There were some bonding moments between some characters though you are right about Penelo and Fran. Honestly, I kind of found it refreshing to have a party that was more business minded than "bestest best friends" we've been getting that for awhile. It was nice having a group you could tell didn't really respect Vaan, like during his embarrassing "How old are you?" scene but then later have them show astonishment with him when he's smart enough to use the voice changer to sound like Larsa and end the battle when Sky Bahamut was crashing.

There were some really good bonding scenes but it was less "let's watch them talk and bond" and more about watching the subtle ways the characters change around each other. The party is pretty cold to each other in the beginning but by end game you can really see some significant changes to how they see each other by just watching carefully. It was more show than tell if you get what I mean.