Maison Ikkoku

"The woman you love... hey, what's she like?"

"The woman i love...
burns with jealousy
leaps to conclusions
cries
and turns to ice
but

when she laughs...

... the world is mine"

So i finally managed to complete Maison Ikkoku (manga). Better late than never, i suppose.

It's a classic and you can instantly see why. Quite honestly, Takahashi Rumiko really has something that no other mangaka has. And i'm not talking about her bank account, mind you. The woman is amazingly talented, period.

And so, Maison Ikkoku is a wonderful story that you can fully enjoy even 30 years later. Even if Maison Ikkoku did age in certain aspects. Even if it can be seriously frustrating to read at times. Even if it's far from perfect, the "heart" is undoubtedly still there. Rumiko's very unique style is still there and you can easily recognize it. No one in the world has quite the same sense of humor, the same art style, the same wittiness and nonchalancy she so easily applies in her storytelling, the cheer silliness and nonsense in the borderline inane situations she often creates and let's never forget the lovably idiot characters she brings to life in her manga. It's like she vibrantly unleashes her inner baka as she writes and draws, and the final result is a gleeful mixture of her own childishness and inate talent for drawing manga. The paneling, the pacing, the character expressions and the way they express their feelings and emotions, the patterns you can clearly recognize on every character's behaviour and how human and relatable they feel to the reader. Her officially stated lack of planning ahead and her uncaring method of just making up as she goes along, it's all very idiosyncratic. In many ways i think she's like an open book, and you can read her just fine if you want to.

The way i see it, Maison Ikkoku is result of all her virtues and (annoyingly lovable, in my opinion) flaws. Truthfully, i think for you to enjoy Rumiko's manga, you gotta be as much of a baka as her characters. You gotta be someone who does stupid things (quite often). You have to be someone who does stuff on a whim only to regret it some minutes later. You gotta embrace the silliness in everyday life and smile about it. You gotta accept the avalanche of misunderstanding that hinder the story from progressing right until the very end. And above everything else, understand why they happen. To grow up and to face the mistakes you make, accepting your good and bad points, to find someone you love; and last but certainly not least, be willing to share with him/her your miso soup every morning.

In other words, to be like Kyouko and Godai, our two protagonists in this wonderful story. This is a long jouney of two people through the many hardships one can find in life, and at its core, a coming-of-age narrative of two people who had to learn how to communicate with each other, who had to battle against their own ghosts and their many shortcomings. It's a story of acceptance. Of two people who had to grow, but could not possibly do it alone and never without the other. Not without the the one they have grown to know and love and accept and trust. Such is Maison Ikkoku, a love story that knows no age and will always remain timeless for any person with an human heart beating inside of them.

While not the worst manga I have ever read, Maison Ikkoku is certainly the manga I hate most. A seemingly unthinkable opinion given the reviews and recommendations that seem to drip of this work in buckets worth. Any and all of those reviews seem to take what I view as the reasons that this manga is a god awful piece of shit as reasons that it is amazing and wonderful, or give the manga a great rating while acknowledging how glaring these issues are. I'll try to cover them, and I can on some of them understand it is simple a difference of taste, but the majority is something I find completely insane and backwards. Almost as if I've gone into medieval times where burning people for a difference of belief is the norm. To briefly summarize my issues with the manga before I dive deep. With the exception of a child all characters are either seemingly irredeemable morons with little common sense, or parasites who leech off of those more misfortunate than themselves or too stupid to do something about it. Throughout 85% of the manga there is absolutely no progress, which would be fine if not for the mandatory progress a budding relationship requires. Now, with that said, I'll go into detail around mostly the story and more importantly the characters as those are the biggest issues. (Buckle up, this is going to be a big fucking rant)

First, the story. The story of Maison Ikkoku begins with a young college student in a rather run down boardinghouse of weirdos, managed by a young beautiful widow. The focus of the story seems to be said weirdos either abusing or exploiting that young college student by maliciously causing misunderstandings between said college student and the young widow. The object of his affection. The residents understand that this causes stress for an already stressed young adult who is pressured with school work, exams, and finances. To top it off, they decide to pile onto that finance issue by frequently forcing him to pay for alcohol or food. Something this student is too stupid to deny. Ignoring that, this young student goes about his days, daydreaming about the young widow. On occasion there are hints or progress or a half assed confession, but by the next chapter it is ignored and we've regressed basically to original start of the manga. The only notable progress in the first 140 chapters is that Godai, our young college student, and Kyoko the widow get to speak to each other more personally, as is the case with most people who live with one and other.

