Maison Ikkoku (77-96)(END)
I will soon write a full review of the series (and its music). This post is more or less just my reaction to finishing the series and my thoughts on certain parts of it. It will contain slight spoilers. My full review, however, will not contain spoilers. Just a heads up.
I’ve officially completed the longest anime series I have ever watched - a full 96 episodes (plus one hour long movie), and I enjoyed every single minute of it right up until the end. Having just finished episode 96, Maison Ikkoku has one of the most satisfying endings I have ever watched. There is one specific thing that I am very happy about, and that is that the producers decided to bring back the melody of “Kanashimi Yo Konnichiwa” to play as the entire series came to a close. This was a wonderful choice. Maybe nostalgia just gets to me too easily, but I couldn’t help but get a little-watery eyed as that familiar tune came on as we bid goodbye to the characters who we have seen through years of their lives. Any fan of “Honey and Clover” will remember how much the return of “Waltz” to end the entire first season contributed to the charm of those final scenes. A similar effect comes into play here.
I’m far too satisfied right now to go over the series in any detail, or try to pick it apart (I’ll save that for the review). Instead I will just ramble on about certain scenes. There was one scene in the final episode that I thought was the most brilliant part of the entire series, and that is when Kyoko goes to visit Souchiro-san’s grave, but finds Godai there first. Here, the writer has come full circle and reversed the scene that we have seen earlier in the series. Now, Godai is the one speaking to Souchiro-san, and Kyoko is one overhearing the conversation. There is a wonderful elegance to this scene. Up until now, Godai has observed Kyoko’s connection with her deceased husband from afar, always viewing it as a barrier between them, something he must ignore, a different world that he would never be able to enter. In this scene, he has entered that world headfirst, accepted its existence, and has attempted to carve for himself a place to reside within it. The earlier, childish Godai wished that Kyoko could simply forget about everything that happened to her prior to meeting him including her deceased husband. Now, however, he realizes that Kyoko herself, as he knows her, doesn’t exist without her past, and Souchiro is an immovable part of that past.
Now there are, of course, a few things that I didn’t exactly love about the series. The biggest thing that irked me was that the use of the patented “misunderstanding” was too much. I think that it has it’s place in anime and in storytelling - that sort of thing can be a good catalyst for further character development. But when it’s used too often, it becomes tiring. I think towards the end, it happened one too many times for my liking.
I mentioned in earlier posts about the different “peaks” of the series. I maintain that they occur at episode 40, 76, and the final episodes respectively. Episode 40 was Godai’s first major development. It was here that his thoughts about Kyoko, and especially her relation with her deceased husband, began to mature. He finally began to conceive the depth and complexity of a person who has gone through what she has. In the beginning, Kyoko was just a very alluring woman. But at this point, he is beginning to realize that she has a history of experiences that he doesn’t truly understand. Episode 76, in comparison, was a highlight especially for Kyoko. Here is where she finally begins to move on from her connection to her deceased husband, and it’s from here that the entire storyline is basically pushed forward.
I don’t know if I can even think of an exact place where Godai’s childish crush developed into something greater, nor can I really think of a spot where Kyoko began to think of Godai as more than just a tenant. Maybe that’s just one of the fine points of the series. The other characters filled their roles nicely as well. Mitaka was a character I felt sympathetic to by the end - I was worried when the whole issue of “forcing” Kyoko to marry him came about. It felt like the writers were taking the cheap route by making him a “badguy” so that the audience would sympathize with Godai and Kyoko. Thankfully, they didn’t go there. Mitaka certainly acted like a jerk at times, but that’s because he was trapped, stuck with an unrequited affection. But in the end, he was simply unable to cross the line and do what he knew was wrong. I also feel similarly sympathetic to Kozue, but I think the introduction of Yagami and that extended storyline was a bit much.
It’s been a long ride. Even after a whopping 96 episodes, I’m sad to see it finish and I have a silly urge to start rewatching the entire series. I have tried not to gush too much in this post, but if you were annoyed by it, you probably don’t want to come back to read my full review of the series - I have a feeling there will be more gushing than is healthy in that post.
8 responses so far
Maison Ikkoku is definitely Takahashi’s masterpiece.
She wrote 4 major manga/animes. Maison Ikkoku was her second- and the only one to ever have an actual solid ending.
