Well....i dont remember exactly when it is that things pick up on maison ikkoku but you'll have to be patient, the ending is one of the best ones i've ever read on any manga... Lets put it this way, most mangas just kind of fade into the background and you dont remember that much about them until you reread them, but with the ending of maison ikkoku...well it gave me chills (in a good way) when i first read it and i remember it clearly.
But at the same time the reason for that could be because of the pretty long time that it took for the story to get there, but in any case, dont give up it pays off in the end
