>>281147797
Again not to side with Chu or whatever, but this argument is nonsensical
>when author gives a designation of heroine status to a side character
I believe you're referring to that one interview with Kishimoto
He didn't actually say Sakura wasn't the female lead. He was just saying that, conceptually, he created Hinata to be a compliment to Naruto when that wasn't the case with Sakura.
>Also it matter with authors themselves, for example Fujimoto is a huge romancefag that pairs FemMC and MC together meanwhile others like Oda and Gege don't give any shit about romance.
Okay and I brought up Jigokuraku. Gabimaru's love for his wife Yui was a major part of his character so the story clearly DID give a fuck about romance even if it obviously wasn't the focus.
Or hell since CX was already brought up in this very thread, that's an example too. Ishida obviously is a romancefag (considering that he made Touka x Kaneki), but the girl who likes the MC is Palma, while the female lead Ely has a romance subplot with another character, Azuma.
You want other examples? Maka and Soul from Soul Eater. They were male and female leads and their relationship got a TON of development, and yet they were ultimately platonic at the end
I can go on and on and on with examples.

Point is, it's really REALLY common for the male and female leads to not end up together, especially in action series like CSM.

And hell even in Part 1, Denji's and Power's relationship was platonic (Keep coping Powerfag. Denji saw her as a little sister and they are never going to have sex).

Obviously Asa and Denji DO have a romance plotline, but saying "the male and female leads will almost always end up together" is flat-out not true.