The other issue with the story is closely intertwined with character, but I'll do my best to separate them. Godai, our young idiot, frequently gets lucky with girls even though he isn't described as particularly attractive or desirable. The most prominent object of this luck is Kozue, a girl his age who is affectionate towards him. For those 140 chapters Kozue seems to be under the impression Godai reciprocates her feelings towards him and that they are a couple. Those 140 chapters span several years. And in those years our young moron meets her family as her boyfriend. This fucking idiot some how managed to knowingly date a girl for years without once mentioning he never intended to nor wants to be her significant other. How on Earth you accidentally date someone for years is beyond common sense and seems to be something other readers find hilarious, where as I find it depressing and down right cruel. Leading someone who loves you on for years when you have no intention of returning those feelings, regardless of the cliche funny moments, isn't comedy. It's cruelty.

Now to switch over to a more character focus, I'll individually complain, I mean analyze each character. I'll go from biggest cunt, to retard, to functioning person.

Biggest cunt and first character is Mitaka, Godai's rival for Kyoko. Mitaka is a few years older than Kyoko, in his mid to late twenties. He's handsome, tall, born rich, athletic and has the character you'd expect for a person born with a silver spoon in their ass, that also has had everything handed to them in life. From their luck with genetics to family money. Mitaka isn't a rival any reader that isn't a 14 year old girl who finds Mitaka 'dreamy or ideal' or a total cunt would ever root for. I can't be bothered to remember every individual interaction between him and other characters, but I'll pick on the ones that stick out most, after generalizing the majority. Mitaka puts on a nice guy face for Kyoko, a beautiful young widow who is in his residential tennis class, filled with young to middle aged mothers.

He focuses his affections on her for the majority of the series seemingly knowing nothing about her or her feelings regarding him. He constantly pressures her into dates or outings. The other characters he frequently interact with are Godai, and Ichinose, a short, fat, middle aged mother who lives at the bordering house with Kyoko and Godai. He largely ignores Ichinose (something, to be fair, I'd do as well given her personality) and frequently imposes his superiority complex onto Godai. He, and I quote, gets going on "cutting Godai down to size". What he means by that is whenever he manages to pressure Kyoko into doing something with him, he likes to wave it in front of Godai and watch his despair, and synthesize motivation from it. That quote comes from a chapter where he vehemently tells Godai he will not "let Kyoko fall into poverty by ending up with Godai". Yea, the cunt born into money and talent who's never truly worked a day in his life is getting off telling a moron who works for everything, where he's going to end up.

Next interaction that sticks out is the one where he gets Kyoko's family, who naturally adore a rich handsome man, to trick her into a dinner where he basically ends up kidnapping her. He takes to an out of the way fancy hotel restaurant, where he informs her he has a room. That he intends to get into her heart. Something he knows nothing about given his continued pursual. He even mentions he might 'force his way in'. Sounds like a rape threat to me, but I'll leave the interpretation of the man who just kidnapped a woman, took her to a hotel which she has no way of leaving but him, and informed said woman that he'd like to spend the night with her, to you. Few more complaints then we will move onto the next cunt. On the occasion where he kidnapped her, he encouraged her to drink more and more alcohol. Noting he'd 'be sober by morning'. Remember, this is the occasion he kidnapped her and noted his intention to sleep with her. Whether he intended to rape her, I will again leave to you. But I think it's fairly obvious given the fact he stated he intended to sleep with her that night, then continued to pile on drinks into her. Next he tried to guilt her into marrying him. Noting that 'no matter how she turns him down, it will be cruel, very cruel'. This seemingly largely implies he KNOWS she does not like him and is yet still pursuing her and forcing her into uncomfortable positions. Even when she's crying because she doesn't know how to turn him down he still does not relent. Oh, and did I mention he INTENTIONALLY ambushed Kyoko, her family, and her deceased husband's family at HIS FUCKING GRAVE, to curry favor with her family to further pressure her into a relationship with him.

