Hot Gimmick?

[sarea]

I've never read manga before. But last night I stayed up until 4am reading all 8 (available) volumes of Miki Aihara's Hot Gimmick. It is wrong in so very many ways. And yet I could not put them down. I also know I won't stop reading them, when she comes out with more. It's like the guiltiest guilty pleasure reading EVER. It's even racier than Georgia Nicolson, which is a British series about a teen that I sincerely hope is not directed at teens. I hope the same is true of HG, but I have this fear that I am wrong.

I shouldn't think Ryouki is hot. He might even be more horrible than Draco (at least, fanfic Draco). He physically and mentally abuses Hatsumi all the time! And he's completely clueless! And what's with her trampy sister?? A 14-year-old who sleeps with all the boys she likes? I'm sure that's reality somewhere, but it's still a bit horrifying to contemplate, particularly in the breezy way the subject is dealt with in this series. A 'childhood friend' who nearly gets Hatsumi gang raped, and now they're still 'friends,' and Hatsumi might even still crush on him? And what about Shinogu, who is madly in love with Hatsumi and perfect in every way ... except that he's Hatsumi's brother?! (Okay, adopted or something, but still. They were raised as siblings.)

Typing that all out, I don't even know why I can read it. And yet ... like I said, I couldn't put them down. Seriously, am I totally alone on this one? Has anyone else read these???

Ryouki catches Hatsumi with Shinogu in the stairwell, but gets the wrong impression (or does he?). BTW, this image I found was the original Japanese version, but obviously I'm reading HG in English. <g>

Comments

[mynuet.livejournal.com]

Meep! Must get money and go to a bookstore!

Unless it's not worth paying retail for?

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I've read the first few chapters and have been really underimpressed. I might not waste the money. But then again, maybe it'll get really good later, I don't know. But with the past books, even with the ones that I didn't think were going to be any good, Julia Quinn managed to charm me anyway, and fairly quickly. With this one, it seems kind of tired and trite, and so far, there hasn't been anything really compelling. The fact that I can put the book down without much qualm kind of speaks for itself. <g>

[mynuet.livejournal.com]

Well, let me know when you're done whether to rush out and buy it or wait until it's discounted.