When I think about this anime the first thing that comes to mind is a telenovela in fact the love triangles and irrational misunderstandings are what carry the whole show. The latter in particular is what affects the life of the protagonist the most. Godai due to a lack of spine and resolve finds himself in plenty of ambiguous situations which affect his love interest which could have been resolved with basic human communication both him and Kyoko being guilty of it. This is supposed to mainly be a comedy anime but Ill admit I hardly found it funny I think thats because of poorly aged Japanese boomer humor and repetitive elements. The tenants are the comic relief characters and the main factor of the comedic side of this show but in the long run they come off as parasitical individuals who love to stir up inconvenient situations for Godai complicating his daily life partying and getting drunk in his room on a daily basis. Of course the protagonist has no backbone and puts up with those forms of abuse throughout the whole story unable to say no and kick them out of his personal space often blackmailed by threatening to reveal misunderstood situations involving other girls to Kyoko the manager who also secretly harbours feelings for him. The frequent drunkard partying gag used in almost every single episode made this show frustrating to watch. In my opinion that kind of slapstick humor only works on paper in the original manga form porting it to the animated version with the same recurrence doesnt have the same impact and can easily become annoyingly repetitive like in this anime unfortunately. There are countless of melodramatic arcs all led by misunderstandings the writer really overdid it with more than half the show being based on that aspect. I understand that the only way to prolong such a romcom story is by orchestrating these silly arcs they had to sell manga volumes after all but making misunderstandings the sole pivotal point of the story can really demotivate and I was close to dropping this show many times. The story didnt really need to be diluted in 96 episodes they couldve wrapped it in much less screen time. What made me stick around was the romantic story between the two protagonists still one of a kind really. It features a young adult cast: a widow which slowly tries to move on and open up to other relationships and a ronin looking to find a satisfactory place in life and a decent job despite all his difficulties all the while trying to prove himself worthy of her love. The two will face love triangles and all sorts of incomprehensions as she slowly accepts to let her deceased husband go and admit her true feelings for Godai. When the show kept more serious tones and moved on with the story it was really enjoyable especially in the emotional final episodes. It was a slow progression but the two protagonists did mature and grow closer the same cant be said about the other tenants which basically had zero character development. Special mention to the artstyle after nearly four decades it really held up Im an oldschool anime fan and I really appreciate well made handdrawn shows of this era they have an organic and nostalgic feel to them thats simply unmatched. Maison Ikkoku is one of the best looking 80s TV anime shows Ive ever seen the sceneries and urban areas were pleasant to observe in their details also a fan of the character design cant go wrong with Rumiko Takahashi. The soundtrack was nice although repetitive at times loved the openings and endings strong city pop vibes. They used Alone Again https://youtu.be/xLeSg6eLIw4for an episode as the opening song apparently a publicity stunt gone wrong. The lyrics of that song are pretty depressive so Im glad they decided to scrap it I think thats also the very first time they ever used a western song in an anime opening kinda neat trivia fact. In episode 15 there are also several Masayoshi Takanaka tracks one of the most famous Japanese fusion artists and a favorite of mine of course I had to mention this Overall it was quite a journey while it had many frustrating elements and excessively prolonged story it was worth it the final episodes alone made me forget about the flaws I was really moved. I am at a point in life and age where I can really relate to the protagonist finding your place out there in the job market while living up to a significant others expectations really is a struggle it hit home like no other show. https://i.pin.com/originals/1a/7b/22/1a7b22158ba7ad7852e24124760e687b.gif