Well, the original anime was a lot bleaker in outlook, so the well-adjusted characters aren't allowed to appear too often. Besides Hikari, Kensuke wasn't around a lot. (Despite his interests, he's well adjusted all right.)
I don't think she got short changed in YS's manga. I vividly remember Shinji's dream where she appeared and her question of asking Shinji to return Touji spooked the daylights out of him. Also, her sad comment hinting that she linked Touji's disappearance with him stood out. Whenever she appeared, the story plot did advance.
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