***SPOILERS FOR HOT GIMMICK AHEAD!!
I wish my posts weren't so irregular. Maybe it would teach me discipline.... Nah. Well, this week I've decided to review Hot Gimmick S. For fans of the original series, Hot Gimmick, I'm pretty sure you've debated whether or not to get the novel/alternate ending Hot Gimmick S. For starters, it's just a recap of everything in the manga series. Then it goes into the alternate ending, which instead of picking Ryoki, she ends up going with -ahem, one of the other two... Take your guess (I wonder what the S in Hot Gimmick S stands for?). So for those of you who didn't like Hatsumi ending up with inconsiderate, mental terrorist Ryoki, this book is for you.
The recap part (we'll call it part 1) is subpar to say the least. They're not even completed sentences. Some of the lines are straight from the book. Which is good, but you know how a picture makes a thousand words? Well, I guess that was too hard for Megumi Nishizaki. She basically has the broken conversation in there, expecting any normal, self-respecting human to read it... and understand it. Props to her for making it basically unintelligible. It also bluntly states who she was beat around and who she was almost raped. Seriously... at that point you have to wonder how the hell did series 1 end the way it did? In part 2, we go into alternate-ending land, and experience how it was supposed to be written... without our favorite mental terrorist. Part 2 mainly focuses on Shinogu, his past, and his relationship with Hatsumi. The book is a bit rushed (kind of written for a middle-schooler, despite the obvious adult themes) so you don't really get Shinogu/Hatsumi relationship. You doubt the credibility. The artwork at the end does the work justice, though. For those of you who don't like the simplistic style of Miki Aihara (come on, who doesn't, it doesn't distract from the story!!) this book probably isn't for, Hell, the whole series isn't for you. The story is touching. The way it's told is not.
In a nutshell, this book is hardly worth the 30 minutes it takes to read (seriously, you'll zoom through part 1). If you are a big fan of the original 12-volume Hot Gimmick series, go ahead and buy this just to put yourself at peace, but this... isn't as good as it could have been.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Hot Gimmick S earns a measly 2/5 :: 40%
