Yeah I don't see why people say that. I'd even say Makoto's was in the bottom half of awakening scenes for me. I guess most of the others there's some kind of personal hatred or other emotion at play, but Makoto's didn't feel the same. Like she is pissed off because someone is doing evil things, but she hasn't herself been wronged by Kaneshiro, which takes a lot of the edge out of it for me. (Yes, I know Kaneshiro threatened her and whatnot, but I interpret that differently because Makoto was the one who initiated the conflict with Kaneshiro when that happened)
Admittedly I did forget about Futaba's when I made the above comment, so I'll revise that to say Futaba's was the best. Or more accurately I forgot which scene was the one where she had her awakening.
So you're forgetting all the buildup of being railroaded/bullied/guilt tripped into being a "good student" by Sae and the Principal's Phantom Thieves mess taking a toll on her? That's a huge reason it works so well.
I'm not forgetting that I just don't view it as having anything to do with her Awakening scene, beyond that they were two things happening at the same time to put pressure on Makoto. ---
I guess DpObliVion gets to be in my sig now. His knowledge of video game popularity contests far surpasses my own.