Eh, like these aren't inherently contradictory? Like I (folks) can appreciate that the storytelling is structurally interesting - hell I think it's the most (maybe only) somewhat novel part of the story - and also be annoyed at reading a spiraling soap instead of of the easy fluffy thing I started to destress.
I can understand that, but it requires you to ignore the name of the thing you're reading. Up until this arc, 'it's a little late' didn't really mean anything at all. It's not late, they're both still kids. It's a just a little phrase at the beginning to show that, hey, this didn't start long ago, I guess. But isn't that a waste?
But now, it means an awful lot, and showcases intent. Oh, it's
a little late because he's already been in a relationship. Now the concept is clearer and the idea of lateness makes sense.
The structural element, where these are short chapters, is what makes this land harder than it normally would. Because rather than a chapter 5 Volume 1 ending twist, we were 20 fuckin' chapters into this thing. The same amount of pages and thus the same amount of story
telling, but distributed differently.
Cause I, too, had the same reaction when it first happened. I think I said to myself "It's
a little late to change the whole manga concept" and chuckled, but had it pointed out to me that if you think about how it would've been published, this would've been a twist where you would expect one rather than far enough in that you're sure you understand the manga. It threw everyone off-guard, even people who've read lots of manga, because of the change in distribution.
That's
cool. That's an "all right, okay, I see where this is going now" thing. If you don't like where it's gone, you don't... have to. But the story is right there, in the title, and you're looking at it play out. Demanding it change back to what it was before when what it was before would've been buildup to the twist the manga was about feels, well, dumb. It feels stupid.
Stupid pressure is annoying. Like, stop booing the experimental guitarist and let me listen to him god damn it. I don't care that he started of playing Wonderwall and you liked it, he's re-stringing the guitar while playing and I wanna fucking see where this goes.