I Don’t Know If I Have What It Takes to Deal with These People.
- Episodes : Takahashi, Rumiko
- Genre : VIZ
- Airing Date : Comedy, Drama, Romance, Slice of Life, Seinen
- Producers : Oct 2003 – Feb 2006
Welcome to Japan’s weirdest but awesome apartment house. Kyoko has been assigned as a new manager of the apartment that accommodates weird tenants, including a young college student, Yusaku. This is a story of Yusaku trying to win Kyoko’s affections while dealing with interferences from other tenants.
Contains Spoilers
Discussion Time
Welcome to Maison Ikkoku. We are glad that you choose to stay at our apartment. Oh, don’t mind the tenants by the stairs, they always peek from the corner whenever a new tenant comes in. Let me guide you to your room. If there is anything you need, I will be in my office.
1. Classics
If you remember or heard the classic manga called “Inuyasha” or “Ranma ½,” this manga was created by the same mangaka. You can feel and see the crispness of the traditional art style which reminds us of their hard work and care towards their characters, clothing, cars and surroundings.
2. Relatable
You may be wondering what it’s like to live somewhere outside from your childhood home and hotels but living roommates or housemates. Well, this manga pretty much answers your wonders but in a comedic manner. You must expect that they will meet and live with people with different cultural backgrounds and personalities, so please do respect each other and don’t cause any sort of harm towards one another.
3. A Rom-Com Element
As for the romance, Kyoko is a widow. She lost her husband and she remains’ loyal towards him. It couldn’t be helped, most people who have been through that kind of situation will feel the same way and it may take time to move on from it. However, to our surprise, the theme of the manga focused on rom-com (romance and comedy). This is probably done to balance against the serious and dark past of Kyoko’s with Yusaku’s love towards her.
Final Thoughts
Surprisingly, there are a lot of things going on in the first volume and it was enjoyable, mostly on the interactions and development between the characters. A quick note, on this manga is that if you’re a type of reader who takes most of the stories seriously, this may not be the manga for you, because it focuses on comedy, the romance is close to reality and you have to understand that everyone has their circumstances. Most importantly, please do drink responsibly, treat others with kind and respect, and don’t toy with maidens’ heart.
Which tenant of the Maison Ikkoku would you have as a roommate or housemate? Pick your poison.
Author: Nobodies17
