Maison Ikkoku

Maison Ikkoku is a one of a kind slice-of-life seinen show that every anime fan must watch. Rumiko Takahashi’s 1986 classic is about struggling through your young twenties, the pain and joy of finding a home in a city with obnoxious neighbors. It is about patiently pursuing both your goals & the one you love, perseverance and steady growth in the normal day-to-day life you live. Through 96 episodes of wholesome hominess, it’s offered some of the funniest and most reflective seinen moments I’ve ever seen in anime.

To summarize this show by example, this single exchange perfectly encapsulates it:

Kyoko: You have a class ... to pass don't you?
Godai: Huh?
Kyoko: A class to pass.
Godai: What about your ass?
Kyoko: I said a class to pass!
Yotsuya: You there! Just because a woman's hindquarters protrude from your closet doesn't mean you should surrender to carnal desires!
Ichinose: Mr. Yotsuya, please don't say such things in front of my child.

While Yagami does a lot to provoke thought in Kyouko and growth in Godai, there are some filler episodes that lagged on for a bit longer than needed which proved to be a weak point in my book. The animation quality of the show starts with a pretty gritty look then steadily improves throughout the duration of its airtime along the same lines as it transitioned from being more of a comedy about wacky neighbors to a slice-of-life drama. This evolution could be considered a weak point by some, but some have taken it to be a strength as Godai grows so does *how* we perceive what is happening. In a way it's as if the viewers have grown with Godai & Kyouko as the animation style improves.

If you don’t have the stomach for older anime this is the place to start to cultivate that and even if you aren’t looking to develop a tolerance or ability to enjoy older titles, this show is absolutely worth it for the smiles and warm feeling of home it cultivated that I can’t help but keep coming back to.

FFO: The Devil is a Part-Timer, Sing Yesterday For Me

100% Seinen Jump approval.

If you are looking for a great love story sparkled with comedy, seen through rose-tinted glasses, this is it.

Maison Ikkoku's story is like no other rom-com. This love triangle, it is not just for our main characters, but supporting characters give their own mix into the show. The main protagonists are both adults, unlike most of the time in today's anime, therefore the problems that sprung during the show, are unique to it. Because the setting is in the mid-to-late 80's, the societal norms are different. Don't look this as a bad thing, but a glimpse into yesterday's world. Get ready for misunderstandings and spanish ... telenovela style progression. 96 episodes is a long haul but in the end, it is worth it.

Main characters:
- Godai Yuusaku, born under a star of bad luck. Godai is our main male protagonist who we (try to) root for. He is the typical anime clumsy, overall normal guy. As the show starts, Godai is a ronin, young lad trying to climb societys steps and trying to fit in. Though sometimes you want to bang your table for his inability to speak up and have a spine. But a perfect and flawless protagonist would be boring to watch, so give him a chance.

- Otonashi Kyoko, young, beautiful, new manager of a boarding house. She is the main female protagonist, center piece of this show and attention of new love queries. She has a troubled recent past as she is a widow now. As the story progresses, she learns to get over her mourning and open hear heart a little bit. Her personality and decisions (or their lack of) are an interesting one to try to understand.

Supporting characters are a mixed bunch of people and few of them deserve their own quick reviews:
- Mitaka Shun, you could say he is the third main character. Good looking smooth talker with sparkling teeth, who gives Godai a run for his money. He is a character who grows a lot during the latter part of the show. He also has the best, or worst, misunderstanding of the whole show.

- Yagami Ibuki, this girl, yes a girl, as she is a high school student, is a rose with a lot of thorns and people around her will feel that. She speaks up her mind and is very straight forward. People in MI episode sub threads either love her or hate her. That is how you know she is a good addition to the show. Her action are a driving force in the overall love story.

