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Hikaru/Misa/Minmei was pretty close to the end. Misa was good to him but Hikaru just couldn't get over his infatuation with Minmei until the very end. It's entirely possible he never will entirely, but he at least finally moved on.
Alto/Sheryl/Ranka was a pretty massive construct, but it certainly had its own character. The triangle touches on Frontier's theme on communication. Notably Sheryl/Alto never really expressed their feelings to one another straight up. Ranka does, but it seems like she does it too late, even though she came out before Sheryl did. I believe this to be important to the overall theme, maybe that communication can come in many ways, like maybe just feeling. I hypothesize that Ranka slowly lost, but Alto never moved away from her, it felt more that Ranka mostly stayed the same friendly distance away while Sheryl took little steps closer. I really think Ranka lost in Episode 21.
Communicating those feelings was probably what Ranka had to learn, it was something perhaps Sheryl already knew from singing, and Alto knew from Kabuki, and in the end they just didn't need to say the words. At the end of the series I'd say Ranka still had a chance, but Sheryl was quite a ways ahead in that.
As a possible extension, one could hypothesize that this may have contributed to why we don't get the Love Triangle Winner Declaration. Sheryl and Alto may have never needed to communicate it point blank before, so why change that now?
Alto does really like Ranka though, but I feel like Sheryl just got further along. I think the key spot to this was around ep 18. Alto goes to great lengths to see Ranka that one time, probably because he said he would and security was being tight around her. He can be stubborn. Somehow though it felt like Alto going to see Sheryl at his old home was more meaningful, even though generally it was the same thing, guy sneaking in to see the girl.
And to be frankly honest, Alto got angry with Sheryl, and later on, particularly earlier in episode 19 before the rooftop scene, it suggest to me of an anger brought from pain. We see Sheryl make a decision about her own life, and Alto pretty well gets pissed about it, be it from his own morals or just really caring about Sheryl, but for a Hime who always told Ranka to believe in herself and not let others tell her what she can and can't do, this kinda makes one think. Alto got angry at her like he gets angry when someone is trying to tell him what to do and how to be, just like when his brother told him to come back to Kabuki and questioned his reason for being a pilot. I can think of no other time he gets angry like that that isn't related to himself. Even when Ranka leaves in Ep 21, it's not the same anger. There Alto was more like a "WTF are you doing, Ranka?!" sort of anger, but whenever Hime got his personality questioned or called a Hime it was more of a "How dare you!" sort of anger, and that was the kind of anger he showed Sheryl.
Amusingly, Sheryl responds in kind, which leads to my final observation: Alto really has more in common with Sheryl than he does with Ranka. That may, however, be my opinion. I'm probably missing things/getting stuff wrong though.
Babble! Why do I babble?!
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