Hot Gimmick

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I don't usually write reviews, but I thought I would for this. The story is not particularly original centering on a blackmail master-slave relationship that turns into something more. Very cliche in the shojo manga industry. Unrealistically stereotypical characters abounded

The thing that really bothered me was the main character being molested on several occasions, and almost gang-raped by her boyfriend's clique (on his orders) and not contacting any authorities or anything (and staying friends with these people). It was very disturbing that the main character was such a dolt- not a very good self-image for young girls who read this. She also definately chose the ... wrong guy to fall in love with-her main crush was a total jerk and treated her with nothing but disrespect and forced her to choose between him and everything else she loved on several occasions (while on other occasions verbally, physically or borderline sexually abusing her). She went along with his increasingly absurd demands even though his only goal seemed to be to sleep with her (on a couple occasions some semblance of humanity on his part showed through but these were usually a guise to get to his ultimate goal). The side story romance between the main character's sister and her childhood guy-friend was more interesting and realistic than the main story. Also, I disapproved of her ultimate guy-choice at the end. In conclusion, this is a poorly written review for a poorly written manga.

This will be my first review. I chose Hot Gimmick because it's the least enjoyable manga I've read so I feel like it needs my critique the most.

I think some people might find my scoring a little harsh, but I think my ratings fairly illustrate my feelings toward this manga. There's a simple reason why I stuck with it all the way instead of adding it to my dropped list and it's because I'm not a quitter.

Story: 4

There isn't single scrap of originality to the story. Really the only good thing it has going for it is the perverse way the reader can't ... help but continue reading. It's just your basic love triangle (actually it's more like a reverse harem). By the end of the short series, you don't really get the feeling that the characters matured any and it definitely did not leave me wanting more. I was actually very happy to say good riddance because the plot development was pushing non-existent once I easily figured out all the predictable "twists".

Art: 2

The volume covers are misleading, in my opinion. When you look at the colored chapter images you get a completely different feeling than when you look at the sloppy, chicken-scratch art in the actual chapters. There are times when the art is stereotypical shoujo with big eyes and lots of sparkle (which is fine, I guess) but most of the time (and especially when the characters are shown from a profile view) the art is empty and the characters are ugly. I also hate when manga-ka get lazy and use photo manips for background images instead of drawing it, and manips are used far too often in Hot Gimmick.

Character: 4

The only thing keeping this from being a 3 or a 2 is Shinogu. Even he was lame, cheesy, and his ending was predictable and laughable, but at least he was likable throughout the entire series. I would say my biggest problem with characterizations would be Hatsumi and Ryoki's relationship with each other. *Possible spoilers*
Ryoki was constantly mentally, physically, and sexually abusive to Hatsumi. Hatsumi had the lowest sense of self-worth out of any character I've ever read about. She was a terrible shoujo heroine and I was kind of rooting for her to suffer because anyone that dumb deserves it. I hated Ryoki. Everything about him was disgusting and cruel, which means I hated Hatsumi even more. Weak-willed protagonists are my least favorite things. They were terrible characters.

Enjoyment: 4

I'm being generous. And the only reason it's this high is because I had some kind of weird, morbid fascination that allowed me to finish the series in a relatively short amount of time (a couple of days) rather than tortuously dragging it out.

Overall: 3

I would not recommend this manga to anyone unless you like weak-willed female protagonists who passively tolerate abuse.

I am writing this completely from memory because it has been years. When I read this as a high school girl, I did not think it was bad. The art attracted me immediately but the story was not as interesting to me as it was to my girl friends. The main love interest was just "showing her tough love" and presenting how much he could care for her by putting her through "difficult" situations. No.

I write this now because most of the other reviewers ragged on the protagonist for her passive attitude or somehow blamed the protagonist for having a watered down personality. However, we ... all know a girl like that in real life. There are many girls (and people in general) who are passive to their situation because they never realized they were a victim until it was too late. What should not be okay is a boy, no matter their age, willingly assaulting and abusing another person. It is not up to the victim to speak up and that is definitely one thing this series fails to acknowledge. I remember the "competing" love interest was also not that great. He was boring and, while he might have cared more than the protagonist's boyfriend, I remember him being emotionally abusive and forcing her into terrible situations as well.

I recommend this to no one and I implore you to find a friend who loves you and enjoy a good anime instead because nobody deserves to be in a relationship as bad as this one. Do not give them your money!

