Don't get me wrong, I am certain many people do not like it because many aspects you mention are real.
The "1% grind" as an example can become really jarring, my go-to example would be Harmony, while you only need 15-20 "manual" points of loss of religiousness, unlike Morgan you need to do it to advance, and since she is only available during the week at two timeslots colliding with other stuff I like to do, it is a hassle. Then again, it is more realistic that stuff takes time than other games where you, say, train at the gym with somebody 5 times and suddenly they want to give you a blowjob. Also the money gain is slow if you want to, say, buy a car in time to get beach dates in your first summer done.
I don't really understand what you mean by "unique art". I quite like the art style, though I'll give you some inconsistencies between character sprite and "special scenes". In the end it's probably a matter of taste. By the way, IIRC it is a hired artist and the same for all scenes.
Also scheduling is a major PITA at times. Weekends in summer get really cramped to get everybody to the beach to be able to continue their storylines, while otherwise sundays lose their appeal quickly (at least once you finished bible studies).
I don't get why you are upset with difficulty settings and NG+. For difficulty: choose the easiest one, let those who like more of a challenge choose the others, you are not missing out. With NG+ I guess you doubt the necessity to play it more than once since you are going for an "all you can eat buffet" in one playthrough. So do I, so I get that. However, this game isn't necessarily built for "our" audience - doing a couple is strongly encouraged, if you want to see them all - and avoid the traps of doing stuff in the wrong order - you'll have to work for it. And I'll give you easily that some characters are less accessible than others. Though I see "Minami is badly designed" more as your subjective opinion than as a matter of fact.
I am at my fifth or seventh playthrough right now (of course "through" only to the respective end of content) and despite the above things, I like this game and there will probably be more.
My main draw is actually the pacing. Yes, it can be grindy, but to me it feels more real (when you consider the in game time passed it still is quite fast actually), also that it isn't the same for each character. I like the special mechanics some of the girls have which - while themselves a bit "grindy" - brings variance to what you do. I like that the girls' attitudes towards sex are more realistic than in most other games, it is - Lexi notwithstanding - not a throwaway goodie "Oh, you hung, we fuck" nor that big of a deal between consenting adults. Not with everybody (Kylie, Minami), not all the time (Hanna, Palla), but in general. MC also is on a sweet spot between "virgin discovering the wonders of the world" and "biggest stud evah". I actually like that you have to do some routine stuff and cannot just go for the girls all day every day. I like that you can completely ignore (almost) each and every character without it affecting the other stories too much. I like that you can fail - I am no roguelike fan or similar, but stuff I do matters outside of "+2 love points", which I consider nice. I like that this therefore is a game I control not a story I watch. Speaking of which: I liked the individual stories, mostly well written, and given the complexities even the quite occasional inconsistencies (like girls "being seen naked for the first time" when we already had sex) don't bother me too much.
Of course nobody has to like all that and differing opinions are fine, as opinions usually are. You won't find too many deviation in this thread however, after a couple of years of development those not liking the direction have mostly moved on, those here are the ones who like the game. And may also be blind towards some of the problems new players face. By now I know to avoid Samantha in the park until I am ready for her wedding, and I know what being ready for her wedding means, and I can play a whole non-event day with work, shower, eating, enjoyment without even needing to think and thus will have a different view. But yeah, I liked it from the start and I still do. But, to circle back to your original question: many people already generally dislike sandboxes and grind, so you're certainly not alone with your POV either.
