musouka

Not only the English fandom. Sheryl leads in Japanese polls too.

Yes, because only perfection can criticize selfish actions. All of us have failures. Not all failures are forgiven.

My only issue with this is that the anime has shown that she had her doubts. Now, doing what she thought was right even at the cost of her own comfort is admirable, so I'm not saying that Ranka made the wrong decision with the information she had. However, part of maturity is seeing things through, no matter how hard it is. It wasn't all bad for Ranka, there were things about fame that she enjoyed, but when the call came for her to step up and push aside heartbreak for the sake of her friends, she wasn't able to do it until Sheryl slapped some sense into her. Being a professional is more than getting satisfaction from protecting your loved ones or enjoying the benefits of fame, it means you often have to do your job when you least feel like it. It's like Sheryl trying to drag herself out of bed on Galia 4 to sing for the Zentradi--she put the subduing the conflict above her own comfort and needs. Sheryl has been singing longer, and has more experience, so I don't think we're supposed to hate Ranka because she's not on the same level, but Ranka's weakness in this regard isn't something to be admired. The way it comes across is that she wants to make and eat the cake, but balks at doing the dishes. To be fair, this is a Ranka discussion thread, right? My only goal is to explain why people might be frustrated with her characterization. I don't think it has anything to do with the love triangle, but how she's been written in these last few episodes. People have mentioned Nausicaa. 2ch has also picked up on this, but I think Anonymous over there said it best that the difference between Nausicaa and Ranka is that when you watch Nausicaa, you get a sense of her love for both sides of the "conflict". She loves the insects, but she also loves her Valley, and would mourn the loss of it terribly. This is not to say Ranka doesn't love her family and friends, only that Nausicaa tends to look at both sides of the equation and balances herself much more carefully than Ranka does. Ranka wanting answers is a step in personal growth. She's no longer a scared little girl, hiding from the pain her memories could bring. But at the same time, it is a personal choice, not an unselfish one. Just like confessing to Alto was a good choice for herself, but also puts a burden on Alto, as she leaves the fleet before he can even discuss anything with her.

I don't think that's really fair. Alto didn't have a "date" with Ranka, she invited him out and he asked Michel to be there and tell her he couldn't attend--which was selfish of him, but has nothing to do with Sheryl. He didn't tell her he'd be there and choose someone else. Alto had a choice between three people in that episode, "Ranka", "his father", and "Sheryl". He chose Sheryl--she didn't steal him away from anyone--because she was the one who was most in touch with what he would really want for his birthday. Alto's father was more concerned with Alto carrying on his family name, and Ranka's initial gifts to Alto were tickets to her own concert and bad-tasting cookies. She more than made up for it by saving his ass later, but that just proves she wasn't really considering him at first. (and, again, to her credit she actually recognized this when she was discussing her gift with Sheryl earlier in the episode) As for the rest of this topic, people really have an issue with understanding why people are dissatisfied with Ranka's current character arc? Really? I mean, I love Ranka and I'll make no bones about it, but part of the reason I love her is because she's flawed and fairly self-centered. In that respect, the answer to the question posed by the thread title is "innocent, naive teenager". But what you need to keep in mind that just because someone is innocent or naive doesn't mean they aren't frustrating to watch or don't make bad choices. Ranka could have tried to gauge Alto's reaction to Ai-kun by actually telling him how they met in the park and what she thought concerning the nature of the Vajra. If Alto had responded negatively, she wouldn't have had to introduce Ai-kun at all. It's unfair of her to expect Alto to react any other way when something like that is dumped on him and he has no time to react. It's understandable that she wouldn't want to sing, but let's keep in mind that Ozma came right out and asked her if she was okay with what Grace and Co had planned for her. She was surrounded by loving people that would have carried her away physically if need be at the beginning of her career if she had mentioned her misgivings. Even as far in episode 21, Alto was against the idea of Ranka using herself as bait--all she had to do was talk to him. In that respect, the reason she's in this painful situation to begin with is her own inability to foresee the potential consequences of her own choices. That has a mitigating factor on how much some people are willing to pity her. Sheryl couldn't didn't know she was infected, and her choice was never between a "an accepting family" and "stardom". Sheryl is a victim of circumstance, Ranka, of bad choices. That's why Sheryl tends to get more pity, and why people say her situation is worse. Ranka had misgivings about what she was doing from the very beginning. She didn't want to abandon Elmo. She didn't like Grace's rewrite of Aimo. When Vajra died, she actually felt physical pain. Yet at no time did she ever try to make her voice heard.