Maison Ikkoku
Maison Ikkoku, 도레미 하우스, 相聚一刻
Maison Ikkoku (めぞん一刻 Mezon Ikkoku) is a seinen manga by Rumiko Takahashi which was serialized in the manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1980 through 1987. Maison Ikkoku is a bitter-sweet comedic romance involving a group of madcap people who live in a boarding house in 1980s Tokyo. The story focuses primarily on the blossoming relationship between Yusaku Godai, a poor student down on his luck, and Kyoko Otonashi, the young, recently-widowed boarding house manager. The manga has been translated into English and fifteen volumes spanning the series are available from Viz Media.
When the previous landlord of the Maison Ikkoku decides to retire, he sends Kyoko to be the new landlord. Yusaku almost immediately falls in love with her, but due to the meddling of the other boarders in the building, he has trouble expressing this to her. He tries multiple time throughout the series, but is almost always interrupted by others or is misunderstood by Kyoko, causing frequent and brief fights. When Kyoko joins a women's tennis team, Yusaku then has to compete with her handsome coach, Shun Mitaka, for her affection. Shun insists on marrying Kyoko and tries to convince her to not marry Yusaku because Shun has more money and a better job situation. Despite this, Kyoko remains indecisive about the issue for some time. Partway through the series, a new tenant arrives at the Maison Ikkoku,
Nozomu Nikaido. He is 18, younger than Yusaku and is extremely dense, though intersted in Yusaku and Kyoko's relationship, as a part of the story's events. Yusaku and Kyoko's relationship gradually improves over the story to the point where Kyoko is earnestly hoping for a marriage proposal from Yusaku near the end.
(Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, s.v. "Maison Ikkoku")
