Hot Gimmick (Vizbig Edition), Vol. 1

by Miki Aihara

Book Overview

Neighbors in Love!

Miki Aihara turned the manga world upside down with her salacious, outrageous, and funny hit series. If you think being a teenager in America is hard, wait until you read Hot Gimmick. These Tokyo boys and girls are really messed up!

A Collection of Volumes 1 - 3!

Unlike most shojo, Hot Gimmick isn't all sweet boys and rose petals. It's much more real and complex and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1421523485
• ISBN13: 9781421523484
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Viz Media
• Length: 552 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.7" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Good Shoujo for Older Teens

Let me start off by saying that I'm writing this review because I feel that Hot Gimmick has been done a big injustice by reviewers who seem to be saying it's bland. It's not! What got me into Hot Gimmick was its *originality.* Hatsumi is a 16-year-old girl living with her mom, little sister, older brother, and younger brother in company housing. The floors are parallel to the company hierarchy--with the CEO and his family living at the top and the less-important employees and their families living in descending order. Hatsumi and her family live somewhere in the middle, and their position in the complex is very dependent on the words of Mrs. Tachibana, the CEO's wife. Hatsumi is out buying a pregnancy test for her younger sister (scandalous, I know!!) when she runs into Ryoki Tachibana (the gossip queen's son), who finds her with it and threatens to tell his mother unless she becomes his slave. To protect her sister's reputation and her family's standing in the complex, she agrees to his conditions. To complicate things, Azusa (Hatsumi's childhood friend) returns, with a modeling career and a mysterious past, and seems intent on wooing Hatsumi. However, we soon come to realize that his flirting is more calculated than it is playful. Ryoki's true feelings for his "slave" are revealed gradually, and we learn that he isn't cruel and perverted, but rather naive and inexperienced in love and the idea of "family." While he is learning about these things through Hatsumi, the situation gets even more complicated when Hatsumi's mother discourages her from seeing Ryoki for the sake of their family (because Mrs. Tachibana is strongly against it). When Hatsumi's father returns from working abroad, we begin to understand why Azusa is playing Hatsumi (while she still blindly cares for him), and this arc reveals itself even more gracefully than Azusa vs. Ryoki. Hatsumi's younger sister, being far more experienced sexually than Hatsumi, starts to fall for Hatsumi's friend, much to her surprise. We see a slow-but-steady turnaround from her looseness towards innocence. *Warning: Slight spoiler ahead.* Shinogu, Hatsumi's brother, is very protective of Hatsumi throughout the series, and then he suddenly moves away. The reason for this is deep and has a strong emotional effect on Hatsumi. *Spoiler End* It is true that Hatsumi is more of a passive character than an assertive one, but that is true of a lot of manga and manwha heroines. Is it so shocking to think that perhaps Miki Aihara isn't copying other manga-kas, but is actually creating a story based on a prevalent personality trait of schoolgirls in Japan? Is it even more shocking to believe that perhaps Japanese schoolgirls aren't the only ones who are tense about revealing their desires? I don't think so. Hatsumi isn't difficult to relate to; after all, we all have moments when we really want to say something, but don't because we are nervous or shy. The more profound aspects of Hot G

Love Thy Neighbor

"Hot Gimmick" is definitely one of my favorite shoujo manga, if not my very favorite. I absolutely love it. First, the story. It may not seem like much in the first volume, but it gets better. Hatsumi and her family live in company apartments, and everyone is always trying to stay on the good side of Mrs Tachibana, the company owner's wife. One day, Hatsumi's sister, Akane, makes her buy a pregnancy test for her because she is "late". Hatsumi is seen by Ryoki, Mrs. Tachibana's son, and he forces her to become his slave in exchange for his silence. But just when things are at their worst, Hatsumi's child-hood crush, Azusa, shows up, and he isn't too happy with Ryoki. Did I mention that he's a model? This is all kind of cliche, but after volume 1, things start changing. There are plenty of huge plot twists, and characters are not always what they seem. This manga is just like a soap-opera, only without the bad acting. There is a lot of language and suggestive stuff, so it's not something for children or younger teens. Next, the characters. This is my favorite part. Hatsumi starts off really shy, but she's not self-loathing and altruistic like so many shoujo heroines. The problem is that she's too shy to stick up for herself, and she can't say no. It's a common character type too, I know, but as the series progresses, she gets bolder. My favorite character is Ryoki. He's very stuck-up and childish, and he seems to have trouble expressing his feelings. Next there's Azusa. He's the nice type, and is always considerate and protective of Hatsumi. There's also Akane. She's pretty, but because of this, she's rather promiscuous. Ok, rather is an understatement. She loves boys, and her biggest concern is fashion. Last, there's Subaru, Hatsumi's child-hood friend. He's an otaku, and he gets teased at school a lot. He's a pretty nice guy. Now for the art. It's really unique. The characters are beautifully drawn. They still have the usual large eyes and mouths and stuff, but it's different. The scenery is detailed. In fact, the artist lives in the area where the story takes place, so a lot of stuff from the real world shows up. Overall, this is an excellant manga. I'm not so in to soap-operas, but the characters make it worth it, I think. If you don't like anything racy, then this will probably offend you. There's a lot of talk about sex, but as the story goes on, certain characters begin to understand that it should be with someone you love, so it's not so bad. You should definitely give this series a try.

