Maison Ikkoku

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]

Otonashi, Kyouko Main

Shimamoto, Sumi Japanese

Godai, Yuusaku Main

Futamata, Issei Japanese

Yotsuya Main

Chiba, Shigeru Japanese

Roppongi, Akemi Main

Mita, Yuuko Japanese

Ichinose, Hanae Main

Aoki, Kazuyo Japanese

Ichinose, Kentarou Main

Sakamoto, Chika Japanese

Mitaka, Shun Supporting

Kamiya, Akira Japanese

Souichirou Supporting

Chiba, Shigeru Japanese

Nanao, Kozue Supporting

Tominaga, Miina Japanese

Yagami, Ibuki Supporting

Fuchizaki, Yuriko Japanese

Yamazaki, Kazuo Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Annou, Takashi Director

Yoshinaga, Naoyuki Director

Shiba, Shigeharu Sound Director

Reviews

Dec 23, 2009

Lorelei

Recommended

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 revolves ... around 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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Apr 3, 2022

Trophycase

Mixed Feelings

Don't see a ton of middling reviews here so I'll give my take but try to keep it short by listing my main issues with the show and elaborating on them.

The pacing: Sometime in the first few episodes Godai proclaims his love for Kyoko at the top of his lungs, but then the show treats these early episodes as if they had never happened, and the characters are unsure about each others' feelings for another 5 years. The characters will seemingly make progress, then the show will act as if the progress doesn't exist.

Character Consistency: The minor characters definitely experience personality change as the show ... goes on. In the beginning they take a bigger role, with the show highlighting the interactions of all people at the house, whereas later they seem to become one-dimensional and take a back seat to the featured romance. They each revert to their main traits, Yotsuya likes to mooch food, Akemi likes to party and is a "wordly" woman, Ichinose is a drunk who loves to party. At some point during the middle of the series, Yotsuya speaks very poetically, but they sort have seemed to drop that character trait as the show went on. Very much was made about how Akemi wore indecent clothing around the apartment and jokes were made about Godai's "desire" for her, but these were mostly dropped, as well as the partial nudity being removed from the show. Kentaro's screen time basically becomes non-existent as the show goes on.

Godai: He is at times insufferably dense and timid. I get that part of the point of the show is getting into funny misunderstandings, but by the 50th time you just want to scream for the guy to stand up for himself and say what he really means.

Kozue Relationship: What was up with this? I mean they clearly have zero chemistry, never touch or show even a hint of affection for each other, but somehow they are "dating" for years. Also they "break up" and you assume that Godai sort of had ended things off screen, as there is an episode regarding this. She then essentially disappears from the show for probably 25 episodes (possibly a year or more in the show's timeline) then reappears out of nowhere, trying to get married to Godai just to throw a wrench in things. The show even mentions how they had gone without talking for so long.

The first 20 episodes: Frankly the first 20 episodes are so are quite bad. Maybe I just hadn't gotten used to the show yet, but I was very very close to dropping the show at this point when it started to pick up a little.

While I touched on mostly the negatives, overall the show was enjoyable and worth watching if you like a rom com. It's at times pretty wholesome and seeing Godai grow is enjoyable.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 11, 2019

axel360

Not Recommended

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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