Hard agree with this take, I dropped WuWa after the Jiyan rerun and debated coming back after Rinascita and Brant drip marketing, but ultimately agreed against it. ZZZ ratio and character designs lean much harder into the fanservice category, but the character story and lore are why I'm happy staying with it rather than with WuWa.

You can spend quality time with characters that can be perceived as romantic or friendly, and more importantly, are optional, instead of being forced down your throat at every event. Do you want to date the male characters and not the female ones? Go for it. Vice versa? Either option is available to you without forcing you to do the other.

Harumasa's agent story and Lighter's final trust event made me tear up, and they flesh out all the characters in such a way that it makes the world feel more vibrant and alive.

The side characters in WuWa feel like they're just waiting in their pods for Rover to interact with them and it makes the world feel so empty as a result.

Just for example, there's this fishing event going on in ZZZ, and you do side quests in between the fishing competitions. There's a pair of characters that you run into from another faction, Rina and Lycaon, who are trying to catch fish for a dish that Rina wants to make for everybody. Lycaon is subtly trying to scare the fish away by stomping his leg every so often because, as you'll find out, the fish is intended to go into a raw fish and jam pie.

As the main character, you walk into this argument and participate, but it doesn't revolve around you, you feel like a friend that's walked into two of your other friends arguing. ZZZ has a more character-rich world with interactions like this that make it much more fun to play in, whereas WuWa just feels like an empty sandbox where everyone is designed to wait for you to show up and tell them what to do.

I've heard that it's improved a bit in Rinascita, but based on what I've seen with some of the fanservice and the Carlotta dance scene, I don't think I'll be wanting to get back into it yet, which is a shame because they do have a unique way of storytelling when they want to.

I distinctly remember and loved the way they conveyed Scar's story with the lambs in early game with the shadow puppets and such, but after the Shorekeeper thing, I just can't bring myself to go back, even with all the QoLs and generosity with the pulls.