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So I'm a little late to this conversation, but I'll chime in on the Ayu vs. Hikki debate.
I think that part of why they have been treated differently is also because of what people expect of them, and how people experienced them. I don't think people have always been fans of them for the same things.
With Hikki, people thought she was cool, having this R&B hint in her music. And they really liked her music, for the music.
With Ayu, people thought she was cool, and they really liked her and her lyrics. Yes, they liked her music as well, but she was always about the lyrics and "being the voice of the lost generation."
At the end of the day, I think people had a far stronger emotional tie to Ayu than to Hikki, and therefore they felt all the more let down when Ayu has had mis-steps or has gone in a direction contrary to what they want or expect from her. Whereas Hikki has never been about the persona or the aura that she creates. So she went another direction with her music for a while, and the sales showed that. Before this her past couple of albums were not crazy successful. Fantome is really like an Adult Contemporary version of Deep River, and I think a largely older audience (i.e. not teenage) is really into it for the music.
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