In the town of Clock Hill, there is an old boarding house called Maison Ikkoku. While the residence itself is fairly normal, most of its occupants are not. Yuusaku Godai, its most quiet tenant, has finally reached his limit with his neighbors' constant disruptions and boisterous partying. Wanting a calmer place to call home so that he can study in peace, he prepares to move away.
However, his plans to leave are suddenly interrupted when he meets the new boarding house manager, Kyoko Otonashi. Falling madly in love with her, he decides that the boarding house may not be such a bad place to live after all. Unfortunately for him, Kyoko has her own romantic troubles: she is a widow whose husband died six months into their marriage. And despite her blossoming feelings for Godai, Kyoko still cherishes her dearly departed husband, and she believes that no other man could possibly fill the void in her heart. But with Godai's persistence and some help of the other eccentric tenants, she may experience true love once again.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Lorelei
Rumiko Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku. Never have I seen anything as human as this. It was summer, a couple of years ago, when I stumbled upon an anime that seemed like it was an ancient artifact, a blast from the past. Because of how it looked (the quality's very worn-out), I almost dismissed it. Just like most of the people who do not give old anime a chance. I was fortunate enough because I decided to stick with the show for 96 episodes. After I watched it, I felt as though I just watched one of the best things that ever happened to anime. The story revolvesaround the old apartment Maison Ikkoku (even the apartment is old. Laughs). Yusaku Godai, room five's resident, together with Yotsuya, Akemi, and the Ichinose family, lives in it. The plot opens just as the old manager left the building. Suddenly, a beautiful middle-aged woman named Kyoko Otonashi (along with her dog) arrives, and tells them that she's their new manager.
Yusaku Godai is not your typical perfect main character. He's a ronin, someone who can't pass college entrance exams. He lives on instant noodles, he has a lot (and I mean a lot) of pornographic magazines, his room has a big, annoying hole, and that said room is in a god-forsaken apartment. Heck, he doesn't even have money to buy underwears and he's also blessed with a couple of bumbling bozos for co-tenants. Don't get me wrong, though. He's a good guy, maybe the sanest one on the Ikkoku apartment (but he's not totally sane, he daydreams, and those daydreams he has are way crazy). But, there's no hiding it. He's the stereotype loser. If not for Kyoko, he probably wouldn't go to his entrance exams for the nth time.
Ah, the manager, Kyoko. Since it's Maison Ikkoku we're talking about, it would not be complete without Kyoko. She's arguably the most complex character of the story. At first, she was a hot, steamy manager (according to Godai), looking as though she doesn't have anything hidden deep within her. But as soon as she starts talking to her dog, Souichiro, we are given hints that she's not just what meets the eye. She's a strong, independent woman, but she's a little on the indecisive side. Anyway, she's one character you can't help but love.
I could go on and on for hours discussing about the supporting cast. You'd feel as though Rumiko Takahashi had spent much effort in putting life to her characters. Akemi is a scantily-clad woman who parades in the apartment with her seducing voice. She's a deep character too, but not as well-explored as Godai or Kyoko. Mrs. Ichinose is your all-nosy loud-mouthed neighbor, complete with Japanese fans. And Yotsuya.. I still don't know how to describe him. He's one of the supporting cast that I really liked, with all his mysteriousness and weirdness. Really, if you have watched this (or would watch this), you would know why. He's EPIC. Then, there's Coach Mitaka, Kyoko's other suitor, who defies the "stupid other love interest" stereotype. He's the complete, perfect foil to the spineless Godai. Later in the show, you'd see more. Grandma Godai will come, then Kozue, then Yagami, then Kyoko's family. And they're all worth mentioning. Each one affected the story in a way or another. Even the dog has its merits. The dub was well-done for all of them too. That's how splendid the characters of Maison Ikkoku are.
Maison Ikkoku is a work with lots of genres all in one. It has romance (and a good, mature romance at that), comedy (OH, THANK YOU YOTSUYA FOR BLESSING THE WORLD OF ANIME), coming-of-age, and it deals with things such as finding jobs, moving on, and the importance of communication (misunderstanding is a vital part of the anime, most of the time funny, sometimes serious, and there's a lot of it. You'd drown yourself in misunderstandings). 96 episodes did justice to it.
We get to be spectators as Godai tries to be a man for Kyoko. How he learns things are not as easy as they seem. We see how Kyoko contemplates with her past, how she grows, and how she develops her feelings. I wouldn't spoil you with the story. Watch it yourself, their bittersweet, sometimes crazy, always heartwarming love story. It's not an easy road, and sometimes you have to take the long way. All those complaints about the outdated art? You'd forget them when you see the tenants drink and have their merriment. And to tell you the truth, I kind of liked how it looked: it represents the times when you don't have much technology around but still feel as though life's good. I really felt I wanted to drink booze with them, to dance with Mrs. Ichinose, and to personally see Yotsuya balance sake bottles on his mouth. The music was well-done too (scored by genius Kenji Kawai). Talk about timeless perfection. The ending will make you feel complete, and could make you teary-eyed too.
I couldn't sing enough praises for Maison Ikkoku. If you'd ask me to enumerate its most memorable moments, I'd probably never stop. Maison Ikkoku takes us to the most memorable days of our lives, where we fall, get up, and love selflessly. It made me want to live in the 80s. It will make you root for Godai and Kyoko as they make their way to happiness.
This is perfection. This is Rumiko Takahashi's masterpiece.
pastafiend
First, I want to make a note that the ratings for Art and Sound are somewhat tough to call for this particular series; it is definitely showing its age, the color is washed out, the animations are far from pristine by todays standards, but all of that given, there are inspired flourishes that, at times, challenge the stuff you see coming out of computer-aided studios today. When considering whether you are interested in watching this series, you should look elsewhere if you cannot answer "yes" to these two questions: "Am I patient?" and "Do I enjoy romance?". If you made it past that, you mayfind yourself enjoying this gem from the 80s.
Maison Ikkoku primarily revolves around Godai, a spineless loser, who falls for the new manager of his apartment, Kyoko. Unfortunately for him, within the first handful of episodes, it is made clear (I won't say how), that Kyoko's heart is currently out-of-reach. Aside from the overarching romance, it is also a story about everyday life struggles: paying rent, working, going to school, making grades, etc. What it is most of all is the story of a young man getting beat down by life because he won't stand up for himself... and its downright hilarious.
Constantly dancing on the line of poverty, Godai is surrounded by devilish, meddlesome neighbors, love rivals, and good-for-nothing friends. Even when he manages to avoid their pitfalls, his own indecisiveness usually foils his attempts at getting ahead in life.
When he needs to study for exams, his neighbors invite themselves in for an all-night party, disregarding his pleas for privacy. When he is low on cash, his maybe-unemployed neighbor Yotsuya slithers in from a hole in the wall and steals his food. When he makes strides in his love life, rivals arrive to plunder his achievements. When all else fails, the electricity goes out, he arrives late for exams, or gets kicked out of his apartment.
But to make things even better, despite the seeming maliciousness of all these characters, you'll find redeeming qualities abound, and often a hint of goodwill hidden underneath their malicious deeds. Take excellent situational comedy, hilarious and cunning characters, and pair them with the best veteran voice actors of the decade (check them out, you've heard them in some of your favorite shows), and you have a show thats hard to disagree with on an episode-by-episode basis.
So its perfect then? Absolutely not. Despite all the praise you may want to award it, the show is long, tedious, and occasionally repetitive. Kyoko's inflexibility controls the pace of the show, and makes for some dramatic scenes, but you may find yourself shaking your fist in frustration over it more than a couple of times. Godai's inability to clarify even the most basic of misunderstandings is a source of humor, but again, will inspire no shortage of annoyance, and when Godai's two would-be girlfriends arrive and generate entire new dimensions of misfortune for Godai, you may nearly lose your patience with the series.
But if you make it through that, if you can enjoy the humor, and patiently wait for the romance to work itself out, you will be rewarded greatly. Watching Godai grow as a character is hugely rewarding by itself, combining that with the resolution of certain issues on Kyoko's side, the conclusion of the series proves quite poignant with a lot less of the melodrama you'll get from today's romance anime.
Jealousy, pettiness and spite have never been more beautiful.
P.S. I'm a fanboy
ArnoldK
A lot of anime fans today don't seem to give series from the 80s a real shot, and that's really a shame. There's a lot of truly great storytelling from this era, and it seems to get dismissed because it "looks old". Maison Ikkoku is one of those titles, and it's a crime that more people haven't seen this. There's a real sense of humanity, tenderness, and subtlety in this series that really makes it stand out. It's a romantic comedy, but it's also so much more than that. It's a show about people, how we relate to each other,and how we live our lives. It's about growing up into adulthood, moving on after great loss, and the peaks and valleys in getting together with the love of your life.