Quirky, Not Perky

While the cover page of volume one screams out "Pink!," don't discriminate. It's a quirky, unusual love story about apartment complex romance and the twists and turns that come along with it. Hot Gimmick is clearly considered my favorite manga, japanese comic novel. When Hatsumi Narita hears of her younger sister's, Akane's, supposed pregnancy, she rushes to the convenience store to purchase a pregnancy test, only to bump into the apartment complex's tyrannical bully and son of the landlord's wife, Ryoki Tachibana. He finds out about Akane's dirty, little secret and blackmails poor Hatsumi into being his slave. It all goes downhill from here as Hatsumi's life-long crush, Asuza, comes back to the complex after nine years. After a few incidences of sexual harassment and false pretenses, Hatsumi finds her life complicated as she faces three men vying for her heart: Ryoki Tachibana, Asuza Odagiri, and Shinogu Narita.

Irresistible

From it's very first few pages in Volume 1, Hot Gimmick never ceases to keep you from being fervently interested and wanting more.The artwork, for the most part, is pretty and chic: the characters are stylish and unique looking. However, Aihara sometimes hits or misses in the panels where a character's face is turned at a 45 degree angle; in these cases, the eyes closest to the 'camera' appear unnaturally larger than is typically drawn by other "manga-ka" (comic artists) of the same field. After seeing many of these sort of panels, it can get mildly irritating.Story-wise, it's highly engaging and even sinfully indulgent; it's reminiscent of a trashy romance novel that's so good, that you just don't care what others might say! Even though it uses some cliches of many shoujo manga series, it manages to deliver a sassy, fun story in a very refreshing way. I would highly recommend it to any manga fan who enjoys a spicy romance.

Hot Gimmick - Great Stuff

First thing's first: I'm not really big on the whole romance/drama genre. Granted, I like romance within a plot, but as long as that plot also consists of clashing swords, firing guns, explosive magic, and/or a large dose of kicking and punching. Hot Gimmick has none of these things.So why am I...so...addicted...to it??The answer lies within the characters. They are down-to-earth, real people with down-to-earth real problems, complicated and yet sensible at the same time. (Well...sensible most of the time, at least.) I know you've probably heard that statement said a hundred times over before, but I really believe it. I personally can relate to Hatsumi and some of her problems, and therefore the overall tone of the manga gives you a sense of...reality, even though you are just reading a manga.Then again, I've never really become a slave to my neighbor bully. Nor has one of my childhood friends returned as a very handsome model and practically comes to live next door.That is just a preview into the life of the mild Hatsumi, who very much indeed finds herself being blackmailed by her neighbor Ryoki, and has to be at his beck and call. It's a good thing that Azusa's come back to protect Hastumi from Ryoki's "bullying", and look pretty while doing it. So is this a romance in the making between Hatsumi and model Azusa? Hmm. Guess we'll have to wait and see.I can't stress how addicting this premise itself can be. This, combined with humor throughout, makes for a greatly interesting read. The artwork is very clean and not sketchy at all, and I found it very appealing. Hot Gimmick is suited for the 16+ range, mostly just because of the open discussions of sex and whatnot. In any case, I'm really enjoying this series. And I believe that anyone who finds this type of manga interesting should at least give Hot Gimmick a look.