Maison Ikkoku

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"What we've got here is... failure to communicate." - Cool Hand Luke

Misunderstandings are brought about by a failure to convey what one truly wants to say. In many cases the problems caused are nothing more than trivialities, but in certain situations a misunderstanding can have damaging consequences. Relationships can end, families can turn against each other, friends can become enemies, misunderstandings can even spark wars.

Maison Ikkoku is probably one of the most well known and influential romantic comedies in the history of manga and anime. Created in 1980 by the reknowned Takahashi Rumiko, the manga was serialised in "Big Comic Spirits" for its entire ... 7 year run. The story was adapted into a 96 episode anime in 1986, and also spawned a movie, three OVAs, and a music special.

The tale begins with Godai Yusaku, a student who is attempting to leave the the boarding house known as Maison Ikkoku as he feels that the residents there are hindering his studies and causing him to fail his exams. He changes his mind however, when a beautiful woman, Otonashi Kyoko, appears and tells everyone that she is the new manager.

Now, many people consider the story in Maison Ikkoku to be a straightforward romantic comedy with indecisive lead characters, and to be honest, this is a perfectly reasonable and logical conclusion - on the surface. What really struck me about this series though, wasn't actually the romance or the comedy, both of which were pretty decent. No, what really stood out for me was the fact that the main concept seemed to be about misunderstandings, in particular how they can force people to behave in certain ways over time (more on this in a bit).

While the majority of the story flows pretty well, one of the issues that some people have with Maison Ikkoku is that there is a large section in the middle of the series where it seems as though nothing in particular happens. While I can understand that perspective, I actually thought this was a rather clever way of highlighting how time can pass with nothing actually happening. Those of you who are familiar with Takahashi Rumiko's other works will know that she is an author who doesn't approach a story in a typical manner, and that her tales aren't often straightforward affairs.

That said, even I felt that the middle section of the series dragged on a bit too long, however I didn't really get bored of reading the series as the comedy made up for some of the shortfalls.

As far as the artwork goes the series shows its age in two main areas - the drawing style and the character design. This is particularly noticeable at the beginning of the series and may put some people off reading the series altogether. However, while the style may be typical Takahashi Rumiko, the series is particularly indicative of how her she developed during the course of the manga, and the latter half of the series is more reminiscent of much of her later work.

Even though the series does have some flaws with the artwork, some of the visual gags were truly inspired and the characters are a lot more expressive and emotive than one might expect from a series this old.

One of the biggest gripes people have with Maison Ikkoku is the characters. I've heard it mentioned that if both lead characters were less indecisive then the series could have been completed in half the time, and even I have to agree with that statement. However, I would have to add that certain ways of thinking, certain behaviours, become habitual in a very short space of time. Kyoko's inability to choose between Godai Yusakui and Mitaka Shun is one example of how the characters become accustomed to a certain situation - something that can happen in real life as well. The middle section of the series is the area where these habits are most prominent, and it's actually rather nice to see a mangaka acknowledge that any type of relationship can become stale when one is simply "going through the motions".

One thing I will add is that while both character display a clear inability to make a decision, Takahashi has made the effort to justify their indecisiveness to a degree.

As far as development goes, much of it occurs on the part of Yusaku and Kyoko, however a number of other characters are also given some depth over the course of the series, and while the amount may vary from one character to the next, the series is surprising in its ambition to give every character a moment in the spotlight.

In terms of enjoyment, Maison Ikkoku is one of those stories that you can love and hate at the same time. The romance and comedy are well handled, however the numerous misunderstandings that lead compound Yusaku and Kyoko's indecisiveness can become annoying for some people, and I will admit that the series tested even my patience on a couple of occasions.

That said, if you can work through the flaws in the plot, the poor artwork at the beginning, the numerous misunderstandings, etc, then what is left is a surprisingly charming series with some unique characters. One thing that many people may find though, is how similar Maison Ikkoku is to later romantic comedies, but given that many took inspiration/borrowed/stole outright from this series, it's understandable that there would be more than a passing resemblance.

Still, they do say plagiarism is the first form of flattery :P

Maison Ikkoku: the famous, much loved romantic comedy (rom-com) that began its serialisation waaaay back in 1980. Its success resulted in a flood of manga being created about a college loser falling madly in love and, after many comical hardships, EVENTUALLY getting the girl of his dreams.

