Yokujō Climax

Desire Climax (欲情(C)MAX) is a shōjo manga series by Ayane Ukyō. It was serialized in Shueisha's Margaret manga magazine from 2004 to 2006, and collected in seven bound volumes. The series is published in France by Panini Comics France and in Germany by Egmont Manga.

Story
The Omori family are poor. Mio Omori's father died when she was young, and her mother has been hospitalized for some time with an unspecified illness. She lives alone with her little brother Hina(ta), doing a number of part-time jobs just to get by. One night, when going home after work, she encounters upon a violent young man who throws money at her, saying he'll 'buy her', after stealing her first kiss.

The next day her mother tells Mio that their landlord, who happens to be among her father's closest friends, has offered her a job as a maid at their mansion. Eager to help, he feels that it will be safer at night that way, and her mother agrees to this, despite her daughter's opposition. To her horror, Mio finds out that the violent man who stole her kiss is none other than Shoei Jinnai (who molests her), the son of their landlord and the most popular and high-achieving student at her high school; so much so that he is widely known as 'Prince Jinnai'

In his own strange way, the Prince starts to treat her as his girlfriend. He even tells Mio he loves her. When they finally start dating, Mio's brother Hinata becomes extremely jealous. He tries to interfere with their relationship, and even goes as far as trying a rather ham-fisted attempt to seduce the Prince. When Mio catches them kissing, she runs home, but not for long, as the next morning their house is demolished on the Prince's order.

Characters

 * Mio Omori: Seventeen years old, her birthday is on December 1, her starsign is Sagittarius and bloodtype O. Although poor, naive and often indecisive and emotionally weak, Mio has good intentions and is a very hardworking girl. Mio lives with her brother, Hinata, while their mother is in hospital. Due to an incident in her childhood, in which she was kidnapped in place of Shoei, she lost her memory of her friendship with him. In a meeting many years later, Shoei offers to buy her, claiming she now "belongs to him". She falls in love with Shoei.


 * Shoei (Prince) Jinnai: His birthday is on May 22, his starsign is Gemini and bloodtype AB. Shoei is Mio's closest childhood friend and the scion of a very wealthy family, although Mio initially doesn't recall their past together. His father is the Omori family's landlord. He is popular, athletic, intelligent and handsome, adored by many girls in school, popular among both ladies and gentlemen. He is deeply in love with Mio. He manipulates events so that Mio is first forced to work in his home as a maid, then to live there. Spoiled and extremely wealthy, he lacks in compassion, consideration and empathy towards others. Mio later takes it upon herself to re-educate him to be a better person. Later they become a couple.


 * Hinata (Hina) Omori: Mio's little brother, though not it transpires by blood. He is in fact the illegitimate son of Mr. Jinnai and is the Prince's half-brother. Originally, At some point Hinata seems to have believed Mio was Mr. Jinnai's child. It's not clear how he found out or how long he's known about his origins, but it is a fact that he's been in love with his "sister" for a while. On many occasions, Hinata has demonstrated a chilling cruel streak and a manipulative personality; he wants Mio and is apparently willing to use tricks and lies to separate her from the Prince. He has even gone so far as too trick a half-blind Shoei into thinking he was Mio so he could seduce him. Unknown to Mio, he has been working as a male escort (prostitute). After running away from home, Hinata moved in with his pimp, before moving into the Jinnai house.


 * Mr. Tomoe: Hina's pimp. Hina moves in with him after running away. Later, Mio moves in with him too after he offers her a job and tells her that Hina is staying with him. Mio does not know Mr. Tomoe is Hina's pimp. He also seems to know a lot about Hina and Mio's family issues with the Jinnais, showing Hinata where to find his birth mother.


 * Hayato: Prince's oniwaban (spy) is nineteen years old. Since his real job serves little purpose most of the time, he acts as the gardener for Jinnai house. He is very friendly and listens to Mio's problems, though he usually seems to know more than he lets on.


 * Akiko: Mio's mother. She is very sickly and stays in the hospital. Shoei also has a close relationship with her, because she was his wet nurse (mother figure) when he was a child. There is some evidence of their closeness when she calls him by his given name and that he frequently visits her at the hospital of his own accord. She often says or requests things from the Jinnai family without asking her children (for example when 'the prince' tell her about mio and himself are on the verge of getting engaged, she all ready assumes that they will get married someday). She currently owes the Jinnai family a debt of over one-billion yen.


 * Mr. Jinnai: Shoei's father and Hinata's biological father. Mr. Jinnai is usually very carefree and extremely gentle, so much so that Mio says she can't refuse his most unusual requests. He also has been shown to become very serious and even frightening at times of stress. Afterwards, of course, he immediately reverts to his usual character. At some point in the past, he and Mio's father were very close friends, and Mr. Jinnai wishes to keep caring for Mio and her family because of it.


 * Jun-chan: A friend of Mio's from school.

Reception
Reviewing the first volume, a reviewer for Manga News regarded the "strong point" of the manga to be its depiction of poverty in Japan. The reviewer found the brutality of the scenes between Mio and Jinnai to be confronting. AnimeLand regarded the first volume's story as 'sordid', disliking the non-consensual relationship that Mio is in, but noting that the author is popular with Japanese girls, "who do not seem affronted by the scenes of domination by horny males". Faustine Lillaz, writing for Planète BD, "gained the impression of a modernized Cinderella", but found the actions of the male characters to be "very caricatured". Lillaz found that the art was good, but that it "lacked originality". In a short review for volume four, the reviewer for AnimeLand described the manga as "morally violent", and found the fifth volume "repetitive". They found the "reversal of roles" in the final volume to give a "rather amusing" new dimension to the work. The reviewer for Manga News found the gardener a "dynamic" character.