Maison Ikkoku: Collector's Box set 1 (eps.1-12)
Rumiko Takahashi followed her first success, the sci-fi farceUrusei  Yatsura("Those Obnoxious Aliens," 1981), withMaison Ikkoku(1986), a  romantic comedy inspired by a shabby apartment building she once lived near.  "Ronin" (a student wannabe) Godai finally succeeds in getting into college,  which he's been trying to do since he arrived at the threadbare Tokyo boarding  house. When the lovely widow Kyoko becomes the manager, Godai is instantly  smitten, but the course of love never runs smoothly for Takahashi's characters. In  addition to competing with dashing tennis coach Mitaka and Kyoko's memories  of her late husband, Godai has to contend with the embarrassing stunts of the  other tenants: hard-drinking Mrs. Ichinose and her son Kentaro, the prying Mr.  Yotsuya, and Akemi, a waitress given to scanty lingerie. Not that Godai needs  help to make a fool of himself: he's almost as maladroit as Ataru, but unlike  the hero ofUrusei, he has a genuinely kind heart. When a friend from  school gets him drunk in episode #8, Godai proclaims his love for Kyoko--waking  the entire neighborhood. He can't remember what he did the next morning, and  jumps to the erroneous conclusion that he performed a striptease. When he  tries to laugh off his actions, he infuriates Kyoko. No sooner does one comic  crisis get resolved then another arises, but the characters' occasional moments  of honest sentiment giveMaison Ikkokua warm appeal. (Rated 13 and  older: risqué humor, brief nudity, alcohol and tobacco use, slapstick  violence)--Charles Solomon