From the back cover:
Godai ends up in the hospital and has two unexpected visitors. His cute cousin comes to nurse him and Kyoko’s other suitor, Mitaka, ends up being his roommate. Godai’s problems aren’t over when he’s discharged—he has to deal with Kyoko and his school absences.

Review:
This volume is truly excellent, with many classic moments and even some movement on the relationship front.

I like the appearance of the hitherto unseen Mr. Ichinose, and find the chapter where both parents compete in an event at Kentaro’s school to be sweet and wonderful right up until the end when it’s revealed that Mrs. Ichinose has participated not for her kid’s sake, but to win some sake. That kind of ruins it a bit.

Several chapters feature Godai in a hospital after he broke his leg rescuing Kyoko from a crumbling bit of roof. Some of these aren’t so hot—I didn’t particularly care about the elopment of Godai’s cousin—but it’s about here that Kyoko begins to seriously ponder what her feelings are, and even comes close to smooching him. Anytime we get something from Kyoko’s point of view, I like it.

As good as these bits were, they can’t top my favorite chapter in the volume. Mitaka and Godai, upon running into each other for check-ups at the hospital (Mitaka ended up breaking his leg too), commence hanging out together and eventually drown their Kyoko-related sorrows in some booze. They stagger home, fully determined to tell her off for being stubborn and harboring a grudge against them for being idiots. That is, until they run into her. She says, “Let’s go home” and they both meekly go, “Okay.” Hee.

I haven’t talked about Takahashi’s art lately, but I’ve really been enjoying it. Background details continue to be excellent, and I’m particularly fond of little realistic touches, like a plane flying by in the background of one panel. It’s such a small thing, and yet I’m not sure I’ve seen it done before. The storytelling is also excellent, and though I do tire of the neighbors spoiling things, there were enough satisfying moments in these chapters that I didn’t come away annoyed.

From the back cover:
Grandma Godai comes for an extended visit and manages to meddle in Godai’s love life at every turn. Before she leaves, Grandma brokers a dream date for her wishy-washy grandson, but the night doesn’t turn out exactly as she planned…

Review:
Even though I didn’t like every story in this volume, as a whole, they formed a cozy, charming reading experience. In any other series, a random baseball chapter would probably irk me, but Maison Ikkoku can pull it off.

The one chapter I actively disliked featured Godai and his friend Sakamoto attending a welcoming party for freshmen. It was the first time drinking for one of the female attendees, and when she got drunk, Godai came very close to taking advantage of her. This was all played for comedic effect, of course. I don’t remember this being in the anime, so I have to wonder whether it was removed to kind of downplay Godai’s scumbaggery.

Godai’s grandma was in most of the stories, and stirred things up with many awkward questions and demands. She and the neighbors were especially annoying in this volume, but just when I was getting thoroughly fed up with the propensity of the latter to show up everywhere and ruin things for Godai, things took a turn for the cute when Godai and Kyoko ran away to escape them and had much fun in the process.

I’ve said before that Maison Ikkoku is like manga crack, but I think it’s more like manga meatloaf. Filling, satisfying comfort food with one essential recipe that can be tweaked many different ways. A perennial favorite.

From the back cover:
Godai’s New Year’s fortune comes true, but he quickly learns he should be careful what he wishes for. When Valentine’s Day arrives, Godai receives flowers from Kozue and then soon after from Kyoko—each with their own meaning.

Review:
This volume was comprised entirely of stand-alone episodes, several of which I liked very much. One thing that helped these stories to stand out was the inclusion of some fantasy sequences from Kyoko’s perspective. The best example was when she compared a future as Mitaka’s or Godai’s wife, complete with dozens of mewling babies.

I also admired the art a great deal in this volume. In addition to the impressive backgrounds during all outdoor or public scenes (like a department store), some dialogue-free panels were just wonderful. For example, when Godai’s New Year’s fortune told him to take things slow with Kyoko, he contemplated how that would work out. His ensuing fantasy ranged over three identical panels of he and Kyoko sitting around blinking at each other.

There was another great one in the last chapter when Kyoko’s mother, who’d been pressuring Kyoko about giving her grandchildren and had dragged her off to tea, got up to use the restroom. Each of those remaining at the table wore a different expression—Mitaka looked smug, Godai annoyed, Mrs. Ichinose gleeful, and Kyoko as if she were appealing for Heavenly intervention.

The one thing that continues to annoy me is Godai’s relationship with Kozue. He came close to using her for kissing practice in this volume, but was foiled by a sweet potato vendor. It’s perfectly in character for him to behave that way, of course, but I’d rather he didn’t.

From the back cover:
How can Godai and Kyoko ever be alone when the motley crew at Maison Ikkoku are always inviting themselves to every get-together and social event? When the two finally have some one-on-one time, their housemates’ gossip and meddling leads them to learn the hard way that home is where the heart is!

