Maison Ikkoku live action

This is, of course, based on the Maison Ikkoku series of tankobons. It's a very good series, with Godai as a student trying to get into college, Kyoko as the person who runs Maison Ikkoku, a boardinghouse/hotel type of place, plus several other characters. All but Kyoko seem to constantly get in Godai's way of studying, and it doesn't help that he falls for Kyoko.

I'm not going to do individual screen captures for this one, but here is an overall view of the program, along with ones of the main characters.

Maison Ikkoku itself.

Godai of the past.

Yotsuya, a sort of mysterious kind of guy.

Akemi, a young woman who is often in little clothing. In the manga, she sometimes even wore see-through tops.

Ichinose, in the center, who really likes to get drunk.

Kyoko

This is as close to the way Akemi is in the manga that the movie gets. She leaves more on than she does in the manga.

Some really neat examples of bento.

The movie opens with a future Godai talking to his daughter. It then proceeds to his past at Maison Ikkoku, the opening portion staying very true to the manga (with the exception of Akemi's hair color). It also shows how the group loves to party in Godai's room, upsetting his attempts to study.

The movie does not cover the entire series, however, and thus ends sort of abruptly.

It's rare when a really good movie can be made from a manga or comic book series since people have their own ideas of how everyone should look, behave and sound. It can be done, but it's not often, and I don't think that this is one of those times.

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