Ranma 1/2 was her third, Inuyasha her fourth. You’ve probably heard of them. I think Ranma in particular drew heavily on the character designs for Maison Ikkoku, (and also Urusei Yatsura, her first work).
In many ways you can see Akane as a young immature Kyoko. However, unlike Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2 goes for maximum hilarity and slapstick silliness. Ranma 1/2 is also probably the precursor to every martial arts anime with crazy “special attacks”.
The Harem is taken to extreme (and deliberately ridiculous) heights in that Ranma has two (unwanted) harems, and Akane has an (unwanted) harem of boys casing after her too. His father engaging him to multiple women through out his life doesn’t help.
There is the aspect that a lot of the Ranma 1/2 plot should be extremely angsty, but is always played for laughs. (The contract with his mother agreeing to commit ritual suicide if she decides he is insufficiently “manly” for example). A lot of people are put off by this.
The middle seasons in particular have a lot of filler. I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as Maison Ikkoku. However, the same quality of characterization that is so good about Maison Ikkoku still exists in Ranma 1/2. The interactions between Akane, Ranma, Ryouga, and Ukyo have this pull that allow people to enjoy the insanity. Which is probably why it still has such high levels of popularity.
Ranma 1/2 does often have some fan service (especially in the first season). However, I’ve often wondered if it might be a big “take that” by Takahashi (the author) since the women the fanboys are drooling over is in actuality a man.
Ranma 1/2 would probably be third tier in my opinion (that means it’s still in the watchable category for me). There are a lot of better anime in my opinion, but Ranma isn’t bad. If you like Takahashi, Ranma 1/2 is probably her 2nd best work after Ikkoku. Just remember there are well over 100+ episodes, and it never finished the story.
Thanks for the post, very interesting. I suppose I’ll have to look into Ranma 1/2 sometime, though before that I want to get through “Kimagure Orange Road”, which is commonly brought up as the “other” classic romance (Maison Ikkoku being the first).
I’m not sure what anime you have seen, but my top tier would be:
1: Maison Ikkoku
1: Starblazers: One of the most famous of anime, made in the 70s and it still gets shout outs from anime today. Also, great music! Go listen to the opening, which is sometimes played by the Japanese military. It was also translated into English for the show. I think both versions are good. The ending theme: “The Bright Red Scarf” is also very beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAdHM5G2vhI
3: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Yeah, everybody loves this one, but it really is that good- if you are willing to watch at least the first 5 episodes to figure out what is going on, (chronologically- broadcast order is mixed up). The shout out to Starblazers in ep 11 didn’t hurt it with me either.
Outside the top tier, but still very good I would put:
Full Metal Panic (do not start with “fummofu” that’s the 2nd season and very different mood wise from the 1st and 3rd)
Chrono Crusade
Soul Eater (tentative, since it is still in production, but it looks good)
Thanks for the recommendations (I’ve already seen Haruhi). In the future, don’t put links in your posts because I think it makes your post go into the spam box (I just found it today while I was going through it).
Ah… that explains it. Well Dan finally came to visit your site after I told him about it and he said I needed to give you a more detailed rundown on the Ranma 1/2 characters.
The first thing to understand is that the Ranma 1/2 is a different world from Maison Ikkoku. It’s characters are highschool students, martial artists, in a world filled with curses, demons, and magic- not to mention martial arts that are closer to superpowers and an entire fighting style based on the cooking of okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza equivalent). The target audience was young boys.
The next thing is that there are several serious themes underlying all the slapstick silliness. Like all of Takahashi’s works she addresses the issue of gender roles, and gender identity, but Ranma 1/2 is the one in which she does so more explicitly than any of her other stories.
Almost all of the characters are undergoing identity crises, often gender related.
The other major reoccurring theme is the notable absence of mothers. Only one of the characters mothers appear- and he has to hide from her in fear that she’ll kill him.
On to the characters, there are tons, even if I stick to the main ones it’s going to be a bit long. (People have literally drawn diagrams to try and keep track of all the relationships between Ranma characters, and it even spawned the term “Love Decohedren” as it goes far beyond a love triangle).
