lemme establish my narrative with how I first came across this donghua

as a teenager with a lot of interaction with social media
it was quite fortunate for me to come across this show on my feed particularly youtube shorts I believe
initially ignored this on instagram when the show was airing
then the youtube short had my attention
and I was free so I decided to watch the show

having a cliche introduction to the show was not unexpected
this adaptation unlike the comic version which I will not be discussing off in this entire review has a mixed twist to it

I don't find it necessary to elaborate about the comic cause that is a totally different story to tell
so focusing on the donghua.

ost
not that I can remember of my binge
but I believe that the romance was intriguing enough to have my attention

animation
good enough for a romcom

character design
interesting

and finally, story
I'd request for a person who has already watched the show to read this so I can relate to the reader's feeling at most and make them have their best read on this show
so maybe watch the show and come back

the characters were cute
shiya's past was kinda needed to be elaborated on
but an elaboration is basically oshi no ko all over again
what sets this self assumed misunderstanding for the less spotlight given to her idol career
apart was the focus on li shiya opening up to people

china is not immune to bad work stations
afterall we humans tend to loose our minds quite often as we can assume

the manner in which li shiya finds a reason within our protagonist is what made me appreciate the show

the three sided love triangle thing was quite annoying and not appealing in this show for me
I have watched other romcoms and it wasn't executed well

that could be considered as a major drawback to plot
like I get it the love triangles are a basic necessity in a romcom
but this one had it's focus set more on li shiya finding a reason to live with our protagonist

The story blossoms over this point through out it's short yet sweet runtime
further more a couple of instances of the donghua that I did find appealing was the possessiveness li shiya showed

the protagonist would assume that li shiya is toying with his feelings and is not genuinely being shy around him
but as the plot progresses, this genuine passionate love comes out and makes the misunderstandings fade

I myself rewatched this right after my initial watch
the show is short and fun
the romance doesn't feel pushed
an elaboration on other genre's except romance
such as that person who gave her the lighter and cigarattes

I have not read the comic and will not be
but I believe the other instances of the plot would have been contradictive to the happy ending of the story

the ending does feel sweet and bland at the same time
but that exactly is what fiction is supposed to be at times

I am quite new to all this "making a post and writing your opinions on" whatchamacallit
but here goes

I initially came across the show when I saw this reel about an anime called "the girl downstairs" its a dongua
cute lil show that needs a totally different post to rant about

After finishing the series after 12 hours I believe
I came across a post on twitter regarding "similar classic romcoms to watch"
and maison ikkoku was labelled
so I hopped on bakabt and found a crisp bluray for the show and started binge watching it on 2024-08-07

As expected of the large episode count
I was at first fascinated at how well the plot progresses regardless of its "large" run time
the plot was intriguing, the jokes were actually hilarious and made me chuckle out loud
the side characters didn't actually feel like they were side characters
they were family to be bluntl

the hassle to win the competition for the love of their lovely shoko san
the animation being from the 90s was actually aight
as a weeb I've come across worse animation
and maison ikkoku had decent animation
great animation for it's time to be honest
the character designs made the characters look "alive" if you know what I mean

and I had a favourite song of mine which I listen to on a regular basis
https://youtu.be/65VN58rVCsQ
the very first ed of the anime
it's just felt peaceful
the shape morph for the animation
the music
everything just felt right

lemme elaborate on a bit more cause anilist doesn't let me post yet hehe

the very sequence where godai lifts shoko and declares his love for her
That was ballsy and I loved it
it had me laugh my arse so bad about how madly he's in love with her but alcohol was the medium to establish further confusions between the main romantic couple
cause shoko san assumed whether godai's love is truly genuine for her or not
This further evolves into a competition between another character who ends up being our rival till the final stretch of the anime
his character arc was butchered at the end but he was a side character after all
trust me it had the tension it was supposed to
but the establishment of the plot was done so nicely that the show just flowed perfectly till the end

I did feel like we needed a bit more of a stretch of the characters after confessing their love
maybe that's just the result of modern romance which gives us a LOT of unnecessary fan service

maison ikkoku true to its cause gave me a satisfying end to which I chose not to watch the movie
and I'd recommend not to
cause apparently it butchers the adaptation of the anime as it skipped a couple of characters and they are in the movie but weren't in the anime?
and besides the anime as a standalone is great

thank you for reading!