Girl Next Door

Everybody loves her. Almost.

She's the girl next door
Nice, but naughty
A heart that's pure
She's the girl next door
Just for me

— Copperpot, My Babysitter's a Vampire

The Girl Next Door is a Stock Character (and frequently a potential Love Interest for the male protagonist) who is open, approachable, and unassuming: the girl he thinks of as his best friend, his childhood pal, even just One of the Boys.

She'll usually embody a "wholesome" sort of femininity and she's rarely the promiscuous sort, though she might play the foil to a woman who is. Since her characterization is built on her accessible, down-to-earth personality, she's often cute but never to the point that her looks are her defining feature: she might be the prettiest girl at church, or the coffee shop's best-tipped waitress, but she'll be never surrounded by guys eager to do Favors for the Sexy. And if she does attract attention with her appearance, she's more likely to be annoyed or embarrassed than flattered.

Her disposition ranges from even-tempered to playful. She will always be easy to talk to and usually a good listener. But she also tends to be frank with her opinions and expects the same in return. If she's one of the hero's two romantic options, she'll be more stable but less exciting compared to her rival, who will have more obvious sex appeal but be much harder to approach.

Girls of this nature will often appear in Harems, usually as the inevitably Unlucky Childhood Friend of the protagonist, or the less flashy option in a Love Triangle. In non-romantic stories, she'll either be best friends with one of the others, or she may be the Cool Big Sis. She may even form part of the Beta Couple.

The Spear Counterpart, the Boy Next Door, is the same archetype and usually serves in the same romantic role(s). Often overlaps with One of the Boys. Contrast with Head-Turning Beauty and Peerless Love Interest. Also compare The All-American Boy, who might well be her High School Sweetheart. When the Girl Next Door actually lives next door, then that's Literally Loving Thy Neighbor.

For the 2004 film, see The Girl Next Door. For the 2007 film, see The Girl Next Door. For Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 5, see Codename: Kids Next Door. For the French sitcom of this ^note in translation name, go to Les Filles d'à côté. Also not to be mistaken for Crystal Bernard's album, The Girl Next Door or the webcomic Girls Next Door.

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Examples

Advertising

• The fashion industry is forever caught between the ideal of maximum glamour and idealised beauty on the one hand, and on the other hand the need to sell stuff to, well, real people. One solution is to employ models with (allegedly) "Girl Next Door" looks; it's said that this becomes more widespread during economic recessions, when the industry is less inclined to take chances. Of course, these tend to be unusually slim, poised Girls Next Door, with perfect complexions.
• American TV commercials have had a whole recent trend of "Girl Next Door customer service rep deals humorously with wacky customers" ads. It started with Flo from Progressive Insurance, and she's been joined by Jan from Toyota and Lily from AT&T.