The only reason he gives up is because his uncle arranges a marriage between him and a shy young, equally pampered rich girl. The reason he gives up is because he misunderstands, thanks to that annoying cunt housewife Ichinose, that he got her pregnant when he was drunk. When in reality he only kissed her (big deal to said girl, but almost nothing to him) and it was her dog who got pregnant thanks to his dog. He then, under the impression said fiance is pregnant, promised to marry her on the spot before confirming the second hand information that it was SHE who was pregnant. Then he 'gives up' on Kyoko because not even he is a big enough cunt (Debatable) to call off a planned wedding he promised to a young shy and overall good girl who for some reason (actually because her dogs like him and apparently dogs choose fiances) loves him. That, all in all, is Mitaka. Godai's rival. A pushy cunt and the worst character, IMO, of the series. He for the entirety of the series pissed me off and did not once do one good thing without having an ulterior motive. The only thing that can be interpreted as a genuinely 'good' act is him not calling off the marriage he agreed to once discovering the fiance was not pregnant. Which is not as much a good thing as it is just not a cunt thing.

Next character. Yotsuya. Godai's male, middle aged neighbour. A voyeur and an overall fucking creep. He breaks the wall inbetween his and Godai's room so he can sneak a peek and sneak in at his leisure. Constantly blackmails Godai, the young college student with financial issues, into buying food, alcohol and throwing parties in his room where he pays for said catering for him and the other cunty residents of the boarding house. Which I might add is not only a financial disturbance, but also an issue regarding sleep and study time for him, further negatively impacting Godai's life. Throughout the series Yotsuya has not ONCE done anything selfless. In fact every action or scene we see of him is manipulating others, mostly Godai, for his entertainment or benefit. He has LITERALLY (and I am actually properly using the word unlike most people who use it for emphasis) has not done one decent thing in the series. Even if he did, it's far outweighed by the general cunty behaviour he exhibits on a daily basis. This one is very short because there isn't much to say. He's a god damn parasite who leeches off a fucking student, a voyeur who spies on women, and a straight up cunt with even less redeeming features than Mitaka. The only reason Mitaka is higher on the cunt radar is because he implies rape, kidnaps and preforms what I would call psychological torment.

Onto Ichinose, the previously mention short, fat, mother housewife. She, like Yotsuya is a parasite draining money from Godai in the form of alcohol, food, and party. The only reason she's above him is because she doesn't blackmail Godai, and isn't a fucking creepy voyeur. She constantly neglects her child, and when on screen, is either intentionally or unintentionally causing mischief by repeating fractured or untrue information. Usually between Godai and Kyoko. Or is drunk and partying while neglecting her preschool age child. Who, as a housewife, is charged with caring for said child. Literally all she does in the series is get drunk on some else's dime, ignore her kid, and spread misinformation. Equally short an analysis because there is literally nothing else to her character. She's a goddamn disgrace of a mother and wife. And an overall cunt.

The next character is the last 'villainous' character. After her we move on from malicious cunts to fucking idiots. Akemi, a young beautiful waitress, who more often than not is not wearing enough clothing. She also, as all residents seem to do, get drunk on a student's dime. She is implied to sleep or at least date around with less than ideal members of society. She's a bit more complex than the previously mention absolute cunts, as she seemingly understands the feelings and tensions between Godai and Kyoko and on occasion (specifically the end, where she gives a pretty decent push to Kyoko towards Godai) helps them out. But overall can be regarded as a cunt who seems attracted to Mitaka because he's rich and handsome, also ignores his cunt tendencies. Drinks and parties on a student's dime in his room, with the other residents often disturbing him. Also, on ocassion, accuses said student of spying on her, which isn't true. I think it's obvious who it is, and even if it was Godai, it's not as if she doesn't walk around in the state she gets 'spied on' as of her own volition. Again a short review, as she's a fairly straightforward character. Still a cunt, but much less a cunt. Though that's only because of the one occasion she did something noticeably good.

