I am late to the Hikki vs Ayu thing but I will give my 2 cents on it. I am a die hard fan of both for years but what made me stop buying Ayu stuff was when she divorced her 1st husband and she pulled alll sort of tricks in the media like the Americans do. It felt like she was using the Kardashians type of PR. I hated it. It is one of the things I lothe about american celebrities and admire in Japanese culture. Also she was and still is lost on her music. She tried to do those glittery happy summer songs maybe to get new fans or whatever and I could not stand it. I havent listened to ayus songs for years until out of curiosity I listened to MIJ which is not all that great but comparing to her previous work it looks good. She needs a break and a long one. As much as I hate Hikki longs breaks I much prefer her PR strategy than ayu and it saddens me to witness Ayu's downfall. She is so talented but so full of herself that it blinds her
. Anyway I am loving Fantome. It isn't Utada's best album but it does the job xD