The Saotome Family:
Genma: A lazy freeloader. A petty thief, a bit of a coward, and a terrible liar. He is also the head of the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, and is a formidable fighter. He has two major goals in life beyond filling his belly and avoiding labor. The first goal is to turn his son into the greatest martial artist ever to walk the Earth. For this he is willing to subject his son to the most extreme and outrageous of training regimens. For example, teaching his son dodging by throwing beehives at him. Or increasing his son’s speed by stealing food from him. Real Spartan style training. These are some of the lesser of Genma’s abuses, which rise to such levels that even in the story other characters are amazed that the police have not arrested him for child abuse. His other main goal is get his son married to a Tendo daughter, and hopefully produce a grandson soon.
Ranma: 16 years old, Genma’s son, and our male lead. Ranma means “Wild Horse” and it fits his personality. His character has many similarities with Shun Mitaka. He is pushy, happy-go-lucky, egotistical, and obsessed with winning. He also happens to be the greatest martial artist of his generation. However, he lacks Mitaka’s charm and manners. This is probably because he’s been dragged around on a training trip for the last ten years of his life- and has Genma for a father. He does have a strong sense of honor, and most people agree that it’s a miracle Ranma turned out as well as he did. Ranma regularly sticks his foot in his mouth, and while intelligent, is uneducated, and prefers solutions that involve hitting things- it’s simpler and easy for him to understand those situations. He has no experience with girls and little interest. Ranma feels his manhood and fighting skills are his essential identities. Then one day he fell in a cursed spring that turned him into a girl- at the start of our story. Cue a major identity crisis, with Ranma doing everything he can to assert his manhood- which he figures means being rude, pushy, and tougher than anybody else. He has no memory of his mother, and doesn’t seem to miss her much- in fact he doesn’t even know his mother is alive until much later in the story.
Nodoka: Ranma’s mother, and the perfect traditional Japanese wife. Ten years previous to the story, Genma realized that Nodoka would spoil their son if they stayed (Japanese mothers are infamous for spoiling a first born son), this would ruin his goal of making his son a great martial artist. Thus he took their son and left on a ten year training trip. To ensure mother and son would stay divided, he signed a suicide contract with Nodoka, pledging that if when they returned Nodoka judged Ranma insufficiently manly, he and Ranma would commit suicide. Nodoka is perfectly serious about this, and while she’d regret it, she says she will cut off her son and husband’s heads and then slit her own throat if honor demands it. She even has a katana and carries it with her wherever she goes. Genma wasn’t too worried about this, as Ranma was plenty manly. Until he turned into a girl that is. Apparently Genma figures if he can get Ranma married and producing babies, (the most manly of actions according to Nodoka) maybe Nodoka will overlook the fact that he occasionally turns into a girl. She doesn’t make an appearance until the end of the anime tv series.
The Tendo Family:
Soun: The father of the Tendo family, and the head of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. He and Genma are old friends from when they trained together. Soun however, has a good reputation and is highly respected in his community. While he may have once been an excellent martial artist, by the time of our story he is a broken man. The death of his wife has left Soun a shadow of what he once was. He loves his three daughters fiercely. However, his one remaining goal in life is to get one of them married to the son of his longtime friend Genma, thus joining their schools and ensuring his dojo has a successor. Apparently he and Genma have been planning this for 16 years, ever since Tendo who had only daughters learned Genma had a son.
All of the Tendo daughters appear to have been marked by the death of their mother.
Kasumi: The oldest of Souns daughters at 19. Although described as having been a mischievous girl who liked practical jokes, the death of her mother has deeply affected her. As the eldest she stepped into the gap and filled the role that should have been her mothers. Now she appears to be the perfect Yamato Nadeshiko housewife. She cooks, cleans, is always cheerful and never complains. She appears happily oblivious to the chaos around her- but then will occasionally make the most perceptive comments. She also seems to have a knack of getting people to do what she wants without ever having to argue with them. Kasumi is a mystery, who is she really? What happened to that girlish prankster of her youth? Even the villains of the Ranma world agree that harming Kasumi is unforgivable.
