Manga Notes: Maison Ikkoku 5
Dec. 2nd, 2021 08:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerWriting a post about the first volume of the new release of Rumiko Takahashi’s Maison Ikkoku might have been a chance to say a bit about Takahashi’s manga in general. Posting about the second and third volumes had been driven by negative comments in Anime News Network reviews, but posting about the fourth volume just might have been starting a habit. I therefore wondered if I could keep that habit going as I read the fifth volume, and had time to wonder about that with too many other things happening in a day.
So far as things advancing went, Godai’s grandmother did leave at the start of the volume. That was followed at once by another new character managing to show up in the form of the husband of Mrs. Ichinose, the compact and somewhat older mother living in one of Maison Ikkoku’s rooms. The explanation for where he’d managed to show up from was that he’d lost his job, and knowing when the manga had been made I did wonder just a bit about all those old comments about “Japanese employment practices” and if this was a demonstration Mr. Ichinose didn’t amount to much or just proof things were never quite as good for everyone in that country as some thoughts over here might have had it.
After managing at least one accomplishment Mr. Ichinose seemed to disappear without my quite noticing a reason, but a small bit of drama with Godai saving Kyoko after she slips off the roof (I do wonder how that played out in the anime adaptation) was followed by him breaking his own leg in somewhat comedic fashion. A lengthy hospital stay had me wondering about one more “they might not wind up together” complication being added in one more new character showing up, but Godai’s cousin Akira reached a resolution I couldn’t help but miss.
There is getting to be a little more development between Godai and Kyoko, although “slow burn” still seems very much the name of that part of the manga. As a distraction from that, just when I’d thought there wouldn’t be any more new characters for a while someone new moved into the empty room of Maison Ikkoku just in time for the end of the volume. That does give me something to wonder about until the next instalment of the story shows up.
So far as things advancing went, Godai’s grandmother did leave at the start of the volume. That was followed at once by another new character managing to show up in the form of the husband of Mrs. Ichinose, the compact and somewhat older mother living in one of Maison Ikkoku’s rooms. The explanation for where he’d managed to show up from was that he’d lost his job, and knowing when the manga had been made I did wonder just a bit about all those old comments about “Japanese employment practices” and if this was a demonstration Mr. Ichinose didn’t amount to much or just proof things were never quite as good for everyone in that country as some thoughts over here might have had it.
After managing at least one accomplishment Mr. Ichinose seemed to disappear without my quite noticing a reason, but a small bit of drama with Godai saving Kyoko after she slips off the roof (I do wonder how that played out in the anime adaptation) was followed by him breaking his own leg in somewhat comedic fashion. A lengthy hospital stay had me wondering about one more “they might not wind up together” complication being added in one more new character showing up, but Godai’s cousin Akira reached a resolution I couldn’t help but miss.
There is getting to be a little more development between Godai and Kyoko, although “slow burn” still seems very much the name of that part of the manga. As a distraction from that, just when I’d thought there wouldn’t be any more new characters for a while someone new moved into the empty room of Maison Ikkoku just in time for the end of the volume. That does give me something to wonder about until the next instalment of the story shows up.