Introduction
Nanoka passes through a portal into the Taisho era, where exorcist Mao reluctantly rescues her from the jaws of a grotesque yokai. When Nanoka gets back to the present, she discovers she has some new, incredible abilities. She returns to the past looking for answers, only to get caught up in Mao's investigation of a series of gruesome murders. As her questions about herself multiply, Nanoka learns that Mao is cursed by a cat demon named Byoki—and so is his sword. If anyone but Mao attempts to wield it, they are doomed. But when Mao's life is in jeopardy, Nanoka picks up his blade and swings!
(Source: VIZ Media)
Audience reviews
5 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Chuy_diazz
After all the hype, it ended up disappointing me.
A new work by Rumiko Takahashi was laid out before us. I genuinely hoped I would like it just as much as her other, more renowned stories. In the end, however, I just couldn't connect with the story they were trying to tell. The first six episodes had me completely hooked—the dynamic between Mao and the Byoki, the concept of a traveler moving between the Reiwa and Taisho eras, and the supernatural elements creating mysteries to solve. I thought the premise was great, right up until they decided to just ditch the Byoki storyline. The Byoki was replaced by the Goko clan and the figures summoned to the Temple of the Five Colors. That’s where I started to lose my connection to the story. Little by little, new characters were introduced, each w…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
The latest manga series to be adapted by famous mangaka Rumiko Takahashi, Mao involves middle schooler Nanoka Kiba being whisked to Japan’s Taisho era and encountering the titular spiritualist as both become involved in finding and slaying the seven-tailed cat demon known as the Byoki, whom has cursed Mao with immortality and desires to take over his body as its next human host.
Those who have seen enough of Takahashi’s works over the years may notice immediately that the premise for this seems similar to Inuyasha involving a middle school girl whisked to a past Japanese era and encountering a male lead with connection to the supernatural and both working together to fight supernatural threats. While the premise does look similar on the surface, there are some notable differences between…
Read at the sourceimquotable
I went into MAO expecting very little. The aesthetics caught my attention, so I figured I would give it an ep or two and see where it went. Instead, I kept coming back. MAO does not really have one element that stands head and shoulders above everything else. The story is not some masterpiece, the animation did not do things I have never seen before, the characters are not impossibly well-written. But MAO's greatest strength is much harder to quantify, it is incredibly cosy.
The way MAO settles into its world is unusually comfortable. The Taisho-era setting, the muted colour palette, the old streets, supernatural imagery and generally subdued visual language give the series a very specific atmosphere. The backgrounds do a lot of the heavy lifting here. Yhe production gives the setting eno…
Read at the sourceRodIshiCi
For manga fans, this is very good adaptation. Animation and voice acting are good. OST isn't that remarkable for me, but both endings are nice and fitting for the series. And pacing is way better than manga, so there's always something happening each episode, be it a new mystery or an answer.
And for those who are jumping straigth into the anime, comparing to her other big works, this sits on one extreme with Urusei Yatsura being on the opposite side, and closest one to MAO would be Inuyasha.
To leave it spoiler free, I'll avoid explaining the plot. It has a lot of mysteries, most major character brings a few questions with it and there are a few major plot running around as well, so every episode will be bringing something, you won't see episodes that are solely a monster of the week thi…
Read at the sourceaoisaku
Takahashi-sensei's latest work has gotten adapted into an anime again and if you're missing a more serious tone work of hers like "Inuyasha", then this is the show for you! I went into these series blind without reading the manga and only knowing the synopsis and images, so I wasn't sure whether to expect something more comedic/lighthearted like Kyoukai No Rinne or serious/plot-driven like Inuyasha, and yes it is more like latter! While it brings back the elements of "time-traveling" into the past (this time into the Taisho Era/1920s rather than Feudal Japan/1500s), it does also have elements of ease of travel to past and present times for our main female lead Nanoka as well as having "immortal" humans (such as our male lead Mao) from an even further past.
This show in a nut shell is a m…
Read at the source