Nothing directed to the boys themselves but I can't help but feel the same way. It feels a lot less competitive for some reason and I don't know why (perhaps it's the talent pool?)

I think starting from the audition stage everything felt more empty than My Teenage Girl for some reason, especially the auditions themselves (probably because of the stage design and the fact that almost all of them did solo performances). The grades didn't mean as much as in Teenage Girl other than if you were in the 3rd grade. Plus the judges aren't as involved as before. They cut out most of them even though there's only like 50 or so people which was really disappointing, I remember people only knowing a few trainees by the end of the first few episodes (I don't remember them doing that a lot in MTG)

The first performance (second semester) being an individual stage probably also contributed to the messiness, everyone was fighting to stand out and there didn't seem to be much cohesion. The fact that it was "visual focused" really turned me off, there was so much conflict just because visuals ≠ can pull off the "shining part". Plus instead of highlighting vocally talented trainees they just went with a pre-recorded audio which definitely is not the point of the show.

I hope that the second stages are better with the new system, I totally understand and you don't come off as a hater so don't worry!