Thank You For Being a Friend

As odd as it sounds for a devout anime otaku, I truly loved the television show The Golden Girls.  Sadly, Rue McClanahan passed away recently.  This started me thinking about all the wonderful moments on that show, and then I soon segued into thoughts of various anime series that depicted friendships among women (or girls).  I thought that topic would make for a nice and timely blog entry - so here we go, in memoriam for Rue McClanahan (bka Blanche Deveraeux).  We'll miss you!


A surprising number of anime series have found their source material in manga written by (and often for) women and/or girls.  As a result, many such shows involve interesting and realistic (or, sometimes less than realistic) examinations of growing up and friendship among women.

Case in point, Fruits Basket - the main character in the manga and anime is Tohru Honda and the mangaka (author) is a woman.  Tohru has multiple friendships, but her oldest and most meaningful existing relationship is that with her two best friends, Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima.  This trio exhibits a pure and mostly unselfish friendship.  They accept each other for who they are and Arisa and Saki would literally do anything to protect Tohru from harm.  Misunderstandings among the three often lead to comic results, but there is always a core of poignancy at the heart of their interactions.  The show has involves fantasy elements and some minor paranormal details, but the show's foundation is truly built around the emotions of its characters. 

As the majority of men and many women have learned, some of the most lasting friendships (and most important life lessons) arise out of playing sports.  In both Bamboo Blade and Princess Nine sports teams are the impetus for the development of meaningful relationships and self-exploration.  In Bamboo Blade it is a kendo team and in Princess Nine it is a girls' baseball team.    Both include athletic prodigies, girls who are supremely confident, those that are shy and attempting to come out of their shells, others who are struggling to communicate with their parents, and some who need the help of friendship in order to conquer their own self-loathing. 

The friendships in Bamboo Blade (whose manga was illustrated by a woman) grow in the dojo as the team develops their skills and become familiar with each others' strengths and weaknesses. 

In Princess Nine, the friendships on the diamond solidify as the young women face one challenge after another - from the challenge of building a team with a sufficient number of players, battling stereotypes and outside pressures (who are mostly aligned against the idea of a baseball team populated by girls), and developing confidence in and trust of each other.  Both shows occasionally overdo the sentimentality, but not by much and usually within the bounds of realism.

In other shows, the characters involved have transcended mere friendship and evolved into family relationships, though often nontraditional families.  In R.O.D., three young women without families of their own bond and agree to care for and protect one another.  They share a unique link as they are all "papermasters," meaning they can manipulate paper in mysterious ways.  In Haibane Renmei, the story takes place in a semi-fantastical world where some of the inhabitants resemble angels, complete with halos and wings.  The young women, who periodically appear in the world and are hatched from structures called cocoons, are unsure of who they used to be in their prior life or why they are there.  Each of these young women, called the "haibane", eventually knows when it is time to depart and disappears as mysteriously as they appeared.  The haibane guide each other through the rules and customs of the new world in which they find themselves; there is self-examination and coming to terms with any vague past memories and perceived shortcomings.  The older haibane act as surrogate parents to the younger and all have to be prepared for the inevitable moment when the family's ties are broken and individual haibane leave.

Friendships are the cornerstone of so many people's lives, and so many series explore these relationships in entertaining and great detail.  Some shows offer tried and true story lines that would be familiar to people the world over, others inject interesting twists on the typical relationships between friends.  Watching these shows reminds me of friendships past and present, and makes me reminisce about the wonderful hours I've spent in the past watching Golden Girls and enjoying their antics and their wonderful friendships.