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Reviewed by Barb Lien-Cooper Gimmick is the story of a young special effects expert that uses his Hollywood experience to fight crime. The set up sounds a bit like a pilot for some private television show from the 1980s or something, sandwiched inbetween Hart to Hart and Simon and Simon on the Sleuth Channel on cable television. And honestly, it's about that enjoyable. It's not going to be something that you're just dying to pursue as an audience member, but if it just happens to show up, it's not half bad. The main problem, in fact, is actually one of media: Gimmick works well on paper metaphorically, but strangely enough it doesn't work well on paper literally. What I mean is, a manga based on the adventures of a special effects wizard sounds like a lot of fun (and it's really not a bad little series) but special effects based stories really don't work in the pages of a book. They demand the silver screen in order to work. In other words, Gimmick is a manga that really, REALLY needs a movie deal ASAP. Being on paper instead of onscreen means that our eyes can't deceive us, which is the main pleasure of any SFX. Plot turns that would rock on a television show sometimes sorely test our readerly suspension of disbelief when drawn. For instance, one plot twist involved a painted backdrop of the sort Wile E. Coyote used to run into thinking it was a real tunnel in the Roadrunner cartoons. Onscreen where my eyes could deceive me, I'd really have liked the bit of business I'm refereeing to. On the page, I just felt, "Aw man, if a crook is so stupid he can't tell a painted back-drop from reality, he deserves to be caught." Finally, being on paper doesn't help the series in the most fundamental way possible. Good manga isn't about a Gimmick. It's about the characters and their psychological journeys. I mean, I know, that's kind of pretentious sounding, but think on it. You're reading, say, Naruto for more than kick-buttery, I hope. I suspect you want to see the little bugger grow up and gain maturity and understanding. Strict mystery/suspense manga are about the whodunit and not about the characterization (Kindachi, Cased Closed) so they feel slightly hollow, no matter how good the stories are, because characterization always has to take a back seat to plot. Gimmick is one of those series…and you really kind of wish it wasn't because unlike a strict mystery, a suspense series has a bit more wiggle room for characterization (c.f. Get Backers or even the detective manga I adapted for Tokyopop, Satisfaction Guaranteed). In Gimmick, our hero Kohei is kind of (ironically) out of central casting when it comes to manga characters. He has one personality tic and that's it. He likes special effects. That's it. Even his back-story, which we get this volume, doesn't tell us more than "He has always, always wanted to work in special effects". Without more, Kohei's obsession with something I really only have interest in when I see it onscreen just doesn't grab my interest as a reader. By volume three of a manga, I should feel a real bond with a series. With Gimmick and its characters, I can take or leave 'em. Good manga series need more "gotcha and you're not leaving" factor to them to put their heads above the crowd. Ironically, Gimmick still has more characterization in it than do 90 percent of American action-adventure comics. With that slightly-sad-for-comics, glad-for-manga thought, I give this likeable-but-not-loveable series a B once again. Comment on this review of Gimmick 3 on the Manga Life Forums. |
16 September 2008
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