A review by bookishrealm
Maison Ikkoku Collector's Edition, Vol. 1 by Rumiko Takahashi

4.0

This was both a fun and interesting read. If I'm not mistaking, this is my first time reading Rumiko Takahashi and it did not disappoint. Masion Ikkoku is a classic manga that follows the romance between Yusaku Godai and Kyoko Otonashi. Before diving into this, I did not realize that this was written in the 80s so it was amazing seeing the work that Takahashi was doing with manga 40 years ago. This definitely has all of the elements of a fun romantic comedy that has some outlandish and crass moments that I rather enjoyed. Yusaku is determined to enter a relationship with new house manager Kyoko, but is foiled by everything and everyone when he repeatedly attempts to confess his love. There are some more serious back stories associated with Kyoko that I didn't expect, but appreciated. They create a more robust set of characters and storyline. The artwork is definitely different than what I'm used to seeing in more modern manga, but I LOVED it. The detail, the emotions that are captured with each character are absolute perfection. I'm really excited to follow the rest of this story slowly and I'm looking forward to reading more from Takahashi.