▶ Video ­ ­ ­ ­ Romance is not always about being in a reciprocal relationship or longing for it. In Maison Ikkoku, it is about the human struggle to grow or change for another person's sake. It showcases the story of two characters that, on their own and with each other's help, have to overcome, respectively, the monsters of their past and future. ­ ­

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Maison Ikkoku, from the french for "home" and the japanese for "a moment", is Rumiko Takahashi's attempt at a more down to earth love story. The interchangeable protagonism between the two leads, Yuusaku Godai and Kyouko Otonashi, the supporting characters laid out in a semi-nuclear fashion and the plot that never forgets, but only builds up, makes Maison Ikkoku a light, compact soap opera that almost never fails to deliver sentimentality. With almost no cheap exposition, the series characters are given all the time in the world and a myriad of conflicts to grow and change.

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Our male protagonist, Godai-san, is a jobless and short tempered boy that is presented as wasting away and has nothing going on for his future. He lives in a room on Ikkoku-kan, a boarding house in Tokyo, together with a gang made up of the most crazy-assed, utter trash ~~all the while somewhat kindhearted~~ tenants on Earth. Fed up with them, he decides to move out, but chance gets him lovestruck with the biggest mountain anyone had yet to climb: Ikkoku-kan's new manager and our female protagonist, Kyouko-san.

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She, on the other hand, is a woman that delivers herself with a composed and humble manner. Gentle, yet very assertive when needed to deal with the tenants that terrorize her new home, Kyouko-san seems just too perfect, implausible for her young age. We discover, though, that this maturity and outward atmosphere of perfection is mostly the outcome of a lancinanting, deep misery: her past.

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This journey of overcoming weakness and grief is not without its fair share of problems, however. Although a lot less than its contemporary cousin Kimagure Orange Road, there is some dubious character decision making in Maison Ikkoku. The series thoroughly abuses the usage of misunderstandings, and while some of it being from Kyouko-san side helps tone the issue down by raining over fire, it's still really present. Rumiko also won't refrain from randomly using some of the comic relief cast members to create or worsen these misunderstandings, and this can get pretty aggravating at times. By drama necessity, individuals can sometimes go for very questionable attempts of solving conflicts, which very often lead to (planned) bigger problems. I will, however, praise the author who somehow manages to softly close almost every single one of these absurdities.

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The overall plot is casually normal paced with the run-of-the-mill comical episodes everywhere (it will feel slow and/or inefficient when compared to today's ridiculously fast paced expository shows). And I'm extremely happy to stress this a lot since it's somewhat of an exception in the anime industry, but it goes all the way, has a conclusion, does the forbidden, lets the train stop, everyone sings their goodbyes and then ends.

If you never watched this show, go for it. It'll most certainly pay the dividends of such a long run. And if you love it as much as I did, please hit me up and tell me your thoughts.

Last but not least, thank you for reading.
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