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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Hot Gimmick GN 12
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britannicamoore
 Posts: 2618 Location: Out. |
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spoiler[MONK? WHY A MONK?! :screams: Also is it just me or were the..naked bodies weird? They looked...like they were made out of sandpaper.]
I enjoyed this seris a lot. I wish it hadn't of ended. As for the novel...i'm tempted to grab it but it doesn't look like my type of thing. If I remember correctly the print was huge. (although I could be confusing this with another book) It didn't seem like it was written towards older teens but...a younger crowd. i only read the frist few pages though. someone let me know if its good 
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geishageek
 Posts: 571 Location: Pleasant Valley, NY |
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I bought the novel and was highly disappointed. I felt as if i was reading a story meant for a 10 year old. I don't know if the original story was like that or if it was just the translation but I have noticed that many of the novelizations comming over and printed in large print and use very easy languag a child could read.
I liked the series as a whole. I bought all 12 volumes at once less than 6 months ago so I was a little late in the game but it had a little something that many other girl/boy romance stories do not have. It was well worth the time and money I spent on it. |
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kolibri
 Posts: 712 Location: Vancouver |
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I have the first five volumes and each of them had made me want to throw it out of the window... Hatsumi's hemming and hawing and complete inability to take control of her life, plus the infuriating (not cute) "misunderstandings" and the stubbornness and single-mindedness of the boys just drive me to the walls.
I might still buy the rest of the series because as maddening it can be, it's truly a guilty pleasure for me (as in, I feel guilty for finding pleasure in it) and I kinda want to see what happens. Probably wouldn't be too difficult to shift afterwards either, selling all 12 volumes at a time should be relatively simple for a series like this. |
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FeralKat
Posts: 402 |
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I quit after 10 volumes and sold them off on eBay. The only reason I ever got that far in the series was to see if Ryoki would change...aannnd.... he never did. I admit, I really liked it in the beginning, but I just grew irritated when Hatsumi confused love with fear and lust and kept being Ryoki's doormat. 
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kolibri
Posts: 712 Location: Vancouver |
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10, wow. Ok, maybe I'll sell the five I have right now if there's no hope for proper character development 
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Himalayus
 Posts: 27 Location: Oregon |
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Yes, Ryoki is an unspeakable bastard. And Hatsumi is a spineless wishy-washy dependent. But that is part of (if not the entire) reason why I rated this volume (and the series as a whole) as highly as I did. I’ve grown weary of male shoujo leads who magically transform into doting, devoted life partners upon meeting the heroine. If what you’re expecting in terms of “proper character development” is for the characters to conform to adolescent ideals of perfect relationships between spunky headstrong girls and impossibly understanding dreamboat protectors, then forget it (though Ryoki does possess a genuine affection for Hatsumi that he is too psychologically messed up to express—or even interpret—correctly). The appeal (for me at least) of this manga is that it portrays characters trying to find happiness on their own terms without recourse to commonly accepted ideas about “healthy” and “unhealthy” relationships. This, of course, is partially a reflection of my affection for characters who live without concern for how society might judge their ideas, lifestyles and attitudes, of whom Ryoki is one (I count among my favorite characters Zorndyke from Blue Sub. #6 and Sunako from the Wallflower manga). |
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kolibri
Posts: 712 Location: Vancouver |
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Ah, yes, not quite, but point taken. While I agree and appreciate that these kind of stories are somewhat a rarity in shoujo - they also tend to hit too close to home for me so I find them too painful to read. I prefer these stories in the BL genre where the power-relationship between two males is easier for me to handle than girl-boy situations. |
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FeralKat
Posts: 402 |
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My definition of character development is when the characters learn from their situations and come out more mature. I borrowed the last two volumes and I can honestly say Ryoki's still an ass, Hatsumi's still subservient, and Shinogu's still an angsty emo. I wasn't expecting a perfect relationship in the end, but for Hatsumi to grow a spine and realize that she deserves much, much better. She's a perfect example of how girls get into abusive relationships. Another reason I stopped reading it was because I thought this manga was an extremely bad example for my little sister (16). She couldn't understand why I disliked Ryoki AT ALL. I thought, maybe he'll get his butt kicked and learn a lesson or two, but like all Miki Aihara's manga (with the exception of So Bad and Tokyo Boys & Girls), the male characters get away with everything and the girls are dumber than rocks. Check out Sensei no Okiniiri!-- you don't even need to know Japanese to be sickened by it. (18+ Warning!!) |
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ZODDGUTS
Posts: 600 |
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I didn't care for this series either I gave up on it after the 6th volume the characters just irratated me. If the characters were likeable I would have continued with the series.
