is a Japanese
seinenis a subset of manga that is generally targeted at a 20–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. In Japanese, the word Seinen means "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters...
mangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
written and illustrated by
Rumiko Takahashiis a Japanese manga artist.Takahashi is one of the wealthiest individuals, and the most affluent manga artists in Japan. The manga she creates are popular worldwide, where they have been translated into a variety of languages...
and serialized in the
manga magazine Big Comic Spiritsis a weekly Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Shogakukan and aimed at males 20–25 years old. It originally launched on October 14, 1980. The culture of food, sports, love relationships, and business provide the themes for its featured series, which often question conventional values...
from 1980 through 1987.
Maison Ikkoku is a bitter-sweet comedic romance involving a group of madcap people who live in a boarding house in 1980s Tokyo. The story focuses primarily on the blossoming relationship between Yusaku Godai, a poor student down on his luck, and Kyoko Otonashi, a young, recently-widowed boarding house manager. The manga has been translated into English and fifteen volumes spanning the series are available from
Viz MediaVIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
.
The manga was adapted into a ninety-six-episode
TVTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
animeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series which ran on
Fuji TVis a Japanese television station based in Daiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, also known as or CX, based on the station's callsign "JOCX-DTV". It is the flagship station of the Fuji News Network and the ....
from March 26, 1986 to March 2, 1988. The anime included some
story arcA story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
s not covered in the
mangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, and is notable for being the only one of Rumiko Takahashi's four long-running series where the television series ending corresponds to the manga ending. A
Final Chapter movie, three
OVAs, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
(one original story and two summaries), and a music special were also produced.
A
live actionIn filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
movie was also made by
Toeiis a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...
in 1986, though it deviates significantly from the story in the manga and anime. A TV special aired in May 2007 on
TV Asahi, also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network....
starring Taiki Nakabayashi as Yusaku Godai and
Misaki Itois a Japanese actress and model. Her real name is .-Career:In 1999, Ito became the Asahi Beer "image girl" and a model under an exclusive contract to CanCam magazine...
as Kyoko Otonashi. The finale to the special aired in July 2008.
Plot
The story takes place in Maison Ikkoku, a worn and aging boarding house where Yusaku Godai, a 20 year old college applicant lives. Though honest and good natured, he is weak willed and often taken advantage of by the offbeat and mischievous tenants who live with him. As he is about to move out, he is stopped at the door by the young and beautiful Kyoko Otanashi, who announces she will be taking over as manager. Godai immediately falls in love with her and decides to stay.
Later, Godai and the other tenants find out that despite her young age, Kyoko is a widow who had married her high school teacher, but tragically her teacher died shortly after their marriage. Godai empathizes with Kyoko and endeavors to free her from her sadness. He manages to work up enough courage to confess his love to her, and it begins to look as if a relationship between them might actually appear. However, Kyoko meets the rich, handsome, and charming tennis coach Shun Mitaka at her tennis club. Mitaka quickly declares his intention to court Kyoko and states that he is very patient, and can wait until her heart is ready.
Godai, not willing to give up, continues to chase Kyoko. But through a series of misunderstandings, he is seen by Kyoko and Mitaka walking with the cute and innocent Kozue Nanao. For the rest of the series, Kozue is mistakenly perceived as being Godai’s girlfriend (by Kozue herself as well). Angered by this, Kyoko begins to openly date Mitaka. Despite this though, Kyoko and Godai clearly have feelings for each other, and their relationship slowly develops.
Godai eventually manages to get into college and, with the help of Kyoko’s family, he begins student teaching at Kyoko’s old high school. Almost mirroring Kyoko’s meeting of her husband, Godai catches the attention of precocious and brazen Ibuki Yagami, who immediately begins pursuing him. Her outspoken approach stands in stark contrast to Kyoko, which helps Kyoko to come face to face with her own feelings for Godai.
Meanwhile, Mitaka's endeavors have been hindered by his fear of dogs, as Kyoko owns a large white dog named Mr. Soichiro. With the help of the other Ikkoku tenants, he eventually overcomes his fear. Just when he is about to propose to Kyoko, his family begins to goad him into a marriage with the pure and innocent Asuna Kujo. Feeling the pressure from his family, Mitaka begins to pursue Kyoko with increased aggression, but he slowly realizes that she has actually already decided on Godai, and is just waiting for him to find a job and propose. Mitaka is completely pulled out of the race when he ends up thinking he slept with Asuna, resulting in her getting pregnant. Taking responsibility, he proposes to Asuna, but finds out too late that it was her dog that was pregnant, not her.