Now, onto the fucking morons. First, our protagonist Godai. You should have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to say about him so this will also be pretty short, given all the details you gotten on him before. Well, let's start. He's a fucking idiot who manages to lead on a girl for years never once clarifying their relationship for fear "of hurting her" as if unwantingly dating her for several years and leading her to believe you love her when you don't, won't hurt more. He also, on occasion, almost gives into temptation and almost 'furthers' his 'relationship' with Kozue, if you catch my drift, despite not loving her, her loving him, AND him loving someone else. He lets his parasite cunt neighbours exploit him for money, alcohol and food. Constantly lets misunderstandings form between him and Kyoko and other women, and almost without exception fails to clarify them until major damage is done, if at all. Overall, more of an idiot than an asshole and stereotypical moron dude who thinks with his smaller head most times. I wouldn't call Godai a bad person, but I sure wouldn't want to be friends with him. Mostly because he lets people exploit him, never stands up for himself, lets misunderstandings flourish and is an overall fucking idiot. The good things about him are he seems to have good intentions, though he never fucking acts on them. And whether it be because he loves her or realizes objectively what a fucking cunt Mitaka is, tries to keep that superficial fucking asshole away from Kyoko.

Next, the main heroine, and fellow idiot, Kyoko. The beautiful widow. Bet you're surprised she's in the fucking moron category. Let me explain. She, like Godai, but to a lesser extent (mainly because Mitaka is a fucking creepy moron who realizes this but continues to push on) somewhat leads on Mitaka. Well, less lead on, and more never tells him to fuck off. This can be interpreted as her being shy or worried about hurting him, but hey, he's a fucking danger to society who ambushes families at graves to curry favor. So I don't think she should be worried about his feelings as much as her safety. Given that he's pressured her into many things and basically kidnapped her on one occasion. Now, ignoring Mitaka because half of that issue isn't her fault. We move onto Godai. While she often assists Godai whether that be by removing the aforementioned fucking parasites from him, albeit temporarily. She also gets unreasonably angry whenever a situation with Godai and another women (Often Kozue, and often a misunderstanding Godai wants no part of). Which is completely fucking ridiculous because she NEVER ONCE clarified her feelings for him, or officially recognized her and Godai to be in any sort of romantic relationship. Yea, I get that it's uncool for a guy who implies and even on occasion says he loves you to seemingly be with other women, but what fucking right do you have to be angry when you A) do the same fucking thing which a rich creepy cunt, and even at times agree to a date with said creepy fuck to spite Godai and B) are not in a formal relationship with him. All in all, I don't truly hate Kyoko, but I sure wouldn't want anything to do with such an unreasonable woman. I think the only reason people find her desirable is A) Her obvious ridiculous good looks, and B) She never 'puts out' and has a very reserved and generally nurturing calming appearance. If you removed her looks, odds are, most people wouldn't give a damn. Yes, she has some good points, and if I had to give her an outright good or bad rating, no middleground, I'd give her good. I personally think she's not someone I'd want anything to do with, and lets her emotions rule her more than she should.

Now, onto the final individual character who is an actual reasonable person, and neither a cunt nor moron. The sole main character of the series to be so is, Ichinose... Kentarou. The cunty housewife's gradeschool child. A fucking child is the only main character of the series who is not a complete lunatic. He all in all is 'average' kid. He's selfish at times, but given his surroundings, at other times is surprisingly mature. He often tries to get his bitch mother to stop getting drunk. He views Yusaka and Kyoko as some of the few ALMOST sane people in that boarding house, which I agree with. He doesn't have many positive or negative interactions, and is mostly a neutral character that illustrates how much of a failure at parenting his mother is. Overall he is the only character I can describe as a functioning person.

