Hot Gimmick

Vol: 12; Ch: 54
2000 - 2005
3.409 out of 5 from 917 votes
Rank #32,236
Hot Gimmick

Hatsumi Narita is caught buying a pregnancy test for her sister by Ryouki - the son of the Tachibana family who owns the apartment complex Hatsumi lives in. Ryouki, who used to bully Hatsumi when she was a child, attempts to blackmail Hatsumi and, fearing for the reputation of her family, she agrees to become his slave. But when her childhood friend, Azusa, suddenly moves back to the complex, he resumes his role of protecting Hatsumi from Ryouki. With complicated love stories and various hidden family secrets, it appears that this gossip-mongering housing complex is not quite so typical after all.

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Reviews

propolismetropolis
4

I'm calling it right now: Hot Gimmick is the Twilight of manga. Hear me out on this one. We have a main character who is appealing to almost every guy she comes across, though she considers herself (and the audience is supposed to, as well) wholly plain; and a male lead who's romantic actions are borderline/are abusive, manipulative, and controlling. And yet, people LOVE both series. It's possession/obssession played as love and people can't seem to get enough of it. I, however, can and did. Story: If you've read any Mayu Shinjo, you basically have the general tone to this manga. A girl (Natsumi) lives in an apt. complex ruled by a woman who considers appearance to be everything. When Natsumi gets caught buying a pregnancy test for her younger sister by the mad lady's genius son (Ryoki), all hell breaks loose. Ryoki demands Natsumi to be his slave in order to keep his mouth shut. From there, the series becomes a study in "How Far Will He Go" with Ryoki always forcing himself on Natsumi and "How Stupid Can She Be" with Natsumi continuously trusting the wrong people and making terrible decisions. The worst part is that all of this is passed off as romance when it should really be seen as sad. Yes there are some detours from the predestined Ryoki/Natsumi end, however both paths either end horribly or disappointingly. Art: Passable. The outfits of the characters vary so that's good, but I can't get pass the flatness of all the characters' face. They all look mildly sad and misshapened because of it. Characters: One of the few mangas where there may be only one/two characters with any redeemable traits. Natsumi, our heroine, is a combination of naivete and plain stupidity. She gets tricked by so many people because she is gullible. She falls for a guy who enjoys humiliating her because he doesn't know how else to express his feelings. You just want her to develop some kind of a backbone and stand up for herself, but sadly that never happens. Speaking of Ryoki, he is possibly one of the most deplorable male leads I've ever had to read. As I've mentioned, Mayu Shinjo writes mangas of a similar vein, but even her male characters (possessive as they are) are likable. Ryoki isn't. He sexually assaults Natsumi and attempts rape on her SEVERAL times. Most of which make her end up falling for him. Then there's Azusa who **Spoiler** is pure evil. The only option for Natsumi who is a nice man is her adopted brother, but again, it's HER BROTHER. I don't care if they aren't actually related, working under that impression for over 16 years is only going to make any romance between the two icky. It's sad that he was her best option at a "normal" relationship. As a side note, almost all of the other women portrayed in this book are bitches/bitchy. Overall: Continuing my comparison between this and Twilight, Hot Gimmick is oddly addicting. It got popular for a reason and it's because it is filled to the brim with drama. Like Twilight however, that still does not make this a good piece of work. 

morgatronthecat
4

wow this is a biggie. i bought the omnibus with three boks in one and boy was that a mistake. MAJOR SPOILERS DON'T READ AHEAD IF YOU DON'T WANT IT SPOILED. it's about a horribly stupid girl who, because she loves her slutty little sister, goes out and buys apregnacy test because she's awful young (she's not a slut because she's fourteen and had sex, but because she's uber popular with the boys and wants to date guys at least four  years older than her and dresses slutty) so the kind but uterlly stupid older sister goes out dressing like a college student to buy it. they live in community houseing, and the land lord lady is totally strict, and her son is a horrible person (who i will call glasses) so glasses  bumps into her and threats to tell his mommy that she's preggers even though she's not, and she's never even had a boyfriend once. so he tells her that he won't tell his mom if she becomes his slave. things go on, and it really gets bad and horrible for me. she starts dateing her crush, who's a famous modle, but is only dateing her to get back at glasses because he's a total jerkface. her new boyfriend now drugs her alcohol on their first date, and she's not even out of school yet. it wouldn't even be that bad if glasses wasn't such a utter creeper and the main character would own up to all the crap he's pulling on her. he tries to rape her pretty much, forces kisses onto her lips, man handle her boobs, give her a hicky when she was out cold, and so much utter horrible sick things. in the beguinning it wasn't so bad, but by book three she's just a total dumbass. go to the cops girl, sure your sister will be in trouble, and you won't be living where you are now, but you could sue the son of a very important coperation and have money out your ears. i suppose other people eat this stuff up, but after comeing off of the wonderful anime princcess jellyfish, (a anime i closely adore and agree with) this was a utter monstrosity. 

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