Rumiko Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku

This was the first time I ever sat down and actually read manga. I’ve been a casual watcher o a few select anime cartoons for many years, but I had never had a chance to read any manga. I have to say that with Maison Ikkoku I was really pleasantly surprised, and I can certainly see why manga is so infectiously popular if most of it is like this.
I really like the pacing of the drawings. It seems to flow so very well, that I am able to play it in my head as I read the panels, like it were a moving cartoon on the pages. The drawings are simple enough that you can jump right in without being overwhelmed by some elaborate cross hatching shading technique. It uses it only where needed. Text is also played with in manga in a manor that I don’t see anywhere else. The larger the text, the stronger the emotion or louder they are yelling, and this is used rather frequently, so it brings a bit of an over-the-top zaney element to the characters expressions. The poses are excellent because they read very quickly and effectively.
Another thing I love about this manga is that I can easily see the correlation between this from of comics, and Japanese anime. I think that this brings me back to the effective pacing of the comic, and how easy it is to follow. The simplicity of the drawings also looks exactly like it’s animated counterpart. Im American comics, we typically see much more dynamic drawings, and while these are fun and great to look at, they are far apart from our animation because of they complexity of the drawings. No animation studio could animate an American comic book and have the drawing styles look the same, it’s simply too much.
I was quite pleased with this book. The characters were likeable because they didn’t take themselves too seriously. I feel that I can relate to them, and I am interested in where they story takes them next. It makes me wish that manga was more accessible here in the states.