Sound and music:
- Intro and outro songs are great, once again I'm biassed because I like just this kinda stuff.
- I've only watched the original japanese subbed version but I've heard that the english dub is also a good one. Voice actors did a very good job, everyone of them has their unique voice and style and you don't end up mixing them. Especially I liked Kyoko's and Asuna's voice actors.

Art:
The art style is as good as it was in the 80's, everything is hand drawn and that gives every show done the same, it's own personality. This was a big selling point for me because it is what I like to watch, to appreciate every panel, the skill and time that went into making them. Character design is well made, the focal point of every good anime character - the eyes, is nicely done, but as usual, only main female characters get the best drawn pupils. Clothing stays constant the length of the show and is as normal as it can be in a slice-of-life anime. The art gets better episode-by-episode, so don't judge this anime by it's first ten or so episodes. Few times I was so drawn into the show I didn't know if I was watching a TV show or a movie.

If you end up liking this show, it's highly rewatcheable. In 96 episodes you tend up forgetting parts and maybe learn something new about characters you didn't pay much attention to on the first go.


I was having trouble writing a spoiler free review because I like this show so darn much and it came out longer that I first anticipated. I hope you end up liking Maison Ikkoku as much as I did.

Thank you for reading my review.

I watched a few episodes back in college in the 1990's, but never had a chance to watch the whole series (subtitled anime was hard to find back then, especially long series). But I have been a huge KOR fan, and I've always heard how great MI is. Now I am in my 50's, and anime is much easier to come by, so I gave it a gander.

Story: 8
I'll be honest, the first 25 episodes were really difficult to watch. I really felt no love or connection, or really anything positive about any of the characters. In the 30's, we get ... some interesting developments, but then it is back to sadistic glee torturing Godai. I've seen other anime that exhibited this type of mean-spirited "humor", but I've always found it repulsive. It wasn't until about the last 25 episodes that the story actually became noteworthy, IMO. Once Godai and Kyoko are able to get away from the constant goading and manipulation from Akemi, Mrs. Ichonose, and Mr. Yotsuya, the story delves into some pretty serious stuff that will pull your heartstrings.

On a side note, what kept me going through the series was actually the glimpse into everyday Japanese life in the 1980's this show presents. It helped illustrate some of the stories my wife tells me about growing up in Asia.

Art: 8 - Pretty typical of the era.
Sound: 8 - No complaints
Character: 7 - Yeah, they get interesting towards the end, but they still feel a little one-dimensional. Sadly, the writers chose to keep harping on Godai's bad luck instead of digging in deeper to Kyoko's psyche, for example. Over the 6 years of the story, it seems like the only growth she experiences is making up her mind to remarry. Yawn.
Enjoyment: 7 - I liked the parts of the story focused on Kyoko and Godai's relationship. But as I said before, the incessant goading and teasing actually detracted from the story.
Overall: 8 - The last 25 episodes really made the show. I mean, if they condensed the entire TV series to about 40 episodes, I probably would have given this a higher rating.

I'll be frank here; the anime is actually not the best way to consume Maison Ikkoku's story. The art and sound has not aged very well and is inconsistent throughout its run. The manga is far superior in that regard. However, please believe me when I say that this is without a doubt the best love story ever told in this medium. Maison Ikkoku is peak romcom anime.

Maison Ikkoku is the most human, most sincere, most complete love story you'll ever find in this medium and possibly in any medium. It's simply that good. So while it looks pretty meh I still can't give this ... anything less than a perfect score. If you truly want to experience Maison Ikkoku in its ultimate form though, go read the manga.

Really! I do not understand how this anime is rated with such a high score under the romance genre when there is no romance in this anime. I watched 56 episodes hoping to see some good turn of events. It would be more than 3 years or so since both Mitaka and Godai met Ikako, and yet she is playing with their lives. Godai is clearly an immature person who cannot understand women feelings even he is 24 which cause the stretch of the anime. On the other hand, how can Mitaku, an eligible bachelor with a good career could wait for women for 3 ... years who cannot decide to make a decision! I do not know how the writer has portrayed Ikako's character so contradictory. On one hand, she cares about others but on the other hand, she wasted those two men's life by not deciding her choice which make look like she is a self-centered woman. Both of the men have good women choices in the anime and they could have moved on with their lives if not for her indecision.

