I label your smug ass dumb because it mischaracterized the initial reason for the complaint. Have you read the oneshot this was based on? Sure, it has the same "kicked out of the XOXO only to be appreciated later" gag, but the main premise was more about the romance, or lack-thereof from their party dynamics. The main joke was about the mage wanting to be popular with women away from the hero, only for that same shining hero to be a handsome woman mistaken for a man and most of the other party members being something other than a woman; same as depicted in chapter one here. Can you really fault me for expecting more jokes about party dynamics?
Instead, it leans more into Comedy with absurdism. Yes, it parodies isekais, but page one? That's a convenient exaggeration. After poking fun at Harem MCs, you think jumping the shark with a furry Reddit joke(tm) is something to be happy about? The Fujoshi wanting to play Cinderella with an ikemen harem was fair game, but in what fucking world is an obsession with giantess and musclegirl fetishism played straight? The part about the hero being the Demon Lord's "daughter" and a slight genre shift to sci-fi with the whole DNA test-tube baby shenanigans coming up is fine, but you know what that's supposed to be building up towards? RE-EXAMINING THE MAGE'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HERO, ESPECIALLY SINCE IN THIS VERSION OF EVENTS HE ACTUALLY KNEW SHE WAS A WOMAN FROM THE START (along with her biological age and the nebulous concept of mental age, that's new here)! "THINGS IT NEVER PROMISED TO DELIVER" MY ASS, WHY IS IT COMING BACK THEN HUH? For another gag to be sure, BUT TO SAY IT'S GOING TO RECEIVE NO DEVELOPMENTS? TO SAY IT WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE CENTRAL TO THE STORY? DO NOT SHOVE THE IMPORTANCE OF ROMANCE ASIDE BECAUSE YOU LIKE THIS FILLER BULLSHIT. ROMCOM IS NOT IT'S OWN TAG, IT IS THE FUSION OF ROMANCE AND COMEDY, OF WHICH THIS VERSION ALLEGEDLY HAS BOTH, BUT MY POINT THAT IT HAS ONE IN GREATER AMOUNTS THAN THE OTHER COMPARED TO THE ORIGINAL ONESHOT IS VALID. YOU CANNOT GASLIGHT US INTO IGNORING AND EXCUSING THE WHIPLASH FROM ENJOYING ONE THING AND ENDURING THE OTHER.