Desire Climax

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Mio and Shoei.

A Shojo Manga written and drawn by Ayane Ukyou. It was serialized in Margaret from 2004 to 2006.

The story starts out rather predictably: Mio Omori is from a poor family and works a cleaning job to scrape money together while her mother stays in the hospital. One night, as she's heading home from work, she witnesses a bunch of thugs beating up a ritzy sports car, only for the owner of said car to come out and kick ass and take names. When Mio goes to call the police, he grabs her by the hair and for some reason decides to make out with her. And then he throws money at her, claiming that he's "bought" her.

Things only get weirder from there. The next day Mio discovers that her assailant is none other than Shoei Jinnai, an extremely popular student and her landlord's son. From there it develops into a whirlwind romance which involves lots and lots of sex.

While the plot isn't especially gripping, it's fine for a light read (or a Guilty Pleasure). Weirdly enough, it delves into issues such as Brother-Sister Incest and child prostitution, neither of which have all that much impact on the plot in the long run.

In all, it's not really that great but it's not really that horrible, either.

Tropes used in Desire Climax include:
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys - Seems to operate under this principle. Mio chooses the Jerkass Shoei over the more-or-less agreeable Hinata.
  • A Man Is Not a Virgin - At the very least, neither Shoei or Hinata are.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy - Partially averted. The author has no problem with drawing Mio's naked breasts, but everything else is off-limits.
  • Beauty Equals Goodness
  • Bishonen - Shoei and Hinata are both very pretty. In fact, they're prettier than Mio.
  • Brother-Sister Incest - Hina's interactions with his sister are a bit...iffy to begin with, but then we're told that Mio is the illegitimate child of Mr. Jinnai, making her Shoei's sister. They decide to have sex anyway.
    • But then again, it turns out Hina's actually Shoei's little brother. Mio had just assumed the worst when she learned that her mother had had an affair with her landlord.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me! - Mio's reaction to Shoei slipping her a credit card.
  • The Dog Was the Mastermind - The gardener's father kidnapped Mio when she was small and caused her Laser-Guided Amnesia. The gardener also kidnaps her.
  • Evil All Along - The gardener.
  • Ill Girl - Mio and Hinata's mom, who spends the whole story in the hospital.
  • Incest Is Relative - Mio and Shoei pretty much convince themselves that they can get around the incest thing by being in love.
    • This is actually averted (thankfully) later on - it turns out that it's actually Hina who's related to Shoei instead of Mio. The situation with Hina's mother is unclear, but it is stated that they are at least half brothers, given that Shoei's father also fathered Hina. Mio's mother also served as a wet nurse to Shoei, which makes things more convoluted.
  • Jerkass - Shoei is one, as per romance plot rules. Hinata can also come across as one.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia - Turns out Mio has some.
  • Love Makes You Evil - Hinata sort of delves into this when he gets jealous of Mio's relationship with Shoei.
  • Love Makes You Dumb - Mio suffers the worst from this, starting out as a strong-willed, feisty girl but eventually devolving into a simpering moron for the man who pretty much sexually assaults her every time she's on the job.
  • Meido - Mio gets hired as one.
  • Nipple-and-Dimed - Averted.
  • Only Sane Man - Mercifully, Mio points out a lot of the ridiculousness that takes place early in the story, and even manages to avoid Shoei's constant attempts to bone her. Unfortunately, she later starts to become a part of the insanity.
  • Porn with Plot - While the main story is kind of interesting, one can't help but feel like it was tacked on at the last second.
  • Rich Bastard - Shoei all the way.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money - Shoei apparently believes that raping your employees is A-okay when you're rich.
  • Twin Switch - Kind of. In a flashback, we learn that the gardener's father had planned to kidnap Shoei for ransom, but kidnapped Mio instead, since the two were cross-dressing at the time. It Makes Sense in Context.
  • Victim Falls For Rapist - Shoei does everything from forcibly kissing Mio to outright raping her on a couple of occasions. She starts to cave once he makes her have an orgasm.
  • What Happened to the Mouse? - Mio's friend shows up a couple times and then disappears for the rest of the story.
  • Yandere: Shoei and Hinata for Mio.