Have you any idea how hard it is to write an opinion for the manga version of an anime that you’ve previously written an opinion for? Well to give you a little peek at what I’ve thought of this title since watching the anime, I implore you to take a gander up what I wrote about Maison Ikkoku the TV series. What I said there is basically the same as what I should be writing here. So in lieu of being redundant, I might as well just spout a few differences between the anime and the manga.

My opinion hasn’t changed. Maison Ikkoku is still one of the best Rumic works that I’ve seen despite it being an old title (released in the mid 1980s). Ms. Takahashi is best known for her character-driven works, and Maison Ikkoku showcases her imaginative story-telling in this realistic comedy of sorts.

I am a bit amazed that a short 14-volume manga could actually be 96 episodes long when converted into anime. What’s even more astonishing is the fact that there are even MORE to Maison Ikkoku than what is shown in the TV series! Being the hentai webmistress that I am, of course the very thing I would complain about are the… ahem, spoilers ahead …panels where Godai and Kyoko, our two main characters, make love. This was such a gentle moment, and I believe this was a very important part of the story that shouldn’t have been deleted from the TV series - especially after making me wait for 90+ episodes and all I got were closed curtains with closed lights. Grumble. Grumble. But then again, I guess people were still being conservative at that time, so much so that if they were to put the lovey-dovey parts in the anime, Maison Ikkoku would have been classified as “hentai”.

The chronology of events aren’t exactly the same as what was shown in the anime, but this is just a trivial matter. What’s more important is that everyone can enjoy the humor and the irony of the characters’ situations. It’s also interesting to note that not only does our genius Ms. Takahashi grow in terms of story-telling, her artwork also improves as she goes along. This much is obvious in this manga. Every volume you peruse is a notch better (in terms of artwork) than the last.

Individual Rating: Art: 9; Story: 9; Characters: 9

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 27th, 2002 at 7:47 pm and is filed under Maison Ikkoku, Manga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.