The Maison Renaissance of Year Six
By Dylan Acres
Another year has come and gone, but who could have predicted the
changes that would come to pass in a mere 365 days?
Within the past year,
Maison Ikkoku has come back from the dead
in the United States. Viz shocked the fan community when they announced
after years of petitioning on the part of fans (myself included)
that they would finally release
Maison Ikkoku on DVD. Not only that,
but the series would finally be completed, with both an English
language track, and the original Japanese. I was tickled pink when
I held the first boxset of the same color in my hands just a few
short months ago.
Another pleasant surprise that I found even more surprising, was
Viz's announcement that they will begin re-releasing the manga,
with all the missing chapters restored at a cheaper price, to go
alongside all their other current graphic novel second editions.
If it sounds as though I'm shilling for Viz, then that's fine, because
I think they deserve it after the spectacular job they've done so
far. Sure, it took a long time to convince them that
Maison Ikkoku
was a viable series, but they listened, and now they're responding
in a way that is above and beyond what anyone expected, new gorgeous
transfers of the anime, and a restored release of the manga. It
truly does not get better than this for fans of
Ikkoku.
Of course, with all the exciting things in store for the series,
I felt that a redesign of the site was in store. After years of
designs that I have been somewhat happy with, I have finally settled
on one that I am completely happy with. More information, more pictures,
and (hopefully) many more updates to come. Enjoy the next year
Maison Ikkoku fans, its going to be a wild one!
Dylan Acres is a psychologist and college professor.
Maison Ikkoku has long been his favorite manga and he has written a number of articles on the series and Rumiko Takahashi including
an analysis of the animation directors of
Maison Ikkoku, Takahashi's love of the
Hanshin Tigers and a
cataloging of the color artwork of Rumiko Takahashi.