Review:
I didn’t like this volume quite as much as the others.

The second chapter showed great promise because Godai had resolved to end things with Kozue. He tried, but after witnessing a messy breakup scene at a restaurant, he never managed to actually do it. This chapter ended with the text “And so, the triangle is repaired.” So, all of that simply led to a reset of the same holding pattern.

There also seemed to be a surfeit of annoying characters. The denizens of Maison Ikkoku seemed worse than usual, and there was also a particularly odious couple that Godai lived with for a while when a misunderstanding with Kyoko drove him to seek alternate lodgings. Additionally, said misunderstanding resulted in a mini-arc that was kind of underwhelming.

That said, there were some things I definitely did like. One was Godai’s attitude towards consummating his relationship with Kozue. If he has to keep going out with her, at least he actually thought about the consequences of sex and realized that it could ruin his whole life. I also liked the end of the last chapter when Godai and Kyoko were reunited and, from relief and/or drunkenness, both burst out crying in the middle of the street.

Though I had some complaints with this volume, I still enjoyed it a great deal and am loving the series as a whole.

From the back cover:
Kyoko’s meddling parents plot to get their daughter to give up her independence and move back home. Yusaku meets his (sort of) girlfriend’s overzealous folks and then ends up on a never-ending visit to his own parents’ house.

Review:
I think Maison Ikkoku must be the manga equivalent of crack. It’s especially addictive when there’s more of a linked story line between the chapters. The stand-alone ones can be cute—there’s a nice one in this volume in which Godai looks after a friend’s cat—but they don’t hit the same kind of important character notes that the mini-arcs do.

Most of the plot in this volume had to do with Kyoko’s parents pressuring her to give up her job managing the apartment and to come home, revert to her maiden name, and ultimately remarry. Surprisingly, only Godai actually seemed to have any insight on what Kyoko’s true feelings are in the matter.

There’s a great scene between them later where they’re hanging out on a playground at night and he tells her he wants her to stay just as she is for several years—no pressure from him, because he’s got to graduate from college and find employment before he’d have anything to offer her. I don’t remember that happening in the anime, though I could be wrong.

About the only thing I don’t like is Godai’s relationship with Kozue. She’s just so deluded and clingy, and Godai clearly feels guilty for prolonging things with her. I suppose she’s fulfilling her purpose of inspiring jealousy in Kyoko, and at least her relationship with Godai is chaste so far, but I find her kind of annoying all the same.

From the back cover:
Kyoko and Godai start dating—other people. She goes out with her handsome tennis instructor, Shun Mitaka, while he reluctantly dates Kozue, a former coworker. The two finally arrange to go on a date together, but a mix-up leads them to end up at different restaurants!

Review:
I’m not really a big fan of comic misunderstandings in general, and I seldom find Mitaka’s dog fear to be amusing, but Maison Ikkoku is so seriously charming that I can’t help but like it.

As in volume one, a lot of time is covered in this volume—from summer until Christmas, with the anniversary of Kyoko’s arrival as manager celebrated along the way. There are a lot of good stories, but I think my favorite is probably the one where Kyoko attends the art festival at Godai’s school and ends up participating in a puppet show and causing him to flub his lines, to the delight of the audience (comprised of kids).

Speaking of kids, I adore the way Takahashi draws and writes Kentaro. I seem to like him more now than when I watched the anime—maybe it’s because he always looks so small in relation to everything around him. In any case, I’m really enjoying this series, and find that it deserves all the praise it has received.

From the back cover:
Travel into Japan’s nuttiest apartment house and meet its volatile inhabitants: Kyoko, the beautiful and mysterious new apartment manager; Godai, the exam-addled college student; Mrs. Ichinose, the drunken gossip; Kentaro, her bratty son; Akemi, the boozy bar hostess; and the mooching and peeping Mr. Yotsuya.

Funny, touching, and a tad off-kilter, Maison Ikkoku is the great Rumiko Takahashi at her very best.

Review:
Finally I am reading this! I was planning to watch the anime first, but I got stalled around episode 70 for the longest time and figured I’d probably get through the story a lot faster if I just went ahead and read it.

I wasn’t too fond of the first two chapters: Godai’s neighbors came across as more annoying than wacky and some of the art was still getting ironed out. By chapter three, in which Godai struggled to give Kyoko a Christmas present, things had evened out and the charm of the series was apparent. My favorite chapter was the one in which Godai learned that Kyoko is a widow. It seemed that he finally started to see her as a real person rather than just a pretty object.

The art in this series was pretty different from most of the series I’m reading, with detailed backgrounds and lots and lots of teeth. It was also unique how much time passed—the first chapter occurred sometime before Christmas and by the end, it was at least May.

To end on a completely random note, I’ve decided that if this were an American TV show, the role of Yotsuya would be played by Adam Baldwin.