The whole anime is a drama which is intentionally dragged to make it a big 96 episode one.

Maison Ikkoku is still today one of the most emotional and romantic anime I’ve ever watched, as well as a great historical slice of life title from the ‘80s, similarly to some more recent works like Tora Dora and Clannad.

Episode after episode, this anime conquered my heart with its genuine narration, an endless twist of funny and romantic moments, along with the lovely piano soundtrack and its unforgettable characters, including the main protagonists Yusaku Godai and Kyoko Otonashi, as well as the other secondary characters who are all further and nicely explored during the various episodes.

Some words apart must be told about the unforgettable ... setting, including the Maison Ikkoku itself as a house, as well as its incredibly romantic and nostalgic Tokyo suburb, situated in the district of Higashikurume, often depicted with a stunning atmosphere depicting for example the hanami cherry blossom, or a beautiful sunset with a typical Japanese train passing through a bridge along a calm river, by generating a constant and deep sense of nostalgia.

For all this, Maison Ikkoku remains without doubt one of my most favourite anime of all times and one which I strongly recommend to all romantic slice of life lovers. Thanks for reading me!

One of the best-polished and warm comedy/romance Anime! don't get discouraged by its released date !! I recommend taking a look at it!
STORY: its normal but the execution is very well done! There are few repetitive things in the middle of the episodes but all in all is very well polished altogether
ART: for its date is one of the best i have seen so far!
SOUND: Normal sometimes warm/ refreshing, the voice actors are well suited for each character!
CHARACTER: not much of past of each character but you won't mind it! Its well developing the relationships and the interactions with each character
ENJOYMENT: Well i ... did have a good time watching it!
OVERALL: SHOULD WATCH IF YOU LIKE ROMANCE/COMEDY.

Honest Review!

-Thanks

The show has its charm, not an entire waste of time. It's certainly a throwback to simpler, more innocent times in more than one regard. However, there was so much buildup for such little payout. The show is just too slow, you get to care about the characters after a while but if you take away the episodes that revolve around some retarded "misunderstanding", which is just the author not being very creative/smart on that particular chapter, you could have cut the total number of episodes by half.

** SPOILERS AHEAD **
What was more disappointing was that they chickened out when tackling the fundamental conflict ... of the series: who was going to be Kyoko's choice, Mitaka or Godai? Well, we'll never know because the author decided to "solve" that issue by using one of the aforementioned retarded "misunderstandings" to take Mitaka out of the running. We knew she was more fond of Godai, no mystery there, but the author seemed determined to not allow Kyoko to make an actual decision. Writing out the entire conflict using such a dumb plot device as the one they used was the lazy way out, especially after people have dedicated so much time to this series. The other outcome they tentatively explored wasn't that much better either (and equally lazy) which was making Mitaka out to be a big date rape monster, placing him out of the running by default. Again, just a different way of taking the choice away from Kyoko.
** END OF SPOILERS **

Watch this if you have nothing else to watch, otherwise you're probably better off putting it at the end of your queue.

Rumiko Takahashi’s previous success started with Urusei Yatsura and continued with Maison Ikkoku. The Yatsura manga started in 1978 and Ikkoku started two years later. Both ended in 1987. Compared to the crazy slap stick comedy of Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku went a more serious direction in romance and writing for an older audience. The staff itself was mostly different with only the director Kazuo Yamazaki (Urusei Yatsura) carried over. Studio Deen (episodes 128-195 Yatsura) kept most of the similar staff after they took over Yatsura, and worked in conjunction with Ikkoku.

