Friends seems way too vague to be useful and could in theory be applied to like 80% of all non-solo images.
Posted under General
i'm curious, what is exactly the basis to mark 2+ characters as friends, like post #62696 . does smiling while looking at the viewer make people friends? or was this designed to be the opposite of rivalry?
anyway, 'relationship' tag like this imho is better off-site. we have better tags to locate particular posts and characters in specific poses/actions. are we going to tag every master & servant in fate_(series) as master_and_servant next?
While I still feel family relationships could be useful in certain circumstances, I'd definately draw the line before friends, if for no other reason than the fact that even when considering non-visual external canon, there is no clear way to define it.
A family-member relationship is a binary, well defined, and mostly permanent thing, you are your child's parent from the point the child is born so long as you live. A "friendship" lies somewhere along much more hazy spectrum with no clear cutting-off point.
Are two protagonists friends once they become classmates? Once they start eating lunch together? Once the story starts? Are rivals friends? It's a big hairy can of worms that's not worth getting into.
I consider friends useful when it shows bonding between non blood related characters. By bonding I mean the characters are happy to have each other (post #1200674).
But friends isn't the way to go as you can have the same thing with siblings with no visual differences. It should be some sort of common tag about mutual affection or trust, or maybe broader to include adult/child bonding (family or caretaker), where the roles are distinct.
I support keeping the family relationship tags, but at the condition that said relationship shows in the image. Then the mutual trust tag would be added separately where appropriate, family or not.