Product Description

In company-owned rabbit-hutch apartments live tenants who can't afford to live anywhere else, and the apartment complex in which high-school girl Hatsumi Narita lives is ruled over by the rumour mongering, self-righteous Mrs. Tachibana. Get on Tachibana's bad side, and life becomes hell. When Hatsumi has to buy a pregnancy test because her popular sister Akane is late, Mrs. Tachibana's son, Ryoki, who used to bully Hatsumi as a kid, promises not to tell the world about Hatsumi's secret if she becomes his slave. Suddenly Azusa, Hatsumi's protector in their youth, reappears to save her again! He's moving back into the neighbourhood! Despite the budding romance between Hatsumi and Azusa, Ryoki has control over her through the secret that could ruin the lives of everyone in Hatsumi's family, and he hasn't forgotten who his slave is!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #445959 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

crazy name, great manga
If you like shojo manga, or if you've never heard of it, this book is perfect. It's got good art, great characters, and a brilliant plot - what more can you ask? Oh, and bishounen too. How could I forget?

The main character is a girl called Hatsumi who lives in a big company appartment complex. All the characters in the book (at least in this volume) are from the same complex and so they all connect in some way. Each character is very different, but they all feel very real. There's Hatsumi, the normal girl, nice, cute, but not particularly special. There's her sister, Akane, whose rather ... easy personality starts the whole thing off. Then there's the guys; Ryoki (mean and forceful), Subaru (geeky and ashamed of himself but a really genuinely nice guy) and of course the oh-so-cute Azusa, who is fun and friendly and just incredibly cool. ^_^

Next there's the plot - lots of interconnecting relationships, as I said before, but it's not bogged down in detail. The whole story moves quickly and the characters cut to the chase - less standing around staring wistfully at each other than in other shojo manga!

Oh, you want to know what it's about? Well, Ryoki forces Hatsumi to be his slave (I'm not saying why) and then her childhood friend, Azusa turns up - he moved away years before. So emotions are quickly exploding everywhere; Hatsumi must escape Ryoki's power and stop Azusa getting the wrong idea, Ryoki must sort out his own feelings of inferiority, and Azusa .... well, he's good looking and popular, so for now he's got it easy. But not for long, I expect. ^_^

The drawings are good. Clean, nice backgrounds - not as flowery as Clamp or as simple as in Marmalade Boy, a nice in-between. It's rated 'for older teens' but it's OK for about 13/14+. And there are laughs, but it's not really a comedy. It's a down-to-earth, fast-paced, brilliant story about realistic people and it's a fantastic representative of shojo manga here in the UK! So go get it!

At the mercy of his every whim!!
16 year old Hatsumi Narita is a nice girl. She puts others before herself on a day-to-day basis. Her younger, perky, popular sister and her older, studious, hard-working brother being among them. Up until now however, her 'niceness' has never caused her any problems. Until now. Because keeping a scandalous secret safe for her sister puts her in the absolute power of rich-kid Ryoki Tachibana who lives in the penthouse suite of the building they inhabit. In order to keep the scandal from the ears of Mrs Tachibana who terrorises all who live there, Hatsumi must obey his every whim, despite the fact she's been petrified of him since kindergarten! And soon it becomes apparent nothing is sacred. First he's expecting her to carry his bags, next to surrender her first kiss ... Nothing is beyond being exploited as Hatsumi soon finds to her cost. What next must she sacrfice on his list of demands?

Will the reappearance of her first love, model Azusa Odagiri mean things are looking up for poor, harassed Hatsumi? Or will it just add more problems to the mix .. And will Ryoki ever let up his hold on her? Will he ever get to the bottom of just what it is about her that gets under his skin? She certainly seems to bring out the very worst in him - her kindness and consideration bugs the hell outta him! And why is it that her devotion to Azusa seems to be the very last straw? This for me seems to the central focus of Hot Gimmick. As we find out more about Ryoki's character, the more intriguing he seems. Especially his reaction when Hatsumi's generous nature prompts her to spring even to her tormentor's defence ... Could it be that Ryoki's feelings for Hatsumi run far deeper than he/ we initially thought? Could his friend Subaru Yagi be right in his assertion that boys only pick on the girls they really like? I for one will certainly be buying the second volume to find out!

Absolutely fabulous!
This manga is the epitome of what shojo should be - hot guys, cute girls, love, hate, jealousy, lies, scandals, everything about this manga is amazing. Great artwork, hilarious yet serious storyline, who needs to know anymore?

Five stars for a fabulous series.