Maison Ikkoku

AUTHOR: Takahashi, Rumiko

ARTIST: Rumiko Takahashi (illustrator)

PUBLISHER: Shogakukan (Japanese); VIZ Media (English)

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION:Mezon ikkoku, 1980-1987 (English translation, 1993)

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1982-1987 (partial English translation, 1994-2000)

Publication History

Rumiko Takahashi’s Maison Ikkoku (the house of the fleeting moment) was serialized in the weekly manga magazine Big Comic Spirits, published by Shogakukan, from November, 1980, to April, 1987. The series was successful enough to be collected in tankobon volumes before its serialization was finished; it was published in fifteen volumes under the Big S Comics label between May, 1982, and July, 1987. Between September, 1992, and June, 1993, Shogakukan released a ten-volume edition of the manga.

In the United States, Maison Ikkoku first appeared as seven monthly comic books (June to December, 1993) published by VIZ Comics in an abridged version, with several episodes changed in either content or order. Later, VIZ republished the manga as a fourteen-volume paperback series beginning in April, 2001. The publication of a complete trade paperback edition that followed the format of the original manga began in November, 2003, when VIZ Media published the first issue of Maison Ikkoku under the label Editor’s Choice; this release ended with the publication of the last volume of the series in November, 2006.

Plot

Maison Ikkoku is a romantic comedy that takes place in a modern Japanese setting and cultural context. The story is set in a quiet, suburban part of 1980’s Tokyo. Almost all the main characters live in an old apartment building, a two-story house with seven small apartments, one of which is occupied by the building’s guardian. The house’s owner is Mr. Otonashi. As the series begins, a new guardian has just arrived: Kyoko Otonashi, Mr. Otonashi’s daughter-in-law. Kyoko is the young widow of Soichiro Otonashi. After the sudden death of her husband, Kyoko has remained attached to her father-in-law, and she has decided to become the building’s guardian, taking along her big, clever dog, Soichiro.

Upon her arrival, she meets the people living in the house, including Yusaku Godai, a twenty-year-old man who falls in love with her at first sight. Yusaku is shy and unresolved and has trouble passing his university entrance exam. He is the continuous target of jokes from the other tenants.

Funny gags, often based on misunderstandings, are the core of the series, but several scenes and story arcs stress the love story and the drama. Yusaku cannot manage to declare his love to Kyoko, and the beautiful widow also attracts the attention of other men, especially the handsome tennis instructor Mitaka. Yusaku is loved by several girls, but he has eyes for Kyoko only. After several years of friendship, fights, misunderstandings, arguments, and reconciliations, Kyoko and Yusaku finally develop mature feelings of love for each other. Yusaku finds his place in life, becoming a beloved kindergarten teacher and educator after earning his master’s degree, and Kyoko reacquires an inner serenity after her first husband’s death. The two eventually marry and have a daughter, Haruka.

Volumes

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 1 (2003). Collects chapters 1-10. The main characters, their psychologies, and the general plot are introduced.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 2 (2003). Collects chapters 11-21. New characters are introduced, and Yusaku and Kyoko grow closer to each other, despite a misunderstanding.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 3 (2004). Collects chapters 22-32. Numerous subplots and secondary characters are presented. Kyoko’s parents meet Yusaku and dislike him.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 4 (2004). Collects chapters 33-43. The neighbors create problems in the friendship between Yusaku and Kyoko.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 5 (2004). Collects chapters 44-53. Kozue vies for Yusaku’s affections.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 6 (2004). Collects chapters 54-63. Yusaku’s grandmother is introduced; she helps him get closer to Kyoko.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 7 (2004). Collects chapters 64-73. Yusaku gets injured and must share a hospital room with Mitaka, his competitor for Kyoko’s love.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 8 (2004). Collects chapters 74-84. Yusaku’s sloppiness causes him to misunderstand Kyoko again. A new tenant arrives at the apartment building.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 9 (2005). Collects chapters 85-95. Yusaku works some part-time jobs and meets schoolgirl Yagami, a cousin of Kyoko.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 10 (2005). Collects chapters 96-106. Yagami’s fight for Yusaku’s heart gets him into trouble. Mitaka tries to get over his fear of dogs.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 11 (2005). Collects chapters 107-117. Kyoko goes on vacation and is followed by Yusaku, who wants to make peace with her after yet another misunderstanding.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 12 (2005). Collects chapters 118-129. A misunderstanding leads Mitaka to propose to young heiress and dog-lover Asuna.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 13 (2005). Collects chapters 130-140. Yusaku’s search for a job inadvertently leads him to work in a strip club, where he also babysits the child of a stripper.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 14 (2005). Collects chapters 141-151. The love story reaches its crucial point, and the characters reveal their feelings.

