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I think the following is a fairly accurate assessment of the two halves of this show (so far).
1st Half - All-Around Character Drama is the primary dish, Romance Drama is the side-dish.
2nd Half - Romance Drama is the primary dish, All-Around Character Drama is the side-dish.
So there has been a bit of a shift here. Since this shift coincides with Miuna being thrust into the role of female lead (and arguably lead character overall), and also since Miuna herself has been Romance Drama focused, she's become sort of the representation of this Romance Drama shift.
If you look at the first half of the show, there were some plots/subplots that held a lot of focus and provided good narrative cohesion. These were the difficulties between land-people/sea-people, Akari's personal situation, Hikari's character development, and the coming hibernation. Romance was there, as was romance drama, but it did feel like a mostly secondary element in each of these plots/subplots.
Now here in the second half of the show, we have the plots/subplots of people gradually waking up, Tsumugu's research, Hikari's attempts to save/awaken Manaka, and Chisaki's continuing character development. But with these plots/subplots, I feel like Romance is the primary element in almost all of them (Tsumugu's research being the only exception, but this hasn't received much focus).
To put it a different way - The primary interpretive prism for the plots/subplots of the first half was not romance. It felt more like social commentary or generalized character drama/development. However, the primary interpretive prism for the plots/subplots for the second half does seem like romance to me. In other words, it feels like almost everything is perceived through the prism of romantic desires and concerns, this being done by the characters themselves. Combine that with how this show's romance conflicts have been stuck in a holding pattern for a long time now, and it's not hard to see why some viewers would find this tiresome or tedious. And Miuna becomes the focal point for such disappointment/exasperation since this content shift corresponds with the narrative shifting towards her becoming a much more important character.
My take on Okada is that her romance drama is like rich food - In small amounts, its great, but the more its belabored and the more its focused on, the more overwhelming it can become for some viewers (just like a lot of rich food is too much for a lot of people).
It works in True Tears because True Tears is only one cour.
It works in Hanasaku Iroha because the romance drama is broken up a lot by more lighthearted and/or secondary character-focused episodes.
But Nagi no Asukara is two cours, and we haven't had much of a lighthearted break from the romance drama. It honestly might be nice if we get a bit of that next episode, with Manaka's return.
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