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Maison Ikkoku
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Design - 8.1 |
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Story - 8.9 |
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Character - 8.9 |
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Value - 8.8 |
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Enjoyment - 8.9 |
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Average - 8.7 |
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Avalanche |
(2009-10-29 16:04:43) 2009-10-29 16:02:29 |
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Design |
7 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| NOTE: For a more comprehensive review on the story and characters of Maison Ikkoku, I’d urge you to read the anime review first. The review here will be in direct comparison to the anime and assumes that the reader has read the anime review.
One of my friends recommended me to read the Maison Ikkoku manga once I had completed the anime series. At first I was a bit skeptic but when I saw the words “YOU WILL LOVE IT” in all capitals, I reckoned to give it a shot. After all, I loved the anime, why not see how the manga fared in comparison?
Well, he was right. I did love it. :)
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| Average |
7.4 |
| Design |
8 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Instead of watching the anime (who has time for downloading 96 episodes) I chose the manga version, namely the Viz first edition.
This is another classic. As a Romance/Comedy it was a good read, even though I hesitate to read such works, especially if they span over 14 volumes, where every volume has over 230 pages.
It was enjoyable but somewhere around the middle it started to get repetitive. Fortunately in the last two volumes it reached a conclusions to my relief.
As a Romance manga it is really difficult to be credible and move the readers feelings with so many coincidences and silly decisions occuring. What the reader can expect instead is the comedy deriving of almost all of the characters and the protagonist's amazing indecisiveness. Godai tops the list as one of the most pathetic and indecisive characters I've encountered. THough without these traits the manga wouldnt be so funny.
As for the other tenants of of Maison Ikkoku I must admit the mangaka was very inventive. They were perfectly fit for comedy. They always delve into Godai's private life and he cant do anything because he wants to stay at MI so as not to be separated from the house manager. I have yet to see such weird and funny character as Mr. Yotsuya. He's by far the most impressive character and too bad he's not given that much space in the manga.
That was the main reason why the manga turned a little boring in the middle.
As Godai's rival theres also Shun Mitaka. Basically he thinks the same way with Godai, except that he's more wealthy thanks to his family and more succesfull at sports and women. Both are in love with the house manager Kyoko.
The manga focuses exclusively on that trio (Godai-Kyoko-Mitaka) often ignoring or putting aside the other characters. One character I liked, probably more than Kyoko was Kozue and it is a pity only in the last volume the reader sees her do more than just dating with Godai and expecting his answer. Same thing with the student Yagami later in the series.
Basically the only flaw of the manga is that all the characters are never too deep to arouse the readers feelings for them.
The character that should have been better developed, namely Kyoko, is perhpaps the most flat of all. Flat for a drama series.
I expected MI to be more dramatic and a tearjerker but this is not the case. If the reader sees it as a romance/comedy then it is one of the good enjoyable mangas around.
It has so many cultural references and so many features of the 80's that it is one of the few mangas I'd prefered to read in the original. If you'd like to see the era of the 80's japanese urban life come to life (no abundance of TVs, phones or mobile phone here) this manga offers some enjoyable insights.
Recommended reading (especially the first volumes) but definitely not a must read as there now better titles. But if you're interested in older titles this one is of the best.
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Mugen |
2006-03-14 12:15:18 |
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Design |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| This is such a beautiful manga. It's over 20 years old now, but it does not show it's age at all. The art is very well done. It's simple, yet expressive. The best part of Maison Ikkoku is really the wonderful cast of characters. They are all unique and hillarious in their own ways. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this manga. If you are an anime/manga fan, do yourself a favor and pick up a few volumes of Maison Ikkoku. You will be glad you did.
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| Average |
6.2 |
| Design |
6 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| I truly found Maison Ikkoku to be one of the most tedious mangas ever. While definitely more realistic as no unnatural, supernatural elements ever come in to play, it seems to have capture the humdrum of everyday life instead of the more interesting events. Godai (i call him gordo) never ever changes. Neither does Kyoko... except towards the end.