Maison Ikkoku’s story is a “sad” romance development between two main characters Yusaku Godai and ... Kyoko Otanashi (refered to as manager or Kanrinin-san). The setting is Godai, a poor unlucky tenant living in a Tokyo boarding house during the 1980’s, and Otanashi becoming the new manager after recently losing her husband. Godai (20) starts out by trying to pass his college entrance exams a second time and can’t stand his boarding mates, which constantly gives him a bad time for their own entertainment. Cut to Otanashi showing up to become the new manager, and Godai instantly falls in love. Thus, begins Godai and Otanashi’s gradual developing relationship between each other and the people around them over the years.

During the start of the anime, the first 12 or so episodes are pretty much slap-stick, much like Yatsura. The good news is once the introductions and setting is over with, the anime settles down and slowly becomes more mature. Much like Yatsura, this anime focuses on the characters. Godai suffers from many personality flaws such as indecisiveness and zero confidence, while Otanashi suffers from her own flaws such as getting over her first love and accepting her feelings. Much like many romances, this one has what can only be called a “love hourglass” with Otanashi and Godai being at the center. Each one has their love rivals and many hijinks along the way.

Maison Ikkoku started slow and began as just another slap-stick, but develops into what can only be one of the best romantic comedies ever made. This anime should be on anyone’s top watch list if they are a fan of romance. It is a long and wild ride at 96 episodes, and with fantastic closure.

you wouldn't enjoy it if youre the type that enjoys the "strong male & weak female" stereotype, because it is more focused on the pro/cons of love itself.
and questioning yourself, will this happen to me or not? Knowing how to be patient and persistent is the key of this show. Even though it has got the old anime vibes, bad animation both art and sound but good story telling. It's like when you find an old book that the paper has gone brown and it has that distinct smell, but the wisdom and the journey of the story in the book itself outweights all of ... the cons.

One of the earlier masterpieces of manga author, Rumiko Takahashi, Maison Ikkoku lives out to its acclaim, being an anime of the mid-80s, when shows like Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball gained popularity in the west. A show based on Takahashi’s Seinen (adult)/romance manga of the same name, Maison Ikkoku is a fun journey, with the day-to-day life of Yusaku Godai, a student in-search of clearing competitive exams to join a decent college. His reasons for living in his mundane path flips when he encounters the new Manager of their boarding house, a woman named Kyoko Otonashi, who happens to be a young widow.

The show ... had good screenwriting throughout most of the series, entertaining the through the way and surprising the audience whenever least expected. Filled with frequent and yet dynamic characters, author Takahashi and the anime had done a great job in providing decent content to keep the show upbeat. And yet, there had been instances of dragging the episodes or producing content that seemed typical of ‘fillers’ to pass the audience’s time instead of letting the plot flow further.

The author has shown her adept skills in plotting interesting circumstances by making ‘wrong things happen at the right time’. A lot of misunderstandings are a frequent plot device used in the show, having a profound effect in most of the cases.

The music is not much of a praise, as the story employs the same music score for the entire series, with few changes in the opening and ending themes of the show. The anime provides decent animation for most of the run. The character designs often proved a repeat in various cases of male and female characters, often mistaking one for the other due to the lack of definite and complex differentiation in aesthetic characteristics. Examples include – protagonist, Yusaku Godai and another character, Shun Mitaka.

The show has proved its entertainment for most of its parts, but the unneeded hauling of its content, especially at the end of series, is being noted. Later, the annoyance of side characters, often leading to irritable offense without retaliation, seemed a bad experience for the audience. Personally speaking, I couldn’t just stand by as others suck the finance out of the protagonist like nothing’s wrong. Monetary moochers exist in the world (as based on the story), but the mentioned events described the protagonists of its weak content during those episodes. One also might need to make fast forwards later in the series (especially after episode 50 and beyond) to keep up with the story and yet keeping patience over not giving up the anime.