Anime and Manga

• In Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue, Hinata and Rika's bedrooms are right next door to each other, mere feet apart. As a Running Gag, Hinata keeps running into his new neighbor while she's changing clothes in her room. Queue the simultaneous screams.
• Bleach:
  • Tatsuki gets mistaken for a boy sometimes, since her hair is short, but she's most definitely a girl. Chizuru even said she'd probably hit on Tatsuki, IF she weren't such a tomboy.
  • Orihime and Tatsuki's other school friends count too: Michiru is the cute and homey kind, Mahana is the more active and tomboyish type, and Kunieda is the smart and quiet Cute Bookworm.
• Subverted with Habara from Daily Lives of High School Boys. As the Distaff Counterpart to the main character Tadakuni, you might expect her as this for Toshiyuki Karasawa. While her current personality would suggests this, she was formerly the most feared bully in elementary school and was responsible for Karasawa's scar on his head. Despite being a Nice Girl nowadays (mostly), all boys including Karasawa still fear her and they would pay her or her friends money rather than dating her. Funnily enough, Habara believes that Karasawa is in love with her, delusional about the fact that he obviously hates her.
• In Endride, Alicia is Emilio's childhood friend who was always sneaking into the palace to play while they were growing up. She's the nice, wholesome sort, always ready to listen, and has some romantic interest in Emilio, but holds off on pursuing it since she's not sure it's reciprocated.
• Highschool of the Dead: While the other female leads are meant to cater to different fetishes, Rei's look and her mannerism invokes a tomboy quality, befitting the "childhood friend" type. Though she has to compete with Saeko for Takashi's affections.
• Kosaki Onodera in Nisekoi. While the rest of the haremettes are gangsters and the daughter of the police chief, Kosaki is just an ordinary girl who works in her family's bakery.
• School Rumble: Mikoto's a looker, but she's basically one of the guys. So her attractiveness stems more from her chest, since most guys are intimidated by her height and athleticism. Asou was one of the few to not be put-off by it and briefly dated her.^note However, it's rumored that he broke up with her after she repeatedly outscored him at an arcade game. And, in School Rumble Z, it's revealed that she eventually married Hanai.
• So, I Can't Play H!: Applies to Mina in both the figurative and literal sense. She's been neighbors and schoolmates with Ryosuke since childhood. And, while she's undeniably attractive, she feels plain compared to other girls; especially if it's Lisara.
• Variable Geo: Satomi is the 'plainest' looking girl among the cast, having short mussy hair and a beauty mark on her left cheek. She's also shown to be honest and a hard worker, having two jobs to support herself and her kid brother.
• There is an unusual example in Welcome to the NHK. Misaki Nakahara is a literal Girl Next Door whose innocence and rather plain beauty is, at first, an integral part of her relationship with Satou, combining this trope with Manic Pixie Dream Girl. However, both tropes become subverted when she is slowly revealed to exhibit nearly every symptom of a textbook case of Borderline Personality Disorder, including extreme self-esteem issues, self-harm, skewed social perspective, and an unhealthy (suicidally so) obsession with Satou.

Comic Books

• Archie Comics: Betty Cooper, as opposed to her Uptown Girl rival for Archie's affections, Veronica. For his part, humble everyteen Archie is this in comparison to the wealthier and more athletic Reggie Mantle or the goofy comic relief Jughead.
• Astro City: The Silver Agent explicitly describes his first girlfriend as this. He broke off with her because he was sterile, but told her It's Not You, It's My Enemies because she would have tried to stifle her dreams for him.
• Sin City: Shellie is sassy but meek enough to qualify.
• Spider-Man: Played with in regard to Gwen Stacy. Gwen was more of an exotic flower whom Peter only met after he left Forest Hills and "went out into the world", i.e. Manhattan and college. She came from an upper-class background, her father was a respected elder citizen of New York who belonged to the same gentlemen's club as millionaires J. Jonah Jameson and Norman Osborn. Her boyfriend before Peter was Harry Osborn, the prospective heir of Norman, and in her first appearance, she was introduced as a high-school beauty queen. However, as she became the Betty to Mary Jane's Veronica, she moved into this category.
  • Mary Jane, in all versions but the original. Amusingly, Mary Jane was literally a girl next door in the original, as the niece of Aunt May's next-door neighbor, and coming from the same working-class Queens background that Peter did. She literally became this Trope in the Ultimate universe, having lived next door to the Parkers since she was a little girl and, before their Relationship Upgrade, was the geeky best friend of an equally-as-geeky Peter.

Fan Works

• Too Much Too Much: Vallea Endrizzi is a friendly, wholesome and laid-back young girl with a tomboyish yet sweet and coy personality and who seems to develop a brief crush on the kind-hearted main protagonist, Luca.

Films — Animated

• Faline comes off as this in Bambi II, not being nearly as hyperactive as she was as a fawn in the first film.

