Sunny Starscout as Hakari Hanazono (100 Girlfriends)
I've met many people on both sides of the fence who have said that Sunny isn't a investing character as she's pretty boring and lacks appeal compared to the others. It definitely shows itself within recent years for this to be the case, so she must be starving for love as much as Haruka is. But the similarities don't stop there as they're very sly, caring, and playful. What? Don't remember the sly part? Yeah, I miss it too.
The movie had such a fun take on Sunny. She challenged her obstacles with bravado, mischievously pull misdirections, and she carried a heavy hardship behind a smile. She had appeal, faults, and was commendable. I couldn't wait to see how she'd play out during the generation, but all of that seems to have vanished from her. Over these past few years, she's more pulled back and needs regular support from her friends to mend her faltering spirit at times. This is a character that hid away in a room after she became a laughingstock meme, when in the movie, she didn't have any problem at standing out as a supporter for unicorns & pegasi (she must've been mocked and harshly criticized). That load she carried has shown itself a few times through some tearful encounters, but when she starts panicking that a tiger was stalking them with nothing but a feeling, that inspiring personality begins to shave off my admiration for her. Perhaps it's a moment of weakness and a sign that she's still like everyone else, but when she learns that same tiger was in the area and chooses to ignore that tiger... (women can be fickle, but what is this?)
Sunny is the greatest disappointment for me out of all of this as I hardly ever see that side of her in the series anymore. The only times I've noticed that character again is when she interacts with Hitch as they work off each other. Part of me just wants them to start dating so we can see this more often, but this franchise has been very weary on shipping any of the main cast characters, and frankly, the other part of me says that it's for the best as Sunny x Hitch would never happen given how they work the characters. The Sunny I enjoy in the movie would likely see a mare flirting with Hitch and suddenly get a feeling of hostility being made toward her and act in a 'he's mine' kind of way, leading her to question her feelings for him as something in a more romantic aspect. However, the nowaday Sunny would probably react similar to the way that Haruka does when seeing the other girls getting intimate with Rentarou. It'd be more innocent than Haruka's of course, the show creators aren't smart enough to know how to hide those kind of jokes in plain sight.
...don't think too hard on that last image.