"Maison Ikkoku" has over 25 million collected volumes in circulation. In 2002, Christopher Macdonald, co-editor-in-chief of Anime News Network, wrote that while far from her most popular, "Maison Ikkoku" is considered by many to be Rumiko Takahashi's best work. Although all her titles have a romantic angle, he said that with its lack of supernatural elements or aliens, "Maison Ikkoku"s simple premise of a university student who falls in love with his landlady is mundane in comparison, but it is this excellently crafted romantic story that makes it her greatest work. Macdonald wrote that what it does have in common with most of Takahashi's other works is "absolute, unadulterated hilarity," but this differs still in that it features hilarious situations that actually happen in the real world. Like Macdonald, Comics Beat's Morgana Santilli noted how "Maison Ikkoku" is an anomaly in Takahashi's bibliography as it contains no fantasy or magical elements, but does include her signature wacky romcom hijinks of "jealous would-be lovers, plenty of pratfalls, and needlessly complicated misunderstandings," which makes it just as charming and fun as more popular works like "Ranma ½".