Hot road is a popular shoujo series in the 80's which tells the story of Kazuki Miyachi and how she got to meet the "NIGHTS" motorcycle gang and a boy named Haruyama. In it's base, Hot road is a very youthful story. It feels very rebellious and "punk". Aside from the motorcycle gang rivalry and business (which is pretty minor) we can see all sorts of experiences that a lot of teens can relate to and understand:stuff like rebelling, without cause sometimes, against parents and teachers. Feeling like no one understand you or your actions, and sometimes not understanding them yourself. Problem dealing and communicating withthe adults, and finding that friends are above all... even stuff like first love. All of that is not new in story telling, but Hot road bring it in a very authentic yet simple way. A lot of stuff feel dramatic, as teenagers often feel about things. The excellent way of understanding and getting across the mind of youths in what really amazing in the story. The thing that could only be a minor disappointed was the fact that there were drugs in the manga (very rare!) but the author never really dressed it or the problem properly, in my opinion.

As for the characters, a lot of them feel real. They have problems at home, especially our Heroine, which feels unwanted and unloved at home, finding comfort in the gatherings of the "NIGHTS", finding love from Haruyama. Haruyama is also case of "rebel without a cause", living apart from his parents and doesn't want to communicate with them, yet deep inside he blame himself for that. Although a lot of people love him and adore him, he has a case of self hating, which can lead to self harm.
This we see a lot in this manga. The characters usually do stuff that can lead to your own demise, because that's how teens are. They live, they laugh, and often they don't think things through the end. Getting in trouble and just enjoying the company of each other.

The art is... well, pretty bad to be honest. It's not just the matter of old fashioned art or something like that, the problem is character design. It's just not good, most of the time. A lot of characters are similar (same face) and it's really annoying when you try to figure exactly who is who. But, as said before here, the style is great. The perspective, the paneling and of course the zooming when we can see only the eyes and the mouth of the characters, adds a lot. What lacks in the art, the style is covering for that.

Overall, it's a great manga. It's young and fresh and as said multiple times-simple. It's not really hard to understand and it's short. The thing that may bother you (and bothered me, a little bit) was how dramatic the love story was-of course, it fits perfectly for the story, as teenagers often feel like their first love is the biggest love of their life, and that they could never love like that again. But still, I can usually never stand love stories like that. If you like good, realistic teen stories, I believe you would like Hot road.