Juliette, je t'aime

THIS IS THE BEST ROMANCE ANIME OF ALL TIME and also generally just one of the best anime of all time.

Best story, best animation, best characters, best sound, best music, best atmosphere, best direction, best comedy, best charm, best romance... and the list goes on, think of this anime as the Shawshank Redemption of anime, a piece of entertainment that will go down in history as the greatest of all time and a role model on how to do good anime and an example of why 80s and 90s anime will always be best anime.

It came before Please Teacher, before Love Hina, even before Kimagure Orange Road. I might be too young to say for sure, but I'll bet this is the series that started the whole romantic comedy movement. It's also one of the few with a mature enough storyline to keep post-teenagers interested.

Yeah, it's the same plot that exists in every anime of the type: boy meets girl, boy and girl deny their feelings for the entire series (but hook up every few episodes), boy and girl finally get together in the end. As a consequence, the plot moves a bit slowly and is a bit too one-track-minded; more fun plot diversions would have been welcome. Still, it's a pretty funny series, and the characters are colorful enough to care about for 96 straight episodes. If you're into Rumiko Takahashi's stuff, Maison Ikkoku's probably the best place to start.

The anime version of Maison Ikkoku doesn't have quite so much of the sexual humor as the original comics by Rumiko Takahashi, and for some reason the actor who plays Godai tries to hard to be funny and ends up overplaying him sometimes. Actually, a lot; but there are times when he nails the character. Sumi Shimamoto (one of my favorite voice actresses) as Kyoko Otonashi is just too perfect. She doesn't come across sounding like her strong Nausicaa voice or her soft Clarice-from-LupinIII voice--she sounds like a young woman who is trying to live on.

The animation, while it seems crude, was actually pretty good for back them (I think the Guyver came out about the same time--Maison Ikkoku is better). And every once in a while, the writers stretch a passing joke of Takahashi's well past the breaking point, until your willing to do anything if they would only stop for a minute so you can stop laughing.

After watching the series in small bits it will take some time to digest it all. Watch it in slow pace.

Beauty, solid argument and characters, deep emotions, funny and laughable at times, you will also have to wipe away tears. This story will be forever in you.

This is my favourite cult 80's series.

Of course, the anime has dated, but it's still timeless thanks to the work of Rumiko Takahashi (manga), Yamazaki Kazuo (director) and Akemi Takada (anime).

Any idea of an up-to-date remake would be frightening, since the work has been so horrible with series such as Saint Seiya, Bishoujo Sailor Mon, Dragon Quest Dai no Daiboken or Urusei Yatsura... In other words, beautiful but polished and without soul.

This series, like its mangaka, is subversive, dealing with taboo subjects, goofy, ironic and mature in the subjects it touches on (divorce, mourning, the world of business, single parenthood, desires...).

It's got it all : Humour, drama, comedy, romance, love, sexy with parodic episodes and a real reflection on the feelings of love while keeping an unconventional tone.

96 episodes, 2 specials, 2 OVAs and 2 movies by Deen studio.

Considering the disasters we've seen with the remakes, I hope this series stays as it is.