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ギミック！ [Gimmick!] #2
Gimmick!, Vol. 2
As of Volume 8 of the Japanese version, there are 300,000 copies of Gimmick! in print (in Japan).
Detailed information and insight on movie makeup and special effects.
Will appeal to fans of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation genre.
Gimmick! is licensed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea.
Kohei Nagase, a genius when it comes to makeup and special effects. He uses his skills to expertly disguise people from the press, criminals, or anyone wanting to do them harm.
Never one to let a minor inconvenience like a bullet wound get him down - he caught a little lead while trying to prevent a jewel heist - Kohei doggedly pursues a group of thieves who've been using one of his creations for illicit purposes. Can he spring his buddy Shingo from jail and track down the burglars before more blood - both real and costume - is shed? Later, a major Hollywood star contacts Kohei to help him deal with a fanatical female fan, but with a crooked agent thrown into the mix, Studio Gimmick might also have to foil a blackmail plot.
Detailed information and insight on movie makeup and special effects.
Will appeal to fans of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation genre.
Gimmick! is licensed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea.
Kohei Nagase, a genius when it comes to makeup and special effects. He uses his skills to expertly disguise people from the press, criminals, or anyone wanting to do them harm.
Never one to let a minor inconvenience like a bullet wound get him down - he caught a little lead while trying to prevent a jewel heist - Kohei doggedly pursues a group of thieves who've been using one of his creations for illicit purposes. Can he spring his buddy Shingo from jail and track down the burglars before more blood - both real and costume - is shed? Later, a major Hollywood star contacts Kohei to help him deal with a fanatical female fan, but with a crooked agent thrown into the mix, Studio Gimmick might also have to foil a blackmail plot.
195 pages, Paperback
First published December 19, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 13, 2016
Quick thoughts: Nice combination of good stories with a lot of information on special effects makeup. Really enjoying this.
February 5, 2010
Every manga has its “catch,” or gimmick. For the manga of the same name (Gimmick!), this happens to be the protagonist's amazingly impossible ability to formulate mind-boggling visual effects on-the-fly, creating exactly what he needs at exactly the right moment.
An example of this: during one particularly excruciating passage, the severely wounded special effects artist Kohei, after setting off smoke bombs during a major theft and then causing one of the thieves to fall to her non-fatal injury through enticing her whilst suspended midair with “invisible” wires, finds himself getting shot for the second time, although no injury was rendered because of multiple preparations he had established immediately prior to encountering the scene of the crime. This in itself would prove quite incredible, but it does not take into consideration the dozens of other effects he had set up for the express purpose of incriminating and scaring the thieves into the hands of the law (needless, gratuitous “Poltergeist”-type effects intended merely to spook the criminals, as well as make-up preparations upon his stuntman sidekick Kannazuki to look like the ringleader of the troupe for the purposes of being filmed on security cameras and the hijacking of radio signals to give orders to an animatronic alien robot created prior by Kohei)... The details are far too elaborate to go into here, suffice it to say that there remained little room for enhancement within the action of the story.
Throughout it all, one cannot help but wonder when the personalities of the characters come in. Throughout all the pyrotechnics and excitement... the “people” element remains completely lifeless. Kohei and his magical Silver Spatula, Kannazuki and his amazing physical stunts (all performed without the benefit of a safety net, of course)... What else is there?
Gimmick! was intended as a one-shot story for a Japanese boy's comic magazine, but sustained enough popularity to warrant an ongoing series. One can visualize the wonderful effects as portrayed in an animated version, or even a live-action film... but in two dimensions, Gimmick! does relatively nothing to make it stand out from its peers. The excitement frequently feels “cheating,” a la 1950s serials, wherein the action being portrayed is deliberately misleading to the audience in order to present an “out” to the trapped character (a scene was previously “set up” by the character, making it appear as if things truly had reached their end for the protagonist, only to learn that the audience was left out of a critical secret which would explain the character's miraculous escape until after the fact). This “gimmick” grows tedious and tiresome very quickly.
The story promises to be continued in Gimmick!, vol. 3, although it is difficult to say that readers the world over attend with bated breath to see how Kohei gives death the slip through make-up.
An example of this: during one particularly excruciating passage, the severely wounded special effects artist Kohei, after setting off smoke bombs during a major theft and then causing one of the thieves to fall to her non-fatal injury through enticing her whilst suspended midair with “invisible” wires, finds himself getting shot for the second time, although no injury was rendered because of multiple preparations he had established immediately prior to encountering the scene of the crime. This in itself would prove quite incredible, but it does not take into consideration the dozens of other effects he had set up for the express purpose of incriminating and scaring the thieves into the hands of the law (needless, gratuitous “Poltergeist”-type effects intended merely to spook the criminals, as well as make-up preparations upon his stuntman sidekick Kannazuki to look like the ringleader of the troupe for the purposes of being filmed on security cameras and the hijacking of radio signals to give orders to an animatronic alien robot created prior by Kohei)... The details are far too elaborate to go into here, suffice it to say that there remained little room for enhancement within the action of the story.
Throughout it all, one cannot help but wonder when the personalities of the characters come in. Throughout all the pyrotechnics and excitement... the “people” element remains completely lifeless. Kohei and his magical Silver Spatula, Kannazuki and his amazing physical stunts (all performed without the benefit of a safety net, of course)... What else is there?
Gimmick! was intended as a one-shot story for a Japanese boy's comic magazine, but sustained enough popularity to warrant an ongoing series. One can visualize the wonderful effects as portrayed in an animated version, or even a live-action film... but in two dimensions, Gimmick! does relatively nothing to make it stand out from its peers. The excitement frequently feels “cheating,” a la 1950s serials, wherein the action being portrayed is deliberately misleading to the audience in order to present an “out” to the trapped character (a scene was previously “set up” by the character, making it appear as if things truly had reached their end for the protagonist, only to learn that the audience was left out of a critical secret which would explain the character's miraculous escape until after the fact). This “gimmick” grows tedious and tiresome very quickly.
The story promises to be continued in Gimmick!, vol. 3, although it is difficult to say that readers the world over attend with bated breath to see how Kohei gives death the slip through make-up.
January 26, 2010
Kohei (despite being shot at the end of Vol. 1, and being on the run from the cops!) doggedly pursues the burglars’ who are using one of his creations as a distraction while they steal jewels and wantonly murder people. I definitely got sucked into the story and since this volume also ends mid-storyline I'll be reading Vol. 3 as well. I really like the artwork and the story keeps you reading, even if it is a little hard to take seriously sometimes, especially all Kohei’s swearing on his "sacred silver spatula!" (not the cooking utensil, a knife-shaped thing he uses to create his magical effects).
August 20, 2025
Kohei is going to have to take care of himself after catching a bullet while trying to stop a band of thieves who are using his art for illegal operations! Kanari delivers another gratifying entry to this entertaining series with more humour and action that will delight fans. Can Kohei get Shingo out of jail in time to get them out of trouble?!
December 6, 2008
Cliffhanger! I hate cliffhangers....
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews