Quote from palabasa
the level of the story is changing continuously..this is not shounen-ish IMO, this is more seinin-ish..talking about pregnancy and having a baby, change of career plans..its pretty serious and harsh actually..none were the traces of the romantic harem comedy it started with..
and i honestly dont know if i still love it because of that..its more like loyalty i guess..but, it is still definitely a good read..
According to the Wiki article on the Suzuka manga, Kouji Seo always meant the series to be a romance and never had any intention of it being a harem manga.
Personally, I like the way the story changed direction after the beginning. To me, the first few chapters seemed like generic ecchi romantic comedy fluff: some sexy and funny moments, but nothing that really pulled me into the story. (The fact that several of the characters and situations looked like they were lifted straight out of Maison Ikkoku didn't help any...)
It wasn't until the manga settled down and started concentrating on story, character development, relationships, and realistic issues that I got really wrapped up in the manga.
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I would guess that the change in the type of story probably cost the series some readers.
Some would enjoy the boobs-in face and buns-in-face gags at the beginning, but lose interest once the story became more serious and thought provoking. Others would be bored by the silly nonsense in the early chapters, and wouldn't stick around long enough to discover the much different type of story further on.