And the characters are wonderful - they are treated with such love and care by the series. Watching the last half of the series, particularly the last 12 episodes makes this abundantly clear- there is such subtlety and emotion in the character development in this show, that you want -all- of them to be sent off with hapy endings.
Admittedly it's perhaps not for everyone. There's no gimmicks or fanservice, and the wacky hijinks, while certainly there (especially in the guise of Godai's neighbors), are somewhat toned down by today's standards. Younger kids probably would have no interest in this kind of show. Some may consider the art and sound a little dated (I graded the art and sound a 7 based on the standards of anime at the time). And 96 episodes may be a little long for some people, but for me it's 100% worth it.
But if you want a show about people in their 20s and older (not kids or teenagers) finding love and growing up into adulthood, and want something a little less silly and a little more serious and mature in an anime series, Maison Ikkoku is the absolute perfect show for you.
axel360
Maison Ikkoku: the single most maddening piece of media I have ever experienced. Romcoms, and just romance anime in general, is a genre that is very near and dear to my heart. I’ve seen almost all of the big ones and probably enjoy them more than most of the anime community. So naturally I was interested in what some call the grandfather of anime romcoms, Maison Ikkoku. I gave it a shot, and oh boy did I come to regret that decision. The premise is pretty simple. A beautiful widow, Kyoko, moves into, and starts working as the “manager”, in the apartment complex the main character, Godai,and some colorful characters, are living in. It’s more or less love at first sight for Godai, and well, you can probably see where this is going; it’s a typical romcom set-up, with some more serious aspects thrown in. But one of the first things you might wonder is how are they going to handle a 96 episode romcom. Surely you can’t stretch out something that usually takes place over a 12-24 episode show to 96 episodes right? Right? Wrong. It’s like they took everything I dislike about the genre, amplified it to insane levels, and shoved it in my face for almost 100 episodes.
Maison Ikkoku is basically “Misunderstandings: The Anime”, and almost all of them could have been quickly resolved with decent communication, or any communication at all. How many times can the main character be caught in a compromising position, have a perfectly valid explanation, only for him to inexplicably fail to properly explain himself at all? If his neighbor ever gets murdered and he is on the other side of the world, he’s going to jail for it, because he will somehow find a way not to tell them he was 2000 miles away when it happened. Or he’ll get interrupted while trying to tell them. Because if I took a shot every time someone got interrupted just as they were about to say something really important, I would be dead after a couple episodes. The amount of times these misunderstandings lead to excessive pouting, or even running away and hiding for days, is laughable. It might be excusable if these were middle school kids, but these are adults in their early-to-mid-20s we’re talking about here.
Look, I have a pretty high tolerance for slower love stories, but this is borderline writing malpractice. It’s as if the author knew people lose interest when it goes from the “will they/won’t they phase” to the “couple phase” and wanted to keep making the story, so we were just stuck in that first stage indefinitely. And to make it happen, the main character’s, and to a certain extent the main love interest’s, characters were nearly ruined. Dense would be an understatement. How either of them dress themselves or brush their teeth without adult supervision is a mystery to me. Keep in mind, they are supposed to play the “straight men” to the rest of the apartment complex’s loonies. I’m not going to spend much time on the rest of the residents. They’re a bunch of selfish, drunken idiots that screw up everything they put their grimy hands on and their act wears thin because it’s repeated ad nauseum. Got it? Good. As for the others, Mitaka, Godai’s romantic rival, is probably the only one worth mentioning. He’s pretty much the only main cast member that acts like an actual adult and is able to communicate his feelings semi-effectively. IMO, Mitaka , was the best character in the show, but given he was not the main character, you knew his chances of “winning” Kyoko’s heart were slim-to-none.
As far as the animation, it’s an 80s show, so don’t expect to be wowed. This is just a personal preference, but I can’t say I’m a fan of the character design. Many of the adults looked too much like giant children. This problem was not as severe as it is in, say, Key shows, but still, maybe differentiate adults and children by more than just height.
Onto sound. None of the OST, OPs, or EDs were even slightly memorable to me. The voice acting, outside of Shigeru Chiba’s performance as the bizarre Yotsuya, was at best average. Kyoko's dog in particular hurt my ears anytime it made any sound whatsoever.
I can’t say I hated the show from the beginning; but like an unhappy marriage, it was more of a slow burn to Hatred Town. Even the most interesting aspect of the show, the fact Kyoko was a widow, was mostly mishandled. There were long stretches where I legitimately forgot she was a widow, and then suddenly there would be an episode focusing only on that, only for it to mostly be forgotten by the next episode. And, the thing is, I desperately wanted to love this series, but by the time I got to the end, it had nearly broken me. I would say I cannot believe so many people like Maison Ikkoku, but a lot of people also like getting whipped and beaten. I’m guessing there’s some crossover in that Venn Diagram, because you have to have a little bit of masochist in you to sit through nearly 40 hours of this hellish romcom purgatory.
MeitanteiShakura
I find it a bit disheartening that most fans part of the "Rumic" niche are sometimes too focused on a lot of the hyped stuff and all the battles and action that come with it. I don't have anything against the new action series Rumiko creates or anything, but I feel that a majority forget that it was Rumiko's comedies revolving around romance that made her so well-known in the anime/manga world. The story focuses on Yusaku Godai, a struggling, daydreaming student that is resident to a rundown boarding house "Ikkoku-kan". Godai is constantly being torturedby the other tenants whose main purposes in life seem to be making his life hell and have drinking parties in his room on a daily basis.
We have Hanae Ichinose, who probably loves consuming alcohol and gossiping more than life itself, Hanae's son Kentaro who thinks of himself as the only sane person in the boarding house, the peeping Mr. Yotsuya whose life is a complete mystery, and the redheaded, boozy bombshell Akemi Roppongi (who always seems to be hungover).
When Godai feels that he's at his breaking point with these people and decides to leave, he finds that the old manager of Ikkoku-kan left, and the new manager has just walked through the door with her bags. The beautiful manager is named Kyoko Otanashi and has been recently widowed, looking for work. While the other tenants don't find her to be much of a big deal, Godai takes great interest in the new manager, falling in love with her instantly.
The story revolves around Godai overcoming a lot of his personality flaws, like indecisiveness and being socially inept in some cases in order to prove himself worthy of being with Kyoko. However, like a lot of the pairings in Rumiko's works, there are twists in the pair's relationship and others get involved and tangled in some complicated messes. Like when Kyoko signs up for tennis lessons, the tennis coach Shun Mitaka falls for her also. He has looks, success, great ethical and financial background,...and is basically everything Godai isn't. This makes some complications for Godai and with two women that have their eyes on him as well as the nosy tenants miscarrying information, things get even messier.
For characters, Rumiko has proven to be a genius with handling them realistically and diversely in each series she makes. Sure, you feel a little "sameness" with some of them (like Inuyasha and Ranma Saotome, with their transformation problems, attitude and all), but what makes the characters practically human with complex personalities and relationships with each other.
The animation is about hte same quality as "Urusei Yatsura", which would be a little grainy and stretchy. But heck, this is pretty old, but the animation shouldn't turn people away from a gem like this.
The story of "Maison Ikkoku" is very touching and cute. The characters are mostly likeable, the development and progress of the story flows nicely. It's no wonder it's considered one of the best romance animes by so many.
Tity
(First of all I apologize for my shit english, it's not my mother tongue. I hope it will be understandable.) I try to write this review because some friends asked me "why do you consider Maison Ikkoku as a masterpiece ?". Indeed we can have some prejudices : It's an old anime, the graphic style is really different from the actual, the anime is very long (96 épisodes for a romantic show, never see it) and worse than everything, in France the name was quite ridiculous and people who saw it during their childhood have sometimes difficulties to be objective. So let's talk a little aboutthe contents and the qualities of Maison Ikkoku.
The central theme is of course "love" but it is not approached no mather how. The development is really adult, very thoughtful. It could to be led only by an author who already has a real experience of life and who thought in depth of the subject. With the two main protagonists Godai and Kyoko, it shows a relationship built on a long term (seven years). A love where each learn to know the other one, to admire him, with its faults and its qualities. A love where we learn to feel the life for two. The anime has a great deal of things to say, to communicate. It deals as well with the mourning, the forced mariage, the customs and the social constraints. But it always tries to approach things under a profoundly human vision and filled with hope. It tends to show the beauty hidden behind this ocean of feelings which constitute a human life.
