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I agree with pretty much everything you just said. The ending of Ikkoku was definitely one that not only made me happy but managed to bring a few tears to my eyes. Namely the scene where Kyoko tells Godai to outlive her if even by just a year, which I thought was a really touching scene that I thought was a really great callback to Kyoko's past. Everything about the wedding and afterwards was especially heartwarming. The final scene of the manga in where they just return to Maison is still one of my favorite moments of the manga as well. In particular Kyoko's line of "We're back, to the place where mommy and daddy first met" which brought a massive smile to my face. I'm glad to see you really liked Ikkoku.
As for Ranma 1/2, my opinions on it have changed since last I read, in where I have bumped up my score from a 6 to an 8, mainly because I think the good of Ranma has stuck with me more than the bad. Ranma is certainly her most repetitive title, as she mostly just wanted to write Ranma on a week by week basis without really any plan in mind. Unlike UY which has all of the goofy shenanigans lead up to the final arc, Ranma is mostly aimless though it does have carrying plot threads that do ultimately matter in the final arc, such as the main romance. Out of all of Takahashi's titles, Ranma and Akane's relationship is definitely the one that takes the longest to get rolling but once it does I found myself enjoying it even if they could be obnoxious at times. Ranma's humor is more on the "woah look at this wacky thing happening aint that crazy" than UY. Not that it's bad, but I do prefer Takahashi's more dry and sarcastic humor which results in more hits for me than misses. Ranma can be quite hit or miss in this case. The cast is fun, but while I like a good portion of them, they certainly don't have the memorability of the cast of UY much less Ikkoku with the exception of a certain few. That said, Ranma does have some of Takahashi's best characters. Namely Ryoga Hibiki the ever tortured soul who has some of the most hilarious moments in the series and is one of Takahashi's funniest characters ever, Akane who starts off as a typical and annoying tsundere quickly becomes the most developed character in the manga with a really touching character arc that just leads to her becoming really endearing, Mousse another unfortunately tortured soul, Ukyo who is second best girl and has some of the funniest situations and interactions and Taro who becomes a major antagonist later in the manga who has probably the most tragic backstory I've ever seen for a character (in a funny way). There's also Kodachi and Akane's 2nd sister whose name is leaving me at the moment that despite both having limited screen time have some pretty gold chapters. The rest of the cast range from ok to honestly kinda annoying. As do a lot of the arcs. I think Ranma 1/2 has some of Takahashi's best elements but it also has some of her worst as like I said this manga can be incredibly hit or miss but the hits are really great. I would honestly really like to reread the title and read it at a slower pace rather than forcing myself through it. There's also the ending which I won't say anything now but it is a fairly controversial ending and I'm curious on what you'll think about it. Also Ranma is certainly her silliest and least serious title, there's next to 0 serious moments.

Nice, you've certainly been far more productive than me haha. Hope the script turns out well! As for me, I just finished my first semester of college so I have that going for me luckily. Aside from that I've been mostly just working and trying to relax more. I've been really burnt out of anime and manga with me lacking motivation to read or watch any but I do plan on resuming the stuff I started hopefully soonish. Namely the Sailor Moon manga, the original Mazinger Z anime, finishing the Nausicaa manga, finishing Nisekoi manga, finishing the Kyokai no Rinne manga, and also planning on starting Magic Knight Rayearth and a couple of other things. But with me being burnt out of anime and manga I've just been mostly watching tokusatsu stuff, such as I've been watching an episode a day of the original Ultraman show from 1966 which has been fun so far if a little hit or miss. As well as just continuing my kaiju watching as I still have several Godzilla movies left, the rest of the Daimaijin trilogy, and also to start the Mothra trilogy. So in general I have a lot of media to consume but I've been taking it slowly that's for sure.

Also, considering how long we've chatted through the MAL comments section I'm surprised I've never asked but do you have a discord out of curiosity?

Yeah, that's a very good point about it starting off plot centric even if it wasn't particularly notable or funny in what it tried to do. But yeah, I think you nailed it about it being a mash of things when thinking about it because I too struggle to remember much from it when I think about it.