It really seems like this manga captures the essence of what the whole "daring adventurous romance relationship" would be like... in the 1980s!!!!!!! Very boring, slow, and uneventful. All the characters are the same, the boring trio only acts as backdrop for some light hearted moments. Otherwise this manga would have no life in it. If i read someone go "PA-deyaro" 10 times in one minutes, I'm going to go crazy.
Anyway, Maison Ikkoku does have its good moments. Kozue and Kyoko are both very sweet girls that I wouldn't mind reading more about if they were just in some more interesting situations. Definitely a more realistic manga for those tired of overdramatic tense moments. Maison Ikkoku has its own share of dramatic moments, just not to the degree of current more modern romance manga is like.
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| Average |
9.4 |
| Design |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This is an excellent comedy of manners, moving and highly amusing at the same time.
It is easy to make comedy out of shallow, one-dimensional characters that are just comic clichés: the lovestruck fool, the well-endowed girl all the guys fall for, the drunkard, the handsome ladykiller, the tricky fiend ... A careless, unobservant observer could thus describe the dramatis personae of Maison Ikkoku. Yet how far from the truth would he or she be.
Because with this work Rumiko Takahashi proves how great a comedian she can be. Although the characters can bear superficial ressemblance with those types, they are full-bodied fictional human beings that, yes, make us laugh with the silly things they do, but we also empathise with their emotions and woes. All of them are given pleny of stage time to be described with careful and subtle detail so that we, as readers, will meet them at eye level, never looking down on them unrespectfully as comic puppets. That's the mark of a good writer, of manga or any other storytelling medium.
A deliriously funny scene can be inmediately followed by a pang of sadness that brings us back to earth. At the same time, a moment of emotion is never overworked to become sentimental, but will be tempered down by a touch of comedy. The way in which the author ebbs and flows between drama and comedy, and the compelling, well-drwan cast of characters are, i think, the core feature of this truly remarkable work.
I also love the joie de vivre shown in the pages of Maison Ikkoku. The celebration of the joy of getting along with a group of friends, eating, drinking and being merry, and did i mention drinking?. No wonder grandma doesn't want to go back to the village. Hands up those who want to come to the party at Godai's room tonight! He doesn't know yet, but his approval is not really required ;)
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| Average |
8.0 |
| Design |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| There are people who will tell you that art is something that speaks to your soul and gives you gifts you never knew could be given. I'm here to tell you that that's wrong.
Or at least, partially.
Art... can be cold, and cruel as well. Art can take something from you, just as easily as it can give you something. This is not something I learned through speculation, as with most things, or through observation, as through many others. This is something I learned through experience, which is the most basic, primal, and powerful form of teaching known to humans since there were any. Fire (or more modernly, the kitchen stove) is hot, something most of us learn very, very early, and it sticks with us forever. Nobody ever forgets that hot things burn you, because experiencing something for yourself instead of watching it tends to etch it into your mind more permanently than things like your name, or your birthday.
Reading Rumiko Takahashi's manga masterpiece 'Maison Ikkoku' from end-to-end (to end to end, etc.... it's got... volumes) in three days, I learned that true art has the power to steal a piece of your soul, and never give it back. It can leave you in such a state that you need to revisit it again and again in order to visit that piece of you that was taken so that, at least for a moment, you can feel whole again. That 'Maison Ikkoku', with some help from a song called "Fallin' Love, And..." off of the arranged soundtrack to Shigesato Itoi's 'Mother', could do such a thing to me is a lesson that I hope someone more prolific than I -- more profound, more charismatic and able-to-reach-people -- can possibly teach the rest of the world before it's too late. It's something I feel the world needs to know.
But, the important thing about it all...
When a work of art steals from you like that, it means something, something important. It means that piece of art was able to reach you on the uttermost personal and deep level that one human being can ever hope to reach another on. This is what all artists dream of achieving, this inner-most-soul-reaching. It's the peak of success, artistically.
When art does this to you, believe it or not, it's a good thing. It means you found something that's immensely rare in this world where nobody remembers what communication is for anymore. If you ever find this place, hold onto it and never let go. If you do, you might lose that piece of your soul forever. So hold onto it with everything you've got, and love it, because you never know when you'll be able to find something like that again. Love it and tell the world about it.
