Hot Gimmick

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I like the whole rich guy falls for not-so-rich girl story but in this case the rich guy has moments of total asshole-ness that makes no sense and the girl is just an absolute doormat who is a shame to all womankind so you empathize with neither. I don't suggest reading this manga if you don't like guys who are abusive and girls who are unassertive and nonsensically accommodating (after being 'betrayed' she just continues being friends with them without a clear resolution first).

I get why people would understand Hatsumi falling for Ryouki at some point because he was there for her etc, but to ... me the negative aspects of how he treats her is just disgusting (Domyoji from Hana Yori Dango was spoiled too but Ryouki is no where near as redeemable -- but this may have to do with the fact that the storytelling of HYD is much better and unfolded through many more volumes). Hatsumi is just the typical shy female protagonist who forgives everything, stands up for barely anything, and has conviction in nothing (I really hope this changes in the end, but no strengthening of her personality has occurred in SEVEN whole volumes).

I'm finishing vol 7 right now and I want to just give up reading this manga but I only got a little over 4 more volumes. I think I'll stick it out because the drawing is pretty consistent and nice and there are really sweet tender moments in between all the absurdity and cliches.



To those who are thinking of reading this because of the one-girl-many-guys thing, read Hana Yori Dango, Vampire Knight, or Parfait Tic instead.

Alright...First of all, who would you choose?
The asshole who made you his slave and is just generally a horrible person, the asshole who tried to rape you for revenge but, just for the record, it was a total misunderstanding and he's sorry, or the really nice and caring guy..... who just so happens to be your (NOT REALLY) brother.

Hatsumi made the wrong choice. She chose to stay in this situation.
(Btw, spoilers.)
Maybe it's a cultural difference... I mean, I get that women are generally not as respected as men, especially in Japan. But the main character of this manga is a total pushover. How did she ... fall for Ryoki in the first place? She admitted (even when she was supposedly in love with him) that she was afraid of him. But she never stands up for herself or fights back... she just lets everyone treat her like shit.

And the whole deal with her brother being in love with her, that is such a cop out in so many series. They're not REALLY related. So it's okay! But no. It is not. She grew up believing he was her brother, so he will remain her brother. If your brother confessed his love to you what would you do? YOU'D BE CREEPED-THE FUCK- OUT.

In all honesty, there was a part of me that ate this shit up. I wouldn't have finished it if I totally hated it. I wanted Ryoki to change or Hatsumi to grow some balls and punch him in the face. But in the end, neither or those things happened. Ryoki is still a disrespectful asshole, Hatsumi is still a dumb bitch and everyone is ok with that. Even her now celibate brother. I mean, really? Wtf.

I don't have much to say about Azusa... he has issues that he projects on to other people... and he's an asshole.

Hot Gimmick.... you're what makes me say "What the fuck, Japan?" (Along with many other, much worse, things)

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. I will try to be as oblique as possible, but if you correctly guess who or what I am talking about, that's your own damn fault.

Hot Gimmick is all right. It's not a particularly good manga by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not an offensively horrible one either. The art isn't bad, it's actually pretty good, albeit uninspired. The story is rather standard Soap Opera fare, and I mean that in the most positive way possible. It is ostensibly about Hatsumi, our intrepid heroine, but throughout the series we see her will subverted by the male lead(s). However, ... my issue isn't that she isn't a strong or willful character, because I can still say, "Well, at least she isn't flat." And she really isn't. There is some small amount of depth to this character. She has internal conflicts and drama. It's everyone else I don't like.

All of the men in this make me feel incredibly uncomfortable. Like, reading this, I can't help but feel like the mangaka was sexually assaulted at a relatively young age, or perhaps knows someone who was. All of the guys in this are either so transparently evil you can practically see them twirling their moustaches, totally ineffectual, willfully ignorant of what Hatsumi really wants in favor of whatever the hell it is THEY want, obsessed with sex, on the autism spectrum, or some combination of these things.