Yeah, I agree. I love how the entire cast of Ikkoku is used to in someway develop Kyoko or Godai, their relationship, or even tell us something new about them. While I don't think Ikkoku's side cast is as memorable as UY's, they serve their purpose wonderfully and manage to become a really fun batch of characters. Takahashi is really good at handling love triangles, I agree. What ends up happening to Mitaka is actually one of my favorite aspects of the manga, because he becomes such a goober and more of a comedic relief by the end, but what happens with him at the end/near the end of the manga actually caught me off guard, and managed to make a really touching moment. A big theme in the manga is the ability to move on and let time pass to heal old wounds or to mature. Don't rush into anything, take your time. It's a big thing in Takahashi's manga in general about how romances shouldn't be rushed, but that rather they should take their time. Funnily enough Adachi also uses this message in the romances in his manga. It's a touching message that I've always appreciated in romance works. And as I wrote this comment I didn't realize you had already finished Ikkoku, so I guess that poses the question on what did you think of the manga as a whole and the finale? Also, after Ikkoku you plan on reading Ranma 1/2 next correct?

On the other hand, what else have you been up to in this time of quarantine?

Yeah, pretty much the same as you. Just bee surviving so I guess there’s that.


As your criticisms on Reborn I pretty much agree with everything you mentioned. I think, Reborn is a series with ideas that I like, but just ended up struggling to find its identity and footing. It wasn’t a funny gag manga, it wasn’t a very engaging superpower action manga a lot of the time, it sure wasn’t a very emotionally captivating drama, and it was an alright mystery at best really. And so with it switching or adding all of this stuff on to itself, it to me just felt like Reborn was never able to figure out what it wanted to be. It’s just a weird mish mash of stuff. And I honestly forgot this manga tried to do romance. Like many Jump battle manga, because of its focus on the plot rather than the characters, the romance is shafted massively and never done anything with. What I mean is that while many Jump battle manga do focus on the characters, it’s mostly through the fights rather than through character interactions/drama. And so often times characters are never done much with because of the lack of drama, or general slice of life character interactions. I don’t think it’s bad that Jump battle manga focus more on their stories/plot, but I do with they took the time to have more down time for the characters to do stuff other than fighting. Or to make the interactions and drama the focus while the action is something in the background to develop this drama/interactions/relationships. I think that’s why shojo battle manga and even Shonen Sunday battle manga often interest me more. They have often times simple stories or plots and focus on the characters more than the fighting. Instead using it more in the background to develop stuff with the characters. I think as time has gone on I’ve begun to prefer this sort of storytelling for battle manga. I don’t think plot/story focus is bad, and I think their are several Jump manga that are able to balance it with strong character writing to not make anything feel incomplete but often times more than not Jump battle manga do come up short at times with side characters and romance writing is unfortunate though I have hope that it’ll get better as time goes on. I think Reborn is a big example of my issue with Jump battle manga.

But yeah, everything you said I am in full agreement with. But I am glad you’re enjoying Maison Ikkoku. It especially excites me that you’re in the Love Is in the Air arc. Which is a fairly unique final arc considering how long it is and how much of the manga it makes up, but it’s in general a really interesting choice in comparison to other romcoms. I’ll be interested in seeing your thoughts once you finish the series. Especially on those beautiful final two/three volumes.

Hello! Hope you've been staying safe lately.

Anyways, based on your rating and looking at what you said on your tags I can already get a feel for your answer but what'd you overall think on Katekyo Hitman Reborn? In particular the final two arcs and the ever so controversial ending?

Yeah, I would definitely say that Inheritance arc is the best one alongside the final arc. They're not great, but overall solid battle shonen arcs.

Yeah, unfortunately most of Fujita's works are in translation hell. Souboutei is just about fully caught up, U&T is fully translated, and his Nightingale manga (which is pretty short) is also fully translated and also his only manga to be licensed in english. Karakuri and Moonlight Act sadly are stuck in limbo. A fate that a lot of Sunday manga go through.

