeking contest. Due to Nano undergoing CharacterDevelopment in the intervening time, when the match ends in a draw and Mimimi declares herself the loser, Nano stops her from leaving by [[JerkassRealization apologizing to Mimimi for snubbing her in junior high]].

* Gohan in ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. He spent much of his childhood being home-schooled, and mostly interacted with people his parents knew. On his first day of high school, he got friends very easily and went on some dates. Granted, this is due to being a handsome, intelligent, and kind young man, so it's a given.

* ''Anime/SK8TheInfinity'': Although his {{Pollyanna}} nature obscures it, Reki Kyan desperately wants a friend he can share his passion of skateboarding with. His world lets him luck out with his skateboard escaping him and rolling right up to [[MeetCute Langa Hasegawa]], the new transfer student in his class who doesn't quite remember him. Over the course of several episodes, somehow they manage to acquire TrueCompanions together by the time-worn sports tradition of DefeatMeansFriendship and also simply butting their heads into people's business without nasty ulterior motives (aside from car rides from [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Shadow]]).

* Shin-ah from ''Manga/YonaOfTheDawn'' grew up painfully lonely, shunned by his village and left completely alone after the one person who sort of looked out for him died when he was very young. Until he met Yona, he didn't even have a name and he wished over and over to be able to make a friend.

* Kaori from ''Literature/PhantomsReckoning 2'' grew up [[Main/FriendlessBackground with no real friends]], the only person she could consider a friend was her father [[Main/DaddysGirl whom she loved]], but he died tragically four years before the story's events. When she meets Yuki in the present day, this becomes her chance to make friends who can help her out in life. Kaori lets Yuki know multiple times that he's the first friend she ever had, and that she's glad to have him as a friend.

* ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'' fulfills this wish. Despite not lifting a finger to gain friends, Bella (being the [[AudienceSurrogate audience avatar]]) gets friends in high school remarkably easy. Even when she forgets her {{Muggle|s}} friends for Edward Cullen or Jacob Black (ignoring them for months in ''Literature/NewMoon'') these friends are always there for her regardless. Both the Cullens and the werewolves look out for her despite the risk she brought to them. They happily accept her in their group of TrueCompanions as a friend without an effort on her part despite the fact that both factions are normally not very open to average humans.

* In ''Series/ICarly'', Freddie and Sam's lives are centered towards [[EscapistCharacter Carly]]. Without Carly there wouldn't be a friendship between them because Sam and Freddie dislike each other. However, neither of the two will hesitate to please her.

--> "One day... everyone will come to like you, if you treat them with kindness."
* {{Subverted|Trope}} by most {{First Person Shooter}}s, as you almost always end as a OneManArmy Lone Wolf. 90% of the time you do have people helping you, they're [[RedShirtArmy generic soldiers that die just as easily as your enemies]]. For a glorious exploration to this approach, see ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine''.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' doesn't throw out destiny. You have to fight to earn your crew's trust, and to build your team's capabilities and the coherence of the group to a point where they will follow you through hell and back.

* Not even the Princess of Snark, WesternAnimation/{{Daria}} Morgendorffer, is wholly immune from this. The "brain" at Lawndale High School, Daria is largely self-sufficent and content to watch and comment from the outside. But at a time when a guy called Tom is straining their friendship, Daria reflects that to be fully functional, she needs ''just enough'' friends. She frets, and is seriously concerned by, the possibility that she has lost her best buddy Jane Lane forever - all over some guy.

* In ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', Bloom fulfils this desire because at the beginning of the show she was not very popular until she suddenly found she was actually a MagicalGirl and quickly became the leader and center of attention of her TrueCompanions.

* ''Manga/{{Beelzebub}}'' had a couple of examples. The main one was actually the protagonist himself, shown in flashback, before he met his best friend Furuichi. Oga even developed a dislike of people walking behind him becuase of it, since people used to talk behind his back ''and'' he couldn't protect potential friends from getting hurt becuase of his fights if they were back there. [[spoiler:Furuichi's determination and statement that he would walk beside Oga instead of behind him is what would start their lifelong friendship.]]
** The other is [[LonelyRichKid Himekawa]], who subtly shows that he envies Kanzaki for his loyal "underlings" and sometimes even Oga for having Furuichi around. Turns out his best friend as a kid betrayed him in middle school, messing him up. [[spoiler:Oh, and said best friend turned out years later to be secretly female and ''in love with him'']] possibly making things worse. He seems mostly-content with his current TrueCompanions status with the group, though, and is willing to spend millions of dollars seemingly at the drop of a hat if they need him to. [[spoiler:To the point that he played FakeDefector with a rival gang, bought a machine worth millions in order to cut off Oga from Beel and build up demonic energy. Then, when there was enough energy to beat the rival gang's boss, he broke the machine and dismissed the wasted money as "pocket change." However, the strongest indication of his [[TrueCompanions True Companionship]] is when he is revealed to bear Beel's King's Crest, which is only bestowed upon those who swear their allegiance to a king (in this case, Oga and Beel).]]

