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Maison Ikkoku
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Title Info
- seen: 1-11 of 96
- type: TV
- grade: watchable
- genre: seinen
- people: Takahashi
- made: 1986
- Review created: Too long ago, revision desperately needed.
- mod: none
This piece, by Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma, Urusei Yatsura), is (I believe) one of the most well respected romantic comedies. Watching it you can see why, she has a fine eye for humor, character and situation, able to represent impossible scenes and over the top characters in a believable and entertaining way. She is so skilled that you are never exactly certain why you keep watching, or why you care so much about the characters she presents here. The plot is simply a framework, with a beautiful new manager taking over a run-down boarding house and interacting with the strange inhabitants for character interaction and a strong romance sub-plot. There are problems though, this is an old series both in terms of RT's style and in the animation itself. The story itself is relaxed and low key, which may make a difference if you are buying these tapes (at two episodes per tape) from VIZ. X$ per episode may be bad for an OVA, but it seems impossible for a TV series of this age and size. Additionally since the anime appears to depend heavily on the manga collecting both sets of material may be wasteful. I have stopped hunting this material in preference for purchasing the manga, but if you prefer anime the other selection is certainly possible.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:21 WST 2009