• Maison Ikkoku, Volume 15 (2006). Collects chapters 152-161. Kyoko and Yusaku marry and begin their life together.

Characters

• Yusaku Godai is a twenty-year-old man who is trying to enter college. He does not know how to communicate with women. He is the target of the other tenants, who often invade his privacy and have parties in his room. He is infatuated with Kyoko and ultimately falls deeply in love with her.

• Kyoko Otonashi is twenty-two years old, has long black hair, and is beautiful in every aspect. She is a young widow who is trying to rebuild her life as the new guardian of Mr. Otonashi’s house. She has a sweet disposition but can also become grumpy. She is an independent woman but also relies on a wide set of typical Japanese values.

• Hanae Ichinose is a cheerful, energetic, fat woman who lives in room 1 with her husband and son. She often joins Akemi and Yotsuya in throwing noisy parties in Yusaku’s room.

• Akemi Roppongi is a voluptuous and attractive but somewhat vulgar red-haired woman who lives in room 6. She works as a bar hostess at the Cha-Cha Maru. She usually walks through the building in sexy underwear, sometimes teasing Yusaku. She marries her boss.

• Yotsuya is a mysterious man who lives in room 4 and is always ready to drink beer and party in Yusaku’s room with the other tenants. He has a mysterious, but legal, job.

• Mr. Otonashi is a kind old man and the father of Soichiro, the late husband of Kyoko. He is fond of her but hopes she will marry again and find the happiness she lost with the death of Soichiro.

• Soichiro is Kyoko’s big, white, funny dog. He is named for her late husband.

• Kozue Nanao is a young friend of Yusaku. She is in love with him, and they often spend time together platonically. For the most of the series, she does not know about Yusaku’s feelings for Kyoko, which causes several misunderstandings among the three of them.

• Shun Mitaka is a handsome twenty-six-year-old tennis instructor from a wealthy family. He meets Kyoko when she takes tennis lessons. He falls in love with her, but he is too sophisticated for her. In the end, he marries Asuna.

• Asuna Kujo is a sweet young girl from a rich family. She is “promised” to Mitaka by their parents, according to a traditional Japanese arrangement. They do not initially love each other but eventually fall in love.

• Ibuki Yagami is a student from a wealthy family. Yusaku meets her when he is a student teacher. She has a crush on him, idealizing him as a sort of tragic hero.

• Ikuko Otonashi is Kyoko’s ten-year-old niece. Yusaku becomes her tutor.

• Yukari Godai is Yusaku’s grandmother. She lives with Yusaku’s parents but occasionally visits Yusaku. She helps his love situation.

• Mr. Chigusa and Ritsuko Chigusa are Kyoko’s parents. They are a bourgeois couple and would prefer for Kyoko to marry Mitaka. At first, they do not accept Yusaku as a good fiancé for Kyoko, but they eventually change their minds.

• Sayako Kuroki is one of Yusaku’s college classmates. She helps him find a part-time teaching job.