Normally, I don't write any reviews. But this manga just needs another review, and I do not mean that in a positive way.

Story: 3
Well, like you read above, this is a story about a girl that is forced to be a (sex)slave by a rich guy, because otherwise he exposes the secret of her sister being a slutty girl. That would mean a scorned repuation for this family, living in the same apartment block. Apparently the clean reputation of het family is more important to her than her own well-being and that is the exact thing that made me drop this manga. She is ... such a sickening self-less martyr that she almost deserves to be sexually harassed by this guy. This guy is a sickening too by the way, really a super-jerk. But appearantly his behaviour should be alright, since he actually is in love with her.

Characters: 3
I have read more mangas with a weak female lead and a mean male antagonist, but I did enjoy those (even though I never loved them), but this manga really made me feel bad, it was just disturbing how she lets everything happen to her. Yeah, because she is sooo nice, that she just has to be nice to everybody. *vomit* She's not even realistic. The mean guy is just a jerk, but a jerk in love. Which appearently justifies him being a jerk, but not for me, I just hate him all the same. He is the stereotype ore-sama and he stays an ore-sama.The other characters are not really developing in any way and just stay the same all the time, but at least they are nice. Except from her sister that just uses the female lead (forgot her name) to do things for her .

Art:7
However, the art looked good. The occasional shoujo expressions during puns were present and the drawing was good, to not say pretty good.

Enjoyment: 3
Well, like you read above, I did not enjoy this manga the least bit. Or maybe I should say, I enjoyed the art and that's all.

I do not recommend this manga, it makes you feel sick and it is disturbing, and that without any actual rape. Well done, mangaka. I'd say: A 4 to reward your efforts!

Story:
the story was so cliche-y and it was defineitly disappointing
at first i thought it was quite interesting, but then when it reached the end i was like all "WTF"
SPOILER
but who cares anyway
so the girl chooses ryo-whatever and gets married blah blah blah
and the other guy becomes a monk
i mean, seriously WHATS UP WITH THAT?!?

Art:
... it was fine i guess, its like your ordinary shoujo art

Character:
the main girl here is TOTALLY retarded
i mean like seriously
she still chose that ryo-whatever guy,
while he was like literally torturing her
c'mon i mean, who the hell wants to be with hat kiind of person

Enjoyment:
i gave it a 1 since this i probably the worst manga i have EVER read. :|

Overall:
3, since i kinda liked the art and how dreamy the brother looks like >:P

This manga was dreadful. I hated watching the poor main character getting sexually abused by all these guys. but, she never left the one who was the biggest jerk to her. He would order her around and call her stupid and try to have sex with her even if she was unwilling. this sends a terrible message to young girls. I felt gross reading this. Its like i was watching her get sexually abused and I couldn't do anything about it. I dont understand her logic in the end. who would chose out of three guys, the one who treats you like dirt?! I wanted ... to drop this manga many times, I only read the entire series in the hopes she would dump the terrible guy. I am EMBARRASSED to have read this manga. this was a waste of my time. usually, at the end of a manga series, i am proud i have finished and i feel good. This manga made me feel disgusting. I dont recommend this manga. :C

Hot Gimmick somewhat sets the premise of Cinderella: Poor, but attractive young female meets rich and handsome young male. It does however quickly turn into a blackmail master-slave story and with desperate attempts to explain the main character's feelings towards an abusive love interest.

It's a rather disturbing story to say the least to basically show a girl getting pressured into falling in love with an abusive partner who treats her as a slave, but somehow it's "OK" because he /loves/ her. The main character's passive way of dealing with the sexual assaults on various accounts - including attempted gang rape - was aggravating more than ... anything.

The message this story signaled was so terrible that even though I enjoyed Miki Aihara's artwork, I just couldn't give it more than a 3 in overall. If this work was created as adult content I would be more forgiving, but as it's for a young girl audience there are just too many morally wrong contents for this to be acceptable.

I've never written a review before. I can't say I've read all the manga or seen all the anime, but I've read my fair share of manga. However, I've never written a review before. Well, Hot Gimmick made me feel an emotion extreme enough to write a review. And I've never done that before.