Are you excited about the Bleach anime returning?

Glad to hear you're liking Maison Ikkoku. It's such a heartwarming romcom that I think shows Takahashi's strengths as a romance writer better than anything. I would say Urusei shows her strength at writing large and charming casts while also when it comes to writing final arcs. Maison Ikkoku is slow at times but the drama is some of the best I've seen in a romcom, and I really just love the relationship between Godai and Kyoko. While it's not as silly and fun as Ataru and Lum's, it's very sincere and down to earth. The Love in the Air arc which starts at volume 9 and ends at volume 15 is among some of my favorite material I've encountered in fiction. The final volume in particular had three moments that led to me crying. I'll be looking forward to what you think about the arc and the rest of the series when you get there. As for Reborn, well that one gets me less excited haha. Though that makes me happy to hear that you'll possibly start Slam Dunk as I really do just love that manga with all of my heart. Yeah, and the fact that still only over half of it is fully translated makes Karakuri a tough one, and the anime is pretty much only meant for those who've read the manga in completion with how much it skips but it's currently the only method to see the ending until the manga is fully translated.

Yeah, it was around after ep 18 when my enjoyment went down. Fun fact, there's actually a spin off novel about what if Subaru had ran away with Rem, and I believe it actually sells better than the original light novel which just shows the power of shipping. But yeah, it's a good moment that I think is what at the time drew me so much to Subaru. As for Rem it added an interesting dimension to a character that I didn't care much for, and I still don't feel super strongly about her but the moment made me appreciate her more.

Hakumen is one of my favorite villains just based on his brilliant use as a plot devise to add more to the themes and conflict of Ushio To Tora. He also just has a nightmarish presence to him, and it really builds him up perfectly, especially the length Fujita went with his eyes. The final arc just wrapped up everything so neatly and tightly too despite covering so much. It's a truly impressive arc that just never fails to elevate Ushio to Tora's status for me. Ahhhh, man I love Tora's final line, it got me really close to crying because of the 300+ chapter arc that Tora goes through, it's beautiful. What do you plan to read next after Tora if you don't mind me asking? Speaking of Fujita, his ongoing manga Souboutei Kawasubeshi is actually up to date if you're at all interested in it.

I especially find it to be so hilarious considering he's the VA for Kirito in SAO and I never found much note worthy about him until I saw his performance as Betelguese which is both hilarious and terrifying at the same time. The final few episodes just go into a sort of "action mode" and it just wasn't very interesting and the production clearly looked far worse in those episodes. The final episode is still good but I was very uninterested by those episodes overall. Yeah, I hope s2 looks good as I feel White Fox is a studio that has issues with their production and general talent when it comes to their staff so I hope they can manage to pull off good stuff considering how good the first season could look at times.

Ahhhhhh, I love the final arc of Ushio To Tora. It's such a perfect final arc in where everything prior comes back and has important relevance to the final arc. It really elevates Ushio To Tora in a similar way that Slam Dunk or Urusei Yatsura's final arc did in where it takes everything that came before which was pretty good and even great at times to extremely high levels and just becomes something utterly special. And I won't lie that it got me pretty emotional at times, especially the ending. Like you said, it really is extremely cathartic and spectacular.

Yeah ReZero is a good time. It's a solid time and has some episodes that at legit great. I especially found my interest increasing when the main villain got introduced, and of course with ep 16 being a great standout. My biggest issue with the show is that the final 3-4 episodes kinda toke a dip in the production department and the story as a whole wasn't as engaging to me. Either way I haven't seen it since 2016 so I'll probably get around to it at some point especially with s2 around the corner.

And it's all good, but thank you for your response. It was a very insightful read and I really appreciated the response. I agree with pretty much everything you said.

I agree. Either way i’ll be interested in seeing how you feel about the later parts of the story. Speaking of things I’m interested in seeing your reaction on, what do you think of Re:Zero? I haven’t seen the show in a couple of years but I thought it was a solid 7/10 back when I saw it. A good show with some annoying things that stuck out to me as flaws.


