Reason:
First, let me make this clear I'm not arguing its status as the main coupling of the series. It is what it is, and without it, the series wouldn't actually have happened, at least not the same way. (I won't say that's entirely impossible.) The fact Sara is an imperative part of Setsuna's personalty and goals is not in question. This is merely an explanation of my opinion on it, why I ship it, but it's not my first pick, and some general issues I have with them as a couple, as well as Sara's treatment as a character in this series.
Sara's use as a character:
I have huge problems, first and foremost, with the fact Sara is our heroine of the story, our second main character, yet, she's barely in the story to begin with. Sure, there's a lot of information packed into small areas, more than enough to build her personality, get an idea of her past with her mother and Setsuna, we know her friends and what she likes to do in her spare time, but Setsuna is present at least once in every volume.
In contrast, Sara dies in volume three, then isn't seen again until volume eight. We hear about her, and her spirit is located, but she as a character doesn't do much during that time. She is more active from volume ten to fifteen. But in volume sixteen she's barely involved. Then we reach volume seventeen and Sandalphon's mind-rape of her, which leads to her being consumed by his nightmare until nearly the end of volume of twenty.
All in all, she's only consciously aware/alive for little over half the series. For nearly a fifth of it she's in the throes of a nightmare, and another fifth is spent just dead. We aren't even entertained to her time spent in Hades, only learn of minor bits through Setsuna's own journey.
To further frustrate, the series ends with Setsuna having reached character development to become more comfortable with himself, meanwhile Sara has loose ends. She's guilt-ridden, feels she doesn't deserve him, hasn't had resolution with anyone (the obvious issues between her and Raphael, interaction with Kurai), and has to come to terms with what happened in Heaven. It's not that I think she cannot or will not heal from her ordeal, but she went through several traumatic events without time to process them in canon, and this is our ending. With Setsuna and Sara on very different levels of completion. I've never been satisfied with this.
General issues:
All of that leads into the next point. It's a fact Sara is barely present in the series when compared to Setsuna's role. And, of course, for me, this affects my opinion on the relationship.
Sara and Setsuna spend volumes one through three learning of their feelings for each other and getting together. After that, however, they're separated for nearly the rest of the series. Sure, they meet up again, briefly, in volume twelve, and have moments of nearly crossing paths. Then they're together again in volume seventeen, but by then Sara is infected with Sandalphon. They, literally, spent maybe four volumes altogether. They spend more time with other people than each other.
This is rather unsatisfying. From an RP standpoint? Even more so. How are they supposed to react around each other? How has their relationship evolved, beyond being held together by problems and trauma? I have a better understanding of how Setsuna should react around Kira, Katou and Kurai than I do Sara, other than pining for her. I have a better idea how Sara should react around Raphael and Moonlily than Setsuna. On the other hand, it proposes a lot of questions to be answered via playing. It can be a challenge, or a hassle, depending on the players.
As someone that's RP'd Setsuna for a while, and has RP'd Setsuna/Sara with multiple Saras, while the pairing might be fun for someone else, I find it unbearably dull. I'm sure others are creative enough to deviate from the mundane repetition, but I need a better coupling basis to stand on for that. I'm not saying they are dull, or that everyone else should think so, simply for me this is why I prefer not to RP it. Perhaps if I'm offered the right Sara with good ideas, I can come up with some of my own, and we can work their relationship in a way I can find interesting.
There's also another point this bothers me in. Perhaps it was not Yuki Kaori's intention, but the fact Sara is present so little in the series, and so little of her time spent with Setsuna, I don't find myself sold on the couple. I feel like they were made interesting by being separated.
I feel they grew more as individuals, learned more and changed more in the time they spent with everyone else, rather than each other. For me, even if it's an unhealthy couple, the couples I find I support, or are more interested in, grow together. They learn together. Not everything, not always, but there was very little of this. There is really only one scene Sara affected Setsuna so strongly as to help him grow into a better person, and that was it.
It doesn't help that scene confused Setsuna, and he didn't understand Sara's stance. Sure, she gave him a message, but she didn't clarify it for him. Not that it's her fault, but shouldn't our main couple understand each other a bit better? It takes moping for ages for Setsuna to really put it all together.
On top of it, it wasn't Sara who picked up the pieces and got him to get motivated again - it was Kira and Katou.
I don't think couples should only ever help each other, and we should only ever see the couples interact on this level. Friends help plenty in real life, so this would make sense in fiction, as well. However, I would have liked to see more of it. Or feel like it was happening beneath the surface, some understanding between them.
Setsuna's side:
Sara's side:
In short: Please bring me all the Saras, but let's talk this out. I want to RP the siblings, above all, talking some of this crap out and maybe giving Sara the chance to work through some of her issues (and issues with Setsuna that she didn't magically have at the end because she seemed to think she was so terrible by that point).
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