Honestly, I cannot agree enough with this! Many devs seem to believe the existing insert-faceless-hentai-protagonist works well enough, but..it ultimately feels hollow.
There are a few VNs out there that give our player character a real personality and interests. When they do, it feels much more intriguing overall. An example would be Kaoru or "Producer-san" from Shining Song Starnova - this MC, apart from actually having eyes and a non-standard hair colour, has his own story filled with hobbies, dreams, regrets and very strong opinions!
This was my first experience with a VN protagonist that felt properly "alive" and fleshed out. The proof of concept being in essence: as long as you make your player character a relatively sane individual with a good heart, they can and will receive the audience relatability that the developers crave, regardless of their hobbies, interests, opinions and, within reason, appearance.