Actually, reading through the girls' chat, not just about planning a date and... a «date» was absolute blast of fun, I liked it a lot! I don't understand how can people dislike it :(
It was like getting in a real chick party, or how you call it, I found it really interesting and amusing, as well as the whole game, because it really delves deeply into girls' everyday life, thoughts and worries. For me, as a guy, that's completely new experience, and really amusing one. And, obviously, I was never invited to such parties, because of, yeah, being a guy, duh. So it was really interesting to read through.
As for challenge to unlock the «unlock gallery» feature... I like your idea of it unlocking automatically after reaching some point close to the end of the episode. Maybe you could come up with some collectables, like polaroid photos hidden in the locations. Say, peeking out from under Ami's pillow, lying on her school desk, plastered on the wall above Brenda's laptop... something like that. If you pay attention to the background, you pay attention to the game, hence your reward for being interested in the game, just in case you cannot get that one pesky scene. Something like that.
So, I'm trusting the process, trusting you, and letting you cook, chef. Appreciate your work, keep it coming!