Maison Ikkoku

Dorm Life full of mayhem and memorable tenants who are unique and different. A hint of love is also in the air. 

Male character fighting for a girls love while living in the same dorm (communal apartment house in Maison Ikkoku). The girls family owns the place so she has strings she can pull. The main character also shares a room with a strange man who is constantly invading his personal space. (In Maison Ikkoku, Mr. Yoshida lives in a separate room, but makes his way in through a hole in the wall constantly.) Both shows also have a risque, yet sensitive girl for a tenant.  

The wacky tenants in Bokura wa Minna Kawai-sou are definitely similar to and possible a homage to the 80s anime Maison Ikkoku 

The story is similar. Student lives with weird people and he decides to stay with them because the girl he loves lives in the same place 

Comedy centered around student dormitory full of quirky characters with character traits that are sometimes annoying to their surroundings. The protagonist falls in love with the young landlady. 

The 2 anime are from different eras, but you can definitely see where Kawai-sou got its idea. Both anime contain: Main male character in love with another character living in the dorm. A very strange personality in the other male tenant A somewhat slutty female tenant A somewhat evil female tenant, making everything worse for main. If you like one you should like both, and don't be scared of Maison Ikkoku being old, it does not make it any less enjoyable and watchable. 

This are good examples of a old school romantic anime, they are very similar and can give us the entertainment and the joy of a great romance  

Both are early classics, lengthy romantic comedies in a harem-esque style featuring a male lead and a cast of women. Both will make you laugh and cry. KOR is only half the length of MI, but still weighs in at a respectable 48 episodes, and features the BEST ending of any anime I have watched. These two anime set the standard for romantic comedies, and precious few of what has come after ever matched that oh-so-high bar.  

Both are 80s anime, with good soundtracks. Both have fairly similar pacing and plot progression.  

Both series have a similar female main character: Kyoko Otonashi from Maison Ikkoku and Madoka Ayukawa from Kimagure Orange Road. They're both attractive and have similar personalities. They also have similar male main characters. So if you love one then you might also love the other. Maison Ikkoku doesn't have any supernatural elements and it's not as episodic as Kimagure Orange Road but if you love a great romance series with an amazing soundtrack accompanying it (personally think KOR has the better OST) then I highly recommend watching the one you haven't watched already. 

Both are oldschool rom coms about the typical bumbling awkward guy in a love triangle with a mysterious older woman and a more available/clingy younger woman. 'KOR' has mild fantasy elements in the form of some magic powers, but they don't dominate the show. They're mostly just there to get them out of corners they write themselves into. 

Both are generic 1980s animés featuring love triangles,slowly developing relationship between a tsundere female lead character and an average struggling male protagonist and funny but helpful supporting characters. Both series have the some of the best OSTs and background music score in all of anime history. Unlike many animes both series have clear endings. Both series are influential, directly or indirectly inspired dozens of animes. 

They're bouth about that serious, grown up love but they have the complete opposite begining and they're bouth from 80's.  

Both anime contain a main male character who practically lives with his manager in the case of Maison its the household manager and in Touch its the school baseball club manager. The main male are in love with this person, but in both anime it seems like the managers are waiting for the males to "grow up" even though they seem to share these feelings. Touch is a sports anime, however it is not very visible from start to end, it comes more in arcs so that does not take on every aspect of the anime. The cast growing mid-season 2 (around episode 40) in Touch makes the characters fit perfectly into Maison's also growing cast around midway. Same kind of love struggles, same kind of mood, same kind of comedy at times is why I believe that if you like one of them you'll like the other one as well.  read more 

Similar type of SoL-Romance anime. Maison Ikkoku tends to have more matured theme and Touch is more teenage-y (coming of age-like story). Though if you found Touch to be irritating, then I wouldn't recommend Maison Ikkoku since it's like 5 times more frustrating. 

