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:
“There are characters which are continually creating collisions and nodes for themselves in dramas which nobody is prepared to act with them. Their susceptibilities will clash against objects that remain innocently quiet.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“The more gifted and talkative one’s characters are, the greater the chances of their resembling the author in tone or tint of mind.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“There are as many characters in men
As there are shapes in nature.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)