Yup pretty much the same opinion of how I feel about those characters and how they don't really changed much in the series. Kodocha manga did a good job at transferring a "bad boy" into a good guy while Ryoki still was a jackass threw out all the volumes that I've read. Hatsumi ugh she didn't really bother putting up any sort of a fight she just lets herself get trashed. The only good thing the series had was the art the characters on the other hand sucked. |
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scrapps
Posts: 43 |
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I have to agree with Himalayus on this one. While Hatsumi is far from my favorite shoujo heroine, the story takes place over the course of like a year maybe, and for her to make a total 180 change would be weird. I was only really annoyed with Shinogu's ending, just because it seemed silly for an adult to making that kind of decision because of unrequited love. Maybe if he had aspirations toward this kind of life earlier it would be better.
And I really liked the novel actually. I don't understand this idea that just because something uses simple language and larger print it *must* be made for kids/ia horrible story. Some of my favorite books are of the young adult variety just because they don't try to be pretentious or dawdle about things irrelevent to the story (I'm looking at you Moby Dick.) Plus I think the language that is used in most of the light novels translations is just due to just the translation from the Japanese to English. If I remember correctly most of my Battle Royale novel didin't use very complex english either. |
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Bara_Megami
Posts: 106 |
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THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for putting the reason why I hate Hot Gimmick into this simple explanation! And good on you for realizing that this was not a good manga for your little sister! I've read the whole thing since I liked Azusa's character, and I really couldn't stop reading since it was just like "this can't get any worse, can it?" but it did. It had the same kind of sensationalism of Jerry Springer or Maury for me, when you want to see some people/characters at their worst...or in the case of Hot Gimmick, they were always at their worst. Anyway, I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would love it as passionately as the shoujo community seems to. I never found Ryoki's relationship cute, funny, sexy or, yes, healthy. Judging from this topic, I can see that it is men that like it...and from what is being discussed here, one might infer that men want to be more controlling, and reading this is a fantasy for them, as typical shoujo (where then men aren't complete bastards) is for women. And my curiosity has me needing to check out "Sensei no Okiniiri!" >_> |
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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Well, I actually liked the manga, at least in the guilty pleasure sense. I didn't really like most of the characters (for obvious reasons) other than Akane and Subaru but it was still an enjoyable read.
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scrapps
Posts: 43 |
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Way to assume we're all guys. While I initially didn't understand why I liked guys such as Ryoki or Doumyoji Tsukasa, I've come to realize that I like characters that aren't pushovers, that know what they want and fight for the one they love. They both just happen to be emotionally retarded. I personally don't understand how anyone could like Azusa after the whole spoiler[attempted gang bang incident] And Sensei no Okiniiri is so odd. I generally like smut, but this story made me feel dirty. |
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Senna
 Posts: 99 Location: Somewhere, USA |
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When I started reading this review, I almost took it to be sarcasm. I began reading Hot Gimmick when the first volume came out as a guilty pleasure. At first, it was all right, but I could never find respect for the characters. Other readers have already pointed out some of the disgusting things about this manga, and it is definitely not something I would recommend to other girls.
You might argue that the static personalities of the characters are more realistic, but that doesn't make it a good story. Ryoki and Hatsumi do not find "happiness on their own terms"--Ryoki takes what he wants and Hatsumi continues being a doormat. Nothing's changed at all (I don't expect transformations, of course, but come on--it's been how long?). But what's truly sick about this is that readers are expected to find his abusive treatment of Hatsumi "cute." A destructive, negative relationship is portrayed as a positive, desirable one. Most of us will realize how screwed up it is, but still ... This article as well as the links provided beneath it offer some really good discussion on this. |
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