Yeah, I agree her ability to win the neutral isn't great. Most characters should be winning the neutral most of the time, assuming equal skill levels. However, she doesn't need to frequently win the neutral, as her reward for winning it once is huge.
Also, my broader point wasn't that she was overpowered (she's not), it's that she's not fun to fight and fighting her involves more unsafe guessing games than usual on both sides. While all of her options in neutral are very reactable in isolation, I do not think it's possible to simultaneously react to her cr hp, drop kick, jump ins, dash, and simply walking into a range where she wants to be. You need to pick a couple that you want to react to, and resign yourself to blocking the rest. And if you picked wrong, you are in a bad position, as all of these are very threatening to even block for most characters. On top of that, body splash is completely un-reactable, and (if she can get to the right range) Mika can just roll the dice and make you guess if she feels like it.
In contrast, Laura does not have a way to alter her jump trajectory, nor does she have advancing moves which make her plus on block. She also doesn't put you in the corner as easily. Hence, fighting her is less guess-heavy, and to me, more enjoyable.