List of Maison Ikkoku characters

[2] She originally only wanted to start the series focusing on Kyoko and Godai's relationship before moving on to include the other tenants to have a "human drama," but said the love story attracted her more and took over.

Godai is often "played" by the other tenants of Ikkoku, who habitually take advantage of him (e.g. they use his room for frequent drinking binges and steal food from his care packages).

She is sweet and polite, but also has a violent, frightening side that emerges when she is jealous or angry, or dealing with her meddling and equally stubborn parents.

She soon develops affection for Godai, and has a tendency to dote over him (with the other tenants teasing her for acting like a "good wife") and becomes jealous over him (though she lies to herself and denies that it is jealousy).

Yotsuya claims to have a job (but is not above stealing Yusaku's food) and comes and goes at odd and changing hours, keeping a schedule known only to himself.

Yotsuya is willing to reveal the secrets of others if it benefits him, such as telling Kyoko what Godai does at night, in order to prevent the hole from being repaired.

Akemi works a short distance away in a bar named Cha-Cha Maru, where the tenants gather to drink when not in Yusaku's room.

Because she works the late-night shift at the Cha-Cha Maru and spends the rest of the night drinking, Akemi always seems to have a sleepy look on her face.

At the end of the series, Nozomi graduates from college and moves back home with his overbearing mother, but wishes to return to Maison Ikkoku.

But while Shun and Yusaku are rivals, they both share moments where they bond over their mutual frustration over Kyoko's reluctance to fall in love with anyone.

While to him it came about as a shotgun wedding, he does not seem to fully regret it and at the end of the series they have twin girls, Moe and Mie Mitaka, and another unborn child on the way.

Cute, sweet, and a little scatter-brained, she's oblivious to the fact that she is more interested in Yusaku than he is in her, and she does not recognize Kyoko (or Ibuki) as competition for his affection.

The situation becomes more complicated after Kozue introduces Yusaku to her family, who approve of him and are all too willing to feed the perpetually starving college student.

However, after the engagement, a remark by Asuna that his smile seems forced (as in a photograph when he got second place at a tennis competition) makes Shun realize that she is a very empathic and compassionate woman whom he can be happy with.

Asuna's family name, Kujō, roughly corresponds to "Ninth Avenue" in Kyoto, and is from the old city subdivision of Heian-kyō.

However, when she found out the reason why Kyoko refused to admit that she loved Yusaku, she became less competitive with her and even went to the extent of strengthening her senior's relationship with her former teacher.

Ikuko insists that Yusaku becomes her tutor as she approaches entry into high school, though it seems she is more interested in goofing off with him rather than actually studying.

Tutoring Ikuko becomes Yusaku's first steady source of income as well as his first major attempt to demonstrate his maturity and reliability to Kyoko.

The chairman of the trustees of a girls' high school and a kind-hearted man who loves Kyoko like a daughter and later helps Yusaku get the chance to practice teaching.

She usually lives with Yusaku's parents out in the country in the Godai family restaurant, but she occasionally comes to visit her grandson in Tokyo.

Akemi, Mrs. Ichinose and Yotsuya love when she visits as she always joins them in their drinking, however Grandma Godai does not torment Yusaku in quite the same way.

Initially against Kyoko's marriage to Soichiro, they (especially her mother) wish to see their daughter continue her life, preferably remarrying.

Neither of them seem to notice Yusaku's existence, including their inability to remember his name, let alone the bond both he and Kyoko share.

Later, the owner occasionally acts as the voice of reason, all too often being the only sober person in the room when something important happens, whether the other characters are either drunk on alcohol (Akemi, Mrs. Ichinose, Yotsuya), their own strong emotions (Kyoko and Yusaku), or a mixture of the two.

In the One-pound Gospel OVA, when Kosaku Hatanaka is walking around the streets deciding whether to eat or not, Sakamoto shouts out to him saying we got nice girls which is a parody of the work he does at the cabaret.

Sayoko becomes more important later in the series when she helps Yusaku get a part-time job at the pre-school she works at, setting him towards his final career goal.

Sayoko eventually marries the former president of the puppet theater club, Saotome, whom she was involved with for a long time, although it is never mentioned until she becomes engaged.

Iioka lets them work it off, and later offers Godai the "Welfare Director" job taking care of the children of the bunny girls at the cabaret.

Toren Smith suggested that the secret to Maison Ikkoku's success lies in "Takahashi's unparalleled ability to create characters that the readers are sympathetic with.

"[3] Anime News Network's Allen Divers proclaimed "The beauty of Maison Ikkoku is the fact that the entire cast feels dynamic enough that each could be the center of an episode without pulling away from the main idea of the series.