Hot Gimmick: Girl Meets Boy
By Brian Costello,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Disturbing bullying in bizarre Japanese melodrama.
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Hot Gimmick: Girl Meets Boy
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Based on 2 parent reviews
Glorification of toxic relationships and gratuitous depiction of emotional abuse
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Not worth the time
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What's the Story?
In HOT GIMMICK: GIRL MEETS BOY, Hatsumi is a young teen who has just picked up a pregnancy test kit from her sister on the sly. When her teen neighbor Ryoki, a brooding math whiz, ends up in possession of the kit, he blackmails Hatsumi into being his "personal slave" in exchange for him not telling her mother and everyone in the apartment building. Meanwhile, Azusa, a boy who is now a well-known fashion model, has returned to live in Hatsumi's building. While Ryoki forces Hatsumi to carry his bookbag and constantly insults her even as it seems he's hiding his true feelings for her, Azusa also seems to be attracted to Hatsumi. It seems that Azusa wants to treat Hatsumi better than Ryoki, until he takes her to a nightclub and drugs her pear cocktail. Hatsumi's older brother, Shinogu, works at this nightclub and rescues her sister just in the nick of time. Despite this behavior, Hatsumi is still smitten with Azusa, who FaceTimes her one night and convinces her to take off her clothes. When she does this, Azusa sends the video to Shinogu, and then explains that the reason Azusa is behaving this way is because he believes that Shinogu and Hatsumi's father had an affair with Azusa's mother, thus breaking up Azusa's family. As all of this is happening, Ryoki begins revealing his true feelings for Hatsumi, and how he wants to be with her forever and have children with her. Also, Shinogu is revealed to be adopted, and has developed a deep affection for Hatsumi that goes way beyond their previous brother and sister relationship. In the midst of all of this, Hatsumi must choose who she wants to love, or if perhaps it's better to be more independent and assertive.
Is It Any Good?
This is a bizarre, overwrought Japanese melodrama based on the popular shojo manga. The lead character, the young teen Hatsumi, lacks even a shred of self confidence, so much so that she feels her only options for true love are with either the "smart and sensitive" boy who has also blackmailed her into being his "personal slave," or the "popular bad boy" who tried to drug her cocktail at a nightclub in order to take advantage of her and then sends her brother a FaceTime video of her unclothed. And these are only the beginnings of the complications and hydra-headed story threads that may or may not lead anywhere.
The chaos of the narrative is matched only by the chaos of the direction. Shots flicker and bounce, and it's impossible to determine how these stylistic choices enhance either the story or character development; they come across as pretentious and annoying. Maybe there's something lost in cultural translation from Japan to most Western audiences, but there really are no sympathetic characters. Like the above-mentioned teen boys, the other teens are deplorable and creepy, and the teen girls are universally mean and judgmental. And when the movie tries to show that the bullying blackmailer and the would-be date rapist are really just sensitive, it's just not believable. By the end of Hot Gimmick: Girl Meets Boy, with everything and the kitchen sink thrown at the audience, it's easy to forget that Hatsumi was concerned that she might be pregnant at the beginning of the movie, and it's impossible to recall if that narrative thread ever got resolved.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the problems and issues these teen characters face throughout Hot Gimmick: Girl Meets Boy. Did these problems and issues seem realistic, or did it seem exaggeraated for dramatic effect?
How was the main character, Hatsumi, bullied by both teen boys and teen girls? How would you react in similar situations?
How does this compare to other "coming-of-age" movies you've seen?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: December 28, 2019
- Cast: Miona Hori, Mizuki Itagaki, Kaisei Kamimura
- Director: Yuki Yamato
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Drama
- Topics: Brothers and Sisters, High School
- Run time: 119 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: February 18, 2023
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