Maison Ikkoku

I just finish watching complete series of Maison Ikkoku anime. It has around 96 episodes, and every episode has 25 minutes playtime. It took around two weeks to finish them all. Here is a video in Youtube.

Comparing to other works of Rumiko Takahashi, Maison Ikkoku is a unique one. There aren’t any magic, demons, monsters, or adventures; the things that usually become the main focus in her work. The character, Godai Yusaku, is a very common student even somewhat a loser in many appearances. As student he isn’t very bright and seems to have much bad luck. The story revolves around him, especially to Otonashi Kyoko who happens to be his love interest and apartment’s manager.

The story begins with Godai is struggling to attend university. He failed last year entrance exam and now is going to preparation school. During this period he stays in an apartment called Maison Ikkoku. But his study here is constantly disturbed by other tenants, Mrs. Ichinose, Yotsuya, and Roppongi Akemi. Before he moves out, Kyoko comes to be the new apartment’s manager. Fascinated by her charm, Godai keep her stay in Maison Ikkoku throughout the story. Kyoko is a widow and Maison Ikkoku is owned by her father in law, it is hinted that her father in law give her the job to soothe her feeling after her husband’s death.

Kyoko takes her job dutifully, and strangely she has a tendency to dote over careless Godai. From here their feeling is built up, but the story is not as smooth as you expect. There Sun Mitaka shows up and tries to get Kyoko’s attention too. Kyoko is torn between two of them complicating the story, not to mention the wishy washy Godai. The story is ranging from Godai’s time in preparation school, his college years, his job hunting aftermath, and finally his formal bond with Kyoko marks the end of story.

In this works, Rumiko Takahashi sets definite happy ending, not an open ending like in her other works. As her fan, I like her works very much, the manga and its adaptation in anime. For complete info, go to wikipedia or other sites. If you are interested, there are many torrents to share the complete series of this anime, of course you must have fast internet connection.

Ah! My Goddess Season 2

Season 2 of Ah! My Goddess anime is titled “Sorezore no Tsubasa” in Japanese, it is translated to Everyone Has Wings according to some sources, or Flights of Fancy in other. Well, I don’t understand Japanese so I can’t comment which one of them is the correct translation. It has 22 episodes, still consistent in its genre as peaceful and humorous stories, even if there are truly existing conflicts between characters. The story, of course, is still around Belldandy and Keichi relationship, accompanied by Belldandy sisters (Urd and Skuld) and Keichi’s friends. Here is opening of season 2 in Youtube.

There are three introductions of new important characters in Season 2, they are Peorth, Sentaro, and Hild. These three characters will continue to appear in later episodes. Peorth is a goddess who considers herself as Belldandy’s rival, accidentally called by Keichi via phone. Her appearance mostly makes troubles to Keichi and Belldandy, but her rivalry with Belldandy seems to fade over time. Sentaro is a boy Skuld meet in temple’s neighborhood she, Keichi, and her sisters live now. Soon both of them begin closer, even developing crush each other. This happens when Urd’s body is shrunk because of error in Yggdrasil.

The last is Hild, she actually is Urd’s mother, who has an authority over Hell. Urd has mixed blood of God and Demon. She is summoned to Earth by Urd, to cure her split personalities as a result of her conflict with Marller. Of course, Hild won’t help for free, Urd must pay back for her help. Hild continues to appear later because she leaves a part of her to remain in Earth when she goes back to Hell.

Ah! My Goddess is full with references to Norse mythology, I don’t really understand about it. I also don’t really understand about its rating. In addition, there are some mild sexual contents in words and scene. I can notice that Peorth is always shown wearing skimpy clothes, so is Urd in several occasions. That’s no problem for me; I am in early twenties now. This was made for TV, so many fans recorded it. There are numerous peer to peer file sharing using torrent in internet, you may try it if you have high speed internet connection.

Ah! My Goddess Season 1

Ah! My Goddess anime is based on manga authored by Kosuke Fujishima. The canon version, manga, is still being serialized now, published by Kodansha. Its initial run was in 1988, so it has passed over two decades now. Season 1 contains 26 episodes; here, important characters are introduced one by one in this season.

Story of Ah! My Goddess is about Keichi Morisato, a college student, and his love life revolving around him. The story begins when a goddess, Belldandy, comes to Keichi’s boarding house to grant him a wish. Keichi, who feels a bit unsure unintentionally, wishes that a goddess like Belldanny would stay with him forever. Unexpectedly, his wish is granted by heaven, so Keichi and Belldandy must stay together now. Everything become more complicated when Keichi’s housemates kick him out from the house, they consider that Keichi breaks the rules for bringing a girl in. subsequently, Keichi and Belldandy who are homeless finds a place in a temple, the priest lends them the temple while he makes a pilgrimage to India. Later the story is flaming up with the occurrence of Keichi’s college friends, Belldandy’s sisters (Urd and Skuld) who stay with them in the temple later, and also the demon, Marller, who constantly brings troubles to Keichi and Belldandy.

The plot is nice I think, there are hardly any dark or bloody scenes. Relations between characters are sown in peaceful and funny situation; even if there are rivalries exist. I think that the disputes between them, even if it is between Belldandy and Marller, are more presented in comedic senses, not in hatred atmosphere. Kikuko Inoue is the voice actress for the character Belldandy, she is famous for her sweet peaceful motherly voice. This truly suits Belldandy who brings peaceful atmosphere to chaotic environment around her and Keichi.

In this era, its almost impossible to prevent any product from piracy. I haven't check it yet, but may be there are many torrents or direct downloads of this Season 1. So, just watch it and enjoy!

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First Semester of Great Teacher Onizuka

Anime of Great Teacher Onizuka is based on a manga authored by Tohru Fujisawa with same title. Personally, I like this anime very much. Tohru Fujisawa made the hero, Eikichi Onizuka, appears uniquely. He is portrayed as lazy, stupid, and former delinquent person with low level of IQ, but amazingly passed board exam to be an educator. Despite his bad background, Onizuka has caring and loving sides to his students far more than any other ‘normal’ skilled teachers, who are portrayed lacking educational souls.

Onizuka is a former gang member, but strangely obsessed to be a perfect teacher despite his bad education background. Somehow he succeeds to become a teacher when chairwoman of Holy Forest, Ryoko Sakurai, is convinced by his spirit and hires him, and from this start, his story as a teacher in Holy Forest begins.

Great Teacher Onizuka has 43 episodes, and this First Semester contains Episodes 1-23, each episode are titled as Lesson #, so they are Lesson #1, Lesson #2, and so on. In first semester, important characters are introduced one by one, starting from Onizuka himself, Principal Uchiyamada who hates him, his colleague teacher – Azusa – who has a crush on him, and his students like Noboru Yoshikawa & Uehara Anko, Kunio Murai, Tomoko Nomura, Miyabi, Urumi Kanzaki, etc. These episodes show how Onizuka builds his relationship with his students, who initially don’t trust him at all and even try to abuse him (something they did to their previous homeroom teacher).

Usually, there’s two languages option in the DVD, English and Japanese (with English subtitle). I like to watch it in Japanese; English dub is weird in my ears. This anime is not suitable for kids, for there are harsh words and scenes emphasizing partial nudity. Harsh words and violence are present almost in all episodes. And even if there are serious plots about Onizuka trying to solve problems connected to his students or himself, I still see funny things in them. Onizuka is always portrayed in funny ways when he panics over some problems. And last comment from me, first semester has 23 episodes, each episode around 20-25 minutes, so this anime can be a choice for “movie marathon” in weekend.
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