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I ended up reading what amounted to six volumes of it (two collections of three volumes each) after I gave up on trying to survive the airship game with the elk as a guide. I'm sure it can be done, but I didn't feel like wasting any more time on it. Still, I enjoyed the event, and the fact that there was a reference to Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" in there made it awesome - even if that particular "event" made one lose food.

But anyway, back to Hot Gimmick. In many ways, I would love to hit the heroine over the head. That might be how her character is/acts, and I realize there are cultural differences between here and Japan, but still - she is NOT a good role model. Not that female characters have to be, mind you, any more than male characters should be good role models. But heroes/heroines should usually be good role models, even if they have flaws. If not, make your hero an antihero or a villain protagonist or something. (Has anyone ever done that in a shoujo manga? I've read so little of the genre...)

This girl is terrified of this one boy in her apartment complex, and when he gains power over her (his mom is the most powerful woman in the complex, and if he told her that the girl's younger sister was using a pregnancy test, their family could get kicked out), he proceeds to name her his slave and attempt to have sex with her. For "practice" - because he wants to lose his virginity. And he's still mean to her. She is rescued by a childhood friend who had moved away but now returned, and he had always been saving her from this other guy. Only he's now a model. Seems like a good guy, until it turns out that he's using her to get back at her father (who had an affair with his mother, ultimately resulting in the divorce of his parents and his mother's eventual death) and almost succeeds in his plan to have a group of his friends gang-rape her. Meanwhile, the guy who's a jerk is...still a groping jerk, but he realizes that he has feelings for her. And she realizes that she has feelings for him. Which apparently make his extremely possessive attitude and use of force on her okay. WTF kind of message is that? This is a very screwy romantic drama, that's for sure. Did I mention she's still heartbroken over the friend-who-wanted-to-gang-rape-her and feels sorry for him? Yes, forgiveness is a good thing, and yes, feelings are irrational. But self-preservation is a good thing, too.

This is one of the series that the girl from band lent me, along with Honey Hunt, also by the same author. The series that Moo Doom1 suggested that I read, Otomen, is much better (so far, anyway). It's...not that I don't like romance. I do - when it's well executed. And maybe the girl-with-no-spine (not that I should talk, as I have a rather passive personality myself) and the guy-who-is-a-possessive-power-hungry-jerk will work out their problems and make a great couple. Somehow. But still...

I'm going to go watch Bleach. Yay stupid fighting series with only occasional hints of romantic attachments (unless you're into subtext) but lots of complex relationships between characters nonetheless.