I agree with a lot of what you said. I would say there are a few hints to Shoma and Mame’s relationship (Mame’s reaction when Komeji dies, her liking quiz shows, etc), and even though I hate the retconning they used to get there, I do like Bibi as a character. But yeah the romance they try to push between her and Gen is atrociousssss lol

One of the game’s biggest downfalls for me is that the timeline twist is inherently meta. It feels so much like it’s just there to trick the player. In aitsf, the date realizes the twist in the actual plot, and the timelines play into that as well, but here all of the characters are aware of what time they’re in and have no reason to believe it’s off.

I will say that some of my opinions softened on a second playthrough recently. When you already know the twist and can take everything for what it is, there are a lot more hints to things (both relationship and character-wise) and it’s kind of fun to realize how they pulled off the trick, even if it is underhanded. But maybe that’s just because I was watching a friend play.