The protagonist receives a free-end typical ‘torch-run-lighting-the-Olympic cauldron’ by the end of the show, which seemed to haul all the overused plots as a weight one last time. Godai being a relatable character amongst many of the targeted audience, seemed a saint at the end of the series, a man without flaws and yet trying to create the same, leading to small plot disappointments.

Despite the minor flaws, in the end, the anime had a satisfying ending, unlike many modern-day anime. Discretion needs to be advised upon younger groups of audiences due to its mild-nudity and elaboration of the Seinen genre.

It is a great story for beginners and the mundane audience, who are content with light humour and simple plots. There are certain episodes that are a must rewatch due to its fun and good screen content (if you’ve watched the whole series), and yet there are others that can be forgotten.

Overall: 7/10

i tried watching it when i knew about Rumiko Takahashi~ as Inuyasha's mangaka (yeah, i had my childhood in Inuyasha's era). first impression when watching this anime is : looks old! that what other people's saying too.. but, it has amazing stories~ not saying about fantasy as same as some of Takahashi's works; but it have strong, cool, weird, REAL, and touching story. i enjoyed each eps~ and WOW! its TRULY ADULT ANIME, for me!

it taught you how the real love environment is.. when love breaks out its logic. how to be more wise about walking through your love life, strong.. with very weird jokes ... which makes you laugh, and sometimes touched

and~ yeah.. be patient when watching this anime (for anime lovers). you guys who always do streaming easily and easily get bored too won't enjoy it fully~ because as we see.. the eps is too much, and there's some "bored scene" actually i never assume it was a "bored" show because i really enjoy it per each ep

Maison Ikkoku feels a lot like a time capsule, showing the life of what were the 1980s and pre-Lost Decades times. It's a time when most people, including myself, can't experience it at all, but Maison Ikkoku creates vivid imagery to show it. From the clothing that people wear, the life of a recent high school grad needing to retake college exams, even the good time's everyone has, partying it up while Japan worries the Americans if their GDP will dominate the US in years to come. It's a beautiful show that reflects the average urban life of a Japanese person. Someone trying to get ... on their feet, away from the family business, creating their own life by getting into University, finding themselves, getting the girl, and making a life of their own with no shortage of bumps and roadblocks in the process.

Most people consider the anime's whole "misunderstandings" part of being unflattering and completely oversold; however, almost all relationships are either strengthened or destroyed because of misunderstandings. Sure, Mitaka's misunderstanding at the Dog Cafe can be notable for its exaggeration, and the show does create some pretty wild misunderstandings; however, moving from the most unrealistic ones, Maison Ikkoku crafts a very realistic environment.

Even those who aren't looking for a RomCom (which is still great by RomCom standards) could truly enjoy the slice-of-life aspect of the show as the show to its core, providing a transparent lens of 80s Tokyo and a story that can't be forgotten.

Thank you reading my first review!

I'm a bit of an anime newb, but liked Ranma 1/2 a lot and decided to try Maison Ikkoku. Compared to a lot of anime that I've seen, I love that the characters, relations, and story actually *evolve* in Maison Ikkoku. It's tough to go back and watch some episodic anime after this, actually.

If you do try this, definitely watch at least 5-10 episodes -- it took me that long to get hooked.

There are some seriously funny parts of this anime (Mitaka is always funny). It also has a nice daily life, city feel to it, if you're looking for that. Best way ... I can describe it is like a slow-burn romantic comedy drama.

I dont know how many series received remastered versions, upgrades or a new-brand animation, but Maison Ikkoku is by far the masterpiece of Takahashi-sama and surely it deserves the upgrade.
RomCom usually appears like some funny but irrelevant, with a very-low character development but here, almost 36 years agp, they did it in Maison Ikkoku.
Every chapter has something interesing to tell us as you can see how the relationship between every character goes in a different way since the start until the end, being Kyoko the real kingpin of the story. the real cornerstone that fits all in the show.

