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

Nanao, Kozue Supporting

Tominaga, Miina Japanese

Souichirou Supporting

Chiba, Shigeru 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 18, 2024

atreidesmallcop

Recommended

If you're at all familiar with the works of Rumiko Takahashi, it's probably from her work writing action (Inuyasha), comedy (Urusei Yatsura), or something with a bit of both (Ranma 1/2). As Shonen Sunday was publishing the middle of those three, she also spent the early years of her legendary manga career writing a more grounded, mature, straightforward romance for SS's sister publication, Big Comic Spirits. While I don't personally consider it my personal favorite of her works (UY will always hold that place in my heart), Maison Ikkoku may just objectively be the best series she ever wrote.

Obviously you can't judge a manga based ... on its anime adaptation, but it's still a damn fine anime. Being published in a monthly seinen magazine allows for much richer storytelling than its weekly shonen counterparts, since you can handle more mature subject matter, and also have more time to write it between chapters. This is especially apparent in the way the series handles its characters. We first see our leads as a young man struggling to get into college, and a young woman recovering from the recent untimely loss of her husband, taking over as manager at her father-in-law's boarding house. His attraction to Kyoko is shallow and superficial, and she sees Godai as nothing more than just another resident of her building. But over the course of the series, we watch as they come to know each other better, and in spite of every obstacle that comes their way, they grow past their shortcomings and become a pair who truly belong together. It's not the most groundbreaking character arc, but coming from Takahashi it's definitely a career highlight, sandwiched between younger couples who never quite made it that far.

One thing Takahashi consistently excels at, however, is filling her series with a colorful supporting cast who take just enough of the spotlight to leave you wanting more. The trio of rowdy neighbors who always barge in to drink and party function wonderfully as a unit, but occasionally we’re given a glimpse into each of their lives as individuals, those episodes being consistent, if not infrequent, highlights. Beyond the boarding house, no romance series is complete without rival love interests, and we’re given a few here, to mixed results. There’s the athletic ladykiller Mitaka, a deceptively charming pretty boy who will stop at nothing to win Kyoko’s heart. Then there’s Kozue, a sweet, if not somewhat oblivious, girl who Godai people-pleases himself into courting on occasion. But if this cast were to have a weak link, it would definitely be Yagami, a high schooler who falls for Godai in a twisted reflection of Kyoko’s first love, but constantly takes her pursuit too far to the point of discomfort, only to wind up being the only character without a satisfying conclusion.

Perhaps another issue which some viewers, particularly younger ones, may find themselves put off by is the show’s pacing. On a macro level, viewers impatient to see the leads end up together may not want to sit through 96 episodes of character development, but even on a scene-by-scene basis that same audience may sooner find themselves bored by the slower dialogue scenes and frequent establishing shots. Regardless, others might interpret that instead as “building atmosphere” and “taking time to sit in the emotions,” so that sort of thing really comes down to preference. But in between those slower moments are plenty of sitcom-esque shenanigans that still have their appeal, with its plot fueled by plenty of Three’s Company style misunderstandings. The show overall does an excellent job of balancing these two tones, always knowing when to be serious and when to have fun. It’s a format that the current landscape of network TV could really benefit from.

And even though this may not be something most viewers would take issue with, it’s worth noting that this show has some of the most dishonest, manipulative teasers at the end of each episode. Frequently they’ll bait the viewers with some sort of big, shocking twist or reveal in the next episode, only for the audience to find out that the plotline they were baited with was not nearly as exaggerated as they were led to believe. In retrospect, I can’t say that anything that was promised in those teasers would have been an improvement over what actually ended up happening in the show. Some may see this as insecurity on the writers’ end that the show can’t sell itself on its own merits, but in a way, it does reflect how characters throughout the series are often misled by each other into making choices that further the plot and character dynamics, so it’s at least in character for the series.

Being a Takahashi adaptation in the 80s, this of course comes to us from Studio Deen, coming off their work on the second half of UY and preceding their work on Ranma, which ended and began publication as this aired, respectively. The most noticeable consistency to most viewers might be the shared voice cast between the three shows, but visually they share a lot in common too. Deen always had some of the best translations of Takahashi’s character designs to animation, and pairing them with the hand-painted landscapes of nighttime cityscapes and the like is always a sight to behold. In some modern transfers, you can even see the specks of dust on the animation cels, giving the series a tangible, textile charm that feels lost to time.

Overall, Maison Ikkoku is a must-watch for romance lovers. Anchored by a mature, touching, believable relationship, it’s a series that really takes its time building its characters. Knowing that Takahashi was capable of writing a romance arc this satisfying, it’s almost a little sad that her earlier shonen efforts couldn’t quite match what she pulled off here. Those series had other priorities, though, where this one could focus purely on that. Even if those shows somewhat faltered in the romance department, at least she had this to show what exactly she was capable of.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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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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Oct 1, 2020

Shellshock123

Not Recommended

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 recently ... deceased 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

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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