http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AmicableExes



Shouting till you're hoarse together,

Getting a divorce together,

That make perfect relationships." Company, "The Little Things You Do Together" , "The Little Things You Do Together" "It's things like using force together,Shouting till you're hoarse together,Getting a divorce together,That make perfect relationships."

Advertisement:

So, people who break up must indefinitely hate each other, right?

Wrong. Increasingly common in media are situations where a divorced couple still get along for the most part, and in many cases still care about each other even though they're no longer together. In many cases the divorce happened because of distance, circumstance or the simple fact that people change rather than infidelity, betrayal or other serious problems, and the fact that they got divorced is treated as a fact of life rather than due to a flaw in the people. Both parties also generally agree that it was for the best for both of them. It's also pretty common for couples who broke up because of Incompatible Orientation or who were each other's Last Het Romance to end up this way.

If there are children from the marriage they are shared without much complaint, and the amicability of the parents can often be interpreted as being partly for their sake. As such, this tends to show up in children's cartoons, perhaps as an attempt to counter the stereotype of the children of divorced parents being largely unhappy. May involve a Visit by Divorced Dad that will usually go well, and for the most part any Divorce Assets Conflicts are avoided or settled reasonably.

Advertisement:

The increase in this trope can be attributed in the dramatic shift in divorce rates and public perception of those who have gone through with divorces in the last 50 years (i.e. between the 1950s and the start of the 21st century). While divorce used to be scandalous, it's now a fairly common occurrence, and this trope reflects the view that it's just a fact of life that doesn't have to permanently poison a relationship. Sometimes it even results in Divorce Is Temporary, though this is less common in more realistic works and those aimed at children due to being a Family-Unfriendly Aesop ("wish hard enough and your parents will get back together!").

Can apply to non divorced former couples as well, thus the name. If someone's current and former squeeze get along well with each other, it's The Missus and the Ex.

Advertisement:

Compare Working with the Ex and Sex with the Ex. No, this is not about friendly .exe files.

Examples:

open/close all folders

Anime & Manga

Marmalade Boy starts when Miki's parents Rumi and Jin tell her all smiling "we're having a divorce ♥!" They get divorced and stay friends, then they swap spouses with Yuu's parents Chiyako and Youji, and both families move into a Big Fancy House so the two teens won't lose their parental figures and things will be easier in the financial and emotional senses. It's very justified: Rumi, Jin, Youji and Chiyako have been friends from several years before the story took place.

Ami's mother Saeko in Sailor Moon seems to bear no ill feelings toward her ex-husband, a famous artist who lives abroad, but this has never stopped Ami herself from angsting about it.

Haruka's parents in Noein have come to terms with their divorce and are able to get along when together. This is something that took time, as their initial feelings were far more bitter, but they eventually realized that despite their attraction to one another they were simply too different to function as a stable couple, and rather than raise a child in that environment they decided to split up to give her a life where her parents weren't constantly fighting. This makes it a case where the split was mainly for the child's benefit.

Cher Degre and Hubb Lebowski of Wolf's Rain get along professionally, though there is definite tension in their relationship, and they split mainly because Cher was so caught up in her work that their relationship suffered. By the end of the series, they have mostly reconciled, but Cher dies suddenly, causing Hubb to cross the Despair Event Horizon , and he spends his last moments cradling her scarf and inhaling her scent

Brick and Cathy are this in Bondage Queen Kate, mainly by the misfortune of both of them being strong dominants.

are this in Bondage Queen Kate, mainly by the misfortune of both of them being strong dominants. Ureshiko and Tamotsu in Oku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo aren't officially divorced, but they don't live together anymore. Ureshiko comes over to help him clean once in a while. In the end, they presumably do get divorced amicably, since Tamotsu told Kagura to treat her well .

. Austria and Hungary in Axis Powers Hetalia are still very much going out together, despite having been divorced after World War I.

Dragon Ball Z: Bulma and Yamcha seem to have remained fairly good friends after their breakup, in spite of the fact that Bulma's new love interest is a former villain... who was indirectly responsible for Yamcha's death (he got better) while they were still dating. Dragon Ball Z Abridged actually makes this the reason for the breakup and hookup.

Miyuki and Yonamine from Bambino maintain an amicable relationship as co-workers even after their divorce.

Parodied in Silver Spoon. Yoshino and Hachiken get along rather well, though they aren't particularly close, and their romantic involvement only ever existed in Tokiwa's overactive imagination. That doesn't stop anyone, including Hachiken and Yoshino, from acting like they were dating and broke up, but are still on good terms.

Yaichi and Natsuki in My Brother's Husband, to the point that when Mike sees them together he can't understand why they got divorced.

Comic Books

Hank Pym and his wife Janet of The Avengers after their rough divorce got along very well and even had romantic relations before Janet's death.

Longshot and Dazzler of the X-Men divorced off-panel, but seem to still get along well enough and still enjoy the occasional roll in the sack for old time's sake.

Jefferson Pierce, aka Black Lightning and his wife Lynn Stewart split up because of the stress Jeff's superhero life put on their family, but the two remain in friendly contact and Lynn makes sure that their daughters, Anissa and Jennifer remain in contact with their dad, and both even become superheroes later (though Jefferson was very adamant that Anissa finish college first).