She's the widow and that's how you ... can easily touch the emotions of the adults.
Mitaka and all his background story is running at the same time, but also Godai's studies (and his problems with the female characters) are in the middle.
You can see how all the group grew and get mature in 3 years, how every character deserves at least a few episodes to get more interesting and also add something to the main story.
Sadly, this only lasts 96 episodes and you probably, at the end of the series, you will feel an existential emptiness because there isn't another "romcom" like these. Then you will notice, as the story goes, that you are a bit older just for watching the story about how a somewhat-indecisive university student and a widow -who is still mourning her late husband- crossed paths and managed to overcome the different prejudices of an unusual couple, especially considering that in the 80's (and perhaps today) Japan is still a country with many conservative traditions still entrenched

Maison Ikkoku is often hailed as Rumiko Takahashi’s best manga, and the anime adaptation is seen by a lot of people as one of the best TV series in the 80s. It’s anime is one of the few that covers the entire source material beginning to end. But how does Maison Ikkoku compare today?

The plot of the show follows our lead Godai, an indecisive young man who lives in a small apartment called Maison Ikkoku. He shares the building with several other tenants who like to make his life miserable by partying all the time and ridiculing Godai at every chance they get. Things take ... a turn however when the new manager, a beautiful young widow named Kyouko comes to town. It’s obvious to everyone that Godai and Kyouko have a thing for each other, but they both have emotional and past traumas they need to overcome before confessing their love. The story follows their relationship through several years and how they grow together.

Starting with some of the positives the animation in Maison Ikkoku was pretty good in my opinion. Lot’s of times especially with older and longer running anime you’ll see a dip in quality as the show goes on and the budget runs out, but the art stays at a consistently high level and it impressively detailed compared to other 80s anime. The music is also pretty good, as are the openings and endings. The third OP and song was my personal favorite, but Ops 1 and 4 were pretty good too. The second OP (“Alone Again” by Gilbert O’Sullivan) is unique as it is an English language tune, but it fits the story well. The background music for the show was also catchy and well done.

While a romcom, Maison Ikkoku has plenty of sentimental and good moments as well. Episode 40 was my personal favorite, but there are a good deal of other memorial episodes as well. The last five episodes do a fantastic job of wrapping up the story, and the finale is one of the best closing episodes I’ve seen in anime. I’m not going to lie the ending had me teary-eyed for a bit.

Now that sounds pretty good, but this issue is that Maison Ikkoku is not 20 or even 50 episodes, it’s over 90. While it is a slow-moving slice-of-life for most of its runtime, the plot of the show gets pretty frustrating after a while due to lack of progress. Most episodes will start with Godai doing something dumb or having an unfortunate accident which will be misinterpreted by Kyouko or someone else. This will persist even if a brief explanation would fix everything, Godai will just choose to sulk around instead. This happens again & again, episode after episode, and it gets pretty annoying after a while.

Another big problem with Maison Ikkoku are the supporting characters, especially the other tenants. Yotsuya, Akemi, & Hanae are some of the most despicable and infuriating characters in all of anime, all they do is get drunk, pester and abuse Godai, and waste screentime. Yotsuya is particularly the worse, he’s a voyeur and a creep who keeps spying on Godai and stealing his money & food. What’s worse, none of these characters ever suffer any negative consequences for their actions or have any development, and whenever they showed up on screen my finger was hovering above the fast-forward button. Also a lot of characters kind of just disappear during the final third of the show, the love rival Kozue is ever present at the beginning but they she just disappears for 20 episodes or so, and I felt some characters such as Kentaro & Yagami could have played a bigger role by the end.

In conclusion Maison Ikkoku is a good show, some of its 96 episodes can be a slog but the ending is a rewarding experience. If you’re a fan of Takahashi’s other works like Urusei Yatsura, Ranma ½, and Inuyasha you’d probably enjoy this too, and it is definitely a must watch for fans of 80s anime or romcoms. That said it can be torturous and boring for those who want actual plot development and/or are not as patient.