Editing Maison Ikkoku (section)

==Production==
Takahashi created ''Maison Ikkoku'' as a love story that could occur in the real world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.furinkan.com/takahashi/takahashi7.html|title=Animerica Interview|last=Horibuchi|first=Seiji|publisher=Furinkan.com|access-date=2009-10-02}}</ref> She originally only wanted to start the series focusing on Kyoko and Godai's relationship before moving on to include the other tenants to have a "human drama," but said the love story attracted her more and took over.<ref name="Retrospective">{{cite web|url=http://www.furinkan.com/takahashi/takahashi3.html|title=Career Retrospective|last=Smith|first=Toren|author-link1=Toren Smith|publisher=Furinkan.com|access-date=2014-05-18}}</ref> She had wanted to create a story about an apartment complex for some time, as when she lived in an apartment in [[Nagano (city)|Nagano]] during college, there was another decrepit apartment behind it.<ref name="Toriyama">{{cite web|url=http://www.furinkan.com/takahashi/takahashi4.html|title=Toriyama/Takahashi interview|last=Yamada|first=Toshiaki|publisher=Furinkan.com|access-date=2014-05-18}}</ref> The strange actions of the people living there served as inspiration.<ref name="Italian">{{cite web|url=http://www.furinkan.com/takahashi/takahashi8.html|title=Interview in Italy|last=Acres|first=Dylan|publisher=Furinkan.com|access-date=2014-05-18}}</ref>

It was ''[[Big Comic Spirits]]''{{'}}s editor-in-chief Katsuya Shirai who recruited Takahashi for the newly-launching [[Seinen manga|{{Transliteration|ja|seinen}} manga]] magazine.<ref name="ShiraiInt">{{cite web|url=https://natalie.mu/comic/pp/heros03|title=月刊ヒーローズ創刊5周年特集 高橋留美子×白井勝也対談|website=[[Natalie (website)|Natalie]]|language=Japanese|date=2016-12-01|access-date=2023-07-22}}</ref><ref name="SuzukiInt">{{cite web|url=https://ebookjapan.yahoo.co.jp/content/title-167481/interview.html|title=担当編集者が語る、ビッグな名作が生まれる現場！ 第一回『めぞん一刻』3代目編集者 鈴木総一郎氏 インタビュー|website=eBook Japan|language=Japanese|date=2016-05-24|access-date=2023-07-22}}</ref> Soichiro Suzuki, Takahashi's third editor on ''Maison Ikkoku'' beginning from the eighth or ninth chapter, explained that having a young up-and-coming female artist attracted much attention for the new magazine.<ref name="SuzukiInt"/> Suzuki also said that Takahashi went with the [[romantic comedy]] genre for the new series because of the magazine's older reader demographic, but noted it still had the gag-like feel of ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' in the beginning.<ref name="SuzukiInt"/> According to both Shirai and Suzuki, ''Maison Ikkoku'' was popular right from the start.<ref name="ShiraiInt"/><ref name="SuzukiInt"/>

Takahashi created ''Maison Ikkoku'' simultaneously alongside the weekly ''Urusei Yatsura''. The newer manga's frequency changed as ''Big Comic Spirits''{{'s}} did; it began as a monthly magazine, switched to bimonthly after six months, and became a weekly publication in 1986<!--In the source, Suzuki says it became weekly "after about two years", but this is incorrect. It happened in 1986.-->.<ref name="SuzukiInt"/> In an interview during its serialization, Takahashi stated she usually took two days to create the story and draw rough drafts, and then took one night to finish them.<ref name="Toriyama"/> At the time she had three female assistants, refusing to have males so that they would not be distracted.<ref name="Italian"/> According to Suzuki, this increased to five assistants when it became a weekly serial.<ref name="SuzukiInt"/> The series' title utilizes the [[French language|French]] word {{Transliteration|fr|[[wikt:maison#French|maison]]}} ("house") and translates to "The House of One-Moment". The story occurs over a six-year period, approximate to the publication period of the series.<ref name=roughguidetomanga>{{cite book|title=The Rough Guide to Manga|year=2009|url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetomang00yada|url-access=limited|last=Yadao|first=Jason S.|publisher=[[Rough Guides]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetomang00yada/page/n165 156]–157|isbn=978-1-85828-561-0}}</ref>