Also I don’t know if you saw my comment a while back, but I’m interested in the idea of good panel flow/page composition and out of curiosity what would you say are in your opinion the manga with the best panel flow/panelling?

I'll be honest I still don't know exactly what the point of Byakuran is in regards to his thematic purpose. It's clearly something as characters mention about his similarities and parallels with Tsuna but they're never really explored and so he feels... out of place. Anyway the next 2 arcs are better but they have their fair share of issues. The arc after Future is pretty unmemorable and it has a lame villain but it explores some neat stuff. And the final arc is easily the best arc but it has once again a really lame villain and some other annoying stuff I won't talk about yet.

Hey man! just wanted to ask you on what you thought of the Future arc now that you've finished it (a few days ago)?

Her paneling was without a doubt It just felt like she tried to cram to much into her panels, and because of that the action sequences aren't allowed to form a concise flow of sequence. Her art became far too detailed for its own good which hurt her flow. I agree, the themes of Reborn are very appealing but I think my problem is that I've just experienced other stories that I personally think handle those themes or themes similar to what Reborn talks about but just better.To go back to the topic of paneling and panel flow I would honestly say I value clear and concise paneling with simple artwork over detailed artwork but cluttered or confusing panel flow with super detailed artwork. To name a few examples of some of my favorite manga in terms of panel flow/paneling:
-Dragon Ball
-Cross Game (really all Adachi manga, but I think Cross Game in particular has Adachi's best paneling)
-InuYasha (again, really all Rumiko manga but I think InuYasha has her best paneling)
-FMA (imo the gold standard)
-Rurouni Kenshin
-Dragon Quest Dai no Daibouken
-Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle (tough choice between this and Cardcaptor Sakura, but I'd probably have to give it to Tsubasa)
-Ashita no Joe
-Hunter X Hunter (Yu Yu Hakusho too but I think HxH has it slightly beat)
-Slam Dunk

I think for me these are the best of the best when it comes to having the best paneling/panel in their manga. I think Bleach and Saint Seiya would be some good honorable mentions though as Kubo and Kurumada have excellent usage of spreads. What would you say are your favorite manga in terms of good paneling? I think the conversation regarding it is a really interesting one and one I felt was talked about more as I think it's such a valuable part of the conversation regarding manga.

Also that sounds good. I'll be interested to see how you'll react to the rest of Maison Ikkoku, especially the "As Long as Love Lasts" which is absolutely beautiful and easily what rose the manga from an 8-9 to a 10 for me. It starts on chap 87 and ends on 161 (vol 9-vol 15) and remains as one of my favorite arcs in anime and manga.

I often have that problem with Byakuran as well. Nothing about him is really intimidating, he's just... lame. I think Amano is a good artist and can have some really nice looking spreads but my problem with her art is her panel flow which like you said can make the fights look incomprehensible. I think more than anything she's a good character designer/character artist (as shown in Psycho Pass) but her actual manga does just look kinda bleh to me at times. I think her character designs are well done but her fight choreography and overall look can at times just not really hit the right notes for me.

Maison Ikkoku is lovely. I really love it to death, but it's one that requires a lot of patience I've noticed. It's fairly slow, but after having finished it I really love that about it. This slow nature I think is what allowed the manga to feel longer and because of that I began to just sit back and enjoy the journey which allowed the characters and their stories to charm me all the more and by the time of the ending I was really in love with these characters. It almost felt like it was ending too soon after such a long journey, after having begun to feel the charm of the manga. I think that's what's so cool about Ikkoku. I also think the final arc/ending is damn magnificent and the final panel in the manga managed to make me cry. It's a very natural and heartfelt ending that comes at a moment where you don't want to let the manga go. It was an incredible experience. I do personally like the cast of UY more, but I think Ikkoku's cast has its own charm that makes it special. I also just really love Kyoko and Godai, two characters who I wasn't sure of at first but as I began to read more they began to charm me. And before anything else, I grew really attached to them. I think the rest of the cast is also pretty solid, not characters I would ever gush about endlessly but characters that I liked. Curious to see how you;ll react to the rest of the manga!