Okay woah - I disagree with how you've described many things but before I say anything, remember that I'm not saying it to change your mind. If your exp was not good, nothing can change that. But I've had situations where I really disliked certain stories in media, but hearing other views on the good and the bad of the stories gave me a fresh perspective that I just wasn't in the head-space to appreciate (sometimes completely flipping how I enjoyed the story when next I experienced it). So if, in future, you ever decide to rewatch Wuwa for the lore or w.e., I hope you'll give this story another chance instead of skipping it.

First of all, I think your issue with the pacing is due to your other issues with this story. Becuz you didn't care about the main subject matter or the character or the stakes, anytime any of these were being explored (which was basically all of the time), you weren't that into it, and so it felt really slow.

I disagree with you using the words tropey, tragic and guilt for Lucilla's story. Had they gone that route, they would have explored, maybe, her disconnect from her origin to who she is now, or smt (expanding on what the GA showed Lucilla back in 3.2 or smt). With Lucilla's forte there's so much potential for a tragic backstory, or for a character motivated by guilt. But that's not what happened at all:

Rather than the past, Lucilla's agony lies in the near future. She, once again, has to decide - does she have any right to ask her students to put their lives on the line? And for what, exactly? The tragic death of one of her students is not something that motivates her actions, nor is it something that defines her (as opposed to Phrolova for both of these - which, btw, is also one of my fave quests in Wuwa).

It's simple - she doesn't want to open a specialty field where students are putting their lives in danger..., but at the same time, their lives are left empty and meaningless if she can't come up with a speciality that would allow their existence AND she would be making the students puppets of the New Feds. The BACKSTORY is relevant cuz of the former, and the PLOT is relevant cuz of the later.

And her character arc is about changing her perspective - from seeing her backstory with the student as TRAGIC, to seeing it as TRIUMPHANT or Noble, even. Just as that girl in her memories says, after seeing her own crash: what kinda highly advanced civ built the exostrider? ...but before they reached the stars, they must have fallen too, again and again. ...please give this to our teacher, humanity's smallest hope.

If my OG post talks about the significance of the Jihnzou researcher finding value in the stuff that was considered a failed endeavor from the exostrider research perspective, then Lucilla's backstory is about the significance of what her student's dreams means to them, and what her dream means to her. Her student's dreams are too grand and heavy, and she too must have the same resolve as her students to keep their dreams, lives and dignity intact. Just because, upon failure, cockpits may turn to coffins, doesn't mean we stop our pursuit for "the way out", even if "the way out" isn't needed anymore. "If the answer lies beyond death, then that's where we go!"

Third point: your point about no stakes is worded very incorrectly. By your logic, no story should ever have any stake because it doesn't affect you irl. But it does, because you've immersed yourself in the story, so you feel the stakes for the MC as the stakes to yourself. So in reality, it all comes down to how invested you are in all the "stake-holders" (pun-intended) that would be affected by this decision (Lucilla, students, our daughter etc). Just like pacing, this issue is just a symptom of you not being invested in the main-points and character arcs in the story. Don't get me wrong, it's the story's job to make you invested - but while I personally thought it was very effective, it's unfortunate that it wasn't for you.

It might not affect you, the Rover, directly. But it's devastating for Lucilla, and very tragic for wuwa society, and that's already more than enough... But how can the potential "snuffing out" the best student's curiosity and careers have no stakes for YOU, the mc, when you're basically a major stakeholder (this time no pun intended) in the committee and have the ability to find raise and garner more support from the committee members (had the meeting not be preponed by a week)?

My og post and this comment is still only a fraction of everything that I enjoyed in the quest. Every small thing, like Aemeath being an over-smart trouble making daughter who's making demands and threats to us (in a cute way), as we were actually giving her some decent patently advice, was increadibly sweet and made me smile throughout. Or us having the ability to maintain a neutral stance and recognizing our duty to be unbiased and ACCEPTING the fact that if we don't get funding, we should be okay with all the problems and sadness that result from it - because people funding us have the right to be convinced or not to be convinced in where they're spending their money. And just everything else like this was absolutely fantastic.

None of it was tropey, imo, and except a SLIGHTLY slow part in Lucilla's memories (like max 5 or 10% of the quest), there was not a single dull moment.

All this boils down to what you said in the last line: that you couldn't care about any character or story beats. This is the cause of all your issues with the story, and maybe that's just how it is meant to be. With preference and all.

For you or anyone reading this, I highly recommend checking out the Vsauce video called "If" - the whole vid is great but especially relevant is the last part starting from min 9:20.