The story is about a group of individuals living at a boarding house that is - of course - called Maison Ikkoku ('MI' from this point onwards). Kyoko Otonashi, a 22-year-old widow still trying to come to terms with the death of her husband, moves in as the manager in an attempt to take her mind off her problems. ... One of the tenants, Yusaku Godai, was just about to leave in order to find a more peaceful study environment when she walked into the building. He was quick to change his mind about escaping once he looked at her and fell in love at first sight. But, as Godai soon discovered, winning the heart of a woman still in love with her deceased husband is no easy task...


How to a rate a series that is so wonderfully heart-warming yet so horribly frustrating... Reading it filled me with feelings of warmth I have not felt since I read Love Hina; another rom-com that copied and improved a lot from MI. But, during the middle sections of the story in particular, NOTHING advanced at all in 80% of the chapters. In fact, because the main characters were so indecisive, it took six years for four people to sort out relationship issues that could, and should, have been sorted out in under half the time!

...But I'm not going to get into the negative right from the get-go. That would give readers the wrong impression about the series. I have a habit of going on forever about the negative when something irks me, even when I actually like what I'm talking about. And as you'll see as you read on, that's true in the case of MI.

Even though MI may appear to be more of the same to fairly experienced manga readers because many people have seen a rom-com involving a boarding house by now, before going into the series you have to understand that it started its serialization back in 1980 - we're now in 2009 and it has been copied to death. And even by today’s standards, MI is still a worthy rival for any other rom-com in existence, it being far more amusing and touching than a lot of attempts that have been made at copying it.

Despite its age, MI has something many rom-com stories lack: charm and respectability. In this day and age, it's rare to see a comedy manga that doesn't involve much in the way of nudity/panty shots - it's almost a requirement these days. But, to its credit, MI isn't like that, and that adds a mature feel to the relationships of the character that just isn't there in most of the perverse rubbish out there. That's why it felt so special when, after over 130 chapters, Godai and Kyoko finally did the deed, touching each other and being intimate for the first time. It's difficult to feel the same way in other rom-coms where the male lead has already felt up and saw the female lead naked in every other chapter.

The charm and general fun vibe the story has carries it when the chapters come across as fillerish. I was able to keep reading without needing breaks because of this. It can become a frustrating experience if you're the sort of person who doesn't like the idea of seeing the development of a relationship stretched to the limit for comedy purposes (I fall into this category myself), but it's undeniable that MI is incredibly fun to read. I think, somewhere deep inside us, we all have a part of us that wants to see two people fall in love and be happy together, and if the two in question can manage that after providing lots of laughter then all the better.


As for the art, it looks a little old by today’s standards, and Rumiko Takahashi (the author/artist) did become a little sloppy during the less important sections (like just about every manga artist tends to), but she was able to express the characters' emotions so well that I didn't care about the minor issues. For example, when Kyoko went into a jealous rage, giving Godai the 'evil eye' and stomping around, I felt her emotions reach out from the page and have an impact on me. It isn't often that black and white manga panels make me feel that way. Takahashi's loved as much as she is for good reason.


Now, I'm going to cover the characters. All my negative points are connected to the characters because MI is a character driven story with no real main plot thread - the characters push the plot forward rather than the plot forcing the characters onwards. That's not to say there are more negative points than positive ones - that's not true at all - but I'm going to focus on the negative since the flaws annoyed me.

Godai: Quite possibly the most spineless main character ever. I liked him for being a kind-hearted guy, just like I like other male rom-com leads, but he REALLY pissed me off. How on earth can a grown man take six years to get it on with a woman when he's lived with her for all that time, well aware of her feelings for him? All he needed to do was stop being such a wimp. It took another character upsetting Kyoko to FINALLY drive him to confessing all to her. If not for him being such a wimp/the author wanting more money, what happened in the last 20 chapters would've occurred around 62 chapters earlier, easily.

The worst thing about it all was that he did nothing even though he had a serious rival in the form of Mitaka. Instead of being a man, he let Mitaka drive around with and grope Kyoko, risking losing her because he couldn't bring himself to do anything. If not for Kyoko being unlucky and later not jumping at the chance to marry Mitaka, Godai would've lost Kyoko. How pathetic does a lead character have to be for him to win the battle for his love because his rival was forced to throw the towel in due to a misunderstanding!?

