PREFACE
For
high-strung student Yusaku Godai, home does not provide a tranquil
or acceptable study environment.
Godai lives at Maison Ikkoku, and the bizarre collection of
weirdoes that live in his building keep life noisy, crazy, and just
plain silly.
Deciding to leave for the sake of his future
and his sanity, Godai is heading for the door when the new apartment
manager arrives. Though
all thoughts of leaving fly from his head after setting eyes on
Kyoko, Godai will never be able to concentrate again.
MANGA VISION TEST
ARTWORK:
Rumiko Takahashi’s artwork, as always, is perfect for the
story she wants to tell. The
action is always easy to follow and the characters are distinctive,
if a little bit familiar from her other work.
The best thing about Takahashi’s characters is their range
of facial expressions. The
characters are truly actors on the page, which adds to both the
humor and the more dramatic moments.
SOUND EFFECTS:
The original sound effects have been removed and replaced
with English translations. This
doesn’t really hurt the artwork, but some readers may wish the
original effects had been left unchanged.
EDITS: There
seem to be no edits made to Maison Ikkoku.
I think that the original Viz version of this title was
edited, but the edited material has been restored for the second
edition.
EXTRAS: The
only extra is a brief “About the Author” page.
BOOK REPORT
STORY:
Rumiko Takahashi is the most successful creator of comics and
manga in the world for a reason.
Simply put, she tells great stories.
When you read a Takahashi manga, you will definitely laugh,
you may cry, and you will always be entertained.
If you come to Takahashi’s work with high expectations, Maison
Ikkoku will not let you down.
Many elements of this story have been “borrowed” by other
creators over the years, but Takahashi’s work here still seems
fresh and funny, despite this manga’s age.
TRANSLATION:
The translation seems well done.
The characters each have a unique voice, and the punch lines
come through intact.
CHARACTERS:
Kyoko Otanashi is Maison Ikkoku’s new live-in apartment
manager. She is sweet
and caring, and wants to do the best she can to take care of her
tenants.
Yusaku Godai is a young university ronin,
trying to pass his college entrance exams.
He is excitable and a bit immature, but he means well.
When he meets Kyoko, he falls in love at first sight.
Chubby Mrs. Ichinose and her bratty son Kentaro
are two of Maison Ikkoku’s residents who absolutely revel in
tormenting and embarrassing Godai whenever they can.
Akemi is a gorgeous young bar hostess who tends
to stumble home drunk on a regular basis.
She also walks around the building dressed in skimpy
nightgowns, loudly complaining when Godai looks.
She is very manipulative and has both the men and women of
Maison Ikkoku firmly under her control.
Mr. Yotsuya is Godai’s goofy, yet
well-dressed neighbor, who tends to dig peeping holes in the wall
and blame them on Godai.
Mr. Soichiro is Kyoko’s loyal dog, named
after the most important man in her life.
Tennis coach Shun Mitaka is the good-looking,
super-suave ladies man that quickly proves to be a hazard for
Godai’s chances with Kyoko.
FAN SERVICE:
There is always a bit of good, clean fan service fun in Ms.
Takahashi’s work, and Maison Ikkoku is no exception.
Akemi regularly wanders around the building in some very
revealing lingerie. Godai
has a few very vivid daydreams about his new manager, and Kyoko’s
tennis outfit does allow an occasional flash of panties.
The fan service here doesn’t come across as particularly
salacious though, and is really just sweetly naughty.
FOOTNOTES:
First
things first: when it
comes to Rumiko Takahashi, I have a definite bias.
I am a huge Takahashi fan.
Her first major work, Urusei Yatsura, is my all-time
favorite manga/anime series. I
have never read anything by Ms. Takahashi that I didn’t enjoy.
I will try to keep fanboy gushing to a minimum, but you have
been warned.
Fans have long considered Maison Ikkoku
to be one of the pinnacles of the romantic comedy genre.
Both the manga and the anime stand as classic examples of how
this kind of story should be done. Maison Ikkoku was
Takahashi’s first major new series after the smash hit of her
debut with Urusei Yatsura. Many
of the elements of her first series reappear in this sophomore
effort. There are conflicted young lovers, who just can’t seem to
admit their feelings for one another.
There are wacky friends and neighbors, bratty kids, and tiny
little wizened, sarcastic, old folks.
Despite these familiar elements, Maison Ikkoku is
still a unique and distinctive tale.
The biggest difference between this series and most of
Takahashi’s other work is the very grounded real-world feel to
this story. There are no
aliens, no monsters, no dog-demons, and no gender-switching martial
artists. The story takes
place in a world much like our own, just funnier.
The first volume of this series wastes no time
introducing the major players in the story. Within
just a few pages, the characters feel like familiar old friends.
Each short chapter stands as a complete episode, while slowly
adding to the overall plot and developing the characters. This is a
refreshing change of pace from some modern series that take 200
pages just to get started!
Yusako Godai is a loveable loser, just trying
to do something with his life. No
matter how hard he tries to earn a little respect, or just to get
Kyoko’s attention, things never seem to go his way.
Godai is not the hopelessly idiotic wimp so often cast as the
hero in this genre, he is just a regular guy whose best efforts
always seem to go astray. More
often than not, the people around Godai are more to blame for his
disastrous efforts to woo Kyoko than he is himself.
You will instantly find yourself rooting for Godai and Kyoko
to get together, while laughing at the silliness around them.
Maison Ikkoku is the perfect example of
a story that can be read and enjoyed by fans, casual readers, or
even people new to the world of manga.
If you have never read anything by Rumiko Takahashi (and
shame on you!) this is a great place to start.
If you are a fan of some of her higher profile work, like Ranma
½ or InuYasha, you owe it to yourself to try out this
touching comedy classic.
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