10 Underrated 1990s Anime You Probably Haven't Seen

6. Maison Ikkoku

Revolutionary Girl Utena
Studio Deen

Takahashi Rumiko had lightning strike not just twice, but four times! She is behind such series as Inuyasha, Ranma ½, Urusei Yatsura, and Maison Ikkoku. While Urusei's anime adaptation was popular during the eighties and Inuyasha was a premier anime of the early 2000s, Takahashi's nineties series is considered to be Ranma ½.

But many people either forget, or have no idea, of Takahashi's other nineties classic: Maison Ikkkoku, or the 'House of a Single Moment'. Ikkoku ran for 96 episodes and though it began in the late eighties between the anime runs of Urusei and Ranma, it didn't get a western adaptation until a year after Ranma had already debuted in the west. Ranma arrived in 1993, while Ikkoku didn't arrive until 1994.

Equally damning was the fact that Ikkoku only got a third of its episodes dubbed and the rest were sold as straight-to-VHS (welcome to the nineties) subtitled episodes.

Due to being overshadowed by Takahashi's other series and not getting a full run in English until the the early 2000s, Ikkoku is often forgotten. A real shame considering Ikkoku is often regarded as Takahashi's best work.

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Author of Escort (Eternal Press, 2015), co-founder of Nic3Ntertainment, and developer behind The Sickle Upon Sekigahara (2020). Currently freelancing as a game developer and history consultant. Also tends to travel the eastern U.S. doing courses on History, Writing, and Japanese Poetry. You can find his portfolio at www.richardcshaffer.com.