Yeah, I agree. Still, lately I've been more appreciative of stories that have some constraint and, while they might end in romance and it would be nice and cute, it just resolves the actual important things and leaves the relationships open, I think there is a little too much "fanservice" (I don't know how to call it since it's not really that. Maybe reader wish fullfillment would be more appropiate). Depends on the story, but I feel it's more natural if the story is not that fanservicy in the first place. Like, for example, if the protagonists in My Son Seems To Have Reincarnated Into Another World don't end up together and they just resolve their stuff, I would be very satisfied just with that.
I'd just call it "wish fulfillment".
The problem from where I'm sitting, is that authors are beholden to the market, which is the reader base spending money to read their stories. If the people actually financing mangaka (and LN/VN authors) want romance stories, then it pigeonholes creators into catering to them, so as to not lose out on numbers that ensure they keep getting paid for their work.
Which, means that a "thoughtful segue" story that has this sort of setup, but focuses instead on the personal story arcs of the two mains and their struggles and the overcoming of them,
leaving any relationship development to the wayside, could risk backlash or at least dissatisfaction among the demographic purchasing the series, which is bad for business.
It's why there was (and is) a huge flood of isekai stories and why we see waves of the same genre or manga demographic release at a time. If an author finds breakout success with something "novel", then others jump on that bandwagon to ride the popularity wave while it persists. It's the same phenomenon seen in fashion, music, and really all aspects of pop(ular) culture, and it always ends up inundating the market with too much of a similar thing. But as long as it makes money, it'll persist.
And it's also the "safe route" from a writing standpoint. It's easier to go with the recipe that's proven to work, because at the end of the day this stuff's a paycheck for the author. Why take risks making something that
could be compelling, but might miss its mark once published and get you cancelled early because the readers are expecting something very specific based on all the "similar" stuff that's already out there that you're sorta-kinda copying, whether you mean to or not?
The "Otaku / Gyaru" co-lead story has myriad iterations, and those are romance-coded. Being the one that isn't, represents a big risk. It could be successful, but if your market wants them together, and you don't do that, who's to say you're given another chance to make something again?