Still, I ended up feeling happy for Godai because he was a good person who had a lot go wrong for him. It was hard to hate him when, despite his lack of backbone, he truly loved Kyoko and wanted to make her happy. But I would've liked him a hell of a lot more if there had been less chapters and he'd been more of a man.

Kyoko: I'm not sure which of the two leads frustrated me more. Godai's hard to beat in the spineless rankings but Kyoko sure gave him a run for his money.

For six years she made two men fight over her. Of course, it was their choice to do so, but she never truly rejected either and was always quick to jump at the chance of going out when Mitaka called her. At first it was understandable because she was still in love with her deceased husband and didn't know either Godai or Mitaka very well, but as the years passed the logic behind her stringing both along became less and less respectable. The truth is, she was as spineless as Godai - they were made for each other.

What really got to me about her was how jealous she got over Godai seeing other girls. How could she act the way she did when she let Mitaka take her out and feel her up constantly? She was a complete hypocrite. I know human relationships and women don't always follow logic but, nonetheless, she still got to me with her mood swings. At least, in the end, she started to reject the advances of Mitaka...even if she did still let him drive her around and didn't ever completely reject him.

I must confess to feeling fond of her, despite what I said above. She's one of the few female characters I've seen in manga/anime that wasn't cheapened by being drawn wearing revealing clothes, and/or being shown throwing herself at men. She valued herself and wanted to remain faithful to her dead husband. I liked how Godai described her as a woman who burned with jealousy, yet was perfect in his eyes when she smiled.

Mitaka: the stud, the tennis coach, the rich guy and the rival for Kyoko's affections.

Since the story was told from Godai's perspective and, from start to finish, he was the underdog, I naturally felt some level of hostility towards him. That's what the author intended; that's why he was made so perfect. But I didn't truly dislike him. At heart he was a good guy and, in the end, he was toyed with for six years by Kyoko before circumstances forced him out of the race for her. He put his love life on hold for her and suffered because Kyoko wasn't able to be honest about her feelings - I couldn't help but feel at least a little bit sorry for him.

If there's one good thing that Mitaka injected into MI it was humour. His irrational fear of dogs got the most laughs out of me, sometimes even making me laugh out loud. The image of him, a well-built guy, looking around a corner in fear at a puppy, which he'd bought in an attempt to free himself of his fear, will stay with me for a long time. I never thought something so simple could make me laugh so much.

Putting aside my feelings for the three most important characters, my main criticism lies with the heart of the supporting cast, or rather how the author wasted those three characters. Yotsuya, the snake-like voyeur who sneaks into Godai's room via a hole in the wall, stealing food most of the time, was my favourite character until he began to fade as the series went on; Akemi, the bar hostess/prostitute who enjoys walking around MI in a see-through top and no bra (the sluttish character every harem type needs) and Ichinose, the nosey, fat older woman who gets drunk on a regular basis and dances. I don't have any problem with the characters actual personalities - I feel they all added to the comedy - but the author never fleshed out any of them, never giving any chapters that fully explained their history and took them above the level of humourous plot devices. I would've loved to discover more about Yotsuya and what he did for a living, but instead I was forced to read many chapters that added nothing to the series in any way, shape or form.

There were some other important characters - a school girl with a crush on Godai (Yagami), another girl blindly in love with Godai (Kozue), a girl who falls madly in love with Mitaka (Asuna), the son of the nosey woman mentioned above (Kentaro) and a simple minded late resident of Maison Ikkoku (Nikaido) - but very few of them did anything other than extend the story. While it was obvious she only existed to add to the chapter count, Yagami was a likeable enough character and her student-teacher relationship put Kyoko's past with her deceased husband into the spotlight, but she was the only worthwhile character out of the bunch. The author had a horrible habit of bringing characters into the picture and then forgetting about them. For example, Kentaro's strained relationship with his parents was never looked into again after around the halfway point, and his character only appeared in a few panels after that. And something similar occurred with Nikaido, a character that appeared for half of a volume, taking center stage, and then only appeared again in a few panels - I can fully understand why he never appeared in the anime. Simply put, the author created too many filler characters and didn't develop a large portion of the cast.


