Maison Ikkoku: Kanketsuhen

I have to say that right from the start, I didn't like the look of Ikkoku-kan. It had been changed and not for the better. But when I saw Godai and the rest of the people, I was taken aback. Maybe I'm over-stating it, but I much prefered the old, out-of-date art, animation, and character designs of the TV show. I'm not sure what the movie animation studio was thinking. Ugh! Don't let the Japanese DVD cover fool you. That looks like Takehashi-sensei's work and the art/character work in this movie looks nothing like the DVD cover.

That out of the way, on the whole, the story of this episode is OK. It serves as a vehicle to have various people from the series AND manga show up. While the story techincally takes place a couple of days before the wedding (meaning it actually gets inserted into episode 96 rather than between 95 & 96), it really doesn't fit into the TV series continuity because of the manga cameos. Nozomu Nikaido rented room 2 in the manga, but he was never in the anime. For the movie, he is there as if he's always been there. Saotome (who's role toward the end of the anime was removed) comes back out of the blue as if she's always been around. And Yagami is there, but she didn't even go to the wedding in the TV series or manga (unless I totally missed her). I didn't like those aspects of the movie, even though they were done for manga fans (and I own the manga).

The idea of Godai still retaining some fears about the possibility of losing Kyoko worked, especially taking into account his pre-wedding nerves. The confession Kyoko makes at the end is a rather corny bit of retconning though. It is supposed to be touching and such and it a small way it is, but at the same time, it just felt...unbelievable somehow. That doesn't mean it was bad, just not quite there for me.

It was nice seeing the various members of Maison Ikkoku. I especially liked Yagami and Kyoko coming to an understanding of the situation. It provided me with some small humor in an otherwise unfunny movie. Mitaka and Asuna's brief visit was also very nice. It seemed right that both couples should be good friends now. After all they've been through together, their being friends was very natural. The Puppet Club's return was neat too. I was disappointed that Sayoko was cut from the day care in the anime, so it was cool seeing her and the large Saotome return in the movie.

Bottom line: MI fans are going to watch this no matter what I say. While this doesn't fit into the TV continuity, there are several things that fans of the manga will enjoy. The art and character designs leave much to be desired though. However, I can't see myself owning this short of Viz doing some kind of superior subtitle job and selling the DVD for a reduced price. What are the odds that will happen?

Last updated Saturday, October 02 2004. Created Saturday, September 04 2004.