* Shizuo Heiwajima from ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'' admits that he craves any sort of social interaction, but is ''terrified'' of exposing innocent people to his HairTriggerTemper and hurting them. Things start looking up for him from Volume 4 onwards when he starts getting some control over his rage issues (he manages to get through a small party without losing his temper, develop a couple {{Intergenerational Friendship}}s, and [[spoiler:go on something resembling a normal date with a girl -- even if said girl is a bit AxeCrazy, [[InLoveWithYourCarnage In Love With His Carnage]], and secretly plotting his murder]]), but he still has a long way to go.

* Komi Shouko, the title character of ''Manga/KomiCantCommunicate'', suffers from crippling social anxiety that leaves her unable to speak (a trait that is often mistaken for [[TheStoic stoicism]] by her classmates). This, combined with her [[SoBeautifulItsACurse appearance]], results her being put on a pedestal and causes other students to feel unworthy of being her friend. Despite this, Komi's true goal in life is to get 100 friends. The main plot of the manga has the main cast trying to help Komi achieve this goal while also helping her become more sociable.

* Misao Amano from ''Anime/MagicalProjectS'' is very timid, though she desires to be more social like her friend Sasami and tried in the first episode to befriend a boy. She was ultimately very shy to even say hello but at the end of the series she got more confident.
* ''Manga/Metamorphosis2013'': According to her character bio, Saki Yoshida doesn't have any dreams, but she just wants friends. Unfortunately, her efforts only end up with her being both ostracized and abused by her classmates once her attempt at CompensatedDating becomes known, and she ends up getting involved with people who do '''not''' have her best interests in mind, and gradually descends into drug abuse and prostitution.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Since he was born, the titular character has been marginalized by the village because of the [[SealedEvilInACan demon sealed inside him]], resulting in the adults telling their children to stay away from him. When he attends the Ninja Academy, Naruto manages to have a friendly relationship with Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji, but those bonds didn't survive the passing of time. Additionally, he founds himself unable of becoming Sasuke's friend, another lonely kid with whom Naruto relates a lot. It's only when he is assigned to Team 7 that things start to change. Through hardships and ordeals, Naruto slowly forms strong friendships with his teammates, who at first disliked him quite a lot.

* Tomoko from ''Manga/NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular'' expected to get Type A upon entering High School, because she had experienced High School Life so often in Dating Sim and Otome games. But she quickly realized that this was not the case and is now Type B, and lowering her initial goal of "becoming popular" to "becoming friends with someone" to finally just "talk to someone in school today". Her struggles of trying to get friends is a focus of the series.
* The entire reason Haru from ''Manga/{{Ojojojo}}'' acted [[RichBitch the way she did]] was a combination of desiring friends and a desire to NeverBeHurtAgain, even though she was fully aware that such behavior was not only counter-productive, but flat out destructive. While she does make [[TrueCompanions real friends]], each of them had an ulterior motive for befriending her at first: Tsurezure loves conversation and she's the only one who will talk to him, Akane [[spoiler: befriended her out of a sense of guilt for past inaction]], and Chris [[spoiler: tried to get close to her to get her back into their ArrangedMarriage]].

* Torasawa's driving motivation in ''Manga/TorakoAnmariKowashichaDameDaYo'' is to make friends with her classmates. She's never had friends before because her LethalKlutz tendencies driving people away. She winds up befriending Takano's gang, despite their best efforts, when their teacher forces Torasawa onto their Pet Raising Club after said Lethal Klutz tendencies destroyed every other club she tried before them.

* ''Animation/{{Lamput}}'': The {{sea monster}} in "Everyone Needs Friends" can't make many friends besides Lamput due to everyone else being scared by him. [[spoiler:It isn't until the end of the episode, when the sea monster saves the townspeople from sinking on a boat, that he proves his worth as an ally.]]