Films — Live-Action

• The Babysitter (2017): 12-year old Melanie counts as a literal example to her classmate, Cole, because she lives in the house directly across the street from his. The film also contrasts her with Cole's babysitter, Bee, by presenting Melanie as a cute blonde girl, whereas Bee is a hot blonde teenager.
• Andy from The Devil Wears Prada was meant to be the kind of girl you could run into on the subway.
• Julie from Flipped is such a friendly neighbor that she regularly gives Bryce her chicken's eggs for his family.
• The film The Girl Next Door clearly subverts this trope, as said girl is a retired porn actress played by Elisha Cuthbert. The main character only discovers this after they start dating, and it leads to a temporary rift in their relationship. Still, since she's basically a Hooker with a Heart of Gold, they get back together at the end.
• He's Just Not That into You has three: Gigi Phillips is like a basset hound. They're kinda pathetic - so you want to cheer them up. Beth Murphy wants a good man and a husband. Mary is a romantic who has been hiding behind technology.
• Gender-flipped in Meet Me in St. Louis where Esther Smith has a massive crush on John Truitt who recently moved in next door. Her first solo is a song titled "The Boy Next Door" about how much she adores him even though he doesn't appear to have noticed her. John is a kind and polite guy who has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth when trying to talk to Esther.
• Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) lives across the street from her boyfriend Glen. Wes Craven noted he cast the actress specifically because of her accessible, wholesome appeal.
• Night of the Living Dorks has Rebecca, who lives next door to Philip, and has an unrequited crush on him. They become an Official Couple by the end.
• Mary, the protagonist of the movie Saved!, is played as one of these; more importantly, she doesn't lose the general demeanor even after becoming pregnant. This is meant to show Mary as genuinely filled with the Christian spirit of compassion, in order to contrast Mary with her Alpha Bitch rival, who attends the same Christian school environment as her but is hypocritical about being "filled with Christ's love".
• Stéphanie is the girl across the hall in The Science of Sleep. Zoé lives there as well but she isn't one of these.
• From The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Shy and beautiful Lena and Carmen, the writer.
• Spanking the Monkey: Toni is this to Ray, being a sweet and approachable girl from the neighborhood who is the only real person he can talk to aside from his mother.
• Mary Jane Watson from the Spider-Man Trilogy movies is an example due to her being a Composite Character with Liz Allan, who in the comics attended Midtown High together with Peter Parker and Flash Thompson, and Gwen Stacy who was (or rather, became) the girl-next-door type girlfriend to Peter.
• Maggie (Marla Sokoloff) from the movie Whatever It Takes (2000). She eventually ends up with her boy next door.

Literature

• Julie Sims in 1632 is a Girl Next Door with a rifle. She's described as being pretty, but not much more, and aside from occasional bouts of angst is fairly level-headed.
• For Cassie from Animorphs, high fashion is socks that actually match for once. She's also gentle in being the team's moral center and doing what she must but hating the need to fight.
• Subverted along with most of the wholesome ideas of The '50s in Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door.
• A golden years example occurs between Ralph Roberts and Lois Chasse in Stephen King's Insomnia. He's a retired widower; she's been a widow for a while now, and they've been good friends and neighbors for some years. Eventually they tie the knot.
• Bernadette (Bernie) Manuelito in the Leaphorn & Chee series by Tony Hillerman is the rare Native American version. She is a pretty, cheerful, down-to-earth fellow Navajo cop who is contrasted to Chee's previous love interest, the beautiful, sophisticated, half-white lawyer Janet Pete from Washington, D.C.
• Jack Weyland's 1990 book tells the story of teenage best friends Michelle & Debra where Michelle chooses to be the good, obedient, religious girl while Debra strays.
• Macdonald Hall: Diane is a wholesome and helpful person who lives next door to the boarding school and is generally happy when Boots comes by for a visit.
• Sweet, shy, and sensible Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice is this to neighbor Charles Bingley.
• Amy from Space Glass is very sweet and kind. She's soft with every member of the group, even Nicora who is her romantic rival, and both Bob and Ratroe find it easy to talk to her.
• Sunshine has the titular character the vampire-slaying, magic-wielding version.
• A Gender-Inverted example can be seen in Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note, a girl's Middle Grade Literature series with very thick Reverse Harem subtext. Among the boys, Kozuka practically plays this role: he looks slightly more plain than the rest of the boys, and to Aya, the protagonist, he's the most approachable of all of them, being the only one that she actually small-talks with.
• Older Than Radio: Rebecca "Becky" Thatcher from Tom Sawyer.
• Ruby, Ralph's girlfriend in Urn Burial has lived in the house next door to him since they were born, and whilst not drop dead gorgeous is plenty attractive enough for being familiar and not having any pretensions.
• In Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult, Delia is this to Eric, the Victorious Childhood Friend, and Fitz, the Unlucky Childhood Friend. by the end of the book the tables have turned and Eric is the unlucky one.