Nabiki: 17 years old. While Takahashi has occasionally put Kasumi in an angel outfit, Nabiki has been drawn as a devil. Cold hearted, modern, and cunning, Nabiki loves money- but in a miserly way, she never seems to spend any of her own money if she can help it. It is theorized that this might have to do with her reaction to her mother’s death, as Nabiki seems to think her grief is a weakness. Nabiki is constantly on the prowl for schemes and scams to make money. She runs betting pools at school, is a loan shark, provides information for a price, and regularly resorts to blackmail and extortion. She never gets punished, as she always has a patsy ready to take the fall for her. While she does give her family a break on interest, she has little family loyalty. She even sells pictures of her younger sister Akane to stalkers. While Nabiki gives Ranma some breaks as a family member, she also seems to have a grudge against him as he is subjected to some of her worst acts of depravity. (She once sold Ranma in girl form to a sex slave ring). She seems to like boys, but always ends up using them and throwing them away. The only people she does not mistreat are Nodoka (who she almost adopts as a surrogate mother) and Kasumi her eldest sister (many people argue about whether this is because Nabiki loves Kasumi, or if it’s because Nabiki fears Kasumi).
Akane: 16 years old and our female lead. Kasumi labels her “a sweet girl, and a violent maniac”. Her response to her mother’s death seems to be focusing on martial arts and taking the place of the male heir Soun does not have. However, she also tries to be a normal feminine girl, she has normal girlfriends and wears dresses- she is very insecure about her femininity though. She hates boys, probably because they are constantly attacking her because they believe that if they can defeat her in battle she will have to date them. For this reason when gender changing Ranma appears and Soun tells his daughter that one of them must marry him, Akane’s sisters immediately push Akane forward as the candidate telling her she’s in luck since Ranma is half girl. Akane is the best martial artist in her town until Ranma shows up. Not only is he way above her in skill, but soon all his friends, rivals and so forth start to appear as well, and they are also all better martial artists then she. Added to that, she is now engaged to Ranma, who is taking her place as heir to the family dojo. Plus her fiance mocks her, calls her “kawiikune” (”not cute”- which in Japanese culture is sort of like calling a woman unfeminine and butt ugly all at the same time). Ranma even claims that he makes a better girl than Akane does (it doesn’t help that many of Akane’s former suitors seem to agree). To top it off, Ranma soon has a horde of girls chasing him- most of them better martial artists then Akane, and all of them better cooks then she is. All of this hits Akane in her most vulnerable spots, and gives her a big identity crisis.
On the other hand… Ranma is the first boy that doesn’t treat her like a prize to be won, the first boy to insist on protecting her, and he seems to care about her. He also clearly has some scars from his father’s rough treatment, and Akane does have a soft spot for broken things. Unfortunately Akane has a temper, and Ranma’s lack of manners often leads Akane to retaliate by calling Ranma “hentai” (which is usually translated pervert, but in this context means “freak”,) as in “sex-changing freak” which is of course Ranma’s most vulnerable spot. These verbal arguments often escalate until Akane hits Ranma- which considering the violent nature of Ranma’s other friendships might not be as bad as it sounds. Worst of all, even if she and Ranma maybe, possibly, might be kind of interested in each other- if they ever admitted it, their fathers would shove them in front of a wedding altar, and both Ranma and Akane are in agreement that they should be in control of who they marry, not their fathers.
Well, it’s late, and this has already gotten far too long. I’ll try to come back and give the lowdown on Ranma’s main Rivals (4) and other main fiances (3 more). Yes they are all big parts of the story.
Have you seen both the anime and the manga? Which would you recommend? I haven’t heard good things about the anime adaptation compared to the manga. I’ve also frequently heard that Maison Ikkoku is the only Takashi work with a satisfying conclusion. Is this true, compared to Ranma 1/2?
I would say that Maison Ikkoku is the only Takahashi work to have a full conclusion. Urusei Yatsura ran into trouble when Takahashi’s plans for the love triangle to be resolved in Shinobu’s favor was derailed by her bosses who insisted that Lum be the winner since she was by far the most popular character. Inuyasha (the manga) just barely finished, and my understanding was that they at least resolved the romance angle. However, the anime ended before ever getting there.
I’m more forgiving on this for Ranma 1/2 then a lot of Ranma fans, for a couple reasons. The first excuse that I accept is that Ranma and Akane are still in highschool, so a marriage ending like Maison Ikkoku isn’t really fitting. The act of Ranma willingly offering his hand to Akane, and Akane deliberately accepting it is in my mind an acceptable ending considering their age.