What MI did wrong in terms of character development and pacing has been corrected by others over the years. Love Hina is the most popular out of all the attempts at taking the rom-com crown away from it, and Love Hina fixed a lot of its problems. In Love Hina, all but one of the residents of Hinata House (Love Hina's very own Maison Ikkoku) had character development and a huge amount of the chapters were devoted to them and them alone - they weren't just there for comedy purposes. This meant that some of the supporting characters became as likeable as the main two. And Keitaro, the main character of Love Hina, actually changed as the story progressed - he didn't stay spineless like Godai. Also, instead of the exam side coming up at the start and then not being touched upon again like in MI, in Love Hina exam preparation and exams were used to add purpose to the story, preventing it from becoming a completely random series of chapters.

Of course, Love Hina also has flaws that MI doesn’t, and MI has plus points that Love Hina doesn't. Both are great in their own ways. Now that I've read both, MI will always be the original and Love Hina will be thought of by me as something of a remake by me. At the end of the day, all that mattered was my enjoyment, and I enjoyed both a lot.


So, to wrap this up, let me express how much enjoyment I got out of MI. No, it wasn't perfect, and the flaws did bother me at times, but it moved me emotionally like very little else has. For a fictional story that's been copied to death to make me go on a 60+ chapter marathon and make me feel happy because of a love story that was able to warm even my cold heart, it did a lot right.

I was torn at first as to how to rate it because of its flaws and age... however, after the outstanding final 20 or so chapters (once the fillerish material stopped), how on earth can I rate something so heart-warming less than 8.5-9/10?

Rating: 8.5/10

Its been 40 years since this manga was released onto this world. This #1, masterpiece manga by Rumiko Takahashi. Twas over a year ago that I watched the anime and about 9 months since I reviewed the anime, which I dubbed both a masterpiece and my favorite anime of all time. I'm now back to tackle the original source in celebration of both the 40th anniversary (which I’m a bit early on), and my ever lasting love of this series. This review will mostly be comparisons between the anime and the manga as quite honestly, a lot of what is to be said here are ... the same points I made in my review of the anime. Spoiler warning inbound, let's go.

Story:

Being that this was the original source material for the anime, the story is exactly the same. A ronin named Godai lives at Maison Ikkoku, almost moves out after having enough of his rowdy neighbors, the new manager Kyoko Otonashi moves in just as Godai’s about to move out. Godai decides to stay & then over the course of 5 years tries to win the girl. It’s the definition of a simple narrative executed really well. What’s worth noting is that the anime actually had added a lot of original content & changed some things around structurally to help fit the style of an anime more. Two examples of this from the first episode/chapter would be that the anime starts off with an introduction monologue of Godai studying & from there introduces everyone we’ll be meeting in the story. Where-as in the manga it just starts out with Godai yelling he’s had enough & is about to move out. I prefer the anime in this regard because the anime does a better job at introducing the characters, establishing the setting, & ultimately telling us what we’ll need to know. Meanwhile the manga frontloads the viewer with information. The other example would be the interaction between Akemi & Kyoko in which Akemi reports on Godai peeping on her. In the anime after Akemi tells Kyoko a shot cuts to Godai in his room studying, where as in the manga it cuts to a panel showing Akemi & Kyoko walking down the hallway to Godai’s room. In this instance I prefer the manga because in the anime it’s a corner cutting technique so that they wouldn’t have to anime mouth flaps. Some changes are for the better, some are for the worse, but I would say the anime original content does far more favors for the series than it does harm.

I’m about to spoil a major event in the series so if you hate spoilers stop reading. One aspect that the manga definitely has over the anime is that Godai & Kyoko actually get to have sex with each other near the end of the seies & it’s the absolute best scene of the entire series, manga or anime. After 5 years of indecisiveness, misunderstandings, bullshit, & other things poor Godai had to put up with, It’s a very cathartic pay-off for him to now only win the girl (which we knew he was gonna do anyway because it’s a straight-forward romance series). But also get to have sex with her & get an even stronger emotional connection with Kyoko than what was already displayed between the two previously. The scene is built up well & it doesn’t come off as forced or shock value.