As pictured Nightwing usually stays friends with his exes, which is a good thing since he regularly works with his two most well known ex girlfriends.

Omaha the Cat Dancer had the title character being forced to confess that she was married to a long separated man, but never formally divorced. As it turns out, the man found out about her new notoriety and got in contact with her not to cause trouble, but to arrange a proper divorce which is done on good terms with everyone involved.

Robin: Tim and Zo remain friends even after he breaks up with her over the phone. While the way he broke up with her upset her it helps that they didn't date for very long beforehand.

Superman: Clark Kent and Lana Lang have been great friends after their time as high school sweethearts. Linda Danvers and Dick Malverne dated for a while in their high school years. They drifted apart when Linda moved out, but they remained friends. Supergirl: We dated for years, all through college. Were were good together. [...] I guess we grew apart... grew up. We stayed friends, but I hadn't seen him in years. We dated for years, all through college. Were weretogether. [...] I guess we grew apart... grew up. We stayed friends, but I hadn't seen him in years. Superman had a brief relationship with Wonder Woman when they were both starting out as superheroes, but they quickly realised they were Better as Friends.

A same sex example in the first volume of Secret Six is Scandal Savage and Jeannette, who were a couple when they were imprisoned in a gulag together but didn't work out in the long run for unspecified reasons. Even though they're no longer an item they clearly care for each other a great deal and have no apparent resentment or hard feelings over their breakup, and encourage each other to pursue new relationships. It's safe to say they consider each other their best friend.

Fred and Daphne in Scooby Apocalypse, though Fred still has feelings for her.

Jonesy: Despite being divorced, Jonesy's parents still get along quite well and reveal they broke up due to just marrying too young and having different interests. So, out of convenience for their daughter, her father agreed to look after Jonesy while the mother went off to pursue her dream of going to law school.

Emery and his ex-wife in The Internship are still on good terms and both take care of their two daughters.

Fan Works

Film

Literature

Live Action TV

Music

Adele's song "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" is about moving into this after a rough breakup and ultimately deciding to forgive and move on with their lives. It also has her sending good wishes and blessings to his new relationship.

Belly has song "Suffer the Fools", in which Tanya Donelly sings about dividing property with a partner ("You keep my key and my lazy letters/I'll keep the angel that you bought to watch over me") and moving apart, but still hanging out together ("I'll bring that terrible wine you love").

Gwen Stefani's song "Cool", which was inspired by her ex from No Doubt. Notably this was written several years after No Doubt's groundbreaking album Tragic Kingdom, which was about the polar opposite of this trope.

P!nk's song "So What" is a subversion of this trope. While the song is about a harsh breakup full of revenge and bitterness, she and Carey Hart did get back together after some marriage counseling.

"Every Other Weekend" by Reba McEntire and Kenny Chesney (or Skip Ewing) is about two exes who are sharing custody of their children, but still having feelings for each other — feelings that they can't share in the children's presence.

Radio

In New Dynamic English, Kathy received a phone call from her ex-husband to remarry again. Her response? She refused his offer, and said that he cares about him but not necessarily love him, and maybe even become friends.

Theater

This trope is the basis for a scene in Company: Robert: You mean you two are not married now?

Susan: Well, not since the divorce.

Robert: Then where are you living now, Peter?

Peter: Why, here at home. I mean, I've got responsibilities. I've got Susan and the kids to take care of. I certainly would never leave them.

Robert: So, are you two considering getting married again?

Susan: Married? Oh, no, we tried that, thank you very much.

Henry and Charlotte in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing. Though they divorce after Henry's affair with Annie is exposed, by the second act (two years later), Henry and Charlotte are on friendly terms. They trade witticisms and discuss both their daughter's impending departure as well as their respective relationships. By the end of the scene, Charlotte slyly offers sex (which Henry declines): Charlotte: You don't fancy one for the road?

Henry: No, really.

Charlotte: Or a drink?

Henry: (Smiles) No offense.

The Mrs Hawking play series: It is revealed in Base Instruments that Nathaniel's wife Clara and his brother Justin have some sort of romantic history. They have both moved on from it, and Justin clearly wishes his brother and sister-in-law well, though they do still tease one another.

Toys

Barbie: Barbie and Ken broke up for a few years, however they stayed close friends nevertheless. Eventually, they got back together.

Video Games

Visual Novels

In My Magical Divorce Bureau, the marriages weren't mutually agreed in the first place, so the parties certainly aren't amicable towards each other when they come to you. If you manage to address the underlying failures of communication, however, they may be on better terms by the time the divorce is finalised. Indeed, the protagonist seems to see securing this outcome  not processing the divorce paperwork  as the proper function of the divorce bureau.

Backstage Pass: John and Lloyd , who are still working together rather splendidly.

Web Original

Jon Sims and Georgie Barker. They're apparently such good friends Jon even stays at her place in season two, when he's both in hiding and at the height of his paranoia, suggesting she's the person he trusts the most, and she's willing to let him stay for weeks no questions asked.

Webcomics

Western Animation