Touch and Maison Ikkoku are romance drama series from the 80's and share many tropes and trends that were popular at the time. It's the similarities that make one anime appealing to watch for the viewers of another. So I will make a list of the subtle differences and you be the judge if it's worth watching based on what you like. 1. Alongside being romance and drama Touch is also a sports anime, specifically baseball. There are times when the romantic development takes a break in favor of more baseball and vice versa but the core of the show is still the drama, so baseball never truly takes the center stage. It's the motivation behind the baseball which really matters. 2. Touch has significantly less comedic episodes but they do exist especially in Part 1 (episodes 1-25). 3. Touch features younger protagonists than Maison Ikkoku but the character interactions are still realistic and believable. In terms of similarities there are some similar character archetypes like Yuka Nitta and Ibuki Yagami among other things. Both series have similar episode count and they both have huge payoffs. read more 

Touch is probably the closest thing you're going to get to Maison Ikkoku. It tells a similar story to Maison, & has the same grounded nature of the series to boot. The series also has a similar writing style, in which side characters actually give quite a bit back to the story, & help move the plot along. If you've just finished Maison Ikkoku, & want something similar to it, yet it brings its own flavor, Touch is what you're looking for. 

If you want to find more Rumiko Takahashi humour and want to see a story with beginning, middle and ending with a more serious romantic approach then search no more. Maison Ikkoku is unmatched on the Romantic/comedy/drama anime field. 

Same creator, same genres In Maison Ikkoku you can see that Lum and Ran are on episode 15, 14:45 

Both Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku are pioneers of the "love-comedy" genre in manga/anime. You may recognize the term as "rom-com" today. They started serializing around the same time and even ran concurrently for the majority of their publishing time despite being written by the same author, Rumiko Takahashi-sensei. So naturally, they have a similar feeling that translated over to their anime adaptations. Even though both of these series share the same genre of "romcom", the "rom" part is more emphasized in Maison Ikkoku while the "com" part is more emphasized for Urusei Yatsura. Maison Ikkoku has a more grounded setting with no sci-fi or fantasy elements and it also has plot progression. But it still has a strong comedic element even in its most serious episodes and fans of Urusei Yatsura will love it and vice versa. read more 

Both of these series are created by Rumiko Takahashi. The animations style and character design are very similar. Ranma is based more on martial arts while Masion Ikkoku has more to do with day to day life. Both series share the same kind of humor and odd family/friend relationships. 

In relation to this anime its made by the same wonderful creator Rumiko Takashi so you will notice a similar drawing style and maybe a few familiar scenes. The difference is mostly in Maison Ikkoku has a lot more romantic developments than pitted rivalry's. One of the things i felt could have been more explored in Ranma was the romantic aspects of the show and when i found out that Maison Ikkoku existed i was instantly curious and after watching only 5 episodes i knew this is just what i wanted. It is nowhere near as long as Ranma so do not be intimidated to start it off, also unlike Ranma's ending they wrapped it up in a movie tho the movie adds a few characters that never made it onto the show. If you love the comedy and the romance of Ranma this may be a good follow up show for you, it has just such a familiar feel while making it all feel closer to reality.  read more 

If after watching Ranma 1/2 you're left wanting a series that has a bigger emphasis on the romance or romance-drama aspect then look no further than the author's own series Maison Ikkoku. Maison Ikkoku is way more grounded than anything like Ranma or Urusei Yatsura as there are no fantasy or sci-fi elements. It takes place in real life 1980's Japan. Despite this, it still somehow retains the comedic nature of other series of Rumiko Takahashi-sensei which is excellent. But compared to Ranma 1/2 it has a plot that progresses slowly but surely with a believable cast of characters and has a huge payoff at the end. If you watched Maison Ikkoku first then expect a more loose plot and a bigger emphasis on episodic comedy in Ranma 1/2. It's still worth watching if you're a fan but you may not find all the elements that you liked about Maison Ikkoku here. read more 

A romance with obstacles was a very common theme in the '80s and these two anime are examples of such. In Yawara it's a romance between a judo prodigy girl Yawara and a third-rated sport news reporter Matsuda. In Maison Ikkoku it's between Godai, a tenant at Maison Ikkoku, and Kyoko, the new manager. In both anime the romance progresses nicely, but with way too many obstacles. 

I second this recommendation. For those Maison Ikkoku fans, don't be fooled by the appearance of Yawara!, it is actually more of a romance drama than sports. Judo is mainly used to drive the plot forward, but Judo competition itself is never a focus of the story. Both series involve seinen romance (the later part of Yawara!) between multiple people and there are multiple love triangles. More importantly, there are lots of difficulties involved in the primary romance; thus, it took the entirety of both series for the romance to blossom in the grand finale (7 years in the settings of the original mangas). (PS: for Yawara! you even have to watch the movie for that to happen). read more 

Love Hina is based off of Maison Ikkoku storyline , but of a much lower quality. Insert slapstick humor, more uninteresting jokes that deviates from the storyline and you have Love Hina. Watch Maison Ikkoku, the original story of a person who falls in love at first sight. 