It's horrible. I hate it. There are no "bad guys" but all the characters are horrible people. *SPOILER* The main character is in an abusive relationship. I've seen couples, I've been a part of a couple, and I loath girls who date guys ... that treat them like shit. Yes, I hate those guys, too, but they only act that way 'cause there are no consequences for their actions. I'm not saying that all girls should date fat geeks with glasses 'cause they'd 'treat them better', but that's reality and this is a manga. There are no ugly people in this world. Absolutely everybody but the guy the main character is dating and his mom treat her with the utmost care. Well, her childhood friend tried to have her raped. The author still tries to redeem his character, though. Remember what I said about there not being any "bad guys"? He goddamn tried to rape her just to piss somebody else off. But he's not a bad guy. Her boyfriend, who blackmailed her, physically abuses her, verbally abuses her, is not ashamed at all of the fact that he cares about himself and only himself, isn't a "bad guy" 'cause he 'only wants to do it with [her]'. Like not screwing the girl his mom picked out for him redeems him. There are, of course, characters who seem to genuinely care about the main character, but she stays with the guy who hits her? Who actually thinks her only purpose in life is to be his personal slave? *SPOILER* there's no nudity in this manga, so if you're looking for some freaky S&M doujinshi this isn't it. It's the story about a horrible person, surrounded by horrible people in an average world and the author tries to make bullies and corrupt rich people look like knights in shining armor. If s guy like Ryoki Yachibanan existed in real life, he's get the shit kicked out of him trying to rape the neighbor girl, I don't care who him mom is. And you'd think that she, and I know this is gonna come out of left field, might not want to continue dating dating someone who constantly beats her up. It's not a dystopian society, so there's no call for it.

It's just a really, really bad manga. I kept reading it, thinking the payoff would be so sweet when she finally dumps the asshole and starts seeing someone else, anyone else, but no, the guy forces her back into an abusive relationship, and she just cries and goes with him because "I can't help I love him". She doesn't, by the way. Being the main characters, we see her perspective often, and he terrifies her. I can't stress enough how bad of a person he is, and yet, she's worse, because she let's him be a bad guy.

Mkay so let me put it like this.

I own the omnibus, and boy am I glad I bought them all used!!!

Hot Gimmick focuses on the story of Hatsumi Narita and her family. They live in an apartment complex owned by the nameless company her father works for. Apparently, they have lived there since Hatsumi's childhood.

Well Hatsumi ends up hooking up with Ryoki, and it just unveils the mass of drama that is so unrealistic and ridiculous it makes you want to punch something in the face. I mean, the things that happen are just so out there and wild. . . the name of ... the manga should be 'Hot Mess'.

Furthermore, the ending leaves you with little resolution, feeling Hatsumi is an imbecile (which, she is), and with something so dramatic and farfetched that it's just plain stupid. . .

HOWEVER. The first portion of the story, actually isn't too bad. I'd say the first six volumes (or two omnibus) were pretty good. I mean, if it was so awful at first, I woulda got rid of 'em. And that art of Miki Aihara is always great! I really enjoy her drawing style!

I'll be honest here: I didn't finish the manga. I just read what the library had and didn't bother to finish it online. Not really worth it since it's one of the WORST manga I've ever read.). But, sadly, I read most of it. I just really want to voice my opinion about this series.
(Warning: There is some language and some spoilers.)

Story: 1/10
It's stupid, to say the least. I read it because it was there, but...ugh. I had low expectations, but the reality was worse. So, if you read the description, "Hot Gimmick" is about a girl who's 'forced' to become a rich guy's ... 'sex' slave. There are too many terrible cliches and unnecessary 'drama' throughout the series. But, I do admit, the side-story with Hatsumi's sister and their childhood friend was good and realistic.

Art: 3/10
The characters were ugly and too many time the backgrounds were pictures of actual parks and whatnot. It's lazy and awkward to see these characters stand in a 'real' picture.

