I remember reading this manga a long time ago but then I dropped it. I didn't pick it up again until this year and now I remember why I dropped it in the first place.
Author: Ukyou Akane
Genre: Shoujo, Romance, Drama, Smut, School Life
English Name: 'Desire Climax'
Total volumes: 7 volumes (2004 - 2006)
SUMMARY
Omori Mio is a high school teenager working a number of part-time jobs to support her hospitalized mother and her younger brother, Hinata. One night, she encounters a violent scene where a mysterious, young man with cold eyes forcefully steals her first kiss and throws money at her, saying he'll buy her and that she belongs to him.
The next day, she receives an offer to become the maid for her extremely rich landlord and his son, Jinnai Shoei, aka 'Prince Jinnai', the cool, handsome and most popular guy in her school. To her horror, Mio finds out the man who stole her first kiss is none other than Shoei.
Arrogant and forceful, Shoei expresses his love for Mio in his own way that makes it hard for her to ignore her feelings for him.
As the series progresses, Mio uncovers long-forgotten memories of herself and Shoei and her relationship with her brother becomes more complicated when he gets jealous and interferes with their relationship.
I have to say, I actually had high hopes for this manga. I thought it was going to be really good but it was kind of disappointing as I read on. The manga had a good start when Mio forgot all about her past with Shoei and they try to start their relationship from the beginning.
But it all goes downhill when Hinata got involved. There was just so much unnecessary drama with the brother that was panned out rather loosely. His backstory was randomly thrown in and explored really poorly to quickly move onto the next drama.
The author definitely did a terrible job executing some of the plotlines in the series that left a few plotholes. She didn't tie the ending that well either. It was like she woke up one day and decided to wrap up the series without thinking how these characters deserve a good ending. It was given the usual cliché endings for romance shoujo ending and not a very good one either. It just seemed rushed.
CHARACTERS
Mio: A poor, naive and emotionally weak girl who easily gets strung along by any male character who exerts manipulative tendencies (i.e Shoei and Hinata). She's often indecisive when it comes to her relationships with Shoei and her brother. She has a sense of dignity of being a poor person and doesn't utilize Shoei's riches to solve her poverty. She's lived her life being poor and chooses to solve her issues through means of her own without the help of anyone else (though it futile when your boyfriend is super rich and always gets his way).I started to hate Mio as the series progressed because she was way too naive and selfish. She kept running away instead of facing her problems when it comes to Shoei. The author tried to make her appear strong and confident but it contradicts how she acts by running away from him when things got too complicated.
It's hard to understand why Shoei is in love with her when she repeatedly runs away from his advances every time she's insecure about something. Maybe he comes on a little too strong sometimes but running away is just a cowardly move when he's repeatedly declared his love for her from the beginning.
Shoei: A high-achieving, handsome and intelligent rich guy who is adored by all the girls in the school. He is your typical rich boy - 'I always get what I want' by any means necessary kind. Yes, he's hot and smutty but that's the only attractive things about him. At school, he has this persona where he's kind and smiles to everyone. He wears glasses to make himself seem more approachable (because for a hottie like him without glasses just seems more out of reach). But at home, or usually around Mio, he's a completely different person. He becomes arrogant and forceful in a sexual way towards Mio.
Shoei has been in love with Mio ever since they were children. A running quirk between them is whenever Mio takes off his glasses, He blushes profusely, breaking his hot stares. This is because as kids, Mio would take off his glasses and kiss him.
He can easily coerce Mio into sexual acts but doesn't force her to sleep with him until she's ready. He may be cool and handsome but he's just way too possessive and forceful. You kinda like him but also don't like him either because of his rich boy tendencies - money can't solve anything boy.
Hinata: Mio's brother and has demonstrated to be very manipulative and quite selfish. He's just downright annoying and clingy, and honestly a brat out of diapers. The only thing that's good about him is - nothing! He's got the cute looks which makes it easier for his job as a male escort. Mio has no idea about his job as a prostitute because she refuses to let him drop out of school and work (like every caring older sibling in mangas).
The manga would have done better if there was no arc about the brother because it was done rather poorly to make him seem like an important character. The author probably tried to take her story different compared to other mangas with a love triangle where she's made it the brother to be the obstacle for the main couple. However, Hinata's character as her brother just made him seem really annoying and clingy like a girl.
It's just baffling the way the Mio chose to handle her relationship with Shoei and Hinata. Her indecisiveness was clear when she couldn't abandon Hinata even he was obviously manipulative her and her feelings for Shoei. It could be that she didn't want to hurt one or the other - in my opinion, a good ending for this love triangle is that she doesn't choose either of them.
One; because they are both manipulative and don't take her feelings into consideration. Two; she's way too naive and selfish for wanting both. And three; neither of the boys deserve her.
Other characters: The parents make their appearance here and there when it was necessary or even unexpected. Mio's mother is mostly seen in the hospital and Shoei's father comes and goes because he's a businessman. And most of the time the portrayal of their character is really appalling.
Mio's mother is shown to be a very caring person who loves her children dearly. She used to work as Shoei's wet nurse and he sees her as a mother figure (because his real mom is dead, I think) so she's rather close to him because he often visits her at the hospital. She's often carefree but gets serious when it comes to her children. One plothole I noticed is that I still don't understand why the mother had lied about the Mio's 'birth origin'. It was never explained why she lied and it's weird how her daughter never questioned why she lied about.
Shoei's father is a terribly weak character. Too wishy-washy for most parts of the series. At first, he's portrayed as the kind-hearted and ditzy old man who's very carefree about Shoei's spoilt tendencies to keep Mio beside him. But then, towards the end of the manga, his personality did a 180 turn and became very serious and somewhat the bad guy separating the two. Then another 180 by the end of the series. Like, what? His character had a weird development out of any mangas I've read. For a father to suddenly turn into a 'bad' guy and just sit back as danger befalls onto Shoei and Mio. WTH?!
TOTAL SCORE
Storyline: ★★☆☆☆
Characters: ★☆☆☆☆
Romance: ★★☆☆☆
Drama: ★☆☆☆☆
Is it Enjoyable?: ★☆☆☆☆
Overall score: ★★☆☆☆
Overall, the manga had a good plotline going on but the author just went the wrong way about it. There wasn't much depth in the main characters with a rather loose portrayal of some of them and the plotline was explored really poorly and too rushed. There were times where it just didn't make sense either because we move on from one drama to the next.
There is romance in this series but it isn't developed too well here because I couldn't feel the couple connecting at all. Most of the time, it just seemed like Mio was being strung along with Shoei's whims and forcefulness. She loves him but is also runs away at every roadblock they encounter without consulting to him how she feels or even cares to know how he feels in the matter.
The characters' portrayal was a major problem for me because I couldn't bring myself to like any of them. They were either too annoying, too selfish or just plainly getting on my nerves.
I wouldn't read this again nor would I recommend this for anyone. But if it still interests you then it's up to you.
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