Live-Action TV

• Mary from 7th Heaven starts going out with a neighbor guy who she used to play basketball with. After she breaks up with him he says that playing a game together will help him feel more like they're friends again.
• 18 to Life: Jessie. A Nice Girl who's a Childhood Friend of Tom's (she literally is the child of his next door neighbors), who grew into his girlfriend and later wife.
• Penny from The Big Bang Theory. She moves into the apartment across the hall in the first episode and that alone gave Leonard some hope that she might become interested in him. She is consistently portrayed as a fairly down-to-earth and friendly girl who helps fill in the gaps in the guys' social skills. Still, as she and Leonard start dating, it's made fairly clear that if they weren't neighbors he wouldn't have had much of a shot with her.
• The Boys (2019). Starlight is just a simple Wide-Eyed Idealist farm girl from Iowa, and the Vought's PR department goes to great lengths to present Starlight as this trope for her brand. Her character arc is all about the struggle to maintain her values versus what her new life forces on her.
• Topanga from Boy Meets World became this starting with season 2 (season 1 Topanga was a Cloud Cuckoolander Granola Girl). She even has a Childhood Friend Romance "ordinary guy" male protagonist Cory.
• From Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow is straight up this, while Buffy's toughness mixed with her femininity make her character average out.
  • The first 2 seasons, Buffy is very much this trope, befriending underdogs, having quick come-backs and being especially peppy. She's also naive & somewhat awkward around guys she likes, and Xander is her male Unlucky Childhood Friend. Over time, however, a lot of "break the cutie" occurs, turning her into a 99% Crusader. Willow (who has a lot of the Librarian traits) also turns into a Crusader by the end, having lost her naive innocence along with Buffy.
• Dawson's Creek has Joey, who actually lives next door to her long-time crush, Dawson, though she is much more opinionated, frank, and aggressive than the typical examples of this trope.
• From Degrassi: The Next Generation there's Liberty, Emma, whose foil is the provocative Manny, and Terri whose foils are queen bee Paige and top dog Ashley.
• Monica Geller from Friends is a bossier and sexier version than most, but is down to earth, maternal, and The Heart of the group. She lives across the hall from Joey (who was originally going to be her love interest) and Chandler (her eventual boyfriend and husband).
• French sitcom Les Filles d'à côté (The Girls Next Door) is a European take on this trope.
• Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island was spscifically set up as this in contrast to sexpot Ginger.
• Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls is straight up while her mother Lorelai knows how to put an outfit together, host a fun party and is a role model to Rory making her a double subversion. Rory's first boyfriend Dean was the male version until he Took a Level in Jerkass.
• Maggie in How I Met Your Mother is explicitly described as this, which attracted many guys to her. She eventually ends up with her literal boy next door. There's even a montage of them being shown at different ages, from when they first met as children to them growing old together.
• The titular character from iCarly, Carly Shay. Cute and feminine but not overtly sexual, Freddie's known her for a long time, and they have the Childhood Friend Romance and Just Friends thing going on. Carly is popular at school and with her webshow without being the Alpha Bitch, and will rebel against authority if she perceives unfairness in the treatment of her friends. Carly does have enough aspects of the Genki Girl to qualify her for that as well, but there Ain't No Rule that says she can't be The Genki Girl Next Door.
• Amanda takes the Betty position with Kyle who also has the wholesome traits to apply.
  • Also Andy and Josh have a very easy time becoming boyfriend and girlfriend because they're each like a typical teenage boy.
• Pam from The Office (US) is an adult version. A down-to-earth, modestly dressed Nice Girl with a shy crush on her best friend, and a big part of her appeal is how approachable she is, combined with her obvious but understated good looks. In later seasons, she gains more confidence.
• Betty Cooper in Riverdale, a CW reboot of the Archie comics franchise, not only is the modernised version of the original Betty, but she's genuinely nice, pretty, and academically inclined. Her bedroom window is literally across the street from Archie's, too. She turns into Unlucky Childhood Best Friend after her unsuccessful Love Confession to Archie, but then develops an unexpected albeit supportive romance with her fellow Intrepid Reporter Jughead Jones.^note In case any-one missed this, Riverdale is what happens when Twin Peaks meets Archie's Comics.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend Chloe Sullivan and Lana Lang, who has an Unlucky Childhood Friend in Clark in Smallville.
• Supernatural. The episode "Girl Next Door" shows a young Sam Winchester falling for this trope as his first love. Naturally she turns out to be a demon, but she still shows all the decency of this trope, saving his life from her malevolent and abusive demon mother. Unfortunately they meet again as adults and things don't work out so well.
• Donna Pinciotti in That '70s Show is an excellent example of the Tomboy version of the trope.
• The Twilight Zone (1959): In "Black Leather Jackets", Ellen Tillman is a nice, sweet girl who lives next door to the house that the aliens have rented. Scott soon falls in love with her.

