ANGST 101
Hot Gimmick is a 12 volume shoujo series by the popular manga-ka,
Aihara Miki, published from 2000 to 2005, in Betsucomi. It is widely considered her most popular work and has
garnered 2 Drama CDs and a sequel in the form of a novel titled
Hot Gimmick S.
But you don't want to know that. You're here to learn about the angst.
Hot Gimmick is the story of
Narita Hatsumi and her seemingly endless struggle with love. She's the ridiculously naïve center of one of the most complex love-squares
to ever be created in the shoujo genre. It sounds like an exaggeration, yes? Angst lovers are fortunate, then, that exaggeration is Aihara's middle name.
Hatsumi's sister,
Narita Akane, is the wild-child of the two. One day, when her cycle is off-schedule, she sends Hatsumi out to get her a home pregnancy test. This spells disaster for
our klutzy heroine as she crashes directly into
Tachibana Ryoki - the boy who she's feared since grade school! Spying the pregnancy test, Ryoki agrees to keep his silence on one condition:
Hatsumi becomes his personal slave.
I know, it's getting good, right?
Enter childhood sweetheart
Odagiri Azusa. Having moved back to Japan, Azusa, it seems, is in the market for a girl - specifically, the one he's always had a soft-spot for. His aim is Hatsumi
and he won't let anything get in the way, especially not Ryoki. Did I mention he's a famous male model?
Seems like your typical love-triangle cliché, but wait, there's more! Aihara would never let her readers off that easy, so while Azusa is courting Hatsumi and Ryoki is forcibly fondling her in secret,
a new rival is introduced, throwing out the 'triangle' motif and replacing it with a nice, equilateral square.
And who would shake this already complicated situation into an even more drama-infused perplexity? None other than her elder brother,
Narita Shinogu. Insert angst here.
I'll take this opportunity to let you collect yourself.
To end,
Hot Gimmick is an amazing series and my very sass-filled synopsis does not do it justice. If you wish to find out what happens and all the crazy, melodramatic antics that ensue,
I would highly recommend picking up the manga from any of your local book stores. After all, you have to find out who Hatsumi picks!
...or you could just finish going through the site.
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