Myself, I love Maison Ikkoku, maybe despite what it did to me, maybe because of it. I sure as heck don't know which. It might be both, for all any of us will ever know. But the important part is that I DO love 'Maison Ikkoku', and I love Rumiko Takahashi for creating it, and for also creating 'Urusei Yatsura', which also is important to me.
If I could ever meet or write to Takahashi-san, this is what I would say:
"Thank you for your works. 'Urusei Yatsura' opened me up to this world, and I love it, 'Ranma 1/2' made me laugh time and time again, in a way that is probably more personally honest than anything else I could ever imagine, and 'Maison Ikkoku' stole a piece of my soul, and will never give it back. I love it most of all. Thank you for everything you've done."
And I would mean every last word.
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| Average |
8.8 |
| Design |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This series is definately up there in my favorite mangas. I believe this is one of Takahashi's better works. Great story, oddball characters as in all of Takahashi's works and an ending! (unlike Ranma)
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| Average |
9.6 |
| Design |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Much more better than the anime, I really enjoyed this one. I think that this was one of Rumiko Takahashi’s best work. It was a good read, and had some great mix of drama and comedy from the whole entire story. A highly recommended manga for anyone, especially for the drama enthusiasts.
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Stream |
(2004-10-23 06:32:25) 2004-10-23 05:26:53 |
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| Average |
2.2 |
| Design |
3 |
| Story |
2 |
| Character |
4 |
| Value |
1 |
| Enjoyment |
1 |
| If you want to take it as comedy only it could be fine .. although it's so stupid plots ..
I've got disgusted of the characters ..
I hoped the ending will that ronin will never be with that house mangaer .. but alas, to my desperate I knew they would end together ..
OK, new girl comes in ..
Oh .. beautiful !!
-still I can't see how he this would be love .. he seems will do the exact same thing with any other girl would come as manager ..-
Two guys stick like super glue to her ..
"She" loves her late husband who died after six months marriage .. for the most part thinks about them as some sort of substitution ..
Whatever she does / happens ?
That ronin in his dreams/reality : "oh, how cute .." then bumps into head or something .. "ah .. kyoko you are so sweet" !
This the entire story of almost all the manga !
I really fed up with the whole thing .. and was about to give up the series many times .. It was like "heck, nothing changes at all .. the same stupid thing again and again" ..
Well, after some time, I got the feeling the whatever happens that ronin will continue sticking to her , knowing she loves someone else .. making stupid of him -more than he already is- ..
he will not go away ..
anyway, it wasn't love story for me .. it something like trying to find substitution she has to find at last !
man ... this my opinion anyway ..
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Design |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Great Manga and better than the anime. It keeps you hooked and laughing with all of its twists and turns. Great read for anyone. The characters are awesome, and everyone is described in detail.
The Greatest Romantic Comedy ever told.
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| Average |
9.4 |
| Design |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| VERY FUNNY
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.4 |
| Design |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| super
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Design |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| maison ikkoku was better in manga than the anime. it's super fun until the very end.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Design |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This is perhaps one of the greatest love stories ever told. Beautiful.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Design |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This is Great and this like the anime they are no Deferents between them.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Design |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| The perfect series. It has humor, romance, action. It's normal life lived to the maximum. A series even non-anime-lovers will fall into. I definitely suggest you to read/view it.
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| Average |
9.4 |
| Design |
7 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Took Rumiko Takahasi 7 years to finish this series with monthly installments. Characters actually grow in real time as she wrote/drew this series.
Story is great. It examines every little details in life, all the joy and disappointments. You'll root for the characters and fall in love with them, guaranteed.
Art work is a bit raw in the early chapters (she did start this in 1980) but like many manga artist, her style improve over time and shown in later chapters.
It's a series that you can't miss, especially Viz is now re-releasing it with all the missing chapters filled back in.
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| Average |
9.8 |
| Design |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Great, I love the drama and it's really funny.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Design |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| A really great love story.
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| Average |
9.6 |
| Design |
8 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Excellent story development, especially when a love story spans over 6 years! its unlike those love stories which things happen quickly and end a happy couple just as quick. The anime is just as good!
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