Music

• In Taylor Swift's "Tear Drops On My Guitar", she's the Unlucky Childhood Friend.
  • In "You Belong With Me", she's the nice casual friend as opposed to his demanding girlfriend. (Or that's how she sees her, since girly girls are evil!)
• "Girl Next Door" by Brandy Clark:
  "If you want the girl next door
  Some Virgin Mary metaphor
  Your cardboard cutout on the wall
  Your paper or your Barbie doll
  With perfect hair and a perfect dress
  I'm really just the perfect mess
  And I ain't nothing less or nothing more
  So, baby, if you want the girl next door
  Then go next door."
• "Living Next Door to Alice," a song about Unrequited Love sang first by New World, and popularized by Smokie. The song tells a story about the man who who was in love with his neighbor girl with whom he grew up as friends, and suddenly finds out from their mutual friend that she is moving all of the sudden and he never expressed his feelings. It is hinted, though, that he gets better thanks to the mutual friend..... who is also a Girl Next Door.
• Frank Sinatra's Songs for Young Lovers features one of these in a song called, appropriately, "Girl Next Door".
• In John Denver's song, "Grandma's Feather Bed", he considers the Gal Down the Road:
  Well I love my ma, I love my pa,
  I love Granny and Grandpa, too,
  I've been fishing with my uncle, I wrestled with my cousin,
  I even kissed Aunt Lou! Ugh!
  But if I ever had to make a choice,
  I guess it ought to be said,
  That I'd trade 'em all, plus the gal down the road,
  For Grandma's feather bed!
  Yeah, I'd trade 'em all, plus the gal down the road...
  (Extended Beat)...
  Well, maybe I better reconsider 'bout the gal down the road!

Theater

• Patrice in 13. Subverted in that Evan has not known her his whole life, rather he has just moved there and she is the first friend he makes.
• Kate Monster in Avenue Q, particularly for Princeton, for whom she carries a torch.
• Asta Allmers from Little Eyolf by Henrik Ibsen. She grew up with the male protagonist, believing herself to be his sister, and though not overly sexual, has grown into his best friend, much to the annoyance of his wife, Rita.