For instance, let's take Ryoki, Hatsumi's "slave master." Aihara-sensei spends the entire series trying to convince us that he does have feelings for her. But I just don't buy it one bit. All he cares about his own gratification, he spends so much time actively trying to make her suffer. And when he isn't doing so intentionally, it's because he really doesn't understand anything about how Hatsumi thinks and feels, or any other human being for that matter. But what makes me even more frustrated with his character is that despite the fact that he's so easy to read, Hatsumi can't understand anything about him or his worldview either! Is assholishness really so foreign a concept that the average Japanese high school girl can't wrap her head around it?

Then there's Azusa. He's an okay character, I guess. You might actually enjoy reading about him. Y'know, if you're stupid. I don't want to give anything specific away--even though I'm very clearly recommending you not read this manga--but there's a part very early on in the series where he does something pretty awful, and the entire rest of the series we're led to believe he's an okay guy. No, he's not. He's a jerkass, and this "ends justify the means" bullshit isn't gonna fly here. "Oh, he had a really tortured past, he can't help but be bad." You know who else had a really tortured past? Adolf Hitler. There, I said it. Godwin's law can go to hell.

So, is Hot Gimmick good? No. Is it bad? ...No? I wanna say it's a horrible train wreck nobody should ever read, but the plotline, standard and predictable as it is, was fairly entertaining throughout most of it. There were some plot elements that seemed like they were shoehorned in ("WOW WHAT A TWIST! I CERTAINLY DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING" "Of course not, because it wasn't set up in any way shape or form and really just came out of nowhere"). So, while I can't say that I hated it, I also can't say that I'd recommend this to anyone. Maybe if you're thirteen years old. I mean, that's how old I was when I originally read it, and I really seemed to enjoy it back then. But as is true of a lot of things I liked back then, it cannot withstand the harsh light of day being shined upon it.

Hot Gimmick was a pretty drama filled love-triangle type story about a girl, her family and childhood friends. There was a lot of confusion and indecisiveness from the main character Hatsumi. She had a passive type personality that allowed for others to influence her too much, and she never really grew as a character. Only a few characters actually matured throughout the series, which I thought was weak. The animation was nice though, so that was a plus for the storyline. It was a fair read, but overall I was disappointed with the outcome and the main character in general.

I don't normally write reviews however this one ticked me off quite a bit. A lot of the story is pretty good like the scandal between the families that happened 8 years ago and the brother not being blood related that's all well and good HOWEVER the fact that the main character was such a push over, got hit and thought nothing of it, takes orders from the A-hole like it's common sense....(it makes me realize how american I am) as well as the fact that the characters for most of the story are horrid.

thats all that needs to be said.

Some Spoilers Ensue:

Hmmm...I dunno how I feel about this series. It's like a mixture of fan fiction, and Gossip Girl. Both of which I enjoy so from that point of view, it was good. I was entertained and strangely addicted even though all of the characters were terrible people (minus maybe Shinogu but I was weirded out by the sister/brother thing). It worked in Clueless, but in this series, the whole dynamic between the brother and sister bordered on creepy. The author also left a lot to the imagination. I was slightly annoyed we didn't get any Asuza aftermath...did he go after Ryoki and get ... his revenge? Seems we have to come up with our own ending a bit. I enjoyed the little extra about Akane and Subaru, but the 10 Days extra was terrible. I may be in the minority here, but I was happy she ended up with Ryoki. He was by far the most interesting character though he was so self centered and abusive, it's amazing anyone would choose him to be with. Hatsumi on the other hand was an absolutely terrible character on par with Bella from Twilight. I almost didn't want to read about her because she was so helpless. Also this series is the most rape-y weird thing (manga wise) I've read. I don't know if that made it more unbelievable or more terrifying. All in all, it was addictive and I actually liked the read most of the time, though I wouldn't put it on any pedestal. 6/10.