There are other possibly reasonable characters, but they don't appear enough to make a concrete call on that. Such as Ichinose's husband, Godai's friends, family, Etc, etc. All in all, the lack of decent (in both quality of creation and values), interesting characters who actually show progress or provide entertainment, and nonexistent story lead this to be my most hated manga. The main couple aren't a couple for 90% of the series and are even in 'pseudo' relationships for the majority of the series. They show little progress with each other, and are surrounded by fucking malicious cunts, and themselves are so goddamn stupid, they should have to wear a neon vest with a dunce cap and provide cards certifying how stupid they are. The surrounding main characters, (Boarding house residents, Mitaka, etc) are so plainly manipulative, parasitic and outright cunts with seemingly no redeeming feature I can't view any interactions of them with the story or main characters as anything other than sad. Again, the series is basically about a mentally handicapped college student, who is constantly exploited by his housemates, and loves a jealous widow with little commonsense, who is chased by a fucking creepy handsome rich guy.

I do find the ending of this series rather favorable as I do, generally, prefer 'happy' endings. But this ending felt very superficial and obvious. As if everything that happened was a sure thing. It also didn't do closure very well, regarding the main couples 'rivals' but whatever. Not going to complain about such small issues in the face of the giant raging monstrosities that are the characters and majority of the story. Overall, I argue that this manga is objectively a 2 / 10 given it's characters are fairly flat and display no progress. The main story relies and cliche situations that often derive 'comedy' at another's expense, and the near entirety of the story could be summarized as and avoided if not for misunderstandings. All in all, I fail to call this a comedy, or romance, more of a big clusterfuck of misunderstandings, jealousy, idiocy, and cunts. If you've got time to kill and want to hate yourself and fictional characters, I wholeheartedly recommend this series, otherwise drop this shit harder than the plague dropped medieval Europe's population.

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.

This was my first experience of a Rumiko Takahashi work. And boy, what a disappointment this was.

Maison Ikkoku is a failure of a slice-of-life/comedy about indecisive love interests and a band of friends who makes things worse for everyone - because it is supposed to be ''funny''.

(For most parts) Everyone in this series is a selfish jerk, and I mean everyone!

Yet, these same characters are tightly tied together by the notion of being a community. Perhaps, this was how we were back then (maybe still are) as a society - forgiving everyone's shortcomings, even if their whimsical actions & indecisiveness constantly hurt others. However, that does not make for an interesting reading experience.

I will admit the incessant gossips and self-centered characters made the manga feel realistic at first. But it soon turned into a repeatedly deployed plot gimmick to create new drama. We also get a fair dose of infuriating troupes like characters constantly being interrupted at key moments, misunderstandings through poor communication, etc.,

And to make things even worse, the series has this shtick where, when each chapter/arc tries to wrap up the drama with a gag and say, ''Everything is fine, because it is funny''. And you just want to shout, ''No! It is not fine. You guys are indecisive morons.''

But to give credit where it is due, the manga does get some things right.

1. The world of Maison Ikkoku is deeply rooted in real life experiences people often go through, making its panels feel relatable.

2. It often manages to be very adventurous about its drama.

3. Its (nostalgia invoking) clean art is quite nice to look at.

4. Takahashi's strong mastery over the episodic storytelling format, makes it a very easy read.

Overall, if you like soap-opera like comedies, with a bunch of misfits who are supposed to be like a ''family'', but are honestly just horrible friends (& lovers). You will love this.

If you are looking for a well-written slice-of-life about romance, friendship or family, stay as far away from this as you can.

Maison Ikkoku, Where the love blooms


Maison ikkoku is the perfect sample of the Romance Comedy that actually have Romance and Comedy, Unlike these days Romance Comedy which full of filler story and such, Maison Ikkoku is not that kind of manga. A full guarantee of Happiness , Misunderstanding , Comedy and Romance all the way in this Manga.

