Thread:CureLightning/@comment-26426093-20170321071348/@comment-26426093-20170904065303

All I can say about the entire affair is that, Aria's inclusion nor the timing wasn't the problem. The fact remains that a lot of people got butthurt over Ako being mistreated even though she has main character status (and is a S4 member, no less) is understandable enough, but taking out their anger on a new character who hasn't got a chance to make her anime debut is pushing it too far.

If anything, I got this gut feeling that Bandai is going to approach Ako the same way they did with Sakura; the latter basically got clamped down in favour of promoting Maria as Aurora Fantasy's new "muse', but once Season 3 came, Sakura got the lion's share of character development by becoming a senpai to Akari and the others (not to mention the awesome interactions between her and Miyabi) and being given the title of Starlight Queen. So I can assume that Ako might get her chance to shine next season, just like Sakura did.