This is a fairly decent manga. You shouldn't go a full volume without at least a couple chuckles.

I remember first hearing about the anime and watching a bit around 2003 (which I mostly disliked because of the constant violence against Keitaro) but the aesthetic and allure remained.

I had heard the old phrase "the manga is better" so I eventually gave it a shot (almost 2 decades later), and I have to mostly agree. The violence still exists but it's simply in the nature of this kind of story, he gets destroyed but is back the next panel with a bandaid, there's even a running joke in-universe that he's immortal.

The first arc is great but after that it's mostly misadventures and character focused arcs of all the side characters, some better than others.

My main complaint is that a lot of those characters stop growing, and one of the main characters (Naru) illustrates this point all the way up to and including the final volume. She can't seem to get past her own insecurities, and the one time it seems like she does (end of vol 12), she just relives them again in 13 and 14, and literally has to be told why it's nothing to worry about, not sure that's character growth so much as being given a freebie considering how it's handled.

I ended up liking three characters the most. First being Keitaro, who after being rejected in many aspects from love to college, finds what he really wants to do with his life, and helps those close to him. Second being Shinobu who grows from a shy adolescence to a motivated young woman with more confidence. Third being Motoko who learns to accept her feelings and overcome her own family issues. Unfortunately I don't feel any of the others had any real growth at all (Su, Kitsune, Mutsumi), Kanako was close but her main issue didn't so much get resolved as much as pushed aside.

So my final verdict is a 7/10. Pretty enjoyable but not without its issues. I feel like you could also trim quite a lot of the 14 volumes out without changing the narrative, but since it's a lot of gag humor it's still not completely without merit.