Reading Maison Ikkoku was a great experience. For you that looking for straight drama in the early chapter, well i guess you will disappointed because the "real" drama starts at chapter 100. although you might found some little drama before chapter 100, but other than that its just straight romance comedy but more to comedy.

The Story, Some "no good" boy is started to living at Maison Ikokku and found himself in love with the manager, which is a widow. then he tried many ways to convey but he was bothered by the absurd behaviors of the other tenants. if we looked at the story, it is quite appealing because how the boy tried to convey his feeling but many of them ended badly (and funny). This Manga Includes "real comedy" that actually make you laugh your heart contents, unlike some manga that "Comedy" but pervy comedy (for example peeking girls skirt, a voyeurism and et cetera).

The art, Rumiko Takahashi always did a good job making manga. Even though it is an "old manga", still it has many potential on the art like manga these days. The character designs are appealing, well for 1980's manga which many of kids these generation overlooked this because it is "old and unattractive". well if i might say things, i think Rumiko Takahashi always has some standards that never fade even time changes.

Character, well like other Rumiko Takahashi manga, such as InuYasha. They always have some appeals when they were fighting. Many misunderstanding in this manga, well some of them is a foolish misunderstanding that will laughable and some of them is a serious misunderstanding that make you sit a while and think. The main heroine in this tends to be jumping to conclusion, Super Mega Jealous all the time which it's the attractive part of her that make the main character, no even me to fall for her over and over again.

Many happiness, jealousy, misunderstanding and romance that brought by Maison Ikkoku to the readers. This manga full of laughter, jealousy and of course Romance. the Enjoyment, well it is very enjoyable for me as the fans of Romance manga, but in my opinion some of readers will found this is interesting because the comedy and the romance.

TL;DR : This is A good romance comedy manga, i recommended this !

"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 will have you both crying and laughing, both angry and at ease, and both content but wanting more. Takahashi Rumiko has set up the prefect formula in making a successful romantic comedy.

A lot of people will complain on how the series drags in the middle, and this is probably true. This series could have been about 100 chapters shorter and still had been as good. But at the same time this series could have been 100 chapters longer and still been as good. This is the charm of Rumiko. You might get angry at the countless number of misunderstandings that happen for no reason, but by the end of the chapter you will feel incredibly satisfied. She is able to make everything in this manga serve a purpose, and when looking back at that, it's truly astounding. And to her credit, the length of this series was prefect. It made the ending of this manga powerful. And I will be damned if this isn't the best conclusion to a romantic story that I have ever come across. Honestly the end is definitely the past part of this series, no doubt in that, but it would not have been nearly as powerful if she did not put the effort into her characters and making you actually care for them as she did.

Which brings me next to the next part, the characters. People love to fly off about how bad the characters are because of their indecisiveness. But the thing they fail to see, is that these are the characters. There is development, and it's powerful. But one of Rumiko's powers is her power over characterization. She lays out who these characters are and that's it. There is no seemingly huge event that changes them, it's just little things that add to growth. But at the end of the day these characters are who they are, and that is people. Never before have I read something to where each character was so believable as themselves. Kyoko is just a widow who is deafly afraid of being alone, and Godai is just an average guy who lacks self confidence. That's it, these are who they are. And at the end, even when they finally come to accept it, it's still who they are. And that's what makes them so powerful. The story is their struggle to accept their faults and try to move on, and at the end they do accept them. But at the same time those faults are still with them, because at the end of the day that is who they are.And Rumiko does a great job of getting this off to the reader, letting us know that these are people just like everyone else.

If there was one thing that could take away from this otherwise wonderful manga it would be the art style. Don't get me wrong the characters and character expressions are done really well. In fact the character expressions are done so flawless that they actually manage to add another layer to the emotional depth of this manga. But the background images of this manga are just really poor. The sky a lot of the time is this really weird dark smudge that just takes away from the experience. In fact I had to laugh at one point, Kyoko was walking outside and said "What a beautiful day" but because of the way the sky was drawn it looked like it was about to storm. The art isn't a major set-back, and it can be dealt with. In fact you will be looking at the characters expressions so much that you won't notice a lot. But there are times when it will come out and strike the reader and it was enough for me to count this as a flaw against a seemingly flawless read.

