Spoiler: They weren't
I read the manga as i watched the series. So if i mention something that you don't remember it probably means it was in the other medium.
Maison Ikkoku is a series that revolves around 5 characters. The 2 main characters., the MMC and FMC who are pretty likeable and the 3 side characters that are the worst things in existence. The FMC moves into the house called the maison Ikkoku and becomes the new manager as i think it was cuz it was owned by her recently deceased husband, The MMC falls in love with her first sight and now we have a romcom scenario. An episode romcom that lasts a whopping 96 episodes.
Let me talk about the technical aspect of the series first. The series adapts 1 chapter per episode on average. (until like the last 25 episodes). However im not upset by this as the pacing is actually very decent. It doesn't feel like they padded an individual episode rather there was more content that they animated. As such im very impressed by the animation directors to be able to extend 1 chapter into an episode without it feeling like its the one piece anime. So props to them. I really liked the music as well. Apparently the OP/ED is iconic which just solidifies my opinion that people have horrible taste in music. The OST in between the series is really. Especially the one that sounds similar to the Pink Panther Theme. I really liked that part. Despite being 96 episodes long and adapting 15 volumes or 161 chapters it has filler episodes.... I mean the filler episodes were fine. They weren't a deal breaker at least not anymore than the average bad episode that the series had. The series also skips some chapters?! i have updated mangaupdates on this https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1051 Which shows which chapters were skipped. So if you want more maison Ikkoku but not want to see the same old same old. Just read these chapters.
But i know what your thinking. An episodic series like this is carried by its characters. So what do i think about the characters? Well besides the love drunk characters, all them were awful in every sense. I liked the MMC, I liked the FMC, I liked the love interests as well. but the 3 dug trio are fucking garbage. There is this Mom character that annoys the main characters insults him constantly and is downright ruined the feeling of the show. She helped him like 3 times in the whole series and was the worst mom on the planet for 300 times more. She also straight up tells her kid to eat some noodles instead so she can go off to drinking beer. Im not saying this series can't be funny but moments like these aren't funny they just feel abusive and generally awful. There is also another character called Akemi who is the stereotypical slut character that comes normal in every romcom anime. But she's naked for like majority of the series so im willing to let go some of her pathetic inhumaness. The problem lies with the weirdo man. He is just a cunt. Repeatedly abusing the MMC. Blackmailing him, taking advantage of him and just overall being a legitimate cunt. These 3 characters straight up ruined this series for me.
The main duo were however much more likeable... mostly. Sometimes the FMC's hypocrisy annoyed me. As this series had only like a couple you know 1 or 2 misunderstandings, you know just a couple. However she fully expected the MMC to forgive her and yet refused to forgive the MMC. This happens multiple times but where it really grinded my gears was near the ending. The ending itself was fine but the buildup to the ending where everything gets resolved and stuff. That was way too long. And purely done just cuz they needed to extend the series. This wasn't an anime exclusive problem but might've been more of an issue since you know the anime in general was longer. The MMC wasn't really any better repeatedly trying to steal a kiss from his sleeping beauty (took me 4 hours to make this joke laugh). For real, its quite creepy that he did this like 3 times. Granted he learned his lesson but it was still annoying. The side love interests is a bit more complicated. there are 4 side love interests. 2 of them, Highschooler and ex-worker, in love with MMC, 1 of them (the tennis player) in love the FMC and 1 of them, royalty, in love with the tennis player. I don't really think there is a shape for this but lets call it a love heptagon. I actually originally liked all 4 of them. They were all enjoyable had there own goals in a sense and were much more calm the highschooler aside. I actually liked the ex-worker quite a lot but i didn't like after half way she just sort of faded into the background when she showed up again it was only to sow discord which honestly wasn't even her fault really. I did dig the highschooler but then she become unlikeable once again. The royalty chick was pretty adorable until how her romance was resolved with the tennis player. That one was just bad..... Like this is the kinda shit you can't get away with today lmao.
The story is pretty simple you know. Get the girl type series. The comedy has its moments. Most of the time it fell flat. The animation is nice. I don't really care for old or new animation. I don't have a preference. Just that it shouldn't be CG.... most of the time. Really the strongest part was the romance when it happened. It was really watching the 2 main characters slowly fall in love with each other. I wished there was more on the romantic front but amazingly the manga actually gives you this. Which is why i urge those people who liked the series to read the skipped chapters.
Apparently this series started or popularized the romantic trend or romcom trend. As such a lot of moderen series take from this. Sadly they take the wrong shit cuz it has 2 things worth taking from. Another series Bokura wa minna kawaisou which did the under 1 roof thing. It had a weaker heroine but the side character didn't piss me off every other second. Infact they were very likeable. also sexy. If you guys want to watch or read a good under the roof romcom this does a much better job of it. Albeit the ending in maison Ikkoku is still better.
TLDR: the story can only go so far. In a series like the backbone is the characters. and i just don't think the main 2 characters who were likeable are enough to protect this series. Overall i'm disappointed. It had its moments. The play by play moments were too poor. The ending was good but not enough for me to say that it saved the series. When i finished it i was glad that its over. 4/10 Maybe Rumiko's other works are better prospects
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