The 2o22 anime season has given fans amazing action shounen and slice-of-life series alike, from Kaguya-sama: Love is War to Spy x Family, and intense relationships have been a big part of many of those stories.
A close relationship between male and female characters in anime often means romance. However, not all of the best relationships in recent years have been romantic. A great male/female platonic relationship in anime can advance the plot or characters in ways that even a great romantic relationship can't.
Soma & Megumi - Food Wars
The protagonist of Food Wars, Yukihira Soma, and his close friend Megumi are a large part of the first half of the series. While other characters take a bigger spotlight later, Megumi remains an important character throughout.
Megumi, who typically cooks safely, is inspired by Soma's adventurous style. The two even compete together in a group battle against the Elite Ten in one of the biggest moments of the series. Throughout the series, Soma does eventually find a love interest in Erina. However, he and Megumi stay incredibly close as friends.
Ichigo & Rukia - Bleach
Despite the best wishes of some fans, Ichigo and Orihime were the pair that actually ended up together, becoming one of Shonen Jump's best couples.
This meant that the dear friends of Ichigo and Rukia ended up remaining just that: dear friends. Not only was Rukia the one who first gave Ichigo his Shinigami powers, but she's been a central and powerful figure in the series for most of its existence. The two make a powerful duo that pushes each other to be better.
Yu Mira & Jin Mori - The God Of High School
Two of the three protagonists of The God of High School, Yu Mira and Jin Mori, are two of the most powerful competitor's in the show's titular martial arts tournament: "The God of High School."
Originally, Jin Mori and Yu Mira started off as friendly rivals in a one-on-one tournament. However, the tournament's next round being a 3v3 left the two as teammates. While many great platonic relationships come because one character is already in love or dating, Yu and Jin stayed best friends despite neither having a romantic interest.
Kaguya & Ishigami - Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
Kaguya Shinomiya and Yu Ishigami are two of the funniest characters from Kaguya-Sama: Love is War. The vice president and treasurer of the Shuchiin student council have certainly developed an interesting friendship.
In season 1, Ishigami was deathly afraid of Kaguya and would do anything to avoid her. However, their relationship grew and Kaguya has even helped Ishigami with his studies. The two make fantastic friends, with Kaguya almost acting as an older sister figure to Ishigami. She's even helped him with his romantic pursuit of Tsubame.
Okabe & Mayuri - Steins;Gate
Okabe Rintaro, mad scientist extraordinaire, had many women very close to him that he viewed platonically. Only one of those characters in Makise Kurisu ended up becoming romantically involved with him later.
Okabe's other close female friend, Mayuri, was a childhood friend of his and the beginning of his "mad scientist" persona. She was also the first assistant at his lab. Okabe made it clear he'd do anything for Mayuri throughout the series, going to extreme dangers and depths to try to save her from her gruesome fate.
Inouske & Kanao - Demon Slayer
Anime fans may not know how close Kanao and Inouske become by the end of the series, but they make a fantastic team as the Demon Slayer manga progresses into its climax.
Inouske and Kanao are complete opposites, with Inouske bringing great comedic relief and Kanao being a tragic young woman with a horribly sad backstory. While Kanao may never care about Inouske as much as she does about her love interest Tanjiro, the two make a fantastic duo in battle and had some great interactions.
Armin & Mikasa - Attack On Titan
Childhood friends Mikasa and Armin were two of the strongest characters in the world of Attack on Titan, with Mikasa being a masterful titan slayer and Armin controlling the powerful Colossal Titan.
Though the central figure in their group of friends was Eren, Mikasa and Armin had to become a lone duo in season 4 after Eren's heel turn. The two friends have shown they're willing to take on anyone to protect each other, with Mikasa picking a fight with the more powerful Levi to save Armin while Armin tried to fight Eren for hurting Mikasa.
Hinata & Yachi - Haikyuu!!
Though shipped by fans throughout most of the series, Haikyuu!! protagonist Hinata and volleyball manager Yachi never ended up together in the series.
Hinata and Yachi started their close friendship in season 2, with Hinata accidentally helping the relationship between Yachi and her mother by bringing the girl into the volleyball club. Yachi helped Hinata and Kageyama perfect their freak quick by putting hours and hours into their practice together. Without Yachi, Hinata may never have made it to nationals.
Alucard & Seras - Hellsing
Typically, a man turning a woman into a vampire in the first episode would lead to a future romance. However, Hellsing protagonist Alucard and deuteragonist Seras Victoria defy that notion.
Seras ends up finding another love interest, while Alucard never really pays attention to her romantically. The two experience flashes of all sorts of relationships throughout the series: teacher/student, father/daughter, best friends, and simply co-workers are all ways to describe different stages of Seras and Alucard's complex relationship.
Itadori & Nobara - Jujutsu Kaisen
Nobara and Itadori are two of the three main characters in Jujutsu Kaisen. Both are incredibly talented jujutsu sorcerers part of the first-year class at Jujutsu High's Tokyo Branch.
Nobara and Itadori were always of a very similar mind and constantly in perfect comedic synch throughout the first season. However, their relationship took an emotional turn in one of the closing episodes of season 1: "Accomplices," where they accept that they've just killed living beings and share mutual responsibility.