Everything is not so simple, the series asks good questions, evokes the real problems which prevent people from being lucky in love and even happy in general. Every minor character: Mikata, Kozue, Ibuki, brings an additional and necessary contrast. Right in the middle of that, we catch living really the adventure in the side of Godai, seeing him growing up, wanting that he success its life and that he becomes deserving of the woman he loves. So much to say to you that from a certain stage, we are totally touched by the beauty of the things which are presented. It is a brick-built happiness, everything is magnificent. Intense romantic scenes, scenes where we simply see characters enjoying life, getting drunk in a student room. Scenes where we see children laughing and playing and blooming in streets. Scenes which speak to us simply about life. Because it's really that, I don't lie, everything is in the concrete, there is NO superficiality, it touches directly the televiewer permanently with sometimes totally insignificant scenes but which are already magnificent. It is an ode for the happiness, for the joy of being alife, an invitation to enjoy this short time, to fill it the best as possible.
I am not going to write a book about the artistic side, everything is just fucking perfect. The music sublimates always the atmosphere, the landscapes are poetic, delicate. The direction has benn extremely worked. Everything is rhythmic and brought at the right time, we are never bored during the 96 episodes. There is a permanent intelligence at the level of all which takes place, examples to be given is far too important. I shall quote the episode 24, the dialogue with the father-in-law, the episode 52 where even the words are not necessary any more, you look at the image, you understand and you roar with enjoyment. The episode 92 where Akemi-san is badass as fuck.
But besides all these sentimental moments, let us speak about the humor ! After 80 episodes I thought I knew everything about the author's funny register, all her quiproquos, etc... Nevertheless she still managed to surprise me ! Better : All the recurring jokes remain effective till the end : Ichinose-san with her fans, Shun and his "shine-teeth" family, the best oba-chan of the world (all her episodes are epic), Asuna and "pot-au-feu", and last but not least Yotsuya-San and his "Godai-kun !" I'm sure you will laugh to roll on the ground at least three times during each episode.
Finally I'll say two words about the end, without spoiling. I guess all my street heard my shout as an asshole. The last words show that ALL which passed before was meaningful, that everything is held, that everything was thought, that every episode, so commonplace it can seem, brought irreparably to this sublimate end, which transcends everything. I really said myself that the author had understood everything, that she managed to gather all that we could produce of best to inject it to us by package of 20 minutes. That this anime, was the ultimate anime, all what an anime should be. I repeat that I never saw a similar end, where we condense in 15 words all the beauty of the human feelings in their ideal shape and all the complexity which was treated in 96 episodes. It was the most beautiful end for the most beautiful anime of the world.
So go watch this show, you won't regret it !
Iroh-san
A couple years back I had started to watch Maison Ikkoku. I've always been into the romance/slice-of-life genre and Maison Ikkoku seemed like it would be a good show to watch. However after the first ten or so episodes one of my buddies had watched an episode with me. Needless to say, he didn't appreciate it as much as I did. For whatever reason, after that, I decided against watching the rest. But here we are in the year 2015, thirty-five years after the production of this gem. And let me tell you, despite what my friend may have said,I'm so glad I decided to continue this show.
The first thing I would like to touch on is the art and sound. Maison Ikkoku is, by today's standards, a relic. Its art and sound very much remind me of the era it was made in. This might put-off some and in all honesty, it put me off at first too. However for that time period, the animation was very good. In terms of music, I found myself really enjoying the various tunes that were in the show. I even enjoyed the second opening so much that I decided to find it on YouTube. There was only one song in particular that drove me bonkers. It was played very rarely, but it sounded like people were throwing down trashcans on ducks. That's why I only gave sound a nine out of ten. That one track would pop up every once and a while, interrupting the mood of the show. Regardless, for a show from the eighties, its art and sound were very, very good.
Let me tell you, the character building in the show is amazing. It feeds into the story so well. From the ridiculous tenants of Maison Ikkoku to Godai's rival Mitaka, everyone seems like they have a reason to be there. The great thing about this show is you get to watch Godai grow and realize what adulthood looks like. Each and every character in this show pushed Godai and helped him to grow. Albeit sometimes the tropes could become somewhat aggravating. Yet I was never once bored while watching this show. And as I watched Kyoko and Godai's relationship start to grow, I couldn't help but feel happy for them. The show might have been a little longer than I'm used to, but for me, it was just the right length.
After ninety-six episodes of seeing their love grow through the good and the bad times, the series ended in a way that left me really satisfied. In fact, I'd almost go so far as to say it's one of the best, if not the best ending I've ever seen in anime. It gave closure to the wild, bumpy ride that was Maison Ikkoku. And after being frustrated, sad, happy, and joyful alongside all of the characters, I'm sad to see it go. But alas, all good things must come to an end. Ultimantly, its the fact that this series doesn't drag on too long (*cough Detective Conan*cough) that makes it so good. Maison Ikkoku gave me enough time to get to know everyone and become invested in them. It's a journey I'll never forget, that's for sure.
To all of you who may be considering watching this show, I would say go for it! It requires patience, I won't lie, but it's so rewarding. I don't think there are many shows that can surpass the level of care Rumiko Takahashi put into this series. It is for sure one of those classics that you can't afford to miss.
TheCoolGuy82
Maison Ikkoku is in my opinion is one of the best things I've ever experienced in my whole life. Before I jumped there is some I need to tell, To be honest I wasn’t a fan of highschool romance anime i watched some clips in youtube and i find them annoying. However the only reason I decided to watched Maison Ikkoku because it's not set in school and it was made by same creator of Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura and Inuyasha (which were crazy and enjoyable shows). Unlike other romance animes which is about 24 to 40 eps long. Maison ikkoku is the most longest romanceanime which is about 96 eps. However unike those series (which are slice of life comedy) Maison ikkoku is both slice of life comedy, coming of age and romance. However it is a story of progression during its 96 eps run.
Story- The story is simple and that's why i like it more (no supernatural power shit or magical girl). It is set in real world. The story is about Godai a ronin boy (means who failed to pass 10) and a tenant in Ikkoku apartment. He tries but couldn’t concentrate bcuz of his other (evil) tenants. So, one day he decides to leave the house but a new manager named Kyoko came in (who is a second protagonist in the story). She is very beautiful that's why Godai couldn’t leave the house. The main focus of the story is Godai and Kyoko getting together. But It's not only that. It also focus on Godai have to chose a career and getting a job to propose to Kyoko when he will have a right. Kyoko is also most complex character (bcuz of spoilers i will not say anything..). They also meet by so many misunderstanding and crazy side characters.
Art- even though some might find the artstyle dated. But I think this is the most richest artstyle of 80s anime. There are also difference between the first 26 eps and the rest (which were beautiful looking). The art of the anime is also better than its source material (manga). I find the art style charming and nostalgic.
Sound- The soundtrack of this show is amazing and my favourite. It’s may be the only long anime that i love all of the ops and eds. They create an atmosphere and mood. The songs they used in emotional eps are amazing
Characters- now this huge talent of Rumiko Takahashi (creating crazy characters. But unlike urusei yatsura and ranma 1/2 the crazy aspect of characters toned down a bit. The story is about our main protagonists (Kyoko and Godai) getting together. But some other characters also made this enjoyable. Godai's love rival Mitaka (who is rich and wants to marry kyoko and the events in eps 82-84 is tear-jearking) and Kyoko's two love rivals Kozue (who acts more of little sister than rival) and Yagami (who is actually the pillar during the second half of the story) (who is high school student have a crush on Godai. The ending of each character arcs is good.
Enjoyment- Now to watch Maison ikkoku you need two thing one is be patient and the other is also be patient. Because you're gonna achive a huge reward through the end. Like i did. It's the Most enjoyable show.
Overall- As I stated earlier Maison ikkoku is one of my fav shows (there is nothing like it in romance genre, as most of them are highschool snobs getting together). You'll never find anything like maison ikkoku. I highly recommend Maison Ikkoku for the anime fans who are looking for good niche anime. Plz watch it Through the end.
Alternative Recommendations- kimagure orange road(similar art style and the invention modern highschool romance) and Touch(which is my favourite anime, check out my review of touch for more details)
Rating- 11/10😁😊😇
unimportantuser
Maison Ikkoku is a slice of life romance series that was based off the manga of the same name written by Rumiko Takahashi, who I believe needs no introduction. The anime was adapted by Studio Deen, which can either be a good or bad thing, on one hand Deen made the Rurouni Kenshin Trust & Betrayal OVAs. On the other hand though, they created Ranma ½. Without further ado, let's see where this 96 episode anime takes us. Story: The story involves Yuusaku Godai, a young & poor individual who flunked his college entrance exam & is now studying to retake them. Problem is, Godai lives witha group of rowdy tenants at the titular boarding house. He’s decided that he’s had enough of their antics and decides he wants to move out. Before he can however, the new manager Otonashi Kyoko moves in just before Godai can move out. Falling in love at first sight changes Godai’s mind on moving out, and he decides to stay.
