>>2805966I mean she kind of is, at least in terms of development. She goes from doing things because she feels she needs to, to finally letting herself do what she wants. She gets over her bitterness regarding her ballet days, and stops being such an ass about dancing and learns to just have fun with it and appreciate different kinds, and she definitely opens up more, going from only really having Nozomi as a friend to opening up entirely to the rest of µ's.
I think she seems pretty popular on her own though...She gets a lot of solo fan art and not just NozoEli (unlike Mari who mostly gets KanaMari or 3rd Year fan art), and either she sells a lot of figures or Alter has a huge crush on her.
Plus she's really popular with the Western fan base as far as I've seen when it comes down to polls, and that's more than can be said for Mari.