The thing with Makino is you are told upfront what she's like so you look at her growth, not where she is. Think of Tomoko Kuroki. Objectively, during most of her manga and all of her anime, she was a pretty terrible scummy little girl, and only her shyness prevented her from being a less-attractive, less-popular Koharu Minami. But we love her because she never stopped making progress after she hit bottom, and she's developed her own unique coping mechanisms. Long story short, I see a few spiritual similarities.