Quote:
Originally Posted by stray
To be fair, it was a badass gift. I don't really want to call it insincere, necessarily, since I don't think that's the case per se, but I really feel like it was alot more selfish than most people seem to think. Someone a few pages back dropped the old "if you love something, set it free" cliche with regard to Ranka... but, when push comes to shove, Sheryl knew all about Ranka's ticket for Alto. It's pretty clear she came up with the idea after finding this out, and she's forcing the issue, knowing that she's sick, too, and unwilling to back down. I don't blame her really; but her plan wasn't any less doomed to fail horribly. Although ep 12 brought new meaning to the term failure...
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This is the part that I don't fully understand. I've seen a lot of posts of how Sheryl knew about Ranka's plans and was somehow responsible for Ranka being left behind. But even assuming she knew everything about Ranka's plans (which even Alto didn't know until the last minute, mind you), what was she supposed to do? If you came up with a gift like that for someone you truly cared about, would you conceal it from them?
Wasn't this supposed to be Alto's birthday? Wouldn't it be even worse had Sheryl had denied Alto the opportunity to exercise his own choice on his special day?
The problem is that people are
looking for someone to blame. Just as Sheryl fans can't possibly blame Ranka for Sheryl's illness, I don't see how Ranka fans could ever blame Sheryl for Ranka's misfortunes. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. But if we let our frustration spill over, then we run the risk of being unable to enjoy both characters to the fullest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stray
The present isn't really for Alto, it's for her. She's so shelled up, so "Sheryl Nome," so aloof, tsun tsun, etc. that the only way she can really let her guard down and let Alto know she's falling in love with him (especially with Ranka there) is to do something that completely over the top perfect that Alto would end up a dere dere mess of bishonen manliness flying around the skies of Gallia 4. And that's exactly why she fucked up so spectacularly.
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The purpose of a gift
is to let someone know how you feel about them. That's the reason why a handwritten poem carries more sentimental value than a Hallmark card. Instead of giving some generic gift that could she could just as easily have given out to anyone, Sheryl came up with a gift that was very specific and personal to Alto.