The other reason is that to create drama Takahashi deliberately put Ranma in an impossible situation (non-Japanese viewers often miss this because of different concepts of honor). While he can honorably tell Kodachi to go pound sand the other fiancees present a problem. Shampoo is a dangerous wildcard. It’s not certain what she would do if Ranma married Akane, but there is a strong possibility she would kill Akane.
Ukyo presents an even bigger problem as choosing between her and Akane would horribly dishonor both the girl he rejects and himself, as he is engaged to both of them. Ukyo and Akane both recognize this, which is probably why one of Ukyo’s common plots is to try and get Akane romantically interested in Ryoga so that way Ranma will be released from his engagement to Akane. Akane and Ranma however, seeing Ryoga and Ukyo hanging around each other, often make the mistake of thinking he and Ukyo are dating- which they are overjoyed about for similar reasons.
So essentially Ranma can’t do anything, because doing so would be dishonorable, so he is forced to take a waiting position hoping that something will change in the future.
I think the attraction is different for Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2. Ikkoku is about seeing a wonderful love story develop and come to full flower. Ranma is about the joy in speculating on how the developing bud might turn out.
Ikkoku is a serious, even if comedic take on life. Ranma is shallow and slapstick… but underneath that there is a very dark story going on (as can be seen from the characterizations). Far more dark then any of her other works.
As for the manga vs anime, I’m probably not the best person to ask. I have read the manga on from the end of the anime to the conclusion (meaning the last 1/3). However, I don’t particularly care for most manga. My preference tends to favor novels over a video presentation (such as anime), but I prefer anime over most manga. This is because I often have a hard time following manga. Ranma isn’t and bad as some manga (Read Or Die had me completely confused within a few pages) but it isn’t the best I’ve ever read either. Also, in my experience old comics/manga age far more poorly than anime. I’ve sometimes thought I should go through the older manga to see if it gives a better characterization of characters, but couldn’t bring myself to do it.
But that is all my personal preferences and opinions, others might prefer the manga. I know some people feel Akane was made too violent in the anime compared to the manga, but I thought Akane came across as sweet (with a violent side) in the Japanese version. The dub is so bad (and so much more prevalent then subs) that I can’t help but wonder it that might be an issue here. I would prefer the manga to the English dub.
I’d say that the episodes that won me over and made me decide I really wanted to know what happened was the martial arts skating competition- the first 3 episodes of the second season. That’s when I decided I cared enough about the characters that I would put up with a bunch of things I didn’t care for in the show. If after that you decide you’re not interested enough to put up with the imperfections then I figure Ranma probably isn’t for you.
After about the 5th episode of the 4th season you could probably skip most of the episodes. I can give you a (non-comprehensive) list of episodes that are important from a plot perspective or character development:
“Extra, Extra! Kuno & Nabiki”
“Ryoga the Strong… Too Strong”
“Close Call! P-chan’s Secret”
“Me is Kuno’s Daddy, Me is”
“Ryoga, Run Into the Sunset”
“Nabiki, Ranma’s New Fiancée!”
“Dear Daddy… Love, Kodachi!”
“Ryoga Inherits the Saotome School?”
“The Demon from Jusenkyo - Part 1″
“The Demon from Jusenkyo - Part 2″
“A Xmas Without Ranma” (This is a big one)
“Akane Goes to Hospital!” (Another big one)
“Ukyo’s Secret Sauce - Part 1″
“Ukyo’s Secret Sauce - Part 2″
“Akane’s Unfathomable Heart”
“From the Depths of Despair - Part 1″
“From the Depths of Despair - Part 2″
“Shampoo’s Cursed Kiss”
“Meet You in the Milky Way” (A Tanabata special)
“Wretched Rice Cakes Of Love”
“The Tendo Dragon Legend”
“Boy Meets Mom - Part 1″
“Boy Meets Mom - Part 2: Someday, Somehow…”
That basically reduces the last 3 and 1/2 seasons down to one season worth of episodes.
Thanks for the list. It’ll be helpful since I have limited time and I really don’t want to invest in dozens and dozens of episodes without a good reward. As for the manga, well, I will probably spend more time with the manga since it helps me get through my daily commutes to and from university. I never watch dubbed anime so the bad English dub won’t be a problem.