The setup of both animes is very similar, but Love Hina is a much more comedic and otaku-ified version of Takahashi's anime/manga. If you liked Maison Ikkoku and are fine with a somewhat horny comedy take on it, watch Love Hina. If you like Love Hina, but would like an anime that has more serious plots and an amazing 1980s soundtrack by Kenji Kawai, watch Maison Ikkoku. 

The setting of Hiatari Ryoukou! is similar to that of Maison Ikkoku. Both feature main characters living together under the same roof in a boarding house with other interesting dwellers. Both have MMF love triangles and the "will they, won't they" type of feeling in the story. Hiatari Ryoukou! is a shoujo series but it can be enjoyed by everyone of any age group or gender. It has interesting and believable interactions between its characters like in Maison Ikkoku. The main characters in Hiatari Ryoukou! Kasumi and Yusaku banter a lot but never does it seem annoying. It also has a high school sports element, unlike Maison Ikkoku which mostly focuses on characters in college. read more 

They both have similar settings and romance except the high school and baseball. But both of them have heart wrenching love stories. Even though Maison Ikkoku have a better ending.  

Chobits is pretty much Maison Ikkoku but with robots, and instead of the ronin who just moved into an apartment falling in love with his manager, he falls in love with a persocom. Hideki Motosuwa is a very similar protagonist to Yusaku Godai, they both move into an apartment in the beginning of the series, and start studying to get into college. The protagonist falls in love with the sweet and pretty manager who is currently taking care of the apartment complex that her late husband owned, Kyoko Otonashi, or in Chobits, Chitose Hibiya. Other characters can be compared, as well. Kozue Nanao used to work with Yusaku, and has a crush on him, while Yumi Omura works with Hideki and is hinted to show romantic feelings at first. However, Hideki does show a bit of interest to Yumi, though not ending up with her, and in contrast, Yusaku has no interest in Kozue and does not view her as anything other than a friend, even seeing her as getting in the way.  read more 

Gender swap between Yuusaku and Kyoko + make Kyoko somewhat similar to Lum the Oni Princess = Otonari ni Ginga. Synthesis of 75% Maison Ikkoku, 25% Urusei Yatsura, just without other love interests. Nice. 

Both "Maison Ikkoku" and "The Girl Downstairs" are romance dramas that take place in college, the character designs are pretty similar too. -the protagonists are both male college students who have trouble expressing their romantic feelings. -the main love interests are both women with long black hair who live in the same building as the male protagonist. -the main love rival and past girlfriend of the protagonist are women with short brown hair. -there's also a girl w/ red hair who lives in same building with the others and also acts as a love rival, although Akemi in "Maison Ikkoku" is more for comic relief. -in addition alcohol is a big plot device in both, with characters frequently partying and getting drunk, then saying/doing stupid things that progress the story. There are plenty of differences of course, the main being that "The Girl Downstairs" is currently airing right now (Spring 2023) while "Maison Ikkoku" came out more than 37 years ago. All said though, they both give off the same kind of vibe.  read more 

Clannad:After Story offers a deep emotional and romantic story throughout a beautifully depicted Japanese suburb, with many stunning scenes like those of cherry blossom for example, elements which I similarly found again in Maison Ikkoku, although with a lighter and less dramatic tone. 

Both took the theme of moving on, though they had a quite different take on its theme (Cross Game is more like an acceptance of an incident as a link of two, while Maison Ikkoku is more accepting them as a start of a different life) 

Both series are about a guy falling in love with a woman who is still grieving after her late husband, and trying to overcome the pain that derives from that.  

During the show there was a sudden association Suzuka with Maison Ikkoku. Why? First of all, the main characters have the same personality traits. Also, in both cases, main characters live in boarding houses and main mail character falls in love with a girl in the same apartment building. They both put an effort into spending time with that girl, because both of the main female characters do not want another relationships because of identical reasons (this is spoiler). 

Adorable love story between cute and tender protagonists, surrounded by a pleasant and typical Japanese suburb setting, something which I found in Maison Ikkoku and then again in Toradora too.