* Played with in ''WebVideo/MajorLeaguePony'', where Twilight desperately wants friends... not because nopony offers her friendship or considers her their friend, but because she ''rebuffs'' any and all attempts other ponies make to befriend her, while continuing to bemoan her friendless status. Though whether this is do to her having NoSocialSkills, her being a stuck up JerkAss, or both is yet to be made completely clear.
* In ''Fanfic/MyHuntsmanAcademia'', Izuku tries extremely hard to make friends at the start of the story due to being alienated his entire life as the only [[UnSorcerer Broken]] kid around. He forces himself out of his comfort zone to talk to complete strangers at Beacon in hopes of becoming their friend, often coming off as weird because of stilted and awkward his dialogue is. This also motivates him to train even harder to gain the respect of his teammates and peers. He begins to relax a little once he settles into Beacon and after Yang tells him to just [[BeYourself be himself]], but he's still eager to please his new friends whenever possible.
* In ''Fanfic/CeladonsNewBlossom'', a lack of friends growing up was a major factor in Sabrina developing a SplitPersonality. After discovering her psychic abilities as a child. Sabina was [[BullyingTheDragon bullied and ostracized]] by [[KidsAreCruel other kids]], which caused Sabrina to withdraw into herself. Eventually she developed a childish persona that appears in physical form as a younger version of herself. As an adult, Sabrina has a reputation as a strong psychic and Pokémon trainer, so people tend to either avoid her or admire her from afar. It's only Ash, who has a friendly disposition and resonates with her childhood full of bullying, that offers to befriend Sabrina. This leads her to becoming more friendlier and causes her to turn her mother back into a human.
* Zigzagged in ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy''. After getting powers from a spider bite, Izuku is ecstatic to find that people are talking to him like a normal person and not "Quirkless Deku". At the same time, he's leery of hanging out with the people who spent the last decade bullying him, since they're only trying to surf off his fame as the Prowler Kid.
* In ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'' Chloe Cerise's ChildhoodFriend Goh has essentially forgotten her in favor of Ash, and she feels isolated due to many factors (insecurities of her likes, the fact that everyone pushes her to a job involving Pokémon and being ignored by practically everyone) that she really wants friends. She tearfully tells Lexi that she wants to have friends because she's had no one to confide her problems to.

* Oh from ''WesternAnimation/Home2015'' desperately wants to have friends, and is all too often disappointed by the other Boovs dislike of him. After his journey with Tip he gets one not only in Tip, but also in a number of other Boov, who finally realize what a great guy he is after he stands up to Captain Smek.

* The main four characters of the ''Literature/CircleOfMagic'' series, although three of them would probably hate to admit it. They all come from a FriendlessBackground. Sandry is very cheerful and friendly, but her family constantly travelling made it difficult to form permanent relationships. Then almost all of her family was killed in a plague. Daja also probably had friends on her trader ship, but then everyone died in a storm, and she was made an outcast from her society for being bad luck. Tris is naturally cranky and a jerk, and magical powers which made her seem like a possessed demon didn't help her. Finally, Briar Moss was a street rat who didn't seem to have very close friends. When they're all forced into a house together, they do ''not'' get along very well, and only Sandry tries tries to make peace. Eventually through months of CharacterDevelopment they become TrueCompanions (although [[spoiler:Sandry magically tying their magic together so they became psychically linked probably helped, too]]).
* In 'the 'Literature/CradleSeries'', it is a common adage that [[OurMagesAreDifferent Sacred Artists]] walk their Path alone; most of the world is [[CrapsackWorld selfish and backstabbing]], and even if you manage to find people you trust, chances are your magic is differnt enough that at some point, you'll go your seperate ways or leave them behind as you advance and they stagnate.

** Ozriel the Reaper of Worlds is the most powerful Judge of [[TimePolice Abidan]]. He's also LonelyAtTheTop, [[WeAreStrugglingTogether constantly arguing]] [[DividedWeFall with the other Abidan Judges]] who don't respect or support his vision, and wants to create a team of reapers to help him preserve at-risk worlds, rather than destroying them after they're corrupted. His desire to find like-minded others who will help him leads him to leaving a message for his mortal descenents to come find him. At first, it's a challenge for the worthy, but after enough centuries have passed, he's shown to be desperate for ''anyone'' to come help him.

* ''Literature/FindingSnowflakes'' has this as one of the main goals for the main character, a SociallyAwkwardHero who is avoided due to his bad reputation and FaceOfAThug. Actually a deconstruction; unlike many examples of this trope, said main character doesn't just automatically get friends, as he would wish. Nobody welcomes him into a group they have already established, obviously, and it is not likely a person will welcome someone with bad credentials just because of a kind act. Poor Eliott is algo to blame since his NoSocialSkills status make it exceptionally difficult to actually ''interact'' with people, and when he does, it isn't always nice.

** Likewise, Ginny and Hermione started off this way. Ginny was very shy and meek and didn't have many friends, and the guy she had a crush on was way out of her league (she thinks). Hermione was an InsufferableGenius for two solid months, before she chilled out and became friends with Harry and Ron. because of her status as the InsufferableGenius, nobody wanted to be her friend, nobody liked her much.
** Dumbledore was one in his youth, making friends (and falling in love with) with Grindewald due to the stress of having to care for his younger siblings, even falling into Grindewald's mage supremacy ideas. Unfortunately, it culminated in a three-way fight between Dumbledore, Grindewald, and Dumbledore's brother Aberforth that killed their sister. Dumbledore carried his guilt for the rest of his life.

* In the Morgan Charmley series, the eponymous character is a young witch, which had to prove her control over her magical powers, but fails in the test until she is thirteen years old. After passing it, it is allowed to her to attend to a school instead of getting homeschooled. Until that moment she has no friends. As a newbie at the school she tries to find friends, at the beginning with less success. She get desperate and uses magic in the school to impress classmates and breaks a pledge to her mother by that. It results in disorder.

