I always knew that Utada had just never set herself up properly for a US career. She doesn't truly have the ambition to do it. Sure, TITO was a nice dream, of seeing her celebrated for the icon she is in Japan, but most Westerners can't see what her Japanese fans (or the select few Western ones) see.
Utada is talented, yes. She is beautiful, yes, but I can honestly say I truly think she's screwed up with TITO. I know she fell ill, and that is a bad time to do so, but something just hasn't seemed right to me, and I feel like she's slipping further and further away from us.
Before, on her UBlog, she'd post completely random things (such as the clutch-purse and lack of a hairbrush etc.), and I know she's busy, but she was busy then and she could post, so I don't see what's stopping her.

Also, the fact that she went off ill just seemed so... I don't know how to describe it. I guess in the best terms, it was "planned"? She disappeared so suddenly and without comment that people did seriously begin to worry about her health and wellfare (not sure if that's spelled right.). And with TITO being released in May (physically) and her absence beginning just after its release, it's been almost 4 solid months of nothing. Not even a "I'm getting better". I know she put she was at the recovery stage or something in a blog, but if she truly was in the later part of a recovery stage, wouldn't that have been addressed more publicly?

And to make matters worse, I think TITO is now just a distant dream. Utada felt like she wanted a new challenge, because releasing songs in Japan and everyone instantly liking them and shooting her to the top of the charts again bored her. So why did she choose to come to the West if she hadn't really set her whole heart into it?
Sure, TITO was a good album (many people say so), but I always felt it was missing something, and I think I now know - Utada's dedication to break into the West just doesn't seem to be there. I feel that with EXODUS, Utada tried her damned hardest to create something people would enjoy, and it shows. If EXODUS had made it big, it would have been so refreshing to hear something new on the radio, instead of the same, manufactured, mundane stuff we hear nowadays.
I think Utada should rethink her strategy with fighting to break into the US, because if she's not 100% with it, she's gonna be chewed up and spat back out.

And now, by the looks of it, the possibility of a new single from TITO looks about as likely as a new single from EXODUS...

And right now, I can honestly see Utada retiring before she's 30. I think she feels she's done enough now, because what's the point in releasing music from 9 years ago, besides to cash in?

I think it's such a shame because Utada is a rare gem, something you truly do not see more than twice in a lifetime. She's exceptionally talented, she knows what she's doing, she's gorgeous, she has a career spanning ten years. But then again, that may be it, she's bored now - she's been in the business 10 years, maybe she wants a rest, a break from it all.

I don't know, this is just one fan's ramblings, but I feel that Utada is going to turn around one day (possibly soon) and say "I'm done now. I feel I've done all I can, and I will work on my education. Maybe in ten years I will continue with music, but it's just not a top priority for me anymore".

I'm awaiting such a dark dream to come true.