Video Games

• Noelle from Deltarune is this to a T. A childhood friend of Kris, she's known to be sweet, friendly and sensitive. Her Leitmotif upon running into her crush Susie at school is even called "Girl Next Door".
• Final Fantasy:
  • Final Fantasy VII: Tifa was originally an aversion, as she used to have the look (and body) of a supermodel. Square Enix redesigned her appearance for Advent Children, by shortening her hair to about shoulder-length, reduced her bust size, and gave her a more realistically proportioned figure along with a much more conservative outfit. Which was done because Nomura wanted her to have the look of a modern working-class woman. In short: he deliberately invoked the trope to make her seem more approachable.
  • Final Fantasy X-2: The same can be said of Yuna and her cousin, Rikku, who're presented as a pair of fun loving teens. Both are cute and have modest figures, though Rikku certainly doesn't dress modestly.
• Fire Emblem:
  • The series as a whole has a few, though they can be HEAVILY disputed. Counting by appearance, there's Caeda/Sheeda, Lilina, and Tana. Note that all three of these girls are royalty (more or less; Lycia's not a monarchy but Lilina's father is nevertheless the head of a country). Then again, the same is true of their love interests, so it's all relative.
  • In Fire Emblem: Awakening, if Chrom doesn't have enough supports or love points with any of his prospect girlfriends before Chapter 11, he's slated to marry and have Lucina with a girl from an Ylissean village, only known as the Village Maiden. In her first and only appearance, she fits in here to a T: she's sweet, soft-spoken, and she and Chrom seem to be pretty Happily Married.
• Friday the 13th: The Game has Jenny Myers, who is explicitly called this on her concept art.
• To some extent, Alyx from Half-Life 2. Only debatable thing is that when she was living in Black Mesa, she was only a baby. But then came the Combine occupation and she became a rather hot tomboy by the time Gordon returned two decades later. Since then, they've been together for most of the time.
• The Last of Us 2: Dina's undeniably attractive, though few in her outpost settlement ever comment on her looks. Instead, her popularity is due to her kind disposition and her outgoing nature. She's especially popular with the kids, who think of her as their 'big sister' figure.
• The Legend of Zelda series features numerous females, several of whom, fall under this category:
  • Ocarina of Time has Link's best friend, Saria, who is the most popular girl in Kokiri Village. Though her looks are best described as childlike, since the Kokiri don't age beyond their early adolescent years. Which is why she physically resembles a 13-14 year old girl, despite possibly being much older.
  • Malon is another example from the same game. As a ranch-hand, she's presented as having a natural, rustic beauty, whose appearance is that of a simple Farm Girl.
  • Twilight Princess has Ilia who, despite being the Mayor's daughter, has the look and personality of a farm girl instead - from her short blonde hair, to her love of nature and her habit of going barefoot.
  • Skyward Sword casts the namesake character herself in the role, being the daughter of the headmaster and a close-but-mostly-platonic friend of Link at the start of the game.
• Mega Man Battle Network: Mayl Sakurai lives next to Lan and they've been friends for almost their entire lives. In a flip of the usual dynamic, she's the one who has feelings for Lan and he doesn't seem to pick up on it. They end up Happily Married at the end of Battle Network 6.
  • Zig-Zagged between Sonia and Luna in Mega Man Star Force. At first blush, Sonia is the Girl Next Door and Luna is the Uptown Girl, given that Sonia is approachable and develops a close friendship with Geo at a time when he had no friends, while Luna, by contrast, is a wealthy Tsundere. However, Luna lives right down the street from Geo and goes to the same school, while Sonia is a Teen Idol who Geo rarely gets to see.
• Skies of Arcadia: Legends: Aika is both a literal and figurative example:
  • Her house was actually next-door to the Dyne family's, back on Pirate Isle. Later, when Vyse establishes their new HQ on Crescent Isle, her flat is directly across from his, on the villa's second floor.
  • In terms of attractiveness, she has a tomboyish charm about her that's been noted as being reminiscent of Pippi Longstocking. While her hips and legs are said to be the most notable aspects of her figure.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 1: Fiora has been close friends with Shulk from the time they were children, having grown up together in Colony 9. She's also his not-so-secret crush. In fact, it's her death that causes Shulk to leave the Colony on a quest for revenge.