** Rachel wants to have friends, but her superpowers have overwritten her social instincts with canine ones, and she tends to brutalize anyone who gets near her as a reflexive defense mechanism due to spending years on the run. It isn't until [[VillainProtagonist Taylor]], who is similarly friendless, comes along that Rachel actually gets a friend, because Taylor actually puts in the effort to get to know her and refuses to back down.

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', this is Jonathan in ''spades''. He starts off as a depressed loner trying to commit suicide, then he creates a spell which makes him a talented superstar that everybody loves. After that fails, he teams up with Warren and Andrew, the only friends he's ever really had, before being promptly murdered by the latter. Poor guy just can't catch a break.

* ''Series/FamilyTies'': "It's My Party" -- an episode that aired during the summer of 1987 (even though it was produced early in the fourth season) -- sees 14-year-old Jennifer in a funk in making friends, and bored with her unspectacular one. Pining to be one of the popular girls, she falls in with a group of snobbish rich girls that seem to be the most popular. Instead of being "cool" they prove to be a bad influence on Jennifer, as she skips school, stays out past curfew and begins disrespecting her parents. It's only when her friends try to host a beer party at the Keatons, and they also press their luck by trying to make her spurn her friend, that these aren't the friends she wants to have, and is best off with that nerdy, unspectacular friend. (And truth be told, the "cool" girls likely weren't that popular at all, and that Alex's hinted-at advice -- be yourself -- is advice well taken.)

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': The 2002 episode "Juvenile" focuses on an impressionable 14-year-old boy, Jeremy Brice, who is implied to: 1. Be socially awkward; and 2. Have trouble making (and keeping) friends, and good ones at that. His decision to befriend a troublemaker named Zachary Connor, leads to a burglary incident where Zachary (the dominant member of the duo) assaulting the woman resident and raping her, and Zachary duping Jeremy into assisting her. In the end, it ends up costing Jeremy dearly: A second-degree murder and first-degree burglary conviction and 15 years in prison (with the possibility of parole after eight years). Attorneys Cabot and Donnelly sadly bemoan afterwards that Jeremy's life is basically over ... all due to a few bad decisions, among other things.

* Ned from ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' wants to be a popular kid and manages to be in the popular table, but at the end he realizes that the popular table isn't where his friends are.

* ''Series/StepByStep'': The Season 3 episoce "Bad Girls" sees Al, desperate to make and keep friends, fall for a bad group of girls who wear military fatigues. Al tries standing her ground, which makes her father very angry, but Al finally sees her new friends for who they are when they talk her into stealing Cody's air guitar. Cody -- and a cooled-down Frank -- help Al understand that she is not alone in her predicament at her age, and more importantly [[AnAesop that choosing good friends is important and that those friendships aren't cultivated overnight]].

** Trainee moved around a lot as a kid and has no steady friend group. Because of this, she happily starts hanging out with Damien and Raven, despite them being pretty huge {{jerkass}}es who aren't [[WithFriendsLikeThese much nicer to their friends than they are to anyone else]]. When the trio decide to summon a demon at a sleepover and discuss what they'd do with them, Trainee says she'd just ask the demon to be friends and hang out with her. (When the demon they summon winds up being Xaphan, the two unsurprisingly hit it off pretty well, and Xaphan's ecastatic the first time Trainee calls her "friend.")

* In the VisualNovel ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' [[spoiler:This is revealed to be major motivation for Shizune late in her path. Due to a combination of her deafness and her [[AbusiveParents upbringing]], she found it very hard to make friends and form relationships with others, resulting in her becoming a LonelyRichKid. When she came to Yamaku, she turned her efforts towards making other people happy in the hopes that would make them like her, which is the main reason why she joined the Student Council. However her drive combined with her [[SpiritedCompetitor competitiveness]] eventually caused her to drive nearly everyone else in the Council away except for her only friend and interpretor, Misha.]]
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': Naminé's entire characterization is this. Unlike other [[TheSoulless Nobodies]], Naminé was born not in Twilight Town, but in Castle Oblivion, before no other people; even having [[DiscOneFinalBoss Xemnas]] greet you after you were born is preferable. Shortly after she came into existence, Organization XIII arrived and, realizing her priceless memory-manipulating powers, basically forced her prisoner to modify the memories of the people who next visit the castle: Sora and the gang. After Sora frees her from them, she's willing to take any job from [[AntiHero DiZ]], however selfish it is. Plus, aside from her few outdoor scenes, Naminé is always seen in [[AsceticAesthetic a lonely, completely-white room]] with a large table, chairs, pencils, and drawing papers. [[RoomFullOfCrazy Her finished drawings, which always depict other people, sometimes decorate the walls.]][[note]]Well, [[https://www.khwiki.com/images/9/92/The_Lonely_Witch_01_KHRECOM.png almost]] [[https://i.imgur.com/AOX2Qi5.png always.]][[/note]] Think about that for a second. Lastly, Naminé never forms a bond with other characters [[spoiler: in her entire existence]]. The closest she had to a friendship is with Sora, who [[spoiler: subsequently forgets her (and everyone else in Castle Oblivion) after his memories are restored.]] It's probably why during the prologue of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', she tries her hardest to reach Roxas without getting caught; she doesn't want to just inform him about [[spoiler: the virtual world]], but to befriend him as well. Finally, when she's finally freed from having to form unhealthy relationship with anyone, [[spoiler: she has to be absorbed to make Kairi whole.]]

