Maison Ikkoku is a slice of life romance series that was based off the manga of the same name written by Rumiko Takahashi who I believe needs no introduction. The anime was adapted by Studio Deen which can either be a good or bad thing on one hand Deen made the Rurouni Kenshin Trust Betrayal OVAs. On the other hand though they created Ranma . Without further ado lets see where this 96 episode anime takes us. Story: The story involves Yuusaku Godai a young poor individual who flunked his college entrance exam is now studying to retake them. Problem is Godai lives with a group of rowdy tenants at the titular boarding house. Hes decided that hes had enough of their antics and decides he wants to move out. Before he can however the new manager Otonashi Kyoko moves in just before Godai can move out. Falling in love at first sight changes Godais mind on moving out and he decides to stay. This story isnt very complex however the incredibly strong writing on Maisons part helps mitigate this fact. Maison does an incredible job at developing our two leads Godai who starts off as a bit of an immature punk becomes a fine mature gentlemen. Kyoko on the other hand were fed more information about her past life much like Godai we get to see her gain maturity. The development is slow but its very much there theres a pretty distinct difference between the Godai Kyoko of the beginning middle end of the series. Lets not forget though Maison Ikkoku is classed as a comedy. I find the comedy to be pretty funny. Im going to reveal a bit about myself I hate most comedy in anime. I find most comedy in anime tends to rely on being random loud. Thankfully Maisons comedy is well timed for the most part fits with the grounded nature of the series. What jokes do get out of hand unrealistic are usually reserved for dreamsequences though there are definitely a few bad jokes sprinkled in there. I especially love the antics of Yotsuya but more on him later. If I could give a critique to one aspect of Maisons story I find it relies way too much on misunderstandings to create its drama. The misunderstandings themselves arent my problem most of the time anyway as I find the misunderstandings to fit the nature of the series make sense both logically thematically even if they are easily solvable most of the time. The problem arises with how frequently the series makes use of a misunderstanding to create a conflict in the story it becomes repetitive dull. Characters: I already mentioned our 2 leads Kyoko Godai in the story segment of my review but I have yet to bring attention to other major characters the tenants of Maison Ikkoku. Which consist of Hanae Ichinose Kentaro Yotsuya Akemi Roppongi. Ichinose is an alcoholic who loves partying. Yotsuya is a mysterious individual who doesnt reveal anything about his personal life loves tormenting Young Godai. Akemi is a how should I put it? Different woman who enjoys alcohol getting a little risque teasing both Godai Kyoko. While the tenants arent the deepest characters or most likeable that youll find in anime they dont have to be theyre comedic characters. It also helps that not only do I find their antics to be pretty funny a lot of the time but they all help to drive the plot along. No matter how small just about every side character contributes something to the narrative I appreciate that heavily about Maison Ikkoku. Next on our chopping block we have Coach Mitaka Godais rival in love MAL labels him as side character but honestly hes a main character although he doesnt appear until episode 9 of the series similar to how Asuka doesnt appear until episode 8 of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Mitaka is a tennis coach with a lot of money to put it simply hes pretty much the polar opposite of Godai to quote a line from the series Youth is the only thing you have against me. Mitaka is a bit weak admittedly however I feel as though the story does more than enough to make Mitaka come off as more than just Oh we needed a rival in love for Godai so we just plopped him in for no other reason. Which in turn makes it to where Maison would be worse off without him there. The next character I have to discuss is Yukari Godai or Grandma Godai. Yukari although recurring not really a mainstay in the cast is still important she does a lot of things throughout the storyline to help Godai not only further his relationship with Kyoko but grow as a person. Im honestly not a fan of the design that Takahashi went with for Yukari. As it would fit in more with Urusei Yatsura than it does Maison Ikkoku but its an aspect that Im willing to overlook because Yukari does so much for the storyline is an incredibly strong character in her own right. Our final big player that Im going to mention is Nanao Kozue Kyokos sort of rival to Godai. Honestly if I can criticize something again its this trope. Im really not happy that Maison popularized this trope of all the things future romcoms couldve taken from this show they just had to take this trope. Godais romantic interests clearly lie on Kyoko and the series makes it painfully obvious. That being said though Kozue is still a great character in her own right so Im willing to partially overlook that stupid trope that Maison unfortunately helped popularize. Kozue much like Mitaka still does quite a lot of things to further the plot of the series without her Maison wouldnt be the same. Much like Mitaka however I do find her a bit of a weak link in the incredibly strong cast of this series however that said I still like her quite a lot. Art: Maison Ikkoku is a series from 1986 so the art is partially dated that said though the series looks absolutely gorgeous Id argue one of if not the best looking TV anime of its time. This isnt going to compare to movies like Akira or Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind however compared to anime that was airing on TV around the same time that Maison was Maison absolutely curbstomps those in terms of looks Just compare the likes of Touch to Maison youll see what I mean. The town of Clock Hill looks like such a real location you could almost be fooled into thinking that the town is a real location. The colors are also absolutely gorgeous theres a great variety in the color pallete they achieve just the right balance of being visible but not washed out. Sunny scenes in the show look just as well as dark scenes because Maison makes darkness out of color rather than making the screen pitch black to the point where you can hardly see anything take notes Evangelion 1.0. The animation is splendid I wouldnt call it spectacular overall but the series does animate well has plenty of great sequences scenarios. There arent very many times where the animators decided to get cheap lazy and what moments that do come off as such dont even begin to compare to some of the cheap lazy animation that works such as Macorss Touch Hokuto No Ken could achieve at times. Maison Ikkoku is consistently well animated throughout its 96 episode run which isnt something many other series can say. Sound: The voice work on display is phenomenal there isnt one performance in this series that I dont like. Sumi Shimamoto is beautiful as Kyoko Otonashi I couldnt imagine anybody else in the role. I have similar sentiments for Issei Futamata as Godai though I wouldnt go as far as to call that performance beautiful instead Ill just stick with stellar. Shigeru Chiba as Yotsua is just funny this beautiful mans performance almost constantly makes me laugh my ass off. One thing I really appreciate about Maison is how natural the dialogue sounds which is incredibly fitting given the grounded nature of this series but its just another detail as to why I have a lot of great things to say about this anime. The soundtrack was composed by legendary Ghost in the Shell composer Kenji Kawai. Even back in 1986 its clear that Kenji was still bringing his Agame. Kenjis score is beautiful I know Ive probably used that word a lot throughout this review but thats how I feel about it. His compositions just fit damn near masterfully with just about any tone that a scene will set theres comedic pieces somber pieces happy pieces. I strongly recommend either going to or downloading the tracks for yourselves giving them a listen. Final Thoughts/Overall Can I rave now? I can? Hooray Im not going to sugarcoat it anymore Maison Ikkoku is my favorite anime of all time I love just about everything this anime has to offer. The 2 leads are incredibly likeable characters who are just impossible for me to hate theyre given very distinct flaws in their character which also makes them incredibly balanced. The side characters are not only funny but they become more than just side characters by actually helping to drive the plot along without hogging the spotlight from our 2 leads. The writing is incredibly strong the soundtrack is a beautiful piece of work and the series looks gorgeous. My final rating for Maison Ikkoku gets do I even need to say it? An incredibly enthusiastic 10/10. I cant promise everyone will feel the same way about this series that I do but I hope my review could at least tell you why this is my favorite anime ever made. Random piece of trivia a little bit I find clever about Ikkoku is that the characters last names correspond with their room numbers Oto = sound Nashi = without 0. Ichi = 1. Yotsu = 4. Go = 5. Roppongi roku first kanji is the kanji for six = six