Firstly: if you think this is the "most grinding game of all time" you haven't played many. But
secondly: yup, there is some grind. But since you don't seem to like it (which is fine), it might be wise to stay away from games with the tags "sandbox" and especially "management" - those games tend to have that. If you prefer "just a visual novel" stay with them. While you not liking the game is fine, this was to be expected - and rating a game on a criterion it doesn't want to fill is slightly harsh. It's like judging a "female protagonist" game badly because you prefer a male main character.
Is not about liking the game or not I think. I play the game because I think it's a good game before I even play it, the interest is already there ykwim. and I didn't hate the game or whatnot, I just say this can a lot better since this game in 3 years of development. and I play management games too sometimes and I like some of them. But yeah, if you look closely this game didn't need the management system just taking a look at different rooms here and there and unlocking the story progression or something like that since the management is there for adding more game time with no meaning in it other than unlock the story in itself.
So what happens is that you just stunlock yourself in planning and click the play button, other than that there is nothing to expect more since the exploring is kinda just for filler. If they allow more interaction with the character between each move, not just one time only for each I will give it an okay pass, but the balancing needs a bit better since the biggest turnoff is the management with a lack of rewards. and I've noticed that the "Renovation Upgrade" is just looking at the money, not the building buff or items that we have it feels so fast but so slow at the same time.
They just need to balance the XP (the character, destiny point) and Money (the renovation cost) it makes sense IRL but from a gameplay perspective it's nuts, you literally AFK just planning and pressing the play button as I said above. other than this problem is a good game with an interesting story and character but yeah it needs more character development too.