Ayumi is quite hot around Asia, maybe died down a little due to the Korean Craze running around. But, I'm still quite suprised to see so many negative comments about her. She may sound like a chipmunk, but doesn't SPEED and other girls sound similar?
Actually I'm quite neutral about her, some songs I like (mostly older ones), some songs I don't (mostly newer ones). As mentioned, her songs do get repetitive after some time and I never tried listening to her remixes as I believe they are not better.
One thing that's worth mentioning is her multiple image change where she never fails to suprise/scare me. One moment she can be a sultry leopard girl (Surreal) and another time she is the divine goddess (I am). In this, she is much like the Madonna western listeners are used to. I believe that is also one of the reason she became this big, in the eyes of Japanese fangirls, she's all style and fashion goddess.
Btw, nice to meet you Akumeru. I'm Nagase, your cousin-in-law.