the only thing i will say about the Maya redesign is that it feels super drastic and like DPC knows he needs to give Maya some reason to exist and stand out as a solo character.
idk if its just me, but it feels like a DEFCON 5 situation and he thinks he kinda needs to make her an entirely new character overnight, where as when Sage or Josy or Bella get little touch ups or new hairstyles it doesnt really feel unnatural. like if it was part of her character arc where she takes off her metaphorical glasses and ponytail and has a newfound confidence that would be something. but we arent at a point in the story where that feels like it would make sense for Maya (unless we have a big time skip next episode?).
idk it feels like to me DPC has realized he needs to make Maya more interesting and want people to like her more since he is bluntly intertwining her tuition nonsense into the main narrative of the game. and normally id be all for that, but in this case it seems kinda like a brute force application of the author as opposed to a reasonable growth of the story.
In my opinion, Maya's look in the ninth chapter was the worst of all, worse even than her previous ones, so that DPC put his hand to it seems right to me, the hair could also be a momentary thing (like Jill's wavy hair when she was preparing for the recital)
then there also seems to be an improvement for the skin effect, so welcome
now DPC just needs to get over his fixation with the spirited eyes, which I find horrible on both Maya and Sage (who are the only ones who suffer from it so far)
since the loan issue did not close in the ninth, I doubt it will in the tenth. it will still take patience