* Faintly implied with Riju, the [[AChildShallLeadThem young Gerudo Chief]], in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''. Having abruptly filled the position after the untimely death of her mother, she is forced to carry out many important roles for her tribe instead of grow up normally. When Link [[FirstNameBasis refers to her by her given name]], Buliara chastises him for his impropriety, but Riju tells her to chill out, as she likes being called by her real name every so often.

** Come the 7th Generation of Pokémon comes the little Ghost/Fairy-type Mimikyu, a little mysterious blob of ectoplasm that disguises itself in a 20 year old tattered costume of the SeriesMascot Pikachu, all because it's incredibly lonely and wants to be as loved as the little electric mouse itself. Fans immediately adored the poor little ghost, and pictures of it sitting there just wanting to be loved and accepted have flourished.

** The same applies to your partner in ''VideoGame/PokemonSuperMysteryDungeon''. They clearly aren't well liked by the Pokémon in their village, but their whole goal in life is to have as many friends as possible, while mapping out the Pokémon world and working for the Explorer's Society.

* In the ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' series, Serilly the mermaid ''desperately'' want friends, but her paranoia that people may want to eat her flesh so they become immortal prevents her from achieving her wish. The fact that Arle and the rest of the cast do little to convince her that her paranoia isn't entirely justified -- on occasion, Arle seems legitimately interested in eating her, less for immortality than because she's technically fish -- certainly doesn't help.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}'', this is the reason why Luna kills people and resurrect them as undead, as she can have playmates with her ''all the time''. [[spoiler:Especially after her parents died.]]

** [[spoiler:Flowey]] is a [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds desperate]] example. [[spoiler: It's up for debate whether it's an overstatement or not, but the Fallen Child was the closest thing Asriel had to a friend and simply cannot let go his memories of them, to the point of projecting the Fallen onto Frisk; he just wants to see his friend again that badly to a degree he tried to invoke the Fallen Child while keeping Frisk in the underground at all cost. This is part of why his Flowey persona is so elated to see Fallen!Frisk at the beginning of the No Mercy route.]]

** "A Curse or a Blessing" implies that Keela really wants more friends outside of the FiveManBand, but her distant and gloomy nature makes it difficult for her. In fact bringing this up turns out to be a sore spot for her.

* ''Webcomic/WarbotInAccounting'': For reasons that do not need to be explained, the main character is the most socially awkward and ostracized member of his company. Each attempt to make friends or even get noticed usually ends with soul crushing apathy, with collateral damage being passed off to the co-workers he focuses on. Not helping matters is some kind of {{Glamour}} around Warbot that prevents others from recognizing (A) he's a giant robot and (B) he's a pacifist looking for friends.

* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': One of Dr. Clef's lecture on [[RealityWarper Reality Warpers]] notes that while adults and teenagers usually use their mind-control powers for sex, children use them to make people be their friends.

** [[EnsembleDarkhorse Marceline]] the Vampire Queen is implied to be like this. She acts (at least in early seasons) AlwaysChaoticEvil, but is really well-meaning (as we see in "Henchman"). She's [[WhoWantsToLiveForever 1000 years old]] and the only people who are still around are her [[IHateYouVampireDad Dad]] and her [[JerkAss ex-boyf]][[StayInTheKitchen riend]] Ash. She's actually happy to find out that [[spoiler: Princess Bubblegum kept the shirt she gave her as pajamas in "What Was Missing" and when Finn reveals that she didn't lose anything and just wanted to hang out she gets [[OneWingedAngel mad]].]] This seems to have been [[CharacterDevelopment mostly cured]] as of her appearances in the last few seasons.
*** An idea on how well she interacts with people, her advice to Finn for talking to Princess Bubblegum in "Go With Me" is to [[WrestlerInAllOfUs wrestle]] her and set rabid wolves on her.