As things begin to really go well for Godai, Kozue Nanao makes a reappearance in Godai's life. Kozue tells Godai and the other Ikkoku tenants that she agreed to marry another man, even though Godai had proposed to her (which is another misunderstanding). Kyoko, feeling foolish and betrayed, slaps Godai and demands that he move out. When Godai refuses, he wakes up the next morning to find her gone and her room empty.
Godai tries to explain himself by visiting Kyoko every day, even though she won't answer the door. After she calms down a bit, Kyoko comes back to check on the house and runs into the other tenants. They try to convince her to return.
The seductive Akemi, sensing that Kyoko is still hesitant, threatens to seduce Godai if Kyoko doesn’t want him. She later tells the other tenants that she only said that to threaten Kyoko into coming back. This backfires, however, when Godai is later spotted leaving a love hotel with Akemi (he was only there to lend her money).
As Godai confronts Kyoko about this, she slaps him again and says that she can’t trust him. He replies that despite all the girls (Kozue, Ibuki, Akemi, etc.), she never considered one important thing: Godai’s own feelings. He passionately tells her that he only loves her, and that from the first moment he saw her and forevermore, she is the only woman in his eyes.
Having cleared that last barrier, Godai proposes and with the blessings of both families, they finally get married.
The story ends as they arrive home with their newborn daughter, Haruka, and tell her that Maison Ikkoku is the place where they first met.
Production
Takahashi created
Maison Ikkoku as a love story that could occur in the real world.
Characters
All of the tenants' names involve a pun on the character's room number:
| Number | Character | Kanji of family name and meaning |
| 0 |
Kyoko Otonashi (néeNEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Chigusa) |
音無 (literally means "soundless") |
| 1(一) |
The Ichinose Family |
一の瀬 (first ford) |
| 2(二) |
Nozomu Nikaido |
二階堂 (two-storey temple) |
| 3(三) |
Shun Mitaka * |
三鷹 (three hawks) |
| 4(四) |
Mr. Yotsuya |
四谷 (four valleys) |
| 5(五) |
Yusaku Godai |
五代 (five generations) |
| 6(六) |
Akemi Roppongi |
六本木 (six trees) |
| 7(七) |
Kozue Nanao * |
七尾 (seven ridges; the second character is "tail" but "Nanao" itself is a name from Ishikawa Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshū island. The capital is Kanazawa.- History :Ishikawa was formed from the merger of Kaga Province and the smaller Noto Province.- Geography :Ishikawa is on the Sea of Japan coast...
) |
| 8(八) |
Ibuki Yagami * |
八神 (eight gods) |
| 9(九) |
Asuna Kujo * |
九条 (Ninth Avenue; the name is an old Japanese aristocratic name The was a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto until the rise of the Shogunate in the 12th century at which point it was eclipsed by the daimyo...
) |
| 1000(千) |
Mr. & Mrs. Chigusa (Kyoko's parents) |
千草 (thousand grasses) |
(* Not residents of Ikkoku-kan.)
In the English version, main characters tend to refer to and address each other informally with their given names,
with the exception of Mr. Yotsuya. Yusaku, while usually referring to Kyoko by her given name, almost always addresses her with her job title of "manager". In the Japanese original, Yusaku addresses Kyoko as "kanrinin-san," meaning manager.
Anime
Maison Ikkoku was adapted into a ninety-six episode television series animated by
Studio Deenis a Japanese company that produces anime. Three years after Sunrise was founded in 1972, Studio Deen was established by Sunrise's members in 1975. As a result of this, anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop that were produced by Sunrise may have had assistance from Studio Deen.-Produced anime:* Urusei...
and aired on Fuji TV from March 26, 1986 to March 2, 1988. The series was directed by Kazuo Yamazaki for episodes 1 through 26, Takashi Anno for episodes 27 through 52 and Naoyuki Yoshinaga for episodes 53 to the end.
Maison Ikkoku was later licensed for a North American release by
Viz MediaVIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
in 1994, and was put on 2-episode
VHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
dub releases, but Viz dropped the English dub after 36 episodes. The remaining sub-only VHS releases went on until volume 32, without finishing off the series. In 2002,
Maison Ikkoku was given a second chance when Viz re-established the English dub with a partial new voice cast, released in its entirety on
DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. In the new dub, Godai was given a new voice actor, as
Jason Gray-Stanford was replaced by
Brad SwaileBradley "Brad" Swaile is a Canadian voice actor. He has acted in several animated series, known mostly for his anime roles; particularly that of Amuro Ray in the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, Mousse in Ranma 1/2, and Quatre Raberba Winner in Gundam Wing...
