Aerith has always been an interesting character. While I still like Tifa better for her awesome martial arts badass-ery, I never considered Aerith to be second best. She's in a class of her own (ie, Tifa is my favorite FF heroine, Cid Highwind is my favorite Cid, Cloud's hair is my favorite FF mystery, Aerith is my favorite Aerith, etc). She's a unique character, not your typical white mage/healer character, and I loved how she developed in CC with Zack~ XD
She's spunky, cheerful, friendly, and straightforward. Being pretty is just an added bonus. You don't encounter many female characters like her. She's a great friend, and while she's a bit more selfish than Tifa, at least she's not like Yuffie. XDDD I feel like my character is a bit like Aerith's (IRL, not in forums) and we’d probably be good friends. Which is why I don't get why Aerith has a big hate fanbase. o__o
I also love her outfit. I don’t care what anyone else says, I adore pink, and therefore I adore her outfit. Actually, I adore all her dresses. She changes costumes in 4 games; FF7 in her standard Aeris gear, CC:FF7 in that pretty white dress which she keeps clean even in the slums, KH, and KH2.
I admit that I never used her much in the party in FF7 unless necessary, because I knew prior to playing the game that *spoiler* she dies *spoiler*, so I kind of didn’t bother. I also don’t really care much about healers because I’m an item user (although this didn’t really make a difference because of the materia system).
But I love Aerith as a character anyway. XDDD I’m still so sad about her and Zack~

BY THE WAY!!! Do any of you know that gameshark code that lets you use Aerith after her death? I wanna try finishing the game with her in my party. 8D