Reviews

Gimmick is a one-shot shounen-ai about two friends falling in love after a night of passion. It is a mediocre take on an extremely common trope in the shounen-ai and yaoi genres. On top of the story being a cliche, it suffers from being a short one-shot. Many one-shots are able to convey this type of story much more successfully because their characters are more fleshed out and the story is much longer than Gimmick's.

Story: 5/10
In addition to being a cliche, the story does nothing to give enough background information to better understand the characters. While the synopsis states Kei wants a girlfriend, there's almost no discussion of this in the story.

Character: 5/10
Again, the length makes it difficult to make meaningful characters and personality. However, even though the length causes Gimmick to suffer, so does the writing. Kei and Kenji are friends, yet there is no discussion on how long they know each other or the extent of their friendship. Kei has a younger brother that isn't even necessary to the story. Without him, the mangaka could have put more effort into developing Kei and Kenji's relationship.

Art: 6/10
Art ranges from awkward to decent.

Enjoyment: 3/10
I've read many shounen-ai and yaoi manga that portray this trope on a much deeper level. It bored me.

Overall: 5/10
If you want to read a shounen-ai or yaoi manga about two close friends falling for each other, look for longer running series over one-shots.