This story isn’t very complex, however the incredibly strong writing on Maison’s part helps mitigate this fact. Maison does an incredible job at developing our two leads, Godai, who starts off as a bit of an immature punk, becomes a fine, mature gentlemen. Kyoko on the other hand, we’re fed more information about her past life & much like Godai, we get to see her gain maturity. The development is slow, but it’s very much there, there’s a pretty distinct difference between the Godai & Kyoko of the beginning, middle, & end of the series.
Lets not forget though, Maison Ikkoku is classed as a comedy. I find the comedy to be pretty funny. I’m going to reveal a bit about myself, I hate most comedy in anime. I find most comedy in anime tends to rely on being random & loud. Thankfully, Maison’s comedy is well timed for the most part, & fits with the grounded nature of the series. What jokes do get out of hand & “unrealistic” are usually reserved for dream-sequences, though there are definitely a few bad jokes sprinkled in there. I especially love the antics of Yotsuya, but more on him later.
If I could give a critique to one aspect of Maison’s story, I find it relies way too much on misunderstandings to create its drama. The misunderstandings themselves, aren’t my problem (most of the time anyway) as I find the misunderstandings to fit the nature of the series & make sense both logically & thematically (even if they are easily solvable most of the time). The problem arises with how frequently the series makes use of a misunderstanding to create a conflict in the story, it becomes repetitive & dull.
Characters:
I already mentioned our 2 leads, Kyoko & Godai in the story segment of my review, but I have yet to bring attention to other major characters, the tenants of Maison Ikkoku. Which consist of Hanae Ichinose, Kentaro, Yotsuya, & Akemi Roppongi. Ichinose is an alcoholic who loves partying. Yotsuya is a mysterious individual who doesn’t reveal anything about his personal life & loves tormenting “Young Godai”. Akemi is a, how should I put it? “Different” woman, who enjoys alcohol, getting a little risque, & teasing both Godai & Kyoko. While the tenants aren’t the deepest characters (or most likeable) that you’ll find in anime, they don’t have to be, they’re comedic characters. It also helps that not only do I find their antics to be pretty funny a lot of the time, but they all help to drive the plot along. No matter how small, just about every side character contributes something to the narrative, & I appreciate that heavily about Maison Ikkoku.
Next on our chopping block, we have Coach Mitaka, Godai’s rival in love, MAL labels him as side character, but honestly he’s a main character, although he doesn’t appear until episode 9 of the series (similar to how Asuka doesn’t appear until episode 8 of Neon Genesis Evangelion). Mitaka is a tennis coach with a lot of money, to put it simply, he’s pretty much the polar opposite of Godai, to quote a line from the series “Youth is the only thing you have against me”. Mitaka is a bit weak admittedly, however I feel as though the story does more than enough to make Mitaka come off as more than just ‘Oh we needed a rival in love for Godai so we just plopped him in for no other reason”. Which in turn, makes it to where Maison would be worse off without him there.
The next character I have to discuss is Yukari Godai, or “Grandma Godai”. Yukari, although recurring & not really a mainstay in the cast, is still important, she does a lot of things throughout the storyline to help Godai not only further his relationship with Kyoko, but grow as a person. I’m honestly not a fan of the design that Takahashi went with for Yukari. As it would fit in more with Urusei Yatsura than it does Maison Ikkoku, but it’s an aspect that I’m willing to overlook because Yukari does so much for the storyline & is an incredibly strong character in her own right.
Our final big player that I’m going to mention is Nanao Kozue, Kyoko’s sort of rival to Godai. Honestly, if I can criticize something again, it’s this trope. I’m really not happy that Maison popularized this trope, of all the things future rom-coms could’ve taken from this show, they just had to take this trope. Godai’s romantic interests clearly lie on Kyoko, and the series makes it painfully obvious. That being said though, Kozue is still a great character in her own right, so I’m willing to partially overlook that stupid trope that Maison unfortunately helped popularize. Kozue, much like Mitaka, still does quite a lot of things to further the plot of the series, & without her, Maison wouldn’t be the same. Much like Mitaka however, I do find her a bit of a weak link in the incredibly strong cast of this series, however that said, I still like her quite a lot.
Art:
Maison Ikkoku is a series from 1986, so the art is partially dated, that said though, the series looks absolutely gorgeous, I’d argue one of, if not the best looking TV anime of its time. This isn’t going to compare to movies like ‘Akira” or “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind” however, compared to anime that was airing on TV around the same time that Maison was, Maison absolutely curb-stomps those in terms of looks (Just compare the likes of Touch to Maison & you’ll see what I mean). The town of Clock Hill looks like such a real location, you could almost be fooled into thinking that the town is a real location. The colors are also absolutely gorgeous, there’s a great variety in the color pallete, & they achieve just the right balance of being visible but not washed out. Sunny scenes in the show look just as well as dark scenes, because Maison makes darkness out of color rather than making the screen pitch black to the point where you can hardly see anything (take notes Evangelion 1.0). The animation is splendid, I wouldn’t call it “spectacular” overall, but the series does animate well & has plenty of great sequences & scenarios. There aren’t very many times where the animators decided to get cheap & lazy, and what moments that do come off as such don’t even begin to compare to some of the cheap & lazy animation that works such as “Macorss”, “Touch”, & “Hokuto No Ken” could achieve at times. Maison Ikkoku is consistently well animated throughout its 96 episode run, which isn’t something many other series can say.
Sound:
The voice work on display is phenomenal, there isn’t one performance in this series that I don’t like. “Sumi Shimamoto” is beautiful as Kyoko Otonashi, I couldn’t imagine anybody else in the role. I have similar sentiments for “Issei Futamata” as Godai, though I wouldn’t go as far as to call that performance “beautiful”, instead, I’ll just stick with “stellar”. “Shigeru Chiba” as Yotsua is just funny, this beautiful man’s performance almost constantly makes me laugh my ass off. One thing I really appreciate about Maison is how natural the dialogue sounds, which is incredibly fitting given the grounded nature of this series, but it’s just another detail as to why I have a lot of great things to say about this anime.
The soundtrack was composed by legendary “Ghost in the Shell” composer Kenji Kawai. Even back in 1986, it’s clear that Kenji was still bringing his A-game. Kenji’s score is beautiful, I know I’ve probably used that word a lot throughout this review, but that’s how I feel about it. His compositions just fit damn near masterfully with just about any tone that a scene will set, there’s comedic pieces, somber pieces, & happy pieces. I strongly recommend either going to youtube or downloading the tracks for yourselves & giving them a listen.
Final Thoughts/Overall
Can I rave now? I can!? Hooray! I’m not going to sugarcoat it anymore, Maison Ikkoku is my favorite anime of all time! I love just about everything this anime has to offer. The 2 leads are incredibly likeable characters who are just impossible for me to hate, they’re given very distinct flaws in their character, which also makes them incredibly balanced. The side characters are not only funny, but they become more than just side characters by actually helping to drive the plot along without hogging the spotlight from our 2 leads. The writing is incredibly strong, the soundtrack is a beautiful piece of work, and the series looks gorgeous. My final rating for Maison Ikkoku gets, do I even need to say it? An incredibly enthusiastic 10/10. I can’t promise everyone will feel the same way about this series that I do, but I hope my review could at least tell you why this is my favorite anime ever made. Random piece of trivia, a little bit I find clever about Ikkoku is that the characters last names correspond with their room numbers “Oto” = sound “Nashi” = without (0). “Ichi” = 1. “Yotsu” = 4. “Go” = 5. Roppongi- "roku" (first kanji is the kanji for six) = "six"
VengefulAura
When I started this show, I had just recently completed Rumiko Takahashi's other huge anime known as Ranma 1/2. I had high expectations for this show since that show will now always have a place in my heart as one of my favorite 80's animes. I'm happy to say that now, this series is even better than Ranma 1/2. This is not a review of comparing these shows but since I just finished this series, let's begin. The story is endearing. A man named Godai becomes a new tenant to a boarding house knows as Maison Ikkoku and is greeted by the beautiful widowknown as Kyoko Otanashi. Throughout the series spanning 6 years, they develop and grow into terrific characters, aswell as the other troublesome and loud tenants.
The art and sound design compliment each other very nicely. The art may be your standard 80's style but the use of colors paired with beautiful backgrounds, character designs and locations, makes this very nice to look at for it's time. The sound/music is comforting and makes you feel at home watching the characters blossom.
