Maison Ikkoku

Yusaku Godai is fed-up with life as a ronin and his horrible housemates, namely loud and brash Mrs. Ichinose, her bratty son Kentaro, sexy Akemi Roppongi, and the mysterious Yotsuya. As he finally packs his bags and heads for the door he meets Maison Ikkoku's new manager...Kyoko Otonashi. Its love at first sight for Godai, so he toughs it out in order to get to meet the gorgeous new manager a bit better.

Godai decides that since its Kyoko's first Christmas at Maison Ikkoku, this would be a great opportunity to buy her a present and tell her how he feels. As will become the norm, he chickens out when the Ichinose's arrive. Meanwhile, he learns from Akemi that Kyoko is already seeing someone and these suspicions are confirmed when he finds a sleeping Kyoko mention someone named ""Soichiro"" on the roof.

With his entrance exams bearing down on him, Godai just can't seem to focus. Kyoko decides its up to her to stop the other tenants from interrupting his studies, but what she doesn't know is that Godai's thoughts slip everytime she's in the room. And just as things are about to settle down...the power goes out. Kyoko's determined to fix the problem and Godai offers his help, but is he really trying to be a good tenant, or does he want Kyoko all alone in the attic?

Test time has finally arrived for Godai. As he does all the last minute cramming he can get away with Yotsuya, Ichinose, and Akemi take bets on which school's will reject him. Kyoko does her best to keep them out of Godai's way, but it doesn't do any good. As Godai heads off to take his tests, he misinterprets Kyoko's words of encouragement as a sign of affection, and can't stop thinking about it long enough to do well on a single test. With only one school left, Godai faces another year as a ronin, or overcoming all his distractions to become a full-fleged college student.

Godai's grandmother arrives to inform Godai that if he doesn't get into a college, his family will no longer let him stay in Tokyo. Godai does his best to hide from her, but with Kyoko's help they finally track him down, just in time to realize he's going to get to go to college.

The secret sadness that Kyoko has kept hidden for so long is finally revealed as Godai realizes that Kyoko is a widow. Visiting Soichiro's grave, Godai asks for whom he is offering incense ad realizes that it is Kyoko's late husband. Afterwards, as the two of them walk home, Godai can't help but feel that he has no chance to win Kyoko's heart from a dead man.