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When I say she's the sweetest character in FFVII, I am not forgetting about Aerith. Sure, Aerith is indeed sweet, but she's so in a fresh, outspoken way. She's much more centered on herself than Tifa is; for instance, while Aerith will have no trouble telling others what's bothering her, Tifa won't even consider doing so, afraid of becoming a burden to her loved ones. While Aerith is cheerful, "bubbly" and straight-forward, Tifa has a much softer personality; she's shy, reserved and self-sacrificing.
Tifa's shyness is, in my personal opinion, one of the main traits of her personality. Though she's suffered a lot due to it, it is what makes her act the way she does. Not only being shy and reserved will make her problems much bigger and harder to deal with, since she bottles everything inside herself, not being able to be honest about her true feelings most times is obviously an obstacle on her way to happiness; due to this trait, she's (arguably) lost Cloud twice. However, Tifa wouldn't be who she is if she weren't shy and/or reserved, and we, as fans, must learn to accept this personality trait as a major part of her character, instead of getting frustrated with it: in a way, it is exactly what turns her into somebody the audience can easily relate to and feel sympathy for.
In the official manual, it says Tifa is "bright and optimistic", which surely isn't how I'd put it at all. If you give it some thought, you will realize Aerith has had to cheer Tifa up quite a few times: for instance, when ShinRa blew up Sector 7 and she went into a hopeless mood, claiming there was nothing they could do to help the people in the slums anymore. While Aerith is, from my point of view, the optimistic character in the game (and she is optimistic in a non-arguable way), Tifa has her own specific way and times for being cheerful, mostly by keeping the group together after Aerith's death.
She is also very loyal and supportive, and, when it comes to this, I don't think she can be surpassed by any other character in the game; for instance, at Mideel, when Cloud was suffering from Mako poisoning and everybody lost hope and left him to go take care of more important issues, she stood by his side and did everything she could to bring him back to normal. Thus, her capability of devotion is also a major part of the very realistic character she is. Tifa has had a very hard life; she's been through a lot, but that's what made her what she is today. We are nothing but the result of our experiences, and Tifa is, most of all, human. She will do her best to get over her shyness in order to help whenever needed, and though she is a strong individual who can stand on her own, she's still dependable on her loved ones, like any of us.
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