The characters and their development are near-perfect in my eyes. The tenants add a dynamic to make Godai's life more of a pain but it helps him develop and grow up. All characters fit perfectly into this world that has been created. Godai, Kyoko, Coach Mitaka, Kozue, Yagami, and more all fit in so well. With the introduction of Yagami around episode 50, this show shot right up to being fantastic. She wasn't annoying or just there to slow the plot. She is a perfect addition to add to the story and the drama side of things. There wasn't a dull moment with her around whatsoever.
Enjoyment/Overall:
It's not very often where I can say this show is a 10/10 in my opinion. Sure, there are predictable situations and plot developments. Sometimes the tenants become a little annoying and you want them to go away for a while. Sure, there's some characters added to spice things up when things are going all too well. That's Takahashi's trademark it seems, "Misunderstandings". To me though, that isn't enough to strike the show down too a 9. I believe that no matter what show you see as a solid 10, there are still little flaws here and there. No show is absolutely perfect, but to me this is a slightly flawed masterpiece. I loved it very much, the amount of pros outweigh the cons immensely. It took me almost a year to finish this show, and the ending is absolutely perfect. For 96 episodes, it's not too much to digest and I think the filler is kept too a minimum, except for a really stupid episode about an egg? Yeah I want to forget about that episode completely. Anyways, if you're into rom-coms with endearing characters with a fantastic story you will enjoy it. This is an anime that stood the test of time.
A flawed masterpiece for sure.
10/10.
puppetmazter
The following review is limited to the Love Triangle characters and how the two main characters made me reflect on my past life decisions. To elaborate how inviting the music and nostalgic the setting is, how realistic the problems and funny the characters are, would be too much. Therefore, I'd like to summarize, that at the end of the series you will feel that you've been part of this world and it's sad that the curtain has now fallen. [INTRO] Japan in the 1980s had high expectations of young men growing up and looking for their place in society. Young adults had to deal with less jobsecurity. This has made long-term financial planning more difficult. And despite technological progress and economic growth, the man is traditionally still considered the provider.
Financial security is essential in order to propose to your crush. You don't get married just because you're in love with each other, but because it's the right partner, and that's determined by cultural norms, economic considerations and family expectations. It's usually a pragmatic decision. For men in love, in addition to the high pressure of striving for professional success, this also means a race against time before a more "suitable" partner proposes and snatches your girl away. A failed exam or an unrealized job opportunity could delay your plans and ruin the rest of your life.
On top of that, aiming too high is not encouraged as in "follow your dreams", but ridiculed for being unrealistic. Aim too low and you're seen as unambitious and lazy. Competition is ruthless. If someone is unavailable for two days, suicide doesn't seem to be a too far of a stretch (yes, I'm still setting up a rom-com review).
[GODAI YUUSAKA]
Bad cards for our protagonist, Godai Yuusaku.
Godai is a 20 y.o. below-average student who lives in a run-down boarding house, the Ikkoku Maison, and struggles through his education and part-time jobs. Constantly broke, he barely manages to make ends meet. His future prospects are not particularly rosy. He's neither the sharpest tool in the shed, nor is he talented or hard-working. He is seen as unreliable and clumsy, and is easily influenced and distracted by others, especially by his fellow tenants of Ikkoku Maison. Like many of his peers, his daily struggles degenerate into binge drinking and procrastination.
As a viewer, his decisions and indecisiveness pisses you off, as you wait for him to get his shit together. At the same time, he brings the most important of all qualities to bear so many setbacks: Resilience. Since young Japanese men have to endure hardship and not complain, Godai shoulders his shitty existence and doesn't mope.
[OTONASHI KYOKO]
One fateful day, 22 y.o. Otonashi Kyoko, an attractive and graceful young woman starts working as the manager of Ikkoku Maison. She fits in there like a diamond in a dung heap. I mean, Kyoko is the epitome of femininity by Japanese standards and embodies the gentle restraint and politeness expected of women in that period.
I've always made fun of weebs and their waifu-syndrome, but my goodness gracious, she will distort your image of an ideal female so bad, this anime should come with a warning. Over the course of the series, you build such a bond with her that it can seriously impact on your emotional well-being. And it's her quirks, which come to light over the course of the series, that make her so human and even more desirable.
However, she's introduced to us as a seemingly perfect object of desire for Godai.
She is friendly, respectful and helpful to everyone around her. She always has a smile on her face and is practically the walking sunshine. She is a responsible and hard-working manager. And although she is only two years older than Godai, she seems much more mature.
When she is not keeping busy with the household chores such as cooking, cleaning or repairs, she lovingly takes care of her huge dog. Her daily chores are performed with such grace that it makes everything seem like a traditional Japanese ritual. She seems very optimistic and upbeat, and encourages Godai wherever she can, bordering on motherly care.
Godai instantly falls for her, but like any guy of that age, he initially only thinks of getting laid. But as they live in the same house, he gradually realizes his feelings and poor Godai falls in love. Men can't help but desire her, usually from afar. But not the underdog Godai. As his buddy put it so well:
"I just have a crush on her. You, on the other hand, probably don't know how to admire a pretty woman, and want to have her all to yourself".
[MITAKA SHUN]
Not only is Kyoko obviously out of Godai's league, but he also has competition from Mitaka, Kyoko's handsome and smooth-talking tennis-coach from a wealthy family background.
Mitaka is everything Godai is not: Self-confident, determined, reliable and financially secure. He knows what he wants and usually gets it. With his good looks and money, women throw themselves at him. Socially, Mitaka is even a few layers above Kyoko, which is why rejecting him would be crazy to anyone else. Mitaka knows this and takes every opportunity to offer Kyoko the luxurious things in life.
Mitaka's Achilles heel is his fear of dogs. This prevents him from getting too close to Kyoko, which is often played for comedic value. However, Mitaka is determined to win over Kyoko, who does not immediately fall at his feet what basically triggered his hunting instinct.
[THE LATE SOUICHIROU]
What neither Godai nor Mitaka know at the beginning is that Kyoko's heart already belongs to someone else. After marrying the love of her life at a young age, her more mature husband and former high school teacher Souichirou died shortly after. Now widowed, she cannot get over her loss. She would rather never marry again and remain forever faithful to him.She fears that Souichirou will really cease to exist, that she would deny their shared love if she opens her heart to someone else.
The Japanese word for widow is "未亡人" (mibojin),the first character, "未" (mi), means "not yet", the second character"亡" (bou) means "dead", and the third character, "人" (jin), means "person". So basically a person who has yet to die, Kyoko hides her pain and wants to preserve the memory of their love. As much as she's there for others, Kyoko herself is very private and reserved. She subtly avoids male advances and leaves them hanging in the dark.
We only see her melancholy side when she is alone, barely know what she's thinking, if it weren't for these glances and facial expressions. Most of the time she remains an enigma, as her thoughts are not shared with the viewer. In those quiet and lonely moments, we are only left with her mesmerizing gaze (god those eyes), speculating what she feels.
To say that the way to her heart is a long and thorny journey, is an understatement. It quickly becomes obvious that she has commitment and abandonment issues. Who could blame her? However, if one manages to get through to her and raise her expectations, they will realize that she can also be stubborn and jealous and that she tends to jump to the wrong conclusions. Even if she had a hint of emotions for a guy, her guilt towards her deceased husband would make her deny it.
[OUTLOOK]
Kyoko, Godai and Mitaka have to evolve in order to have a chance of a happy life. In order for Kyoko to resume her life, she obviously has to come to terms with the death of her husband. Can she do that, without betraying the memory of him?
Mitaka has to overcome his fear of dogs and be patient, as he doesn't get what he wants straight away. Can he stay committed?
Godai has the hardest time, because he has to basically re-invent himself to have even the slightest chance with Kyoko. Is that too much to ask of someone like him? Will he fail to overcome this insurmountable hurdle?
Since Japanese people don't tend to burden others with their feelings and try not to express them too directly so as not to offend anyone, misunderstandings and unspoken thoughts are inevitable. Kyoko and Godai in particular deal with their issues themselves. At various points, it seems hopeless for the two of them.
But what brings them together again and again is this run-down shithole, Ikkoku Maison, which is why I think the title of the series is very fitting.
[SELF-REFLECTION]
A few days have now passed since I finished the series, and I'm writing my first review here somewhat for selfish reasons. I need to process something that I've never verbalized before to anyone.
Why did the series leave such a strong impression on me?
If you take a look at my anime list, you'll quickly realize that I'm not necessarily the biggest Slice of Life / Rom-Com Genre Fan. I also find Waifu-Fandom rather embarrassing. I'm part of the generation that is uncomfortable admitting to watching "Chinese cartoons". I'm also not a big fan of slow-burn japanese romance, since holding hands or hugging is not a big deal where I'm from. To me, the 3-dates-rule is annoying. Most of my relationships have actually developed from hook-ups and we got stuck on each other.
