Rumic World Profile Timeline Articles Interviews Encyclopedia Contact Messageboard

Two Years Living with the Loons

By Dylan Acres



On August 17th, 1997 I posted my first homepage on the internet. I was a complete beginner with the computer, but I was obsessed with creating a homepage for my favorite series. That series as you all know, is Maison Ikkoku.

I had discovered the series a year before that and had fallen in love with it instantly. It was the first anime series that I bought just for myself, even though I've been an anime fan for quite a long time. My brother had been collecting Ranma 1/2 since the beginning of its run in America, and I thought it was time to have something that I could call my own. I was a big fan of Rumiko Takahashi's works so I thought that it would be a safe bet that if I tried Maison Ikkoku (which had just started its anime run in the US at that time) that I couldn't go wrong. So as we were coming back home from my grandparent's house, we stopped off at a galleria we always go to when we're travelling to and from my relatives. I went into the Suncoast store there and purchased the very first tape, "Welcome to Maison Ikkoku." I remember the day perfectly because I also got an Anne Rice book, that coincidentally I never finished reading because I became so obsessed with catching up on the Maison Ikkoku manga.

A year after that, we got our first home PC. After my brother created his first website, I took my shot at it. A site entitled simply "Maison Ikkoku" was the result. It was very simplistic to say the least, but I really enjoyed creating it. As the months rolled on, I noticed that there weren't many MI pages that updated on a regular basis, so I added the "Manga & Anime" section to ensure that my site would have new material for visitors every month.

During this time period, I never received much feedback about my page, and that was the one thing that always disappointed me. I had always hoped that I had visitors that would check in on it every once in awhile to see what had changed, but I never knew if I did. It finally got the recognition I had always hoped for when I re-wrote most of the pages and re-named the site "Yusaku Godai's Life at Maison Ikkoku". I couldn't be happier with the way things are now. The Maison Ikkoku manga is ending in December, and I find myself in the same position as Godai did in the beginning of the series, I'm about to start my first year of college. Luckily, unlike Godai, I didn't have any problems passing my exams. But unfortunately not everything can be perfect. The Viz website has announced that they are "reworking" the Maison Ikkoku anime releases which you can see here in its entirety. I wish I knew what this meant, but I'm at a total loss. Hopefully it won't mean cancellation of either version of this wonderful series.

In closing, I would like to thank all of the people that made this site possible and every visitor we've had in the past two years. You have made this a joy for me, and have only enhanced my love for this series. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart, and I hope to see you again this time next year.
Dylan Acres is a psychologist and college professor. Maison Ikkoku has long been his favorite manga and he has written a number of articles on the series and Rumiko Takahashi including an analysis of the animation directors of Maison Ikkoku, Takahashi's love of the Hanshin Tigers and a cataloging of the color artwork of Rumiko Takahashi.

Cover

Rumic World
Published: August 17, 1999
Author: Dylan Acres
Translated by: ---
Archived: ---
ISBN/Web Address: https://www.furinkan.com/ features/articles/2years.html
Page numbers: ---