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From one MH to another, congratulations! And welcome back! We missed you at the board. It's great to see you again! It's fantastic that your husband is liking Maison Ikkoku. Has he finished yet? Have you bought your DVDs because I see that Part 5 and Part 8 are hard to find? Part 8 may already be out of print and who knows whether it will ever be brought back. I'm sure with a bit of effort it yet can be secured, so if you haven't bought them all yet, hurry!

I can't agree with you enough on Kyoko. She is a model for any age, really. And quite a remarkable personae really. As an only child and a girl I'm sure she was encouraged to be serious and studious. She probably didn't mind standing out both on the tennis court and as class representative. So she clearly had leadership potential from the get go. And early on she shows that she has the same kind of presense we later see in Kasumi. She's quite able on the domestic front, and chooses and courts an older man to be her husband. She must have been his equal intellectually, and probably understood more of what he was about (the geology thing) than she gives herself credit for while she was dating and married to him. She has strong goals and objectives. If her goal had been business or college, she would have made a great impact in it. But she chose to be the wife of a school teacher. As a member of a well-to-do family, it appears they are not bad off so that makes it easier at start. But Kyoko appears never to be ruffled by any adversity. It appears she takes adversity head on. And this really can be shown in her decision to take the job at Maison Ikkoku to help her father-in-law out. Practical Kyoko sees a problem, knows that the solution of her taking the job there will be killing two birds with one stone, and takes the job. She can fill in as manager of the apartment, and give herself therapy to deal with the grief of losing her husband at the same time. Kyoko appears to have had the personality made for the adversity she faces. Part of it is her own attributes, and part of it is forced upon her. But part also is her own free will. She had a choice and she decided to make the most of her situation, no matter what.

Thinking about this subject makes me to reflect on how she saw love as a one time, only once, and forever proposal. I wonder really if Soichiro had rejected her at first whether at that point she could have accepted ANY man later in life. Comparisons have been made between Yagami and Kyoko. I really think that the two of them are quite alike. The only difference is the style they chose to implement their designs. Kyoko is a bit more polite. But I am pretty sure she would not have taken no for an answer from Soichiro. If Soichiro had had another who he was interested in at the time, I reckon that Kyoko would not have given up her pursuit. Alas, it was the way it was. Kyoko was well suited to get and marry Soichiro. Yagami? A different time and a different situation, and maybe she would have landed Godai. But without Kyoko in the picture, I doubt highly Yagami would have been interested. Whereas, if Soichiro had had another in his life, maybe Kyoko never would have been interested. So in pursuit, they were identical (save for style), but Kyoko's pursuit of Soichiro likely went more towards the kindness of her heart, whereas Yagami's pursuit was much more about satisfying her egoistic desire to be Godai's savior.

The fact that Kyoko had seen love as that once in a lifetime event, and saw her calling to be true to that once in a lifetime, I think, made it harder for her to receive again the love of another man. This point is likely obvious. But it goes with a not-so-obvious point, and that is that Kyoko had always been the pursuer in relationships. For her to be pursued would have been harder for her. Being a widow, and how she saw her calling in that, made her (in her mind) immune to the efforts of other men. The thought that she is immune likely gives her the excuse to dally with other men (especially Mitaka). But I may add that if she had not been a widow, neither Godai nor Mitaka ever would have had a chance. Godai was too young when he wanted to pursue her, and his personality at the time would not have met her standards in any fashion. Mitaka was far too aggressive, and, although I'm sure a finesse job may have secured a few dates, I doubt highly Kyoko would have said yes to his pursuit. She would likely have turned him down allot earlier than she did, as I think. If she had not been a widow, she would have had no need or uncertainty, and those two things are what keeps her from rejecting Mitaka prior to the time she did. Kyoko, if she wasn't a widow, would have been the one to pursue, and she would have pursued someone else. In a way, the only reason she allows herself to be pursued by Godai and Mitaka is that in her widowhood, she does need support, some affirmation, some healing affection to serve as the balm to grief.

Godai becomes the man that Kyoko needs because he ultimately needs her. And this strong woman, this mature and well grounded woman, this woman who has faced adversity alone and could do so again, does ultimately need a man to fill the space that Soichiro left in her heart. (I can better understand her anger at Godai the evening after she finds he's been drinking (unbeknownst to her, with Mitaka) on the night before his exam. She is serious in her contemplation of a future with a man; she has to know that he's serious about his own future.) The fact that Godai needed her endeared her to him, I think. But the fact that he could become the man she needed him to be, I think, is what sold him to Kyoko in the end. The lonely self confident Kyoko did need, after all, to be able to lean on a man, and Godai became one just in time for her.

The magic of Maison Ikkoku, I still maintain, is the realism of the story. With few exceptions (and those, really, are still within the realm of possibility), it really isn't contrived. When one thinks on it (as I confess to have done now and again) the story really does make sense. And it makes it more beautiful, and more meaningful, every time.

I hope we'll see more topics like this one, Diko Linnai! And once again, congratulations on your marriage! May you and your husband possess and be fulfilled with happiness in each other!