1986's adaptation of what is arguably Rumiko Takahashi's best work (it combines the comic timing of Urusei Yatsura with an actual story with an ending). The manga is great and should be sought out.
However, and this may not be a popular view, the anime is a poor adaptation.
While it's fine as an overwrought romance drama with bits of comedy, it feels like running in molasses compared to the manga. All the comic timing that the manga exhibits is murdered by melodrama and the need to fill 24 minutes, and 96 episodes.
The story deals with the romance between a student, Yusaku Godai and his landlady, Kyoko Otonashi and how it invariably fails to get off the ground due to various circumstances, their own foibles and the machinations of the other tennants in the building.
Now, in the manga, these comedic romantic misunderstandings take place with such a zip and lightness of touch that you can accept that two people so clearly attracted to each other can under so many setbacks. In the TV version, you can find yourself screaming at the pair of them for being so stupid.
And while there is some melancholy in the manga, by the time a chapter ends it will have been offset by some kind of humerous undertaking. However in stretching a chapter to fit a TV episode, you can't stretch a gag. You either have to write more gags that weren't there originally, or you stretch out the melancholy. The problem then is you end up with more melancholy than the gag can then offset.
The 15 volumes of the manga is available at reasonable prices from Viz (£4.69 each on Amazon).
Viz also have releases 8(!) 13 episode boxsets of the TV series at $50 each. While it's an improvement on 5 years ago, £210 for 96 twenty-four minute long TV episodes still seems a little pricey to me.
Old post, I know, but I think “the manga is better” is common for any series. I actually prefer the anime. Although I agree with you that the misunderstandings and such came off as overdone in the anime. BUt I prefer the characterization in the anime. In the anime, Kyoko comes off as very gentle and kind, and only towards the end does she start to get angry at Godai. In the manga though they’re having shouting matches as early as the sweater incident and that felt so strange to me. I think I preferred the anime’s way of going about that.