* Jérémie Belpois of ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''. While Lyoko doesn't hand him perfectly matched friendships, it ''is'' what drew the team ([[FriendlessBackground his first friends]]) together and he's ''terrified'' of losing his friends once they've beaten XANA. [[AlphaBitch Sissi Delmas]] is also an example, as the main reason she fixates so much on antagonizing the main characters is because she wants to be part of their friend group [[spoiler:and really would have been their friend if not for PoorCommunicationKills in the prequel leading to them giving her the cold shoulder for reasons that seem inexplicable and preemptive from her perspective due to her not sharing their RippleEffectProofMemory]].
* [[FieryRedhead Numbuh 86]] from ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' has a bossy, [[HairTriggerTemper abrasive personality]] that tends to repel anyone she comes in contact with. Because of this no one wants to be her friend and it is shown that deep down she is very lonely. In one episode she had to trick other Kids Next Door operatives into thinking they were going on an all night secret mission just to have guests for her slumber party. One of them does actually befriend her much to her delight, but ultimately she is devastated when that girl goes on to betray the Kids Next Door.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'', Daniel Tiger has a fairly large circle of friends. Even so, his main concern regarding the new neighbors early in ''The Daniel Tiger Movie: Won't You Be Our Neighbor?'' as expressed in song is "''Will our new neighbors have a friend for me?''"

** Danny himself. Although he already has two best friends, he constantly has needs to fit in with the popular crowd. This becomes more apparent in the episode "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale". In "My Brother's Keeper", Jazz {{Lampshades}} this. He eventually gets better.

* Eddy from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy''. Despite the fact he is a megalomaniac con-artist, it's actually just an act (he only pretends to be a jerk), as he thought if he acted like his older brother, people would like him, when it actually has the opposite effect, although he does eventually realise this.

* [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugAdrienAgreste Adrien Agreste]], the deuteragonist of ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', is a LonelyRichKid with a MissingMom and a father who never lets him leave the house except for model work and VIP events. His only friend before the series was RichBitch Chloé Bourgeois, and it's hinted that [[GoldDigger she only likes him for his wealth and status]]. Through begging and rebelling, Adrien gets to go to public school and make true friends, but even then, his father restricts the time he gets to spend with them.
** His fencing teammate and potential love interest, Kagami Tsurugi, suffers from loneliness, too. During the second season, she seemed to be an IceQueen who believed SecondPlaceIsForLosers. But it's revealed in Ikari Gozen that this is because of the pressure put in her by her mother, whose so strict she makes Adrien's dad look like a free-range parent. She's so lacking in basic social skills, she depends on an app to figure out how to appear friendly. All she wants is a chance to make true friends, which is why she goes against her mother's wishes and enters a contest to make a friend.

* [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicPrincessLuna Princess Luna]], in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. She just wants to make friends with other ponies and be as well liked as her sister, but her intimidating demeanor, creepy motifs, social awkwardness, and hair trigger temper leave her ostracized. It was so bad a thousand years ago, that she literally [[EvilIsEasy became a monster]] to [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget deal with her feelings of loneliness and jealousy.]] The comics have it that her transformation was due to [[spoiler:her accepting the power of nightmare creatures who lived on the moon, after they [[TheCorrupter offered her the power to be loved by her subjects]]]]. The show has neither confirmed nor denied this version of events, only making reference to a "dark power" that Princess Luna had before Twilight and her friends cleansed her.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': [[Characters/TheOwlHouseTheCollector The Collector]] has this as their primary motivation, having spent hundreds if not thousands of years entirely alone in an extra-dimensional prison. Unfortunately, their GooGooGodlike nature combined with their BlueAndOrangeMorality results in them not really understanding how true friendships work, which allows [[BigBad Belos]] to trick them into helping him, and later sees them essentially holding King hostage to act as their friend after the latter frees them. To the heroes' benefit, however, the fact that the Collector would rather make friends with them--even if they go about it in very much the wrong way--than kill them (even expressively refusing to listen to a disguised Belos pushing them to do so) gives them the chance to talk them down. They are also savvy enough to understand that what they have with King isn't real friendship; they simply don't know any other way, until Luz, King and Eda make an effort to show them.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': [[Characters/PhineasAndFerbCandaceFlynn Candace Flynn]] in one episode believed her friends are ignoring her and she falls into this trope, replacing them and becoming the queen of Mars -- ItMakesSenseInContext. [[spoiler:At the end it turns out they weren't ignoring her (except some Dude, but Candace doesn't know him), so she gets back with her friends ]]. In another episode, she turned out to be a loner: She had an argument with Stacy, so she tried to call another friend. The problem was, the only contacts in her phonebook apart from Stacy were Candace's boyfriend, her mum. Jenny and [[OddNameOut Buford]], though she quickly deletes him.
* Mitchell from ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' acts like a haughty jerk to the main characters most of the time, but it was revealed in the ChristmasEpisode "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace" that he's really a lonely kid who wants to have friends, but he didn't know how to go about it yet. At the end of the episode, Jet, Sydney, Mindy, Sean, and Sunspot accepted him into their clique for good.

