I love Ayumi, possibly more than Hikki. The thing about Ayumi is she made it on her own. Yes, she's a factory pop girl, but she made herself that way. She does her own image and writes her own lyrics, and when you read those lyrics they are so pure and true, which is a lot more than I can say for Hikki's latest album. Did anyone else think she is selling out, or are we all mindless Hikki fans here? All she did was talk about sex, really.
But anyway, back to Ayumi, she may seem like a big media image girl to you, but that's WHO SHE IS. And she won't change who she is for anyone, and I respect that very much. Her songs are catchy and fun to listen to, and they just stay the same. Some complain that she doesn't have variety, but I don't think she needs it. She makes music she would like, she doesn't bother trying to come up with something "different" to sell out. Her music is always sold out anyways, and so why should she change it?
Ayumi seems like a really deep person to me, underneath everything she puts out.
I also repsect that she knows she has to act a certain way. She has stated before that she realizes she is a product, and keeps her personal life out of her work, for the most part. Kudos to her. It must be tough to be her, to not even be able to go out anymore and things like that.