@jaydoodle I don't think I'm part of the "younger readers", and yet I still can't help but be frustrated by both MCs. And I say both MCs, because I see people complain about cherry boy a lot but tobacco girl isn't that much better imo.
The problem is not really that the progress is slow, it's just that it feels like the story isn't moving forward
at all, even when it is supposed to. Looking back, we did have a few really important chapters that would have been major turning points in any other story. But instead they just aren't follow by any real progress in terms of plot. When cherry boy confessed? Nothing happened afterward. When he kissed her? Nothing happened afterward. When tobacco girl decided to finish it with her ex and realized her feelings for cherry boy? Nothing happened afterward.
The manga is filled with chapters that make you think "oh boy here we go", but instead are followed by both MCs not changing one bit. Or even worse: by the author introducing a new character and a new couple out of nowhere just to delay making progress with the main story.
Sure it's more "realistic" if the characters don't change drastically from one chapter to another. But here we're at the point where not only do their individual character development doesn't move forward, but their relationship doesn't move either. The way nothing changed (not even negative progress) after he confessed and kissed makes it feel as if the author is just stalling for time at this point.
And then he had to go as far as to give us the stupid cliche of "I collapsed from overwork because I was worried about you" for tobacco girl to confess.
Also some people are making it to be a shonen vs seinen thing in the comments, but imo it has nothing to do with this. I've read tons of seinen that were far better written than this.
Anyway sorry for the longass post, but I'll just finish by saying that at this point I'm just hoping this manga ends soon, whatever the end may be. I'm too invested in this to just drop it, so I'll keep reading it, but each chapter is more painful than the previous one.