I actually hate the movies for the "friendship dynamic."
In the movie verse, when they all meet, it isn't the same dynamic as the series.
In the series,
To Ranka: Alto = love interest, role model, support; Sheryl = role model, big sister figure, support
To Alto: Ranka = possible love interest, person to protect, support; Sheryl = love interest, role model, support
To Sheryl: Ranka = little sister, girl to inspire, person to protect, support; Alto = love interest, support
In the movies,
To Ranka: Alto = childhood friend, love interest, support (no role model); Sheryl = role model, support (no friendship truly shown except in movie 2)
To Alto: Ranka = childhood friend, possible love interest (less in movie verse), person to protect, role model (I gather this from how inspired he is by her being scouted), support; Sheryl = love interest, role model, support
To Sheryl: Ranka = girl to inspire, person to protect, support; Alto = love interest, childhood friend, role model (in past), support
There is a very big difference in the dynamic, especially where the roles play in order. They ruined what I considered the "friendship" they held.
Granted, they are still friends in the end, but I cannot actually FEEL the ending as being "friends forever" as much as I did in the series. No, I get the vibes of "lovers separated" and a "lonely" girl left behind, heartbroken. And I also get the vibes of Ranka being the ONLY one holding onto the lasting friendship, as neither Sheryl nor Alto come back in the end. Though Alto seems very willing to hold onto his genuine feelings for Ranka (hence his apology before confessing love); but Sheryl, I'd say, is questionable, as we don't know her thoughts yet.
As for the
sacrifices you have all mentioned to me... I have to say a word or two about that concerning the movies:
1 - whilst Sheryl does save Ranka in movie 2, sacrificing herself; my thought is that she knows that's the more logical choice, as her disease has already been revealed to her and she knows her death is close.
2 - Ranka, in the 1st movie, used HERSELF as bait to lure the Vajra to her and help save Frontier. THAT was a big sacrifice.
3 - Sheryl doesn't just sing for Frontier in the 2nd movie, but picks up her mike to do what she still can do (and for the last time),
sing. It isn't all about her sacrificing everything for Frontier at all.
To me, Sheryl's sacrifices vs. Ranka's sacrifices are different, as both girls have different views on the war: Ranka seeing that the Vajra have feelings whilst Sheryl sees death's door for herself. And Alto, in the middle of this, gives a "middle finger" to Ranka's personal thoughts on "peace." Which destroys his Hikaru-dynamic. But also, from what I can tell, his feelings towards Sheryl (if any) do not grow until the 2nd movie.
In the romantic field, I'd say, both girls were equal, if I went just by movie 1; but Ranka had the lead.
Things you overlooked about movie 1:
1 - when Ranka asks about Alto's acting career, she was trying to learn more about him, did that occur to you?
Someone said she was driving the nail home; but then again, how long have they known each other? We don't know.
2 - Alto's paper airplanes are STILL a symbol of Ranka and Alto's relationship with each other as support.
3 - Alto is VERY protective of Ranka, to the point where he snaps at Sheryl, whom was doing nothing wrong, and won't even
listen to her! THAT, to me, was very manly of Alto, protecting a "lover."
4 - when Sheryl points out that Ranka is in love with him, he looks shocked, yes; but did it occur to you that maybe he's shocked that Sheryl brought up the subject of love?
After all, he's with her to not only get his talisman back but also find out about how she knows "Aimo."
5 - when Alto rescues Ranka, he seriously could've given up or told Brera to rescue her, but he still risked his LIFE for her. When he rescued her, he was very relieved; BOTH of them were.
Ranka had the lead in movie 1 with all these multiple scenes, including the train scene where Ranka ASKED Alto about what he thought of Sheryl and he answered her. Ranka's aspire to be like Sheryl is what Alto finds so inspiring, because she's so fragile - to him.
But, in the friendship field, they were faltering quite a lot.
Sheryl, in the 1st movie, really acknowledged Ranka as more "a fan who also likes the boy I want." I saw the dynamic of the Kiss in the Galaxy manga when Ranka and Sheryl first meet but Alto is friendly with Ranka and Sheryl feels left out. Instead of viewing Ranka as a friend by the end of the movie, she views her as a "human by my side so I'm not alone." She looks only at ALTO in that different light.
Unlike Ranka, whom feels enlightened and thinks of Sheryl as a friend/big sister. And she still views Alto in those romantic lights, but nothing like the "dreamy vision" that people seem to think she did in the series.
If anything, the romance this time around was much better, whilst Sheryl's faltered. Sheryl was more doubtful of herself this time around, even more so than in the series. Instead of coming out with her feelings like she did around Ep12 (when she gave him the sky to show her love for him), she hides it. And Ranka, whom confesses OUTRIGHT to him in both series and movie, held much more ground than her. Sure, it wasn't a deep history of meeting in childhood, but Alto had much more of a chance to grow comfortable around HER than Sheryl.
Seriously, the romance issue is what tore apart the friendship dynamic to me. They practically COMPETED for Alto's heart in the end. They weren't helping each other unless in combat, otherwise; they were like women scorned. It killed the mood for me.
Meanwhile, ALTO is the one holding the friendship together!
He's telling them over and over again that he needs "their support." Not just Sheryl's, not just Ranka's, but THEIR support! And that makes the whole confession scene much worse, as it's obvious HE wanted the triangular too, as he loved both of them and still could not decide. In the end, he probably decided to tell at least one of them how he felt for them, but didn't want to speak of Ranka that way because of his position (being trapped and most likely to die). But honestly, he lead himself up to a "I love both of you" ending.
I'm NOT saying the ending is triangular, but do you get my meaning of how supportive Alto was to BOTH girls rather than just the one he LOVED? It makes it triangular to me.
); yet I could see the SherriRan pairing working out.
even if I was pretty sure on the Alto/Sheryl). Maybe not just romantically, but I felt their trio dynamic was far more balanced than in the TV series... where they didn't give a 'verbal' resolution. Funny how that works ("triangular" versus "end of the triangle"). Something about how the events played made more emphasis on them relying on each other without being used as crutch (there was some kind of improvement on Ranka's plot arcs and Sheryl's past connection, IMO). 
Author
It spoils the ending!
