is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Miki Aihara. It was serialized in Shogakukan's Betsucomi magazine from the December 2000 issue (released in November) to the August 2005 issue (released in July). Shogakukan collected the individual chapters into 12 bound volumes under the Flower Comics imprint. Viz Media licensed the series for an English-language release in North America.
Hot Gimmick inspired two drama CDs and an alternate-ending light novel, the latter of which is licensed by Viz Media. A live-action film adaptation, titled Hot Gimmick: Girl Meets Boy and directed by Yūki Yamato, was released in Japan on June 28, 2019.
Plot The story revolves around Hatsumi Narita, a passive sixteen-year-old girl who lives in a company housing complex that is ruled by the tyrannical Mrs. Tachibana, the wife of the company's vice president. How a family behaves in the housing complex can affect an employee's status in the company. When her promiscuous younger sister Akané thinks she might be pregnant, Hatsumi gets talked into buying her a pregnancy test. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned and Hatsumi is blackmailed by Ryōki Tachibana, the arrogant teenage son of the powerful Tachibana family who bullied her as a child, into being his slave.
Characters The Narita Family
Portrayed by: Yui Horie/Tamaki Nakanishi (drama CDs), Miona Hori (film)
The main character of the series. At the beginning of the series, she is a second-year student at Takazono High School, a public school. When her younger sister Akané's fear of being pregnant leads Hatsumi into purchasing a pregnancy test for her, Ryōki Tachibana sees her with it and, in exchange for keeping this secret, Hatsumi becomes Ryōki's personal slave. However, when Hatsumi's childhood friend, Azusa Odagiri, moves back into the complex, she finds she has feelings for him. These feelings do not waver even after certain events rise up that would ordinarily cause her to sever ties with Azusa. Near the middle of the series however an absence of Azusa causes Hatsumi to shift attention and rationalize her now developing feelings for Ryōki, which she later concludes is love, with the hope Ryōki's actions will become less domineering. Hatsumi is good-hearted but gullible. She does not form her own opinions and, despite talking herself up and reassuring herself that she will be assertive, has extreme difficulty standing up to people who misuse her. She is almost incapable of making her own decisions and spends more time thinking about others' well-being than her own. Hatsumi's low self-esteem is most likely the product of her upbringing; it is improbable she has ever been encouraged to set goals for herself outside of schoolwork and staying below the radar of the complex gossip hounds.
Portrayed by: Akeno Watanabe (drama CDs), Hiyori Sakurada (film)
Hatsumi's younger sister; somewhat of a floozy. She dates many boys, and early on harbors a conspicuous crush on Ryōki. After being rejected by him (and briefly taking out her anger on Hatsumi), she begins to develop feelings for Ryōki's best friend, Subaru Yagi. At the beginning of the series, she is a third-year junior high school student (it is mistakenly stated in earlier publications that Akané is a second-year). Despite being beautiful and popular, Akané is very insecure. She supports Hatsumi and Ryōki's relationship, occasionally offering her sister romantic advice.
Portrayed by: Shin-ichiro Miki/Yoshinori Ogino (drama CDs), Shotaro Mamiya (film)
The eldest of the Narita children. At the beginning of the series, he is a freshman law student at Hitotsubashi University. He is not home much due to various part-time jobs. Hatsumi learns later that Shinogu is adopted. He was taken in by the Naritas when he was a child, and his parents left him in extreme debt after they died. In an attempt to repay his adoptive parents, Shinogu moves out and holds down a slew of part-time jobs, putting aside his dreams of medical school. Shinogu is kind and helpful. Like Hatsumi, he often puts others before himself. He is very dedicated and believes in doing the right thing, but is often wracked with guilt concerning the trouble he put his parents through, and his feelings for Hatsumi. Shinogu is in love with Hatsumi but, in an effort to not burden her with his feelings, tries to put distance between them. In the end, he tries to dissolute his adoption from the Naritas in an attempt to distance himself from Hatsumi further and become a priest.
Portrayed by: Etsuko Kozakura/Noriko Shitaya (drama CDs) Hatsumi's younger brother. At the beginning of the series, he is in kindergarten.
Hatsumi and Akane's mother. She is very afraid of Mrs. Tachibana, and does whatever she can to please her. Later in the series, she overcomes this fear and addresses Mrs. Tachibana about her continued mistreatment of their family.
Hatsumi and Akane's father. He takes the blame for Miho Odagiri's death by confirming Azusa's conclusion that he was her lover, but it is later revealed that he was paid by his office superior, Shūichirō Tachibana, to be his scapegoat. He spends much time working away from home due to his unfavorably low position on the company ladder, but in the end returns to Tokyo under Shūichirō's orders as an apology for all the hardships the latter had given him and his family, he is presumably living again with his wife and children. Went to college with both Azusa's and Ryōki's fathers.
