I have this little need to pair people up, not according to romance but to friendship; in real life people have people they're closer to, usually have friends that are "better" friends than others.

For example, excluding Digimon, I'd say that Tai's best friends are Sora, Matt and arguably Izzy, while TK and Kari are best friends, etc.

Anyway, I think Joe's best friends are probably Matt and Mimi.

Matt

Okay, now that most of you have gone "what is Leto talking about?!" I'll explain myself. Now, just because Matt and Joe are total opposites, doesn't mean they're not friends.

First, a little info on Matt. He's the typical "lone wolf" sort. While he's actually a very nice guy, at times he can be rather cold, unwilling to express his emotions. His Digimon is Gabumon and crest is Friendship, which at first he feels he doesn't deserve. The crest mostly reacts to an expression of friendship from other people or Digimon.

Matt felt his purpose in the digiworld was to protect his little brother. He put his friends over the mission, but he was still dedicated to their goal of saving the digiworld. But TK - particularly after Kari appeared - began to grow up and didn't want his older brother treating him like a child - he wanted to be able to take care of himself sometimes.

He's a good leader type, and often comes to blows (sometimes literally) with Tai. He likes to make decisions and then carry them out, and is an extremely brave, selfless person. We are told that before the Digiworld, Matt was one of those "cool guys" - Tai says this with disdain, so we interpret what Matt was like.

So Matt obviously doesn't like Joe very much at first, who is like his opposite. Matt hates complaints, Joe readily supplies them. Matt likes a cool image, Joe is a bit of a goober. Matt admires strength, and thinks Joe is weak. But they become used to each other.

Apart from the whole episode "WereGarurumon's Diner", my favourite Matt-Joe moment has gotta be, after Joe went to look for Matt, he finally found him. Joe runs up to him crowing triumphantly and whirling around to gloat to Gomamon, looking so gangly and unco-ordinated and funny, while Matt is standing there perfectly poised, cool and smooth-looking with a bemused look on his face.

It just highlights the difference between them. And then Joe gives Matt his harmonica back. Before, Matt had an almost suspicious look on his face (you could tell he was thinking, Joe is off the planet) but his eyes softened then and then Joe grinned.

Just a short scene but one of my faves in the whole series!

The two do have things in common. Both went off by themselves to try to learn more about themselves and become better people. Both sometimes feel useless, like fifth wheels. Both often make little dry comments. Joe was the one who went to look for Matt when he was alone. They work together to bring Sora back from the darkness that is haunting her. Joe saved TK's life twice, which I suspect was partly a service to Matt, partly to earn approval. Joe needs approval a lot.

The episode WereGarurumon's Diner was great. Matt stayed to help Joe work off his debts, because the store's proprietor threatened to kill Joe if he didn't stay. Matt was a great worker but Joe kept making mistakes, and Matt, under stress, began to think he was doing it on purpose. He got mad at Joe and couldn't believe the other boy would be so selfish.

But then, in their battle to leave the restaurant, TK was captured and put in danger. Joe put himself in TK's place to save the little kid, instead putting himself in pain, so that Matt would feel better about fighting, knowing that TK was safe. Matt was amazed that Joe would do something like that even though he had been yelling at him just a few minutes ago.

And that is when his Crest of Friendship first reacted, because of Joe and his example of friendship. ^_^. Later, when Matt apologised, Joe didn't seem to think that Matt's distrust/anger was a big deal at all.

I suspect I'm one of the only people who thinks those two are best friends - I judge this by the fact that I have yet to see a yaoi (male-male romance) fic or page for them, which is what Digimon fans tend to do to all the other digidestined friends - pair them up. Very Annoying. But don't get me started on that. ^_^;; So I guess it's not a bad thing that their friendship is largely ignored by fandom. *grins*

Mimi

Mimi is the girly girl of the group. She would rather go shopping or have a bubblebath than trek around the digital world and camp out. She's into fashion and the finer things of life, and seems to be part of the 'popular crowd'. She also thinks the other kids in the group are weird (Joe thinks the same about the group, but for different reasons).

When Mimi is feeling upset at how all their friends are dying, and decides to move away from the others so she doesn't have to be involved in that sort of thing, Joe instantly volunteers to stay with her because it's not safe for her to be by herself (unlike Matt, her Digimon can't go Mega).

Because Mimi and Joe go off together, it's more obvious they're pals and so of course half the Digimon fandom pairs them up. You'd think this would be additionally helped by the fact that they're of opposite genders but gender is no obstacle for Digi-romantics. ^_^;

These two are similar to one another in that they both find it hard to cope with the digiworld at first and they both complain quite a lot. They are also the ones that the Digimon fans seem to most dislike. ^_^; They can be kind of annoying in the first episodes, they both have their Digimon turn Ultimate while in the real world - some time after the other non-angels do - and their Digimon seem to like each other.

Mimi and Joe really do seem like partners, just as TK-Kari, Matt-Tai and to a lesser extent, Izzy-Sora are. Apart from the examples already mentioned, they do talk to each other a reasonable amount, Joe was one of the ones who went to look for Mimi in "Princess Karaoke", the two had to work together soon after returning to the digital world (against Scorpiomon) and their Digimon fought together in the final fight against Apocalymon.

It's interesting that Joe, the token 'geek', is closest friends with the two 'cool ones' of the group. Mimi is very into clothes and shopping, she can be kind of a ditz but she's very obviously in the 'popular' group. But those kinds of social distinctions fade into meaninglessness in the digiworld.

At first they don't seem to like each other much. You know Joe's the sort of guy who Mimi thinks is gross (Palmon: "Think he likes ya!" Mimi: "No way!") and Mimi's the sort of ditz that annoys someone as reliable as Joe ("take a little responsibility!").

As time goes on Mimi learns to stop thinking of her teammates as weirdos and starts thinking of them as friends and teammates. She, with Sora, often teases Joe ("what a man!") and in the end, the closest Joe comes to confiding in anyone is to talk to her.

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