Artistic Style

Takahashi belongs to a generation of manga artists who began their careers in the late 1970’s and were directly or indirectly influenced by the masters of the previous generations, such as Osamu Tezuka, Shotaro Ishinomori, Mitsuteru Yokoyama, and the Year 24 Group. Her graphic style is neither particularly elegant nor original, and her drawings are linear and readable but not especially distinguished from the styles of the other manga artists of her generation. Settings, bodies, and faces are always simple but profoundly functional.

Maison Ikkoku features two important stylistic features: Takahashi’s command of emotional expressions on characters’ faces and her mastery of gag timing. Maison Ikkoku’s average page is clear and easy to look at, with few black areas and a simple panel structure. The fictional time in the series goes by approximately as it would in the real world, and Takahashi’s main characters evolve as the series progresses. Kyoko and Yusaku in 1987 look more mature than they do in 1980. Though Takahashi’s style is not outstanding from a strictly Artistic point of view, the softness of her drawings and the cleverness of her evolving design strategy make Maison Ikkoku stand out.

Themes

Maison Ikkoku is a Japanese love story and a bildungs-roman that chronicles the personal journeys of an insecure young man and a young woman who idealizes her late husband. It is also the story of quiet suburban life in Japan in the 1980’s, a period in which the country was a major economic and cultural force. In addition to the main romance story line, the manga explores how Japanese universities work, how difficult it is to find a job compatible with one’s predispositions, and how hard it can be to express true emotions. For Western readers, Maison Ikkoku is one of the most revealing manga in terms of explaining Japanese culture.

Impact

In Japan, Maison Ikkoku was hugely successful in serialization. Takahashi was already much appreciated for Urusei Yatsura (1978-1987), and after the publication of Maison Ikkoku, she became known as “the queen of manga.” In the United States, Maison Ikkoku was one the first manga to earn a large fan base and contributed to the “manga fad” of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Thus, Maison Ikkoku helped open the door for other manga in the West. From a cultural point of view, Maison Ikkoku’s impact is remarkable: It has shown Western readers a realistic, funny, and romantic image of contemporary Japan and of Japanese people in a period when other portrayals were rather stereotypical.

Films

Maison Ikkoku. Directed by Shinichiro Sawai. Toei, 1986. Starring Mariko Ishihara as Kyoko and Ken Ishiguro as Yusaku, this live-action film is a short adaptation of the manga and animation series and synthesizes the main story lines and gags.

Maison Ikkoku: Kanketsu-hen. Directed by Tomomi Mochizuki. Ajiado/Kitty Film, 1988. This animated film is the conclusion of the series, presenting the protagonists’ wedding.

Maison Ikkoku: Through the Passing of the Seasons. Kitty Films, 1988. This animated film features footage from the anime series.

Maison Ikkoku: Shipwrecked on Ikkoku Island. Directed by Kenichi Maejima. Kitty Films, 1990. This animated film is based on a chapter of the manga in which the characters are shipwrecked.

Prelude Maison Ikkoku: When the Cherry Blossoms Return in the Spring. Kitty Films, 1992. This animated film features footage from the anime series and focuses on Kyoko’s late husband.

Television Series

Maison Ikkoku. Directed by Kazuo Yamazaki, Takashi Anno, and Naoyuki Yoshinaga. Studio Deen, 1986-1988. This anime series consists of ninety-six episodes.

Further Reading

Katsura, Masakazu. Video Girl Ai (1989-1992).

Matsumoto, Izumi. Kimagure Orange Road (1984-1987).

Takahashi, Rumiko. Ranma 1/2 (1987-1996).

Bibliography

Ceglia, Simonetta, and Valerio Caldesi Valeri. “Maison Ikkoku.” Image [&] Narrative 1 (August, 2000). http://www.imageandnarrative.be/inarchive/narratology/cegliavaleri.htm.

Miller, John Jackson, and Maggie Thompson. Warman’s Comic Book Field Guide. Iola, Wisc.: Krause, 2004.

Yadao, Jason. The Rough Guide to Manga. New York: Rough Guides, 2009.