Overall Maison Ikkoku is a great read. One of the best things I have ever come across. This manga is a roller-coaster of emotions. It will have you reaching for the tissues, your neighbors will yell at you for laughing too loudly, and events will transpire that will leave you speechless. All of it leading up to one of the most powerful endings ever. So if you are searching for a very above average romantic comedy then please look no further. Maison Ikkoku will take you on a journey of which you will never forget.

TL;DR: Maison Ikkoku is the romance comedy that will make your heart go doki-doki and feel a little less lonely inside. Definite recommendation for any fans of the genre or Rumiko Takahashi in general.

L;DR
When I first began Maison Ikkoku, I didn't have high expectations. Sure, I was coming in as a great fan of Rumiko Takahashi, but I guess the art and plot line of Maison Ikkoku didn't appeal to me. Still, I'm always in the mood for a good romance--so I began reading.

Then, of course, I read more. And more. And more.

Maison Ikkoku has so much heart. Just from reading, the emotions of the characters seem to leap straight from the page. As a reader, it is so easy to immerse yourself into Maison Ikkoku, to watch these fun characters bounce off each other. Sure--it's a romance-comedy manga. So... not everything that happens is realistic, per say.
But, and I'm not quite sure how to explain this, their emotions are so realistic, even if the situations they arise in are not. Kyoko's intense jealousy but unwillingness to let go of her past. Yusaku's constant pressure to be good enough, to succeed in the job hunt, and the depression he falls into. Not only that, each character is developed inexplicably well. The strange group that is the tenants of Maison Ikkoku each have their own personalities that blend together so well.

Maison Ikkoku is simply so, so easy to fall in love with.

The story, like most Takahashi works, revolves around jealousy, misunderstandings, and love triangles galore. If you're not a fan of any of those tropes I don't recommend Maison Ikkoku (or any Rumiko Takahashi work for that matter). But I'm a sucker for a good romance, and Maison Ikkoku gave me all the feels while still maintaining a comedic and fun tone.

One aspect I loved about the story was how time flowed. Years pass in a natural way- no time skips, but just the natural way time flows. A lot of manga and anime have their characters stuck in an eternal time loop of never growing up, but over the course of Maison Ikkoku you can really watch the characters grow and develop, and this just makes you care for them that much more. There's visible difference between Yusaku of chapter 1 and Yusaku of chapter 160, and the same goes for everyone else. The relationships are so fun to watch too. Everything flows naturally. It's wonderful.

Maison Ikkoku is technically very episodic. Most conflicts get wrapped up within a chapter or two, and then there begins a new event. This isn't the manga to binge-read, but rather to enjoy in small doses.

Oh, and one more thing- the ending. The. Ending. Is. Satisfying. So if you're the kind of person who can't stand an unresolved ending, don't worry.

Go read Maison Ikkoku.

NOTE: This review is in direct comparison to the anime and assumes that the reader has either seen the anime or is at the very least familiar with it. Some minor spoilers for the anime are inevitable and so reading discretion is advised.

***

Art:
I have been watching anime since the mid-1990s. However, most of the spurt happened only in the early 2000s with the onset of fansubs and series like Naruto and Bleach. The reason why I bring this up is because the first impression that one gets when starting Maison Ikkoku is something similar when reading a work by Shakespeare. The language is weird with phrases like “where art thou?” which throw off the modern reader, the humor is off-key and is not readily accessible and so on. And yet, as one reads on – the reader becomes used to the language and even starts enjoying the rhythm of Middle English and revels in Shakespeare’s comedy/tragedy. Something similar happens with Maison Ikkoku – the first few volumes just seem jarring – the character designs are weird, the shading is very different from modern art styles and the art just feels “off”. And yet, as one reads along, one comes to the realization that the art is not bad, it’s just different. For instance, some backgrounds are downright gorgeous – with meticulous detail given to penciling and shading. Also, the way Rumiko draws Kyoko’s hair (especially in the latter volumes) reveals that she is as talented in drawing as any other manga-ka today. The Viz translations translate all the SFX effects which are of great help considering much of the emotions of the characters are revealed by that. Sadly, Viz eschews with the honorifics which in my opinion is a mistake.