. Fan reception of the English dub version has been mixed. The North American DVD release has since gone out of print, with certain volumes becoming very difficult to find.
Theme songs
All of the opening and ending theme songs are contained in the
Maison Ikkoku CD Single Memorial FileThe is a compilation CD box set released on 11 July 1998 featuring all of the opening and ending theme songs from the anime TV series Maison Ikkoku, and the theme song from the Maison Ikkoku theatrical movie...
box set, and on various other singles and soundtracks.
Opening Themes
- Kanashimi yo Konnichi wa (Yuki Saito, ep.1-23, 25-37)
- Alone Again (Naturally)
"Alone Again " is a song by Irish singer–songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan. It was released in 1972, and in total spent six weeks, non-consecutively, at #1 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In Casey Kasem's American 'Top 40 of the 1970s', "Alone Again " ranked as the fifth...
(Gilbert O'SullivanGilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish-English singer-songwriter, best known for his early 1970s hits "Alone Again ", "Clair" and "Get Down". The music magazine, Record Mirror, voted him the No...
, ep.24)
- Suki sa (Anzen Chitai
is a Japanese rock band, formed in 1973 by five musicians in Asahikawa, Hokkaidō, Japan. It debuted in 1982 in Tokyo, Japan. They became one of Japan's most successful rock bands in the 1980s....
, ep.38-52)
- Sunny Shining Morning (Kiyonori Matsuo
is a Japanese singer who was born in Fukuoka prefecture on December 5, 1951. His song, Sunny Shiny Morning was featured as the third opening song of Maison Ikkoku.- Albums :* SIDE EFFECTS - Ai no Fukuchou...
, ep.53-76)
- Hi Damari (Kōzō Murashita
Kōzō Murashita was a singer-songwriter who was born in Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan...
, ep.77-96)
Ending Themes
- Ashita Hareru ka (Takao Kisugi
, born November 16, 1950 in Tokyo, Japan, is a Japanese singer and composer.After the working with Yosui Inoue's band, Kisugi debuted as a singer-songwriter with single "Asai Yume", released in 1976. He became known by domestic hit in Japan, "My Luxury Night" performed by Hatsumi Shibata, Mainly in...
, ep.1-14)
- Ci · ne · ma (Picasso
Picasso is a Japanese rock band which made its debut in 1984 with Honki! Tricky Lady. In 1986, their experimental sound gained them wide popularity among anime fans with their hits Ci · ne · ma and Fantasy, both theme songs for the anime TV series Maison Ikkoku...
, ep.15-23, 25-33)
- Get Down
"Get Down" is a song by Gilbert O'Sullivan, from his album I'm a Writer, Not a Fighter. Released as a single, it spent two weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart in April 1973, and was also a number-one hit in Ireland and a top-ten hit in the United States and Canada. The song has nothing to do...
(Gilbert O'SullivanGilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish-English singer-songwriter, best known for his early 1970s hits "Alone Again ", "Clair" and "Get Down". The music magazine, Record Mirror, voted him the No...
, ep.24)
- Fantasy (Picasso, ep.34-52)
- Sayonara no Sobyō (Sayonara no dessan) (Picasso, ep.53-76)
- Begin the Night (Picasso, ep.77-96)
Cast
- Kyōko Otonashi: Mariko Ishihara
- Yūsaku Godai: Ken Ishiguro
- Yotsuya: Masatō Ibu
' is a Japanese actor and voice actor.-Films:*Maison Ikkoku *Empire of the Sun as Sgt. Nagata*Sukeban Deka *Dr. Akagi *Taboo *Godzilla vs...
Video games
- Maison Ikkoku: Omoide no Photograph (1986, adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
, Microcabin, released for PC-9801The NEC PC-9801, part of the PC-98 series, is a Japanese 16-bit microcomputer manufactured by NEC.- History :It first appeared in 1982, and employed an 8086 CPU. It ran at a clock speed of 5 MHz, with two µPD7220 display controllers , and shipped with 128 KB of RAM, expandable to 640 KB...
and PC Engine)
- Maison Ikkoku: Omoide no Photograph (1988, adventure game, Bothtec, released for Famicom
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
)
- Maison Ikkoku Kanketsuhen: Sayonara, Soshite...... (1988, adventure game, Microcabin, released for PC-9801 and MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
2)
External links