The admin at Mangablog wonders why Hot Gimmick has so many readers if everyone hates it so much. I think it's that Hot Gimmick is the type of story that pulls you in, even if you don't agree with all of it. (spoilers after) Sure, at the center, we have the love polygon- is the doormat going to get together with the jerk, the evil childhood friend or her brother? The side stories about Hatsumi's brother's adoption, Azuza's quest for revenge for his mother death, whether Hatsumi's slutty sister Akane is going to get together with their nerdy neighbor are all page turners. Heck, at the end of volume 11, I think I saw Hatsumi have a glimmer of sense, and I hope she'll dump the asshole at the end. Yea, it sucks that Hatsumi doesn't stand up for herself after Azuza's revenge plan almost gets her gangraped, but I interpreted that as being so traumatized that she can't stand up for herself. I mean afterwards, she is more passive and limp than usual and verbally equates Ryoki to the near raping assholes. However, that doesn't ruin the whole manga for me. I'm addicted to dramatic soap operas, and yea, sometimes they have to make up some crazy shit to keep you guessing. We can't make Japan more feminist, so us Americans will have to write our own 'manga'. And not like Piro.

For the parents of younger girls- read the manga your child is reading. If you find content you find questionable, discuss it. Like let's say a girl lets a guy push her around in a manga, and you think this will give your girl the wrong idea. Talk about how she would handle the situation, and try to give her a decent outlook on things. While I'm not against the concept of art getting under your skin, I think that if you think "why do I like this?" "What messages does this send" you're less likely to be blindly influenced.