It's... I mean I'll be honest, a lot of my motivation for reading was simply BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR SHORT HAIRED TOMBOY DOING TOMBOY THINGS drilling straight into my brain. I liked Manatsu, and I liked a lot of the concepts shown in the very beginning, even if there was a feeling of "by the numbers". But like, about 2/3 of the way, it went into serious crunch time. I had a faint premonition when Hagane showed up out of the blue like a deus ex machina. It definitely felt anticlimactic.
All things being equal, it was a fun, light sci-fi story that definitely would have played out better if given another, say, thirty to forty chapters.... somewhere around that. I doubt it would have been an all time classic even with the extra length, but Manatsu's a likeable lead and the author has a pleasant art style. I was very eager to see more landscape shots, like the last chapter with Manatsu riding her bike.
Well, that's the way the cookie crumbles. I'm glad I got to read this series all the same. Cheers!