Nah Honoka is not gimmicky. The way TN designed the character is that you have tools you use in neutral, tools you use at the wall, tools you use in the stun game and tools you utilize at frame advantage. In neutral CQC your moves are:
P strings
6P strings
6K / 6K2K
2P
1P / 214P+K / 1K
6T
Her P is -2 on block and is 9i. Meaning we can counterpoke 12i mids with stuff like P > P. Her go to strings are safe/ semi safe against strikers and lose safety against grapplers: PP6P at -7 and PPP at -6 with PPPK giving +1 frame advantage AND a tracking mid. PP into ducking avoids highs. I would avoid PP2K. NH stun is ok but it forces her into BKO where her options are limited.
6P and 6K are your primary counterpokes. 6K will give you a jab or 6P followup on fastest. Like every other fast mid poke with followups on DOA characters the frames on block are shit so you have to mixup finishing your strings with simple poking. 6PP is -7, 6PK is unsafe. 6K is -7.
2P is 13i and neutral on hit. This means she can effectively frame trap people with 10i jabs and 12i mids or slower with proper conditioning. Same goes for 9i / 11i characters however this task is harder due to her 6P not trading with some of them.
1P and 214P+K imo are her best crush attacks. 1P is safe on hit and tracks. It also allows for good followups. 214P+K is an INSTANT HIGH CRUSH 3 IN 1 THAT IS +1 ON BLOCK and stuns on NH. From the +1 she loses to jabs and 11i mids. That's not a huge deal because an instant high crush that stuns on NH while granting very minor frame trap potential is ridiculous as is. 1K is just an alternate tracking low that you can force a knockdown with. I have yet to find a way to capitalize on 1KK as of this post. 1K is also the go to move for oki because it is a force tech on hit and has followups to keep her safe.
6T grants you frame advantage to lockdown the opponent with tracking moves, her guard breaks, and her superior pressure strings. These are what I use:
3PPP
P+K PP
4K
4P
H+K
4H+K
2K
3PPP because the string is safe at the end, contains a 3 in 1 and is loaded with delayable mids for CH fishing. P+K the first hit is a natural combo on NH and on CH / in stun, P+KP jails on block and P+K PP can be charged for +3. This also has delayable mids for CH fishing and is one of the best wall pressure strings. 4K is a great mid kick poke. great stun on CH, transitions into ducking regardless if on hit on block and is only -1. This means we are still 10/12/14. So we can make a read to counter poke someone or crush high retaliation with ducking attacks. 4P is typical tracking with delayable followups. H+K is the same and at -2 we can use jab to counterpoke 12i mids. 4H+K is here to call out crush attempts and it grants +2 on block. Reward is better when it hits the opponent into dangerzones. Otherwise I dont use it much. 2K tracks and leads into a stunning low on NH. From this range the unsafe 66P becomes -7, and we can poke with 4K and 8P which is -6 on block and gives us transition on hit.
This is CQC. As for her neutral in general it is not bad IMO. Her stances have nothing to do with neutral; They are stun game tools. In the neutral game you talk about the pokes for CQC and mid to long range combat. I just covered CQC. For mid to long range she has 236P, 8P, 4P+K, 6P+K, 66P+K, 66P , 46P (Which is NEUTRAL on BLOCK and + FRAMES AT MID TO LONG RANGE) for whiff punishment. 7K, 4K for keepout. 8P, 4K, 46P, and 3H+K, 66P (though inconsistent on semi-safety) for general mid range to close range poking. Running P is up to +4 frames on block at far range. Running K is -4 on block. Runing P+K is + frames at long range on block and safe at closer ranges.
Couple this repertoire of tools with her good freestep and walkspeed, her godlike korean backdash and her crouch dash that ducks highs like a champ. You have a character that in the neutral is solid at footsies with all around solid tools for approach, mid range poking, keepout and whiff punishment. That to me is not bad neutral. IMO bad neutral is Leon or Phase 4 who have an extremely limited set of tools they can use outside of specific scenarios.
Also I was able to logically explain sensible uses for her tools to you guys. Gimmicky characters don't have explanations for anything. It's stuff that doesn't make any sense and shouldn't work/be good yet does so. Brad Wong is a gimmick.
I would go into her wall game and stuff I think is best for the stun game but this post is way too long and it's late. I will do that some other time.