** A major plot point in episodes featuring Bigmouth, a socially awkward ogre whose well-meaning but clumsy attempts to make friends winds up (comically) causing problems. Bigmouth's attempts to make friends is illustrated best in the episode "[[Recap/TheSmurfsS5E7BigmouthsFriend Bigmouth's Friend]]": His latest attempt to get series antagonist Gargamel to be his friend fails, as does his attempt to walk in on a family picnic to get the kids to play with him. He eventually befriends Clockwork Smurf (himself in a funk with being accepted by others). A series of events that involve Gargamel working with the evil Lord Balthazar to both capture Clockwork and overthrow King Gerard will go a long way toward helping Bigmouth realize who his true friends are. Prior to this episode, Bigmouth's decisions on who he decided his friends were often were based on who could help satisfy his needs first; other episodes depicted Bigmouth's clumsy attempts to become friends with the Smurfs, who were often scared of him because of his ways.

** Zoey joined the show for this very reason. She grew up in a small town and considered herself an outcast amongst the jocks in her home town.

* M'gann from ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010''. She was a White Martian who suffered extreme prejudice against her from the dominant green martian majority. Even after she achieved her dream of going to Earth, and even became part of a close-knit team, she was terrified of losing that friendship for any reason, and was willing to do some not-that-good things to keep them. She gets a little better as time goes on.

* Often invoked when youths enter junior high/middle school. What seemed like rock-solid friendships in elementary school often change by the time they turn 11- and 12-years-old, and while some friendships remain, this is often the time when interests change and kids begin to mature in many ways. Some get left behind, but even those who don't will sometimes have periods of time when they have or seem to have few to no close friends... and it isn't necessarily a bad thing, as within a short time period they make new friends and ones that become more firmly established. This can happen again by the time these same students enter college -- changed friends lists, sometimes wholesale as they move to different communities (sometimes miles from home) and begin losing contact with the classmates they had in high school and earlier, and those old friends begin new lives of their own; sometimes, it takes a little while to figure out who those new friends will be. The process often will happen again after college, as these now-young adults begin establishing their new personal, family and professional lives... sometimes in new communities where establishing new friendships is not an overnight process.
* This trope is how people get sucked into gangs, cults and even terrorist groups. They don't let you in on the really crazy stuff until your entire social circle is comprised of other members. At that point, walking away means abandoning all of your friends. Also, although not necessarily how they suck you in, some people do cite this as a reason for why they're reluctant to leave a more standard church. For many people, the people in their church comprise a large social circle of their friends.

* People in toxic fandoms / fanbases / fan communities for relatively niche topics or works tend to stick around anyway, because once they leave that community the number of people who [[CommonalityConnection share their interest]] likely drops to (near-)zero.

** THE ICE KING. ALL of the crimes he commits relate to his desire for companionship.

** Toph. In her own words when she made her debut: "...I know you were just trying to protect me, but I'm twelve years old and I've never had a real friend."
** Aang himself had this, despite being among the most social member of the main cast. When Sokka and Katara were going to abandon him looking for their dad, Aang hid their map because he was scared of being alone. This may be due to ''every friend he's ever had and everyone he knows'' (other than Katara, Sokka, and Bumi) having been dead for a hundred years, and most of them were burned to death in a genocide that started the global-scale war Aang has been charged with ending.
** Azula thought she had friends, until "The Boiling Rock" where [[spoiler: her "friends" (who only ever hung around because she scared the crap out of them) betrayed her.]]. In the last episode, she [[spoiler: basically went insane out of paranoia because she was unable to trust anyone]].
* The titular character in ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'', is a selfish narcissist, jaded by Hollywood, AbusiveParents, and the guilt of [[spoiler: selling out his best friend]]. His bad attitude and increasingly desperate attempts to keep what few acquaintances he has close to him end up chasing most of them away until he's standing before the memoirist, the one person he's ever really opened up to but far from his best friend, [[TearJerker outright begging her to tell him that he's a good person]].

* Adrien Agreste, the deuteragonist of ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', is a LonelyRichKid with a MissingMom and a father who never lets him leave the house except for model work and VIP events. His only friend before the series was RichBitch Chloé Bourgeois, and it's hinted that [[GoldDigger she only likes him for his wealth and status]]. Through begging and rebelling, Adrien gets to go to public school and make true friends, but even then, his father restricts the time he gets to spend with them.

* Princess Luna, in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. She just wants to make friends with other ponies and be as well liked as her sister, but her intimidating demeanor, creepy motifs, social awkwardness, and hair trigger temper leave her ostracized. It was so bad a thousand years ago, that she literally [[EvilIsEasy became a monster]] to [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget deal with her feelings of loneliness and jealousy.]] The comics have it that her transformation was due to [[spoiler:her accepting the power of nightmare creatures who lived on the moon, after they [[TheCorrupter offered her the power to be loved by her subjects]]]]. The show has neither confirmed nor denied this version of events, only making reference to a "dark power" that Princess Luna had before Twilight and her friends cleansed her.
** There's also ''[[spoiler:Discord]]'' in the episode "Keep Calm and Flutter On" when Fluttershy, [[spoiler:the only one of the Mane Six willing to put up with his antics and consider him a friend]], ends up pulling a RageQuit and trots off after he kept pulling pranks. It isn't until he goes into an ExplainExplainOhCrap that he realizes MyGodWhatHaveIDone

