Characters
All of the tenants' names involve a pun on the character's room number:
| Number | Character | Kanji of family name and meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Kyoko Otonashi (née Chigusa) | 音無 (literally means "soundless") |
| 1(一) | The Ichinose Family | 一の瀬 (first ford) |
| 2(二) | Nozomu Nikaido | 二階堂 (two-storey temple) |
| 3(三) | Shun Mitaka * | 三鷹 (three hawks) |
| 4(四) | Mr. Yotsuya | 四谷 (four valleys) |
| 5(五) | Yusaku Godai | 五代 (five generations) |
| 6(六) | Akemi Roppongi | 六本木 (six trees) |
| 7(七) | Kozue Nanao * | 七尾 (seven ridges; the second character is "tail" but "Nanao" itself is a name from Ishikawa Prefecture) |
| 8(八) | Ibuki Yagami * | 八神 (eight gods) |
| 9(九) | Asuna Kujo * | 九条 (Ninth Avenue; the name is an old Japanese aristocratic name) |
| 1000(千) | Mr. & Mrs. Chigusa (Kyoko's parents) | 千草 (thousand grasses) |
(* Not residents of Ikkoku-kan.)
In the English version, main characters tend to refer to and address each other informally with their given names, with the exception of Mr. Yotsuya. Yusaku, while usually referring to Kyoko by her given name, almost always addresses her with her job title of "manager". In the Japanese original, Yusaku addresses Kyoko as "kanrinin-san," meaning manager.
Read more about this topic: Maison Ikkoku
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“Socialist writers are made of sterner stuff than those who only let their characters steeplechase through trouble in order to come out first in the happy ending of moral uplift.”
—Christina Stead (1902–1983)
“Waxed-fleshed out-patients
Still vague from accidents,
And characters in long coats
Deep in the litter-baskets
All dodging the toad work
By being stupid or weak.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“I make it a kind of pious rule to go to every funeral to which I am invited, both as I wish to pay a proper respect to the dead, unless their characters have been bad, and as I would wish to have the funeral of my own near relations or of myself well attended.”
—James Boswell (1740–1795)