Visual Novels

• Amanda from Daughter for Dessert has this vibe, especially with the theme song she gets.
• Johanna comes across as this in Double Homework. Also, Dennis uses the term to refer to Amy.
• Yoko from Every Day's Different fits the personality type and literally lives next door to the protagonist.
• Lampshaded in Melody: the Girl Next Door Ending pairs the protagonist with Becca.
• Sayori from Doki Doki Literature Club! is the protagonist's energetic childhood friend. Though it gets subverted later.

Webcomics

• El Goonish Shive: Sarah is Elliot and Tedd's childhood friend, a love interest for Elliot for a while, and then still a close friend afterwards, the last of their group to get any magic abilities, and thinks of herself as boring and ordinary.
• Sandra on the Rocks is about a relatively Next Door-ish Girl who nonetheless finds herself employed as a fashion model.
• The titular character of the Sluggy Freelance arc "A Carnivorous Smurf for Kimmy Sue Hasenpfeffer" was one of these. Kimmy Sue, not the Smurf.
• Rachel from Tower of God is set up as this, being a childhood friend and mother figure for Bam. The fact that she ran away from their life together should have been a first good hint, but it is subverted when she tries to kill him out of jealousy and fear that he might stop her in her quest.

Web Original

• The protagonist of Take A Lemon is rather upset when a college physics experiment turns her into a classic Girl Next Door overnight. Especially since He used to be a bit of rock guitar playing lech.

Western Animation

• Spoofed in The Amazing World of Gumball in the episode "The Fan":
  Sarah: Or maybe I'm just the girl next door who's always been there for you, but you're too foolish to realize it's perfect for you.
  Darwin: But you don't live next door.
  Sarah: I can move.
• In The Fairly OddParents!, Tootie is a geeky girl who lives near Timmy and quite obviously loves him. Although Timmy doesn't return her affections at first, he sympathizes with her since they both have to deal with Tootie's meaner older sister and Timmy's babysitter, Vicky. According to the live action movie, many years later, Tootie returns to town a transformed woman, and Timmy falls in love with her.
• Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats: Riff-Raff's girlfriend, Cleo, is a humanoid feline with a blonde 80's hairdo, hourglass figure, and leg warmers. Yet, despite her looks and living in a music store, she's dating an alley cat who's the leader of his own street gang and accepts Riff-Raff for who he is. Aside from wanting excitement now and then, she keeps her expectations simple. All she asks is that Riff-Raff stay faithful to her and treat her well, which he does.
• Gender Inverted, there's Gil Nexdor (it's literally right in his name!) in relation to Susan and Mary Test in Johnny Test.
• Like Buffy, Kim Possible is a double subversion because she's insecure about boys, dating, and the social order, and has very few close friends; however, she's admired by her peers, involved in every school activity, and is an international kung-fu-fighting pro-bono action heroine.
• Monster Loving Maniacs: Ishaani Anderson is the daughter of Arthur Van Alten's neighbor and best friend of Arthur's grandson Ernest. While there's no romance between them (She Is Not My Girlfriend moments aside), Ishaani often acts as an ear for Ernest when he needs to talk about his problems with somebody, and the two often play music together for fun.
• My Adventures with Superman re-designs leading lady, Lois Lane, as a shorthaired tanned tomboy, who typically wears T-shirts with either gym shorts, yoga pants, or sweat pants. Her personality was also revamped to go along with her new image by portraying her as Clark and Jimmy's playfully snarky best friend. All of which makes her a stark contrast to her previous incarnations from the comics and movies, which usually made Lois look more like a fashion model.
• Gender Inverted again with Jeremy to Candace in Phineas and Ferb. There's also Isabella for Phineas, who hasn't noticed her feelings yet.

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