Well, I got to see the sub. Nice parallelism for the triangle; Alto used the same language as did Sheryl about wanting to control his own destiny. But when challenged to decide on what he fights for, while he continues to use the rhetoric of independence and determining his own destiny, it seems clear that Ranka is in fact a large part of why he fights. I don't think it's a coincidence that he runs into her right after the line from Michel comes into his head, and right before he joins SMS.
The exchange between him and Ranka was also interesting, although I feel that the dialog was one of those examples of how hard it is to translate ideas into different languages (I'm using AiA, which feels to me like a high-quality sub--I can't really judge, not knowing Japanese). I think I more or less got the gist of it, though. Most importantly, they seemed to understand each other on some basic level.
This was a good characterization episode, I though. We got to see Sheryl's admirable spunk, and Ranka and Alto trying to find their way in the world, and what they want to do with their lives. Despite the at-times annoying divaness, Sheryl really does seem so much more mature in some ways than Ranka and Alto; she knows exactly what she wants to do in her life, and obviously does it quite well. I also thought the legs of the triangle were laid out well, with Alto virtually parroting Sheryl's words on destiny (more important IMO than the cliched argument-scene, although that was a necessary flag by anime convention), and the scenes with Ranka.
I think my judgment's affected by my fondness for Ranka's character, but my gut still tells me that at the end of the day, Ranka and Alto will be the pairing. At this point, it's of course just informed speculation, but IMO, Alto might talk a tough game about wanting to stand on his own two feet, but in the end, like Ozma, I think he's fighting to protect Ranka. I'm *sure* Sheryl will also become important to him, but I think that establishing the former fact this early will in the end drive the final result of the pairing. Of course, the writers might completely disagree, which is why this is just informed speculation on my part.
