I remember being in high school sophomore year and printing out the colored pages (I think those scans were from when it was still being scanlated by Nagareboshi) to put them in my wallet, something I try to forget. I also remember reading the first volume and thinking the author was a genius. I absolutely loved this manga back then. I loved the art because it looked cute (especially the art in the beginning and in the covers, goodness gracious the covers!) and it was sparkly and I loved sparkly then. The idea of the story, too, seemed ingenious to me. I think my sentiments were near to 'WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?' and 'THIS IS THE BEST MANGA EVER!!!!' It was fun to read and it hung at good parts. I had taken an extreme liking to the characters as well because they were amusing. Especially Yukina and Shigure. Shigure was a bit close to the typical shoujo male love interest but I really liked Yukina because she wasn't a pushover, she wasn't vanilla (I mean the irritating vanilla type) and she didn't mind (much) what other people said about her. I absolutely thought they and their interactions were very amusing. At that time, I would have definitely given this a 9 or a 10.
When Akira was finally fleshed out, however, I felt that things started to go downhill. And it just reached a point that to me it had taken a dive and I couldn't bring myself to read it anymore. The art changed, the story became irritating (even Yukina and Shigure's relationship which I used to really like, well actually it's the only thing I find just tolerable now..but also, not really), irritating characters started showing up (yes Mami, I'm talking to you. Is that name right?) and I got tired of it.
I also remember being extremely depressed and angry that my beloved manga had turned out the way it did. Maybe my tastes just changed? I don't know. It's possible. It was the time when a lot of the things I liked changed, including genres of mangas and novels. But something definitely became... MEH. Maybe that's just me? I don't think so, though. The friend to whom I recommended this also felt the same way. So, the rating of 3 is for whatever remains of the manga I used to love. I used to squeal and roll on the floor (partly literally) every time Yukina and Shigure had lovey-dovey time.