Story and Characters:
As mentioned earlier, I will refrain from going into depth on the positives and negatives of the story. They are similar to those in the anime – i.e. there are a lot of sitcom hijinks, people don’t communicate properly and some characters can come off as either crass or irritating. In the following part of the review, I am going to focus on the differences between the manga and the anime.
1. The biggest difference between the anime and the manga is the flow of the plot in the manga is much smoother and is handled better. The anime sometimes resorts to filler, leaves out some characters (e.g. Nikkaido) and on the whole sacrifices the drama/romance for the sake of comedy. Here is one example: In the anime, when Godai moves back into Maison Ikkoku in episode 30, it is never shown how he gets his lost stuff back. However in the manga, it is shown how Kyoko helps Godai in getting his stuff. Now this is hardly a major plot point but it reveals that the anime prefers to leave out these few scenes which could have given the characters more depth for the sake of comedy.
2. The other major point of difference is that while the manga keeps both Kyoko and Godai in focus, the anime focuses primarily on Godai. The manga gives Kyoko a lot more screen-time and internalizes her far more than the Kyoko in the anime. To take another example: just as how Godai daydreams of living with Kyoko, Kyoko too sometimes begins to daydream of being with him (much to her embarrassment and for our humor). She gets angry, seethes with jealousy, throws temper tantrums whenever someone gets between her and Godai. When he doesn’t come to see her, she gets despondent and forlorn. She feels lovesick when he is not around and is shown to be a far more supportive of Godai in the manga than in the anime. This too results in some very humorous and touching scenes that are much more prevalent in the manga than in the anime.
3. However, where the manga clearly outshines the anime is in the final two volumes and how it deals with the characterization of Kyoko. For a manga that has male readers as its target demographic, the final two volumes are incredibly mature for their time. The final volume, especially, forgoes all its shonen-rom-com tropes and has events that are no longer PG-13. Again, while the anime chooses to put Godai in the center with Kyoko being the passive person in their relationship, the manga chooses to place Kyoko in the spotlight. We see that just as how Godai wants to be with her, Kyoko also intensely desires to be with him. However, her inner conflict of being loyal to the memory of her late husband remains and while in the anime it behooves upon Godai to break her prevarication, in the manga it is Kyoko who actively breaks the final barrier. And the way the final volume executes on this is so natural and realistic, that it ends up becoming one of the most poignant and rewarding moment of the entire series. While, the manga shows both of our protagonists trying to move towards each other, the anime persists on keeping just Godai in the center of attention. And that to me, makes the manga superior to the anime.

Value:
Over the past several years that I have seen anime and read manga, Maison Ikkoku (both the anime and manga) stands out as one of the few series that I have read, seen, re-read and re-watched over and over again. The words "epic" and "masterpiece" are words that have sadly lost much of their import since they tend to be used indiscriminately to characterize works that don't truly deserve such epithets. I can safely say that Maison Ikkoku is a work that does deserve such an esteemed title – it is truly a masterclass when it comes to romance. Like Nausicaa (another work from the 1980s), it is a masterpiece because it’s evergreen. Or as the Japanese would say "名作こそ青い".

I can't urge people enough to read this work. Maison Ikkoku is intended for all those who like their romance which progresses slowly and steadily, who like their stories to culminate in one of the most satisfying endings that they can ever expect to see/read in the history of anime/manga. While it does have age going against it, and the art takes a while to get used to, the characters of Maison Ikkoku remain as fresh and as poignant today in 2020 as they did when they originated from the pen of Rumiko in the mid-1980s. Such poignancy can only come with sincerity. It is now up to the viewers to read it and enjoy this gem.

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