Story & Playability
Hatsumi Narita loves in a company block so she faces all her father's coworkers, bosses, bosses's wives,
bosses's wives sons and daughters, coworker's wives, coworkers' sons and daughters... you get the
idea.
The Tachibana family (ie the bosses or in Hatsumi's imagination, the Royalty) are arrogant, annoying and incredibly
not understanding when it comes to just about anything.
Her long time childhood enemy, Ryoki Tachibana is intelligent yet incredibly cold.
The manga all starts when a misunderstanding leads her into becoming Ryoki's slave, and the appearance of a
childhood friend, who is moving back to Tokyo. What's more, this childhood friend is just about the most sought
after guy since he became a magazine model.
Has love sprung up in the air? What tactics have these guys got up their sleeves? Or is there another competitor in this
rat race towards Hatsumi's heart?
Plenty of catfights and acts of jealousy rise- and it's altogether a quite compact 12 volumes of manga.
This story is about love, games and most of all, extramarital/partner affairs.
Sure, it sounds a bit tacky at first, but there aren't many words to really describe this manga but just... hot.
And apart from that... it's still... hot. Just.
Rating: 6
Graphics
The art of Hot Gimmick is... hot.
(Really, as I said, there aren't many words to describe this XD)
The characters are drawn exceptionally well in shojo style. All the male characters (unless those who aren't major
roles in the manga) are all exceptionally good looking, and the art conveys messages quite clearly. There is a minor
criticism though, and that is the actual appearance of the main character and her younger sister, Akane. Though they are
sisters, they don't really appear to resemble each other- what's more, Shinogu (older brother) looks more like
Akane.
Another crit I have is the drawings of the guys. Though I have given the artist (Miki Aihara) praise for drawing these
drop dead gorgeous guys, I have found it very VERY hard to keep track of who Azusa was. He was almost like some weird
super secret agent spy/ master of disguise because I should have been able to recognise him even if he had a hair cut.
There were some chapters where I'd start reading and go "who on earth is that?!" and then realise it was
actually Azusa.
I especially liked the cute almost chibi like drawings like Hatsumi having her soul leave her body from shock. There are
a number of these drawings and they are pulled off rather well.
There's nothing particularly special about this art- but I kind of like the whole modern almost like the American
TV show "Becker" opening scenes with the slightly filtered city shots. The clothes and that kind of setting
frame worked really well and gave an impression of sophistication and high and fast lifestyles.
Rating: 7
Sound
Sound?! XD
I'm going to talk about CHARACTERS in this section instead.
Hatsumi is probably far too anti-feminist in my opinion. At first I thought that she was rather funny because of her
comical nature (not by Hatsumi's will, but more like what was imposed on her with the art). As a main female
character, she possesses flaws that irk me.
She's not particularly attractive, she's quite unintelligent, and she's far too submissive. For this
particular story, it does make sense in a way that so many of these (sought after) guys would be running head over heels
for her, because they have known each other since childhood, and they know she is kind. However, I really don't
find her all that appealing... but this was towards the end.
Ryoki should really be the king of domestic violence. I simply admire him as a prodigy and for being such a hero, but at
the same time I found him violent, insensitive and inconsiderate. Despite all this, I still admired him, and his
character suited him so well... except for the violent part.
Azusa was a complete hunk at the beginning, but my high opinion of him soon degraded after his darkest innermost secret
was revealed. There were times when I would feel sorry for him... but I felt that he was a coward running away from
reality. He likes Hatsumi, yet won't admit it... he wants to *insert spoiler here* but has to accomplish that
through other indirect means. And as an even more selfish and cowardly gesture in order to *repeat previous spoiler
here* he sacrifices others instead.
Shinogu should have probably had a bigger role in the whole story instead of hogging a chunk towards the end. I
won't reveal the outcome of what he becomes, but based on what he does, he's really not all that brave.
He's probably the most kindest and considerate out of all the three male characters, but in reality (and even in
the manga), kindness and virtue sometimes doesn't really get you anywhere.
Overall, the characters were done really well (because they either make my blood boil or make my heart pound... at
times) but they have flaws. This is probably at the fault of the overall storyline, determining what their roles and
personalities, but at times I really did find some of them exhibiting signs of bipolarity.
Rating: 6
Fun
I simply couldn't understand why there is a shojo manga aimed at... girls... featuring a guy hitting a girl... and
the girl being submissive about it...
This is definitely not a manga for younger people. You must be at least 15 or above I say, or have a pretty mature mind
to read this. Partially because of the submissive girls being hit thing, and the other half the amount of mature content
it had. To be honest I was actually quite surprised that it had bits of mature content in it. While it's not
frequent, it stands out sometimes, and this was one of the reasons why I was hesitant in recommending this manga to a
friend.
There are times when the manga is incredibly humorous, and I found myself laughing at various occasions because of
either disbelief or shock that something so ridiculous has happened. Most love scenes are either bitter or sweet... or
empty.
The latter stages of the manga started to become longwinded, almost reminding me of a cliche TV drama where a breakup
would lead to chaos, a get together again, and then another breakup and third parties are then involved. In fact, it
almost became too melodramatic like Young and the Restless on the page.
The ending, to me, was poorly done.
I thought it was almost like an anti-climax. It's a bit like a Cinderella story gone wrong, but more in the sense
that the ending was perhaps too forced and just didn't really satisfy me. All the "hotness" the manga was
about had just about faded at the end.
Overall, it's a manga worth reading for sure. Don't take it too seriously because you'll either fall in
love with the manga or complete despite it to its ashes till the day you've burned the pile down depending on how
you react to the ending.
If you're into eye candy on the page and various love triangles, squares and possibly even pentagons and family
feuds, Hot Gimmick is just the right thing. After all, it's getting a bit hot in here... isn't it?
Rating: 5
Final Verdict
5.8333 (average)
Reviewed by kuroimisa, Jul 31, 2006
