yeah...I finished it yesterday(and have resumed endlessly obsessing about Emperor of the Sea) I liked but didn't love the first half, but got pretty into it the second half. I think the thing that really, really kept me from getting into it was Azusa. While I liked her, she was far too passive and not the sheer awesome from the drama. I didn't really care about her and Onizuka as OTP here, whereas I was constantly squealing over them in the drama.

So, while I liked it well enough, it just didn't compare to my obsessive love of the drama.