Character: 3/10
I hate most of the characters. Hatsumi is retarded. I am not joking; with Lord knows how many times she's been abused (mentally, physically, and sexually), she doesn't do ANYTHING! We're supposed to like her because she forgives everyone and she's too nice. What a role-model...
Then there's Ryoki and Azusa. These two assholes are...assholes. Ryoki is abusive and constantly tortures Hatsumi to be his 'sex slave.' But it's okay because he loves her. BULLSHIT! Then the mangaka wants us to feel bad and like Azusa. He has a grudge towards Hatsumi's father and tries to get revenge by (attempting to) gang-bang her. Then we get into his 'sob-story'.
Hatsumi's sister is a user and an asshole (until her relationship with their childhood friend, she's okay then).
But I said "most." There are two notable characters: The childhood friend and Shinogu. Both are really nice and I feel bad that they're in this manga. The childhood friend (don't feel like looking up his name, sorry) is good throughout the series. But this damn mangaka WANTED me to hate my favorite character, Shinogu. She did this by having him crush on his sister. I mean, I respect how hard he tries to ignore this feeling, but THIS ISN'T NECESSARY!

Enjoyment: 1/10
Yeah.

Overall: 3/10
Overall, I hate the story, lazy art, and most of the characters; while the only redeeming qualities were the side-story and the two characters I mentioned above. My apologies for the poorly made review, but please stay awy from this series.

Normally, I would not take my time writing about something I abhor, but I recently stumbled upon this manga on the interwebs and it brought back horrible flashbacks. I did not finish this manga when I was in high school, but I still believe I have the right to discuss it since this manga should never be read entirely to begin with (I skimmed through some of the pages so I could know the ending).

Yes, this review is going to have spoilers. Continue reading at your own risk.

It is better to wipe your butt with the papers from this manga than ... allowing your brain to read even one word from a page. Hot Gimmick is utter garbage with a female character that has the brain of a goldfish. Even as a teenager reading it, this manga felt "morally" wrong. The main character rarely thinks and is manipulated by almost everyone, from family to friends. There comes a point where it becomes hard to even sympathize with her even though she is almost gang-raped and remains with her physically and emotionally abusive boyfriend… that is when you know the writing/storytelling is awful.

What really irks me is that this is a Shoujo manga. Mind you, there are probably numerous Shoujo manga that are trash, but that does not justify why Hot Gimmick should be one as well. I was a stupid teenager who read parts of it, but even I was smart enough to drop it. However, there are many young impressionable girls, so this manga should be flushed down a toilet before they can even read it. It is not worth the time or worth pondering upon. I know there might be people that do not care if something is “morally” wrong (what are morals anyway, am I right?), but this manga is also written so awfully that almost none of the characters are redeemable… not even the push-over/innocent main character.

reverse harem nightmare-
main character has no backbone, was blessed by god to be infuriatingly indecisive her whole life. I think an accurate name to this manga would be "sexual assault-the manga"
my god, the men in this manga, absolute trash, mc gets to pick from
-asshole brat, assaults at any given moment, treats her like property has extreme sexist tendencies (main)
-creepy brother that turns out to not be a brother that has been in love with his technically-sister (shudder)
-this other asshole that roofies her

who would you choose?
the manga kind of forces you to choose the absolute shithead that is ryouki tachibana, intimate moments are ... draw well and your heart will do that loop thing its supposed to do in shoujos except you'll realise our boy here is fondling with the mc's tits in public despite her telling him to stop. literally no concept of consent the entire time, and then that sweet feeling is replaced by terrible terrible nausea. oh and may I add the manga artist has such a talent for drawing the main couple making out, because that panel will look so sweet and they'll stare into each others eyes with such fondness and just confuse you as a reader, did I mention tachibana hits mc and calls her deragotary terms as a form of endearment, cute, right?
in my fury I just couldn't stop reading midway, I read it entirely in one sitting and proceeded to be sour the entire day.

despite all this, if youre feeling particularly self depreciating one day, give it a read and bask in that dominant-daddy-that's-an-actual-jerk-and-should-be-dumped-immediately also you-belong-to-me-so-dont-think-about-any-other-male-except-abusively-possessive boyfriend glory,

you know what serves her right for being a total idiot

Don't read this. It's not worth it, even as a "it's so bad it's good" type of read, and, if you're the sort of person who was interested in the premise due to it sounding like it'd appeal to bdsm tastes: it doesn't get that far, so this manga isn't even that good for that.
If anything, this manga is a cautionary tale of what happens if you have no spine and let people push you around. A story like that by itself isn't bad and in fact can be interesting, however it's extremely tone deaf and almost insultingly predictable, it's a very typical "jerk ... guy and doormat girl," taken to its worst levels. It reads like a bad y/n wattpad story. If that's your thing, then you'll like this story, otherwise, steer clear.
I will concede and say that the art is appealing, the character designs fit each character well.