I won't lie I usually judge stuff by how much "yuri" I can get out of a manga, but after the first chapter of this, I didn't really care that much. All I wanted was for Umi to get some friends. While it's not that rare to have a shy protagonist who wants some friends and/or a place to belong to, this just... somehow encapsulated the feeling of loneliness uh... accurately? I guess. So when I caught up with the TL progress, I was pretty happy that she did, in fact, not just got herself friends, but also carved a place for herself where she feels happy.
Yay for anime, while reading this I thought this would make for a neat slice-of-life anime with rockets as a theme.
As for Akeuchi I hope she won't disappear because of Umi fulfilling her dream of having friends. I hope it's not one of those weird situations where she appeared to be a guide and will go away after her "work is done". I just hope it's some yuri goodness and her realizing that all that forehead rubbing means she needs to take responsibility and just marry Umi. If not on earth then by the alien law.
Also for some reason, Umika reminded me of Shamiko. Dunno why.