Customer Reviews

Maison Ikkoku, Volume 9 (2nd edition)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Our lovesick, long-suffering hero, Godai winds up teaching at an all-girl high school where the object of his yearning desire once attended (and attached her first husband in the very first place). This heart-rending irony continues when a lovestruck young student decides to chase the handsome Godai all the way to the ends of the world. In fact, this stinking rotten little girl even denies her own self-respect and the respect from others when she cornered her victim wearing only a bra, forced her way into his room, manuipulated and abused her dear old father into giving him a job at his company, and plain just drove poor young Koyoko (and Godai as well) up the wall. The kid's dad seems like a gruffy, heavy-breathing orge who looks ready to eat up any male who would dare to go near his only daughter, - but actually, he turns out to be such a docile piece of putty in the dainty hands of that mean little creature. A real nice touch of Lolita-complex twist in the endless mating ritual between the ever-hopeful young Godai and the lovely dark-eyed Koyoko.

This is a very funny manga. The artwork is nice. It's shorter than most of the other Maison Ikkoku volumes. It is fun to read and is enjoyable!

Godai isn't having a lot of luck finding a job so he's starting to get a little desperate. After all, how can he take care of Kyoko unless he's got a good career....doing something. After pursuing various options with his family, he gets a part-time gig at a resort, not knowing that the whole Maison Ikkoku gang is coming to visit! The main part of this volume deals with Godai becoming a student teacher at Kyoko's old high school, and ironically, just like Kyoko fell in love with her teacher, Godai too picks up a female admirer among his students, a girl named Ibuki Yagami who's willing to do anything to wiggle her way into Godai's life and usurp Kyoko from his heart.

Rumiko Takahashi is not only a master of action manga like Inuyasha, she is a master of realistic romantic comedy. There were some scenes in this book that made me just outright laugh, which happens very rarely when I read. Rumiko has a expert sense of pace and storytelling and her layouts really flow. Most people can relate to this volume because everyone at some point has experienced or been the target of a crush. I don't know for sure whether Yagami really loves him or not, but I think not. I also like this series because it illustrates a lot of Japanese culture. Classic manga.

Godai is still doing the student teacher thing, and Yagami's fascination with her wishy-washy teacher escalates to new heights. She goes to Maison Ikkoku and refuses to leave, wanting to sleep in Godai's room. Of Course the ever jealous Kyoko will have none of this and has Yagami sleep in the manager's room. Yagami who is much more frank with her feelings than Kyoko confronts the lovely woman about how she feels about Godai. Of course, Kyyoko can't come clean with her feelings, and remains silent. Yagami takes this to mean that Kyoko has no interest in Godai, so this further causes things to go haywire. Yagami later corners Godai in the gym equipment storAge room wearing only her underwear, and later moves into Maison Ikkoku when she has a fight with her father over her feelings for Godai, chaos insues of course. Then we have Godai turned down for job after job poor guy. read this, enjoy this, suffer along with Godai.

This perverted little girl named Yagami keeps throwing herself at Godai throughout the story. It reminds me of several lifetime movies and literally made me want to tear the book in pieces. Shes crazy.