Hot Gimmick: MANGA FAIL
Because I can't talk about this without MASSIVE SPOILERS, this is behind an lj-cut.
Let's talk about the main character, Hatsumi. She defines doormat- she lets people walk all over her. She's as smart as a bag of bricks. That's about it, really. She's nothing to write home about. She's just there, it seems, to have Stuff Happen to Her.
And Ryoki. He's a jerkass. He blackmails Hatsumi when he catches her buying a pregnancy test for her younger, more promiscuous sister. He knows not the meaning of "personal space" and is SO ASHAAAAAAMED of being a virgin.
Guess who gets together in the end? Guess who Hatsumi falls for? Guess who Hatsumi decides to start a relationship for? Was it Azusa, her childhood friend that came back after many years and is actually vengful and batshit crazy and has a huge vendetta against her father? Thank goodness, no. Was it that sweet guy, I forget his name, that would actually treat her right? Er, no, actually. The pairing turns out to be
Ryoki x Hatsumi
And this is what is everything wrong with this manga. This spineless high schooler not only puts up with Ryoki's (anyone's, really) abuse, bullied into being his slave, and falls in love with him and puts up with his shit?
Akane and Subaru are the only "normal" couple in this outlandish series, but they get so little "screentime" you'd easily forget they're there.
Mind you, I kept reading to hope that she snaps out of it, that she gets an amazing Moment of Awesome and kicks that fucker- and everyone else that likes to use her- to the curb. But no. Not once does Hatsumi grow a spine or think "Hey, I deserve more than this jerkass." She winds up sleeping with Ryoki and decides to be his girlfriend instead. And not one page after it's the next day and he's yelling some insulting shit at her. Classy.
If I had not been borrowing that volume from a friend it would have been flung across the apartment.
The only saving grace is the Hot Gimmick S novel... or so I hear. After avoiding the series for so long I've finally decided to read the last last volume here- and yes, spoilers in as early as page 5. But it's too little, too late, IMO, and this doesn't make up the previous 12 volumes of headdesking and fail and my rage.