I get that, and I appreciate you reaching out to express your reasoning.
My only hope is that Mr. Noto becomes more nuanced of a character maybe, as potentially hinted at by Vera, and that the conflict becomes a little more grounded. As soon as I heard Café Estro was in decline, I was fully on board to help fix it myself, and I believed the protagonist would rise to the occasion regardless of any extenuating factors. I personally didn't need such a radically evil villain to drive that conflict like he did, and I think that Noto being so comically villainous is a little bit of a misstep. I should want to help the Café because I want to, not because a huge dickweasel suddenly barged in with a massive ego. Makes the protagonist's decision to help out feel more manipulated than natural in my opinion.
Again, I could be biased; this is like the third or fourth visual novel I have played recently that started very chill and relaxing only to throw a Loony Tunes sized wrench into the mix. It's starting to feel like a cliché, and I think that's unfortunate because if nothing else, the way you write your characters is far from cliched. I absolutely adore Hazel and Robbie, I get stoked whenever they mention movies or stupidly long YouTube videos that I have absolutely watched as well, it makes the attachment feel so fucking organic.
This whole thing could also just be a bummer for me personally because to have another game where the core conflict is getting out of a seemingly endless amount of debt isn't great for my own mental, considering how much debt I'm in right now lmao. I hope my circumstances aren't coloring my criticism in a terrible way. I'm truly not trying to be a dick haha.
I'm still mega excited to see more from your game, and I hope I come to love all the new stuff you write into it as much as I've loved what there is so far. You have a really talented way of writing characters.