Logo made for me by Sammy of the very famous Maison Ikkoku Homepage. Thank you so much Sammy, and take care!
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It won't be much longer until the sunny shiny morning, the morning after--
Maybe it'll peek into this dirty apartment full of cigarette butts.
- Sunny Shiny Morning
Maison Ikkoku, a shabby old apartment building, is home to an unforgettable crew of everyday people. Or is it? One day, a beautiful woman comes to greet these weirdos. She will be the new manager of Ikkoku- kan. The ronin, Godai Yuusaku, falls in love at first sight and pledges to make himself good enough for Otonashi Kyouko's sake. However, since her husband Souichiro died, she has been depressed and lonely, unwilling to make contact with the rest of the world. Soon, she will have no choice than to be dragged into the saga which is Maison Ikkoku. Along with the Ichinose family in room 1, Yotsuya-san in room 4, and Roppongi Akemi in room 6, Godai begins a whole new chapter of his life- one love story that he and everyone else will watch for over five years of time. This is definitely the best romance story that I have ever seen.
Kyouko is the beautiful, moody kanrinin (manager) of Ikkoku-kan. She is a widow. Kyouko was devastated and very depressed when her husband died. However, since she moved to Ikkoku-kan, Kyouko has gotten a grip on reality- and what a strong grip it is- and is involved in a great new romance. Our bumbling hero, Godai Yuusaku, loves Kyouko with all his heart. However, Mitaka Shun is also in love with Kyouko. She cannot decide between the two, and has equal feelings for both of them. Her dog is named after her late husband, Souichiro. Kyouko is a very passoinate woman who completely throws herself into anything she does. She is quick to jump to comclusions and has a lot of fights with Mitaka and Godai. But in the end, she realizes that the jealousy she feels when Godai is with other women is a side effect of her love.
Godai Yuusaku is totally in love with Kyouko and would do absolutely anything for her. Godai starts out as a ronin- a guy who failed his first college entrance exams. He lives in room 5 of Ikkoku-kan, in between Akemi and Yotsuya-san. This is why his future in academics is not looking so good. Godai's room is always used for Ikkoku-kan's parties, against his will. He is very indecisive and is seen as a bit of a wimp. Godai loves children and works in jobs involving them when he can. In the beginning, we can see that he is just in love with Kyouko because of her looks, but it is evident that he matures and falls in love with the more beautiful Kyouko that is inside. You can notice throughout the series that his clothes are pretty juvenile, which symbolises how young he actually is.
Mitaka is the coach of the tennis club Kyouko and Mrs. Ichinose belong to. He and Godai are rivals for Kyouko's love. Mitaka comes from a rich family whose teeth all sparkle. He is very handsome and is a gentleman. The coach is a bit conceited and very nonchalant about his wealth and attraction of beautiful girls. His uncle arranged a marriage with a girl named Kujou Asuna against his will. In the beginning he is scared of dogs because of something that happened when he was a kid, but then gets used to them for Kyouko and Asuna's sake. All dogs are attracted to him for unknown reasons.
Mrs. Ichinose is a housewife who is unbelievably rude and a gossiper of equal status. She can drink unlimited amounts of alcohol and has a very loud, annoying trademark laugh. When she gets drunk, she dances around with flag fans. Mr. Ichinose keeps very much to himself and has been seen for only a little while once by the other tenants. He is the opposite of Mrs. Ichinose. He reminds you of an aged Godai. Kentaro is their son. He is a very mature school-boy who has a crush on both Kyouko and her niece Ikuko. His character was dropped later in the series, along with Ikuko's.
Yotsuya-san is a complete mystery. No one knows his first name, his age, his job, or why he is so strange. He lives in room 4, next to Godai. All the huge holes in Godai's wall are caused by him and his wooden ram. He often shows up in Godai's room at the most inconvenient times and enjoys making Godai's life a living hell. Yotsuya-san mooches food off Godai any time he feels like it, usually by blackmail. When Yotsuya actually does leave Ikkoku to go somewhere, he usually wears a business suit or a trench coat. Many people think he works for the government.
Akemi lives in room 6 of Ikkoku-kan and is a waitress, as her name suggests. She is best known for her skimpy clothes and her beauty. Akemi walks around Ikkoku with nothing more than a see-thru nightie and underwear. She is often scolded by Kyouko for her appearance. In the beginning, Yotsuya made a peephole in Godai's wall that looked right into Akemi's room. At the end of Maison Ikkoku, despite her failed romances, Akemi marries her boss at the Cha Cha Maru (the snack bar she works at). However bimbo-like Akemi seems, she completely understands all the relationships around her and is sincerely rooting for our favorite couple. She herself is actually very emotional, every time she gets dumped, she has to do something to cover up the pain, so she gets drunk.
Godai and Kozue worked at a liquor store around the time that Kyoko started taking tennis lessons. One day Godai was looking for a person to go to a movie with, and Kozue recognized him. He decided to take her, and that's how they really met. Kozue is a very sweet girl that is persistent, but not like Ibuki is. She is very gentle and more juvenile than Kyoko. Godai thinks of her as his "accidental" girlfriend because he had never really said it. Kozue thinks they are, of course. They go out often and Godai often eats at the Nanao house. He does not dump her because he doesn't want to hurt her feelings. Later in the story, a co-worker proposes to her and she accepts.
Ibuki comes from a rich family and always gets what she wants-- too bad she wants Godai!! When Godai gets to teach at Kyouko's old high school, Ibuki falls in love with him the same way Kyouko fell in love with Souichiro. Godai is not as willing as Ibuki, however. Since he is in love with Kyouko and has no interest in her, Ibuki just tries harder and harder to get his attention. She fails and has not ever gotten over him.
Kujou Asuna
While physically weak, Asuna has very deep feelings for all of those around her. Her body is not very strong and she is in bedridden very often. When Mitaka's uncle engaged them and Mitaka came to see her, she was very happy that her dogs liked him. He was less enthusiastic. Asuna believes that her dogs only like good people. She loves Mitaka with all her heart and when he said he didn't want to marry her, she fell backwards crying. After Kyouko dumped him Mitaka had gotten severely drunk and kissed Asuna, then fainted. There was a rumor about a pregnancy, which made him nervous. He proposed to her and they got married, but not before he found out it was actually his dog (McKenroe) that impregnated one of hers (Salad)! Asuna is definitely my favorite female character. **SPOILER** But Mitaka and Asuna's twins are so cute!
Nikaido is a very contreversial character. He is a college student and is a clueless blabbermouth. Nikaido always smokes and is very rich. He ended up in Maison Ikkoku because of a mix-up of building names. He was completely dropped from the TV series because they thought his character wasn't important enough. But they ended changing entire story arcs because of his absence! Many of his lines were given to Yotsuya-san.
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