Maison Ikkoku (41-76) Third Impressions
(Mostly spoiler-free, until last paragraph) I’m finding it hard to believe that I actually went through 36 episodes of this show in the span of a few days. I suppose the fact that classes were cancelled due to a holiday helped, but regardless, that is quite a large marathon and I am sitting here thinking there must be some kind of mistake. I planned to write a third episode block review before going into the ending, and episode 76 seems to be the perfect place to do so. I mentioned before that episode 40 felt like the first peak in the show’s plot and character development, and I can now say that the second one is episode 76 (the final one, of course, will occur during the climactic final episodes….or so I assume).
As I was watching these latest episodes, I started to wonder about what it must have been like to have watched this show when it originally aired. Of course, this series aired before I was born, but the idea sounds very interesting to me, of watching these characters lives progress, realistically, through several years. I really enjoy the passing of time in this anime. You are literally watching the main character grow, experience new things, and develop into a “member of society” (as the other characters put it). And you also observe what starts out as a somewhat childish infatuation eventually grow into a rather charming relationship.
What has been confirmed for me, after coming this far with the series, is that it has most certainly earned a place in my list of favourite anime series. As I have said before, it does not have the most cinematic score, or character designs or any other effect which modern anime have in droves. What it lacks in design and flash it makes up for in charm and nostalgia. At it’s core, it is a very simple story of a developing relationship between two characters. There are distractions, comedic interruptions, and similar problems throughout, but the viewers remain attached to that one constant concept.
There was one scene where the characters find themselves meeting up accidentally on vacation (well, not completely accidentally, but watch the anime yourself for that). The place where they spot each other, though, is at a hot spring while they are relaxing. If you have read the Love Hina manga, you will notice that there is a scene in that series which echoes this. But the difference in how they are handled between the two series is very large.
In Love Hina, the scene, and the environment they are in (hot spring, with not so much clothing on), is exploited for all the fanservice and raunchiness that could possibly (and shamelessly, I might add) be squeezed from it.
In Maison Ikkoku, however, the outdoor bath environment acts to change the mood of their reconciliation to timidity and embaressment, and acts as a catalyst to the next scene.
The difference betweeen the two, as you can see, is very pronounced. While I don’t wish to belabour the point about Maison Ikkoku and Love Hina being similar, I do want to say that Maison Ikkoku appears to satisfy an idea I’ve had for a long time. I’ve always felt that the basic idea behind Love Hina (and characters) were the elements of a good series. I enjoyed watching/reading it. But all the pointless elements, such as the excess fanservice, only serve to lessen my enjoyment of it. I’ve always thought that if you would just remove those undesirable parts of the series, you would get a very good anime.
It appears now that the series I’ve wanted has actually existed for a long time, and that is Maison Ikkoku. If the people who say that Love Hina copied from Maison Ikkoku are correct, then I personally believe that the story had been done right the first time. And not only does Maison Ikkoku get rid of those faulty aspects, it also more poignant and more realistic.
Now I would like to return to the discussion of episode 76. I can’t resist talking in some detail, so a warning to all of you, spoilers are contained in this paragraph. I absolutely loved the final scene between Godai and Kyoko in front of Souchiro’s grave. It was one of the few perfect scenes I’ve seen in anime - not too melodramatic, not too overwrought. There was a light-hearted tone to it, but also a great deal of depth behind it. When Kyoko spoke about “moving on”, it was obvious how much this decision meant and it also showed us how much she had grown since our first introduction to her. But most of all, it was her low-key confirmation of who she was “moving on” to that was the highlight. I probably cannot do it justice in a blog post, but both her thoughts followed by Godai’s reaction were wonderfully done. I am absolutely glad that I decided to pick up this series, despite its age as well as its large number of episodes.
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