All in all though. Between the manga & the anime, the story is largely the same. You can’t go wrong with either, though I will say aside from cutting out the sex scene, I do prefer the anime due to the anime original content actually adding a lot of value to the world & going on to help make the world, story, & characters of Maison Ikkoku even more memorable than even the manga could.

Characters:

Much like the story, the characters are the same here as they were in the anime. But for the sake of explaining myself I’ll quickly summarize the major players of this story.

Kyoko Otonashi- Widowed manager of Maison Ikkoku, main love interest of Godai.

Yuusaku Godai- Ronin turned college student, “plaything” of Maison Ikkoku, wants to win Kyoko.

Hanae Ichinose- Alcoholic Mother who loves to party

Yotsuya- Mysterious neighbor of Godai, loves tormenting Godai, is an asshole

Akemi Roppongi- Sexual woman of Maison Ikkoku, loves alcohol & teasing Godai

Shun Mitaka- Rival of Godai, rich tennis coach

Nanoe Kozue- Caught up in the love Hexagon, arguably the most innocent character of the series

Ibuki Yagami- A student lover of Godai, tries to get in the way of Godai & Kyoko.

While these summaries make the characters sound generic, they’re really not. Godai & Kyoko go through amazing character growth, the tenants of Maison Ikkoku contribute to both the plot & comic relief of the series in their own ways (near the end of the story Akemi gives Godai Kyoko’s coat & makes him chase after her as an example.) Coach Mitaka actually offers a fun (if tired) dynamic. Kozue is just so damn cute. Ibuki Yagami, I actually found not as annoying as I found her in the anime. I don’t know if it’s that overtime I’ve grown a greater appreciation for her role in the story or if it’s because Yagami doesn’t have a voice, but I actually somewhat enjoyed Yagami this time around. She still had her moments of frustrating but they were nowhere near as pronounced as they were in the anime.

Another thing the Maison Ikkoku anime cutout was a character by the name of Nikaidou. Nikaidou…… is honestly the worst out of the major characters in my opinion. Not to say Nikaidou is necessarily a bad character, he just isn’t much. He comes too late in the story to really leave much of an impact & his character is largely defined by him being dense & getting aggravated by Yotsuya’s antics & deciding to take action. In fairness, Nikaidou does contribute to the narrative like the other characters do. He does afterall tell Kozue about the misunderstanding of Godai & Akemi walking out of the love hotel, & he is in some ways partially responsible for helping Godai get closer to Kyoko. But seeing as the anime cut him out of the story & replaced most of Nikaidou’s actions with Kentaro or Yotsuya in his place instead, & they left the same impact/contribution on the story that they left in the manga, it ultimately goes to show how weak of a character nikaidou is in the grand scheme of the story. His arc about growing up & getting away from his mother is also underplayed. The story brings it up, but it largely happens in the background without much mention, flair, or even visual queues. Once Godai & Kyoko get married & the series showcases what happened to everyone else, Nikaidou’s arc is more or less done without much fanfare & Nikaidou isn’t even in the final panel where the tenants of Maison Ikkoku get together to congratulate Godai & Kyoko on their child. Yeah, Nikaidou was a pretty disappointing character in all honesty, but he wasn’t horrible or anything.

Art:

If there’s an aspect I think the anime easily exceels in over the manga, it’s the art. The art in Maison isn’t bad (well except in chapters 1-5, it’s pretty terrible there in all honesty). It’s nothing super special. The environments do look need, & there’s some good detail in the panels. But I don’t think these panels really have the flair & especially the visual design & directing that the anime had. The paneling itself is pretty standard honestly, you won’t see Takahashi doing anything crazy but that also means the panels won’t really become a cluttered mess with a confusing layout that becomes hard to read. Dialogue bubbles are also well placed within the panels so the general layout is pretty clean & it makes for a nice, easy read.

Final:

So that’s the Maison Ikkoku manga. It’s about as good as the anime was, it’s still a masterpiece, it houses everything I liked about the series & then some in certain cases, the characters are still as lovable & funny, the story is the same that it ever was. This is Maison Ikkoku as I know it just the way it was originally & not an adaptation into a different medium. Due to this factor it gets the same score I gave the anime, a 10/10.