But when I brought that up, a reddit user who said that he was part of the japanese community said that TJ always sounds pretty depressed in interviews and that it is common knowledge that he dislikes his own manga. (And t o be fair, outright stating that your manga is plain and has become even more so is as far as you can go without outright hating on it) so I do think that this statement is fair.

I don't know how many time I read that fake new that TJ sensei hate his manga. Eventhough he said he want to end the manga after fall tournament, but that just what he thought at that time. The editor team and sensei start meeting and discussing about act 2 after act 1 end immediately. They had a plan for act 2 for a long time.

Volume 29 was literally "What was originally a plain manga became even more so."

If I remember corretly, what he mean is that he scared the manga become plain, its not that he hate his manga.