The answer is Kyoko.
I initially dismissed Godai as a loser and was often pissed at him. It's inexplicable to me that someone has to be so mothered or picked up by those around him. On the other hand, it seems like Kyoko has a thing for clumsy and needy guys.
Yet I can't deny that I often recognized myself in Godai. It may be because my life experience was similar. With no family and no money, I also had to juggle university and bar jobs at night, only making an endlessly long degree course even longer. I often failed important tests and got hammered and high too often. I lied about where I was and what I did, to myself and others.
To me, Godai embodies this struggle and the existential fears that come with it. The fear not to pass the final exams or get bad results, and never land a good job. I felt it all over again. But Godai does something I wasn't able to do in that stressful time period: He puts Kyoko's needs first without expecting anything in return and despite being worse off himself.
Unlike Godai, I had several relationships during that stressful time, but none of them worked out.
I remember how broke I was back then, and that I couldn't go on vacation with my girlfriend or take them out more often. Maybe it's because I paid more attention to looks than character, but there was little understanding and we always ended up robbing each other energy for other important things. I felt like I wasn't being understood or supported. When I felt misunderstood or treated unfairly, I'd lash out and make it worse.
But the truth is, I probably gave up on every relationship out of fear. Fear of not living up to the high expectations I placed on myself. Not being enough, and being exposed as a fraud. I was too proud to rely on my partner or accept their help. I couldn't even express these fears of failure, the charade had to go on. Ultimately, I wasn't able to respond to their needs when it mattered the most. If both were hurt, I was unable to consider their needs. I needed to be alone, do everything on my own and for myself. If I fucked up, nobody would be disappointed and I had only myself to blame. I was a coward, and without spoiling too much, Godai isn't. He's not too proud to face Kyoko even after he fucked up and show that he's not perfect. He faces the music every time, vulnerable and with no pride.
Long story short, I didn't fuck up. Nowadays, after another couple of failed relationships I'm back to online-dating. My job description alone is enough to attract a certain type of women who wouldn't give me the time of the day in my mid-20s. But I will never know if any of these women would've been there for me, when I was a nobody. My usual conclusion is that they're interested in what I can offer, rather than who I am.
I don't want to sound cynical, but friends of mine who met early on and made it through difficult times have proof that they are committed to each other. And I regret that I will never have that certainty. I can only blame myself.
Kyoko is the embodiment of a partner who encourages you, stands by your side, strengthens you and sticks by you even beyond death. Other men envy you for being with such a beautiful woman, which undoubtedly strokes your ego and makes you want to live up to that. Her expectation is not necessarily that you succeed, but that you consistently pursue your own goals and "give it your best".
I can only admire Godai for never giving up on Kyoko, even though she doesn't make it easy for him by any means. She keeps him at arm's length and he never knows where he stands. Regardless, Godai gives her space and doesn't force anything. He is patient and understanding, never blames her for his jealousy of Mitaka or Souichirou, but rather sucks it up. He is aware of his own limitations but is not ashamed of them; instead, he still strives for the opportunity to make Kyoko happy, despite the fear of being judged. He exposes himself. He even puts Kyoko's well-being before his own needs, even at the risk of his own future. The kid knew from the start, that she's the center of his life and he went all-in.
Reflecting on my past I realize, that’s something I could’ve never done. Risking all those years of hard work for another person? What if she left me afterwards? I can remember how I once almost got kicked out of university. My girlfriend at the time, with whom I had been together for 6 years, said, "So what? It doesn't seem to make you happy anyway." She probably meant that she didn't care whether I had a degree or not. However, I interpreted it as a lack of support.
It pains me to write that even if I had met a woman like Kyoko at that time in my life, I would not have had the strength to constantly put her first or get through to her.
Kyoko left me with a gaping hole in my chest, the size of a watermelon. Ikkoku Maison hit too close to home, and made me ponder what might have been but never came to pass.
lienad60
Maison Ikkoku, this is a classic, period. Possibly one of the best, most sweet, and satisfying stories of love ever written in the world of manga and anime. I hate to drop old cliched lines but here goes what I thought after watching the series: They just don't make them like this anymore do they? Story/Character: The best part about this anime is the long arduous path to love between Kyoko and Godai. 6 years, that's right SIX YEARS, the 96 episodes cover that long of a period for love to blossom. This isn't your any old quick and easy lovey dovey relationship making anime. Maison Ikkoku covers thefreaking s--- that happens between a man and a woman, the endless misunderstandings, jealousy, betrayal, etc.
I have to say few animes ever get close to what true love looks like. Maison Ikkoku concerns the death of a husband, the confused and struggling widow, the dropout loser, the drunkards, the good for nothing peoples of a trashy apartment and throws it into a marvelously spun tale of love.
Godai is the most pitiful dumbass loser yet lovable f---in bastard nice good guy. You just can't not be on his side. Dropout trying to make it in life
Kyoko-san has the incomprehensible burden as a widow between two courters, the emotional depth is inexpressible in words.
The lovable residents of Maison Ikkoku:
From the eavesdropping drunkard lady who can know your situation in a moment's look who will spread rumors and stories that causes havoc in everyone's lives yet means well.... Ichinose-san. I'm gonna miss her PPPAAAAATO- PAAAATTO yaaro! (let's party) and her raspy loud laughter to cheer up an otherwise miserable situation. With plenty of fan dances.
The freeloader mystery man Yotsuya who takes advantage of Godai for every yen and cup ramen he's got. He's got a nonsense haiku for every damn situation.
The half naked Akemi san who's always up to party like heck. Throwing a spin on Godai and Kyoko's relationship once in a while.
Just when you think things are getting overplayed out, Godai's granny comes along to spice things up with a kick (literally).
The only annoying people in the story can be Yagami and Kozue but hey what's a love story without struggles and jealousy eh?
Mitaka the obviously rich and well educated and handsome contender. He's on equal footing with Godai as far as relationships go with Kyoko but he get's impatient later and makes mistakes. You'll hate him later (a little)....
Basically if you've got the guts to watch Godai swim through the pile of shit in his life trying to get his beloved KANRININ SANNNNN! Go watch it.
warning: This is possibly the most enjoyable and satisfying anime series out there.
tazillo
A few years ago, I just happened to come across this anime after it was recommended to my sister by her friend. After watching countless anime series' since, I can honestly say that there haven't been many that are better than Maison Ikkoku. It's a series that is just as great as when it was released over two decades ago. Sure, the artwork may seem old now, but that's not the only thing we look for in a quality anime is it? Stretching across 96 episodes, Maison Ikkoku has a consistent quality to it and great characters. Inevitably for its length, there are fillers but thesestill manage to build on its characters, providing a deeper insight into their backgrounds.
What also makes Maison Ikkoku so good is its realism. There are no people with superpowers or aliens involved, instead it's a story about a group of everyday people living in a boarding house and their interactions with each other. Over the series we see how their lives change and how their relationships with others develop. After seeing more recent anime, the ideas in Maison Ikkoku may seem rather average and the plot predictable, but the journey you take to the ending is wholly worth it.
The anime sticks close to the manga, and it has a perfect ending to the story which leaves you wanting to know what happens next in the lives of the main characters. If you would like to watch a drama that has a fun story, deep characters and a realistic portrayal of life in the 1980s, then Maison Ikkoku is a great place to start.
Shaja
Another of of Rumiko Takash'is masterpieces, Maison Ikkoku is one of my most loved romance comedy's in creation. What i particularly love about this anime is that instead of a wacky alien,monster,disease or just some other absurd premise its a simple romance story. Guy lives in apartment building,new managers beautiful, love at first site yada yada. Now that sounds like it could be potentially boring but its not, the fact that it's so simple is refreshing, it surprises you in a realistic and relate-able fashion. When i watch anime most of them take on as silly and humerus a concept as possible but with this one theytake two normal people and have them struggle with pretty normal situations with some almost real people. With obvious character traits existing for comedic effect you realize there not real people but the things accented upon are all possible and the idea this could happen to anyone really pulls you into the story i feel.
The animation and sound is as most anime of the 80s was, hand drawn and full of bright primary colors. If you like soft atmospheres and cheery color schemes this is a good watch for your eyes. The characters are all very uniquely drawn too, it is a special anime in the way they didn't just recycle 80% of each main character to make all the other characters. When you look at this anime you just get nostalgic and it bring your head into this upbeat and positive place. There is something about watching the underdog struggle for his love that speaks to all of us on a personal level.
When watching this my enjoyment was at one of its highest peaks, you can't not love the tale of Godai and his quest for love. Watching him go from nothing to something all for the sake of love is just such a human experience that you cant just become enchanted by this show. I recommend this highly to anyone who loves romance comedy's and is not going to complain about the classic animation or corny/dated 80s retro feel of it all.
i wish the scale went just a little higher for this anime.