The Tachibana Family
Portrayed by: Kosuke Toriumi/Masazumi Ozo (drama CDs), Hiroya Shimizu (film)
Hatsumi's biggest fear since she was a child, due to him pushing her down the stairs. He turns Hatsumi into his personal slave, but also wants her as his girlfriend. Although he is abusive to her, there are times when he lets his guard down and shows that, despite his abusive way of showing it, he genuinely cares about her. At the beginning of the series, he is a second-year student at the prestigious private school, Kaisei Academy. It is revealed that when Hatsumi and Ryōki were kids in the company housing complex, that Hatsumi was Ryōki's sole friend, while Hatsumi was also friends with Azusa. Nevertheless, Ryōki did not treat Hatsumi well, even as a child, going as far as pushing Hatsumi down a flight of stairs, emotionally scarring her. This is revealed later to have been unintentional, giving young Ryōki an anxiety attack. Ryōki becomes easily angry or jealous and does not like displaying other emotions. It is clear he has only ever been prized for his intelligence (which he reaffirms constantly around Hatsumi by calling her "dimwit," "birdbrain," etc.). Ryōki's family is disjointed and loveless, which is why he finds Hatsumi's devotion to her family incomprehensible. His family's past actions have influenced his views on relationships as well, such as strictly practicing and prizing monogamy in his relationship with Hatsumi, no doubt because of his father's past known affair with Azusa's mother. Ryōki displays great insecurity in his trust with relations involving Hatsumi, feeling at any second that she is off "flirting with other men". He expects just the same level of commitment and monogamic views from Hatsumi, which is seen throughout the series as a humorous assertion of power; with Ryōki demanding she should keep conversations with all men under one minute, answer the phone on the first ring when he calls, show up at least an hour early to all dates, and often overreacts when a male's name is mentioned in conversation, even if it's just Hikaru, Hatsumi's little brother. However, he is also seen often struggling to understand Hatsumi's reactions, helping her out of difficult situations and giving her his support.
Ryōki's mother and the undisputed "queen" of the company housing complex. She delights in manipulating the lives of those beneath her, starting malicious rumors and relocating workers based on their family's reputation. Multiple times she tries to separate Hatsumi and Ryōki, seeing Hatsumi as unsuitable and undeserving of her son. Natsué is presumably obsessed with controlling the people of the complex because she has almost no control in her own family (Ryōki never listens to a word she says and rebuffs her concerns with no emotion, and Shūichirō, in his rare appearances, easily undermines her at every turn). Natsué and Shūichirō are in an arranged marriage due to the wishes of their parents.
Ryōki's father, he mostly stays at a hotel near the company so he hardly ever returns to the complex. Shūichirō and Natsué have an arranged marriage. As such, Shūichirō feels no love toward his wife or his son. When a young Ryōki asks his father why he's never around, Shūichirō alludes to a lover, whose identity is later revealed to be Miho Odagiri, Azusa's mother. The reason for Shūichirō never showing up to meet her was because he claims he asked her to leave her life, but she always chose Azusa and her husband. The reader assumes this is because Miho thought Shūichirō would remain persistent, as he did after their first separation.
The Odagiri Family
Portrayed by: Hiroyuki Yoshino/Taisuke Yamamoto (drama CDs), Mizuki Itagaki (film)
An old friend of Hatsumi's. They were very good friends when they were younger; he always protected her from Ryōki. When he returns, he is a popular model doing magazine work and TV commercials. His return prompts Hatsumi to realize she has loved him since childhood. At the beginning of the series, Azusa is outwardly nice, protective, caring and generous. As time goes on and secrets are revealed, Hatsumi discovers he is manipulative, self-destructive and severely depressed. Azusa is obsessed with revenge, using all his money from modeling to pay private detectives to discover who the lover of his mother was, and consequentially who was responsible for her death. He blamed Ryōki's family at one point, and tried to let his friends gang-rape Hatsumi in front of Ryōki. He is unconvinced that anyone truly cares for him and remains emotionally distant. Although, he has feelings for Hatsumi and cares for Shinogu as well, whom he supports his feelings for Hatsumi. At the end of the series he decides to take Hatsumi away from Ryōki as revenge on Shūichirō.
Azusa's father who works mostly overseas so he hardly lives with his son. Divorced Azusa's mother, supposedly because she was having an affair. He is about to remarry, but worries about Azusa's opinion of it.
Azusa's mother, Minoru's ex-wife, and Shūichirō's former lover. She left with Azusa when Minoru divorced her and she became ostracized by the other wives in the complex. She soon fell ill but remained optimistic that her lover will return to her, as he promised. Died three years prior to the beginning of the series.
The Yagi Family
Portrayed by: Soichiro Hoshi (drama CDs), Kaisei Kamimura (film)
Ryōki's dorky best friend, who is also a friend of Hatsumi. His hobbies are video games and anime (especially Gundam), and collecting models and action figures. He develops feelings for Akané, even though she often scares him, coming on too strong for him (as she's had many boyfriends and/or flings, and Subaru has never had a girlfriend). At the beginning of the series he is a second-year student at Takazono High School (Class A). Early on, it is implied that Subaru has a crush on Hatsumi, though these later fade when he develops feelings for Akané. He often worries about Ryōki and often tries to help him with Hatsumi.
Subaru's older sister. She graduated from beauty school and is currently working as an intern at a hair salon. She has a secret crush on Shinogu, but fails to tell him because he is "too unattainable." She often laments the dorkiness of her brother, and is fairly good friends with the Narita siblings as she worries about them often.
Others