Manga Thoughts: Maison Ikkoku 8

As I got around to the eighth volume of the new release of Rumiko Takahashi’s Maison Ikkoku, I was conscious all over again of how I’d managed to say something here about each of the previous volumes, and how that sometimes felt more of a struggle than with other manga I’ve made multiple posts about. From the start I’ve supposed Maison Ikkoku to be a “romantic comedy” rather than a “situation comedy” (which can get me thinking of Takahashi’s Urusei Yatsura, reading the manga of which depends more on thinking “I’ve seen that much more of its anime adaptation now, and can chance going back to its inspiration without ‘seeing something for the first time but in unadjusted form...’”) That impression leaves me convinced Maison Ikkoku’s story is going somewhere, but it’s forever “one little bit at a time.” Pretty much from the start, the thought that at some point that impression of momentum will dissipate altogether has raised concerns of running out of things to say at last.
( Assorted developments )