The new comedic romance series, The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel
Behavior (Bokura wa Minna Kawai so), is what you get if Maison Ikkoku would
have been created now.
Maison Ikkoku, my favorite series from Rumiko Takahashi,
is the endearing and odd ball story of helpless college student Godai Yusaku as
he tries to woo the widowed manager of the apartment complex he lives in.
Standing in his way to marital bliss with Kyoko Otonashi is; their own hang
ups, misconceptions and the meddling of the other tenants.
Kawai Complex Guide is about high school student Usa
Kazunari and his desire to date his sempai and fellow resident of the Kawai
Dormitory, Ritsu Kawai. Yet, their own hang ups and miscommunications
along with the meddling and teasing of the other residents cause friction and
dysfunction in those attempts.
Just off the bat, both seem similar, yet as I delve into a
comparison of the side characters we will see there is even more comparison
between these two series. The comparison will also show us how anime in
general has shifted in terms of character and story types from the early 80's
to the early teens and how the rise in otaku-hood has prodded that shift.
Male Lead -
Godai Yusaku(MI): Godai is irresponsible, easily persuaded and
generally hopeless. He came to Tokyo and the Ikkoku-kan to enter college,
but has been unable to pass the entrance exams. After continuous
harassment he decides to abandon his plans and move back home. He is
stopped short at the door with the arrival of the dorms new manager, the
beautiful and composed Kyoko Otonashi. Instantly falling in love, he
decides to stay and uses her as an excuse to pass his exams, then to graduate
college then to land a good job, all to be the man he thinks she deserves so he
can marry her.
Usa Kazunari(KCG): Usa, first year high school student, has convinced his
parents to let him move out of his house, due to difficulty dealing with his
family. Usa is an average student but his difficult home situation proved
to be difficult on his abilities to study and live a happy existence. On
the first day at school he falls in love with a quiet bookworm upper classman, Ritsu Kawai, while in the library. Unknown to him, this brand new crush
is also a resident at the dorm he will be staying at from now on. While
he feels fortunate to have this amazing opportunity to become closer with her,
the dorms other residents are eccentric and meddle in his attempts to woo
Ritsu.
Female Lead -
Kyoko Otonashi(MI): Following the sudden death of her older husband, Kyoko
wants to continue being a part of her in-laws family and offers to manage their
rental property, Ikkoku-kan. She is in for more than she bargained for
when she discovers the complex is filled with weirdo's who love nothing more
than causing trouble and getting drunk all the time. Through most of the
series she fights with the feelings she retains for her late husband/first love.
Her feelings for Godai are mostly hidden and her understanding of his feelings
towards her are semi-mysterious. She has a kind and patient demeanor but loses
her patience with Godai from time to time as he puts himself into foolish
situations.
Ritsu Kawai(KCG): She is a second year high school student, who apparently
is well studied and spends much of her time absorbed in literature. She
has decided to live in her families’ dorm while attending high school.
Due to her passion for living in fictional worlds she seems to be mostly
oblivious to the real world around her. It is unknown if she understands
Usa's desires and intentions, but his constant attempts to get closer to her
tend to produce undesired reactions.
Crazy Male Tenants -
Yotsuya(MI): The mysterious and conniving Yotsuya is one of Godai's biggest
hurdles. The cunning and prominent instigator, Yotsuya craftily sets
Godai up for embarrassment and failure at every turn. Yotsuya remains a
mystery to everyone around him, with an unknown past, unknown present and
unknown future. They can only guess at his intentions and machinations,
mostly with perverted tendencies.
Kentaro Ichinose(MI): Grade school aged son of Hanae Ichinose, Kentaro is essentially the only voice of reason between all of the side
characters. He likes Kyoko due to her being the only rational adult in
the building but hates Godai's spineless personality. Over the course of
the series he warms up to the hapless college student who starts to become more
dependable.
Shirosaki(KCG): This somewhat dimwitted man is well known for his
masochistic desires. But he appears to be no more than a free loader and
a loafer. Easy going, good natured, but severely perverted, he tends to
get in trouble with the other residents and the law for nothing more than his
appearance and demeanor.
Crazy Female Tenants -
Akemi Roppongi(MI): Akemi is the openly sexual drunken bar hostess who joins
in tormenting Godai for nothing more than passing the time. While somewhat
brainless and carefree with her body, she seems to be the most mature out of
Godai's tormentor.