ZeusAceX
Warning: I will not discuss anything regarding the story here, still there might be some spoilers ahead. It's very rare for me to write a review, unless it leaves a mark on me. What can I say about Maison Ikkoku? It is hands-down THE BEST work of art by Rumiko Takahashi. You may have come across some her other works like Inu Yasha and Ranma 1/2, and no doubt they are really great works of art themselves. However, Maison Ikkoku is something on a different level. After watching the entire series, you may find it surprising that this is the same person who created an action-romance titlelike Inu Yasha. You can definitely see similarities in the art style and romance, but let's talk about the stuff that makes Maison Ikkoku a gem.
Story: 9 / 10
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To be frank, the story of a love-triangle or working hard to win your love may not be entirely new and I completely agree to that. There will be episodes where you can probably predict what is going to happen to the main character given his personality, so sometimes you may feel that it is a bit boring. But do not let that stop you from watching it. Although it takes 96 episodes, it is completely worth it. Takahashi-san brings out the daily struggles of a common man, rivalry in job markets, the luck factor in our life, social disturbances, misunderstandings in romance, stupid decisions and undecisiveness of youth, and many other important aspects of your life so well in this work of art. Ever experienced a sudden switch from comedy to a serious emotional rollercoaster? Yes, some of the episodes in this anime took me by surprise completely. There are lot of misunderstandings that take place in the story given its a romance anime, but specifically couple of episodes in the 60s and mainly the last ones from episode 90 onward, made me "feel" this anime so much. I confess I am an emotional person, but still, how the author portrays the emotions that people feel in these episodes, are breathtaking. Literally, in each of those episodes, I had to pause the playback and be like "I am not crying, you are! baka! *sniff* "
Art: 10 / 10
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Do not expect high-end modern anime art here. This is an anime from the 80s and it does proper justice to the art. Watch it for yourself, you will not be disappointed. There is visible consistency in the excellent art through the entire series. I felt the animation budget just went multiple times higher in the last few episodes, and boy did it raise the stakes for 80s anime. It did! The proper usage of shadows, lighting, and darkness in the proper places plays a very important role in making this anime so much better to the audience.
Sound: 9 / 10
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Sound and background music plays a very important part in a piece of art. There were appropriate sound effects in each and every scene. Starting from modern music in parties to cheerful background scores in during comedy, this anime has them all. You should in fact try to notice the scenes in this anime where something serious takes place. There is no sound involved at all. This makes the environment and accompanying sorounding so much proper for such emotional scenes.
Character: 10 / 10
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Okay, this is a controversial topic and trust me, I myself at times thought that some people were really boring and irritating. Nope, once you watch all the episodes, you will understand their roles even better. The anime contains different kinds of characters, in fact, I can easily conclude that you will definitely meet similar people in your daily life. So, it is sometimes really easy to relate such characters. Features a wide range of characters; funny and comic characters to serious and emotionally lovable characters, it has them all. As I said earlier, even though you may get annoyed at certain characters, I am pretty sure that you will also develop soft spot for certain other characters.
Enjoyment: 10 / 10
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Its full of entertainment. Almost every episode has a touch of comedy, but as the number of episodes increases, we see that the gravity of the anime increases as well and thus we are introduced to enjoyment in a different scale. It does not matter if you are married, in love, widow, widower, single, or whatever it be, you will get pulled into the show.
Overall score: 10 / 10
Hope you liked my review. I would definitely recommend you to watch this anime patiently, and I can assure you that you will definitely not regret it.
Humpheh
Now, where to start. This is my first review so bear with me, but I am going to tell you exactly why I think that Maison Ikkoku is a classic. Story - 10/10 I will not go into detail about the storyline of this anime, but it revolves around a growing relationship between Godai and Kyoko, who both live in the same house, Godai being a tenant and Kyoko being the house manager. The story throughout the whole series was extremely compelling with emotions ranging from the deeply sad to the tremendously happy, and the great thing is that as you are going through the story, youwant it to be true. One place the story does fall are the constant misunderstandings between Godai and Kyoko in which some way drive the series. These are okay in minority by the continual misinterpretation between them eventually gets fustrating. This though is made up for in the final 6 episodes of which you feel like the whole series has built up to. These last 6 episodes are amazing.
Art - 9/10
Now, I know what you are thinking, the art is washed out and old, but hold on a sec. The art may be outdated, but in no way does it minus from the experience. In some ways, the traditional style of this anime is what makes it feel so natural. The art in this is never sloppy though. In some animes you get times when the eyes are just a little bit in the wrong place and it looks weird or theres a frame when a character looks completely different than usual, but this is not the case in Maison Ikkoku. The art seems high quality throughout.
Sound - 9/10
This is a close call for me because I believe that the soundtrack in this is one of the best ones I have heard in quite a while on a anime. Kenji Kawai made some real masterpieces in this soundtrack, and the song 'Akatsuki ni kane wa naru' or 'Bells Ring in the Dawn', which is played during some of the most emotional parts of the anime, creates an effect that is extremely satisfying.
Character - 10/10
The characters in Maison Ikkoku is another place where it shines. Once again Rumiko Takahashi has created some extremely interesting and deep characters of whose development throughout the series is extremely satisfying and interesting to watch. Godai is where the main development happens with him turning from what seems like a young boy to a real man by the end of the series.
Enjoyment - 10/10
I enjoyed this series immensely (because I am a secret romantic) but also because it is so satisfying watching the whole anime through to the end.
Overall - 10/10
I believe that this story is a true classic by Rumiko, and that is one of the most outstanding pieces of television I have seen.
Hope my first review was okay and I have persuaded you to watch it :)
heroofmm
Maison Ikkoku is an anime that will leave a deep impression inside you, so much that you will keep thinking about it for a very long time, and you will probably want to watch it again. I knew about it back in 1990 but at the time I was a little boy who wasn't interested in that kind of anime, instead I wanted more action. And then I always thought it was a comedy for kids, but this year I decided to watch it, and I was so wrong! Kids will certainly enjoy it, but adults will love it. The show is sometimes comic and sometimes serious,and it can get very serious, and when it happens, you will feel it, probably have tears because those moments are emotional and beautiful.
You will also feel other emotions including anger, pain and especially frustration at some of the characters. However, this is not a negative because this is also what the characters had to go through, so you will feel their own pain and joy, and the painful moments will make the happy ones even better. Please do not give up, and you will be rewarded!
Story 8/10 - The story is nice, but it's nothing special, but that's fine. What makes the anime great is not the story itself but how it is beautifully executed.
Art 9/10 - First, I should say that the art gets better after episode 28 about, the characters are drawn more realistically, especially Godai and Kyoko.
Second, I think the art is beautiful (Blu-ray), it looks like a painting in motion, with so many details carefully drawn, and the expressions are very well rendered, you can really tell what people feel using body language. To me, this is a big improvement over the recent anime which look too robotic and too clean, like computer generated.
Sound 10/10 - All the voices are nice, but 2 of them stand out: Yotsuya and Kyoko.
Yotsuya is voiced by Shigeru Chiba, and has the perfect deep voice for the character, who sounds always serious, yet says funny things :)
Kyoko is voiced by Sumi Shimamoto, and I'd say that by herself, she made the anime a 10/10 instead of a 9/10. Her voice changes depending on the emotional state of the character, and always perfectly so, so you can really tell if she's happy, sad, angry, surprised etc. And for some of those emotions, she has the most beautiful voice I've ever heard.
Music is also nice, and at its best when it's melancholic.
Overall 10/10 - The average episode is maybe an 8/10, but the great episodes are so great that they make the whole show a 10/10. Now I feel sad because I'm not sure I can experience this again with another anime.
akaneinazuke
I stumbled across Maison Ikkoku when I was around twelve; I'm 36 now and have watched the series so many times I can't count. Originally, I had found the series on Viz VHS after noticing it was done by Rumiko Takahashi, and as a Ranma 1/2 fan, decided it looked good. It was phenomenal. This is not an anime to watch for special effects or action scenes. Watching the anime sometimes feels like watching a piece of moving art; a painting or a photograph of a glimpse in time that keeps moving. Everything is subtle, from the sound of the yam cart signaling what timeit is, the ever-present cherry blossom leaves that may be a symbol for a person who is no longer there, and even the ripples on the water all seem to have meaning attached to them.
The character development, I realized, is where Takahashi shines; she gives depth to her characters and Maison Ikkoku is no exception. Rumiko Takahashi once said in an interview that she creates characters and the characters create the stories themselves; this is so accurate and likely why she (and her various works) have pretty much inspired all similar-genre anime that has come after, none quite touching her brilliance.