** [[spoiler:Starlight Glimmer]] at the end of Season 5. [[spoiler:Her friend when she was a foal, Sunburst, gained his Cutie Mark and went off for Celestia's school in Canterlot. Scarred by this, she vowed never to let something like differences and Cutie Marks ruin friendships... by starting Our Town, removing everyone's Cutie Mark there so everyone can be equal.]] When the Mane Six visit and break up everything, [[spoiler:Starlight gets so insanely furious that she enacts a time travel plan to wreck theirs. Except it [[GoneHorriblyRight went horribly right]] and caused a BadFuture. Twilight's able to talk her down and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone get her to realize what she's done]]. Afterwards, Starlight does get what she really desired in the the end. Twilight recognizes her plight, but also her amazing magical potential, take her in as a student in the study of friendship, and helps her befriend the Mane Six.]]
** Fluttershy is subtly implied to be this in a Season 6 scene, when she invites [[spoiler:Starlight]] to a picnic only to have her leave early unannounced, and she gets upset.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': The Collector has this as their primary motivation, having spent hundreds if not thousands of years entirely alone in an extra-dimensional prison. Unfortunately, their GooGooGodlike nature combined with their BlueAndOrangeMorality results in them not really understanding how true friendships work, which allows [[BigBad Belos]] to trick them into helping him, and later sees them essentially holding King hostage to act as their friend after the latter frees them. To the heroes' benefit, however, the fact that the Collector would rather make friends with them--even if they go about it in very much the wrong way--than kill them (even expressively refusing to listen to a disguised Belos pushing them to do so) gives them the chance to talk them down. They are also savvy enough to understand that what they have with King isn't real friendship; they simply don't know any other way, until Luz, King and Eda make an effort to show them.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Candace in one episode believed her friends are ignoring her and she falls into this trope, replacing them and becoming the queen of Mars -- ItMakesSenseInContext. [[spoiler:At the end it turns out they weren't ignoring her (except some Dude, but Candace doesn't know him), so she gets back with her friends ]]. In another episode, she turned out to be a loner: She had an argument with Stacy, so she tried to call another friend. The problem was, the only contacts in her phonebook apart from Stacy were Candace's boyfriend, her mum. Jenny and [[OddNameOut Buford]], though she quickly deletes him.

* It's shown a few times in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' that the titular character doesn't really enjoy traveling alone and sometimes craves companionship. Unfortunately, Aku exploits this by pretending to be a woman named "Ikra" in one episode. Aku exploits it again in the comics, by pretending to be a woman named Jill simply ForTheEvulz. Thankfully, he does make friends with the Scotsman. This is even shown in Season 5 when he attempts to save and befriend a Pre HeelFaceTurn Ashi, despite the latter hating his guts.

** Lisa, DependingOnTheWriter, is sometimes portrayed as as a lonely outcast.

* WesternAnimation/SouthPark: This is why [[FatBastard Eric Cartman]] turned out the way he did; [[FreudianExcuse his mother spoiled him to make up for the fact that]] [[FriendlessBackground she had no friends.]]
* Starfire from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' was very lonely before joining the team, and still lonely even after she joined. When she thought she was being replaced by her sister Blackfire, it affected her deeply as she isn't very fond of losing friends. However, she's more worried that Robin might like Blackfire more than her.
** Raven also qualifies. Though very solitary and anti-social, she truly wants friends and is very protective of the Titans once she considers them such. Just because it's true doesn't mean she'll ease up on Beast Boy, though.

* Connie from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' starts out like this, frequently relocating before settling in Beach City, and once Steven befriends her, she gradually gets better at friendship, making friends with the gems and Greg, and even learning to be a better friend to her classmate Jeff after accidentally attacking him in "Mindful Education".

* ''ComicBook/TheInternship'': [[spoiler: River’s deepest desire (besides using their passion and talent for dance for money), as it turns out, is to find people who’ll love and accept them for who they are. They admit to Cooper halfway through Volume 3 that [[TransTribulations openly identifying as transgender]] has made it difficult for them to grow close to other people, and as a result they're a StepfordSmiler who pretends to be as well-adjusted as they look. Part of their reasons for wanting to get along with Cooper isn’t just because their mutual jobs require it, but also because they can empathize with his loneliness and truly want to be his friend.]]

Sometimes fictional characters do not so easily get friends handed to them with the plot. They are lonely from the start and desperately looking to make and keep friends. The reasons for their loneliness may vary but, in the end, a character who really wants friends may either try to go about it in the wrong way, make friends with the wrong people, or secretly angst about it behind a [[StepfordSmiler different facade]]. If they end up successful more often than not these fictional characters will turn out to have been [[BeautifulAllAlong sociable all along]], especially for {{Shrinking Violet}}s, nerds, etc.