So I played this with a fellow game developer and some other friends who have a lot of visual novel experience.
When we came to our first ending (Zane's bad end) we thought it was pretty funny. A nice little meta approach to visual novels that we thought was amusing. Then we tested the Zane friend ending and that was okay. Then we get to the Zane boyfriend ending, and by then the meta endings sort of lose their lustre.
Having played parodies of visual novels and meta games and games that break 4th wall with the player, we weren't particularly fond of the way the game handled it. I found the level of antagonism toward the player to go beyond "fun" into "well f*** you, too," territory. Like a platformer that's beyond hard for the sole purpose of being hard. That's all well and good if that's what you expect, but I find it comes across aggressively pretentious in this format.
Having read about other routes, it seems like there are some very interesting narrative approaches, but the way the game has presented itself to me thus far doesn't make me want to engage with it anymore. That's a shame because it seems a like a lot of love was put into it, and it's trying to have a poignant message.
I understand why other reviewers seem to find a connection, but I don't see the appeal of a game that doesn't seem to want you to play it.