Hanae Ichinose(MI): Mrs. Ichinose is the middle aged, alcoholic stay at home
mom who's booming and grating voice is just one of Godai's
problems. One of the main instigators to torment the troubled man, she
pushes everyone to drink with reckless abandon and leads in the entertainment
at their pop-up parties. While one of the leaders in torment, she also
helps from time to time to make things better between Godai and Kyoko.
Mayumi Nishikino(KCG): Mayumi is a busty and sexual woman who hates her life
as an office worker and has horrible luck with relationships with men,
frequently being cheated on. A heavy and frequent drinker, she uses her
sexuality to embarrass Usa. She has no interest in him beyond
entertaining herself and somewhat supports him getting together with Ritsu.
Sayaka Watanabe(KCG): A sweet looking college student, Sayaka uses her
appearance to manipulate men and women around her for her own entertainment and
personal gain. She frequently joins in with the others for group time
torments of Usa, but also works on her own to plant misinformation and half
truths in his mind to see what he will do. Not as
big of an alcoholic as Mayumi, but definitely tries to drink her problems away.
Sumiko(KCG): Sumiko is the manager of the dorm as well as Ritsu's
aunt. Warm and maternal in appearance, she has a sadistic side when crossed
or annoyed. She greatly welcomes Usa into the fold, playfully
participates in his torture but tries to subtly help him in his goal to date
her niece.
Comparison: There are some similarities between the lead characters,
but those traits are more in line with typical traits found in romance series,
not specific to the characters unique personas. The real meat of the
comparison is in the peripheral characters.
Shirosaki is the blissfully perverted version of
Yotsuya. Where Yotsuya was crafty, manipulative and mysterious; Shirosaki
is aloof, blatant and secretive. Shirosaki is not as obvious with his
attacks on Usa as Yotsuya was with Godai. Both characters represent a male
faction in the building which the main character dreads for uncomfortable
reasons. Yotsuya represented the dirty or lecher of a man, the perverted
salaryman. Shirosaki represents the fetishist NEET of today’s world.
Akemi and Mayumi are pretty similar in their overt
sexuality and general disgust with their male leads personality and
apprehension. While Akemi has a better disposition on her life both women
have no real goal or drive beyond happiness.
Mrs. Ichinose and Kyoko both have similar personality
traits with Sumiko. Aside from being the property managers, Kyoko and
Sumiko both have generaly easy going and patient personalities that can be pushed to
the edge when provoked, causing some divine retribution. Mrs. Ichinose yearns for Godai to be successful with Kyoko the same way Sumiko wants
to see Usa succeed with Ritsu.
Sayaka is more a composite of Mrs. Ichinose, Yotsuya and
Akemi. She is manipulative, brash, jealous and conniving in all the ways
those three thorns in Godai's side were. Out of all of Usa's antagonists
she is perhaps the most dangerous one due to her manipulative personality.
Both shows in general are about a male character that pines for a female
character that he is fatefully close to but has issues trying to figure out that females’ feelings and ideas. The males’ problems are compounded by the
cast of lunatic tenants who go out of their way to make the male leads
pursuits both stressful and problematic. Supporting the
pursuit and threatening it as well. By trying to completely expose the
males leads intentions and feelings and fill his head with all manner of
misinformation and misdirection. Both leads are conflicted and limited in
their own feelings towards each other and have a hard time expressing
themselves.
Kawai Complex Guide is a product of the current trends and stereotypes in
the manga and anime world. Just as Maison Ikkoku was a snapshot of trends
and stereotypes in its time. In Maison Ikkoku we had the lecherous
businessman, the brash alcoholic stay at home mom and the single head-strong
woman who was proving her independence to the world. In Kawai Complex
Guide we have the unskilled and unemployed fetishist, the lost working woman
who desires nothing more than a carefree marriage and a college woman using her
looks to fulfill her earthly desires. Not that all of these personality
types are unique to their time frame, but each was more prominent in their
era. NEET's and girls who run through paycheck boyfriends are a huge fad
in Japan these days. While women were fighting for their independence
quite strongly in the 70's and 80's; feminism seems to have taken a bit of a
backseat these days when it comes to concerns over financial security and an
easier future. These are not 100% true trends, just observations I have
made from what I understand and know about Japan both past and present.
You can take these observations and comparisons as you will; but thinking about
Kawai Complex Guide as a modern spin on Maison Ikkoku makes me enjoy it even
more than I would otherwise. I can't wait to see how this series fleshes
out and if these comparisons remain true throughout its course. I do not see any sort of character lifespan completion like we saw with
Maison Ikkoku, so I don't expect a peek at any offspring of Usa and Ritsu.
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