The main character is a ronin, Godai, who lives in a run-down apartment building. He is about to move out when the building gets a new manager, Kyoko Otonashi, and the story is about their relationship, but it is so much more than that. You find yourself caring about almost every character in this anime, from the two main protagonists to relatives who make brief appearances, to the "annoying" tenants of the building, from the gossipy Mrs. Ichinose who genuinely cares about both Kyoko and Godai, to Akemi, the vaguely promiscuous barmaid who turns out to be a lot more than a scantily-clad drunk, to Yotsuya, as another reviewer mentioned, is probably the funniest character I've ever seen in any anime, ever, even if his redemptive qualities are iffy (they're there; just watch and wait).
Kyoko and Godai have other love interests; even these characters provoke empathy and debate years later. Coach Mitaka, the wealthy tennis coach at the club, is probably the most important as Godai's rival--he is everything Godai isn't--wealthy, confident, charming, smooth. But Kyoko seems not to be so fast to fall for his charms. Godai has the tame Kozue, who he admits he probably would have taken seriously if not for his near obsession with the seemingly out of reach Kyoko, and later on, one of his students, Yagami, who mostly serves as a plot device to force Kyoko to recognize and voice her feelings, which she is generally loathe to do, but Yagami pushes her there.
I find that this series is best enjoyed by those who understand Japanese culture and that this manga and anime were produced in the 80s and cultural and social ideas and expectations were different then than they are today. Some people have chastised Kyoko, for example, for waiting until Godai gets a job to consider him, truly; however, in Japan, women were expected to become housewives when they got married and Kyoko would actually have been somewhat of a pioneer, being that she did work when she didn't have to, as the apartment manager, and enjoyed her job.
I've enjoyed this anime for the past thirty years. I still watch it often; it's my comfort food, of sorts, my "Cheers" where everyone knows my name and they're always glad I came. I love these characters, this world, the slow but gradual progression of life and how the past, present and future are all intertwined.
My review doesn't do this anime justice. It is the finest show I have ever seen. Although drawn, these characters are human to me. No, there isn't anything supernatural going on and nobody is cursed by the springs of Jusenkyo and the closest you'll get to action is a paltry half-fight between Godai and Mitaka, but trust me, this is not just an anime to watch. This is one to savor. Also of note is that Kyoko has been called by some as the first tsundere on a serialized anime. Some might watch this and say, no, Akane Tendo is a tsundere, not Kyoko; watch again.
What makes this show (and Ranma) different to me is that you care about the characters, particularly in Maison Ikkoku. Like Rumiko Takahashi said, you come up with the characters and they take you where they want to go. Godai and Kyoko do take you where they want to go--yes, it is 96 episodes, but as life, it is two steps forward and one step back.
The sub is supremely better than the dub, for what it's worth. The voice actors, particularly for Kyoko and Mrs. Ichinose in the later seasons, are not good for the characters. The Japanese voice actors have it down. In fact, when I was young, I assumed Kyoko was much older than 21 because she sounds like a middle-aged woman in the anime and she is far from that; her Japanese voice actress is soft-spoken with a sweet lilt to her voice. Similar to how the dub of Ranma ruined the character of Akane, who has a very sweet voice and comes across as an entirely different character in the sub almost solely due to her voice, I recommend the sub, but either way, Maison Ikkoku is not only worth watching, it is one of a handful of shows that have stuck with me for 25 years and my life is better for having known Maison Ikkoku.
Shellshock123
Maison 'Misunderstanding' Ikkoku review. You'd think people were over exaggerating the amount of misunderstanding in this series. Spoiler: They weren't I read the manga as i watched the series. So if i mention something that you don't remember it probably means it was in the other medium. Maison Ikkoku is a series that revolves around 5 characters. The 2 main characters., the MMC and FMC who are pretty likeable and the 3 side characters that are the worst things in existence. The FMC moves into the house called the maison Ikkoku and becomes the new manager as i think it was cuz it was owned by her recentlydeceased husband, The MMC falls in love with her first sight and now we have a romcom scenario. An episode romcom that lasts a whopping 96 episodes.
Let me talk about the technical aspect of the series first. The series adapts 1 chapter per episode on average. (until like the last 25 episodes). However im not upset by this as the pacing is actually very decent. It doesn't feel like they padded an individual episode rather there was more content that they animated. As such im very impressed by the animation directors to be able to extend 1 chapter into an episode without it feeling like its the one piece anime. So props to them. I really liked the music as well. Apparently the OP/ED is iconic which just solidifies my opinion that people have horrible taste in music. The OST in between the series is really. Especially the one that sounds similar to the Pink Panther Theme. I really liked that part. Despite being 96 episodes long and adapting 15 volumes or 161 chapters it has filler episodes.... I mean the filler episodes were fine. They weren't a deal breaker at least not anymore than the average *bad* episode that the series had. The series also skips some chapters?! i have updated mangaupdates on this https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1051 Which shows which chapters were skipped. So if you want more maison Ikkoku but not want to see the same old same old. Just read these chapters.
But i know what your thinking. An episodic series like this is carried by its characters. So what do i think about the characters? Well besides the love drunk characters, all them were awful in every sense. I liked the MMC, I liked the FMC, I liked the love interests as well. but the 3 dug trio are fucking garbage. There is this Mom character that annoys the main characters insults him constantly and is downright ruined the feeling of the show. She helped him like 3 times in the whole series and was the worst mom on the planet for 300 times more. She also straight up tells her kid to eat some noodles instead so she can go off to drinking beer. Im not saying this series can't be funny but moments like these aren't funny they just feel abusive and generally awful. There is also another character called Akemi who is the stereotypical slut character that comes normal in every romcom anime. But she's naked for like majority of the series so im willing to let go some of her pathetic inhumaness. The problem lies with the weirdo man. He is just a cunt. Repeatedly abusing the MMC. Blackmailing him, taking advantage of him and just overall being a legitimate cunt. These 3 characters straight up ruined this series for me.
The main duo were however much more likeable... mostly. Sometimes the FMC's hypocrisy annoyed me. As this series had only like a couple you know 1 or 2 misunderstandings, you know just a couple. However she fully expected the MMC to forgive her and yet refused to forgive the MMC. This happens multiple times but where it really grinded my gears was near the ending. The ending itself was fine but the buildup to the ending where everything gets resolved and stuff. That was way too long. And purely done just cuz they needed to extend the series. This wasn't an anime exclusive problem but might've been more of an issue since you know the anime in general was longer. The MMC wasn't really any better repeatedly trying to steal a kiss from his sleeping beauty (took me 4 hours to make this joke laugh). For real, its quite creepy that he did this like 3 times. Granted he learned his lesson but it was still annoying. The side love interests is a bit more complicated. there are 4 side love interests. 2 of them, Highschooler and ex-worker, in love with MMC, 1 of them (the tennis player) in love the FMC and 1 of them, royalty, in love with the tennis player. I don't really think there is a shape for this but lets call it a love heptagon. I actually originally liked all 4 of them. They were all enjoyable had there own *goals* in a sense and were much more calm the highschooler aside. I actually liked the ex-worker quite a lot but i didn't like after half way she just sort of faded into the background when she showed up again it was only to sow discord which honestly wasn't even her fault really. I did dig the highschooler but then she become unlikeable once again. The royalty chick was pretty adorable until how her romance was resolved with the tennis player. That one was just bad..... Like this is the kinda shit you can't get away with today lmao.
The story is pretty simple you know. Get the girl type series. The comedy has its moments. Most of the time it fell flat. The animation is nice. I don't really care for old or new animation. I don't have a preference. Just that it shouldn't be CG.... most of the time. Really the strongest part was the romance when it happened. It was really watching the 2 main characters slowly fall in love with each other. I wished there was more on the romantic front but amazingly the manga actually gives you this. Which is why i urge those people who liked the series to read the skipped chapters.
Apparently this series started or popularized the romantic trend or romcom trend. As such a lot of moderen series take from this. Sadly they take the wrong shit cuz it has 2 things worth taking from. Another series Bokura wa minna kawaisou which did the under 1 roof thing. It had a weaker heroine but the side character didn't piss me off every other second. Infact they were very likeable. also sexy. If you guys want to watch or read a good under the roof romcom this does a much better job of it. Albeit the ending in maison Ikkoku is still better.
TLDR: the story can only go so far. In a series like the backbone is the characters. and i just don't think the main 2 characters who were likeable are enough to protect this series. Overall i'm disappointed. It had its moments. The play by play moments were too poor. The ending was good but not enough for me to say that it saved the series. When i finished it i was glad that its over. 4/10 Maybe Rumiko's other works are better prospects
