Mao

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Wooooow so I'm surprised I didn't catch wind of this series sooner.

I'm really feeling Mao, it's been cool so far.
Characters (8) Story (7) Art (5) Enjoyment (8)

>Has a dark tone to it, the main characters often find themselves wrapped in mystery. Moderate sadism at best, can get gory but nothing overdrawn. There are many cutesy moments that counterbalances this necessary factor.
>For how profound/intense some events are, the artwork could be better. Not that it's bad: Rumiko's art been known to be good but also pretty straightforward. Fighting scenes are not very flashy, certain panels want more detail to emphasize an intended feeling.
>The character designs are ... lovely though. Nanoka, the main girl, is extremely cute with her short hair and occasional earrings. Mao has that chill, stoic look. Yurako be popping out in some designer dress, and Mei Mitazono has to be the most gorgeous character Rumiko has ever drawn. Character designs align with their personalities very well.
>The plot forges on: slow paced but with some necessary developments. It can be random at times but that's akin to the author's writing style.
I give it a 7.5 for now.
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Mao: Temple disciple becomes cursed in near-death experience. Fusion with demonic cat vastly extends his lifespan: 900+ years.
Having no memory of the events thereafter he lives to the 20th century (1920's) under the guise of health practitioner. He performs exorcisms by request (for centuries mind you) while following any leads correlated to his predicament.
Nanoka: the average young highschooler. But, she lost her parents at age 7 to a horrid car accident near the entrance of local shopping district. Nanoka was in the car and fortunately came out alive; however, the mystery of this accident lies in the supernatural. She is too, cursed by the same demonic cat (so I guess she's immortal as well?)
Because of this, Nanoka is able to travel 96 years in the past and, of course, eventually cross paths with Mao.
The premise of this "timeline ripple effect" reeled me in (its definitely giving Fire Tripper), speculating time travel theories/mechanics is always fun. One time she stayed in Taisho Era for 2 days but arrived back in 2019 a whole month later.
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If you liked Inuyasha then I'm sure you'd love this: Mao is objectively better in a few ways.
For me its Nanoka stepping into fights, I love how she's with the shits and isn't some harmless damsel.
Also no toxic relationships LOL
If you never read any of Rumiko Takahashi's series I think Mao is a good one to try. Certain traits of this series are distinctively opposite from her past works. There isn't much comedy but it is an adventurous mystery after all.
A lot of lore surrounding the clan of the major characters: so many side-quests that are specific to a character. More often than not the side-quests circle back to the antagonists' agenda one way or another.
Speaking of antagonists, there are 2 groups of them! Their roles begin to flesh out soon enough.

It's a chill read you can take your time with. I will continue to see how things play out with the Byouki.

If I had to describe this story, then I guess it will have to be “meh.” I think Mao is a sum of how a mangaka can lose her foot in the game, especially after Takahashi has landed major hits in the industry, and she has had endless success over her long career.

There is nothing bad about the story, but there is nothing good about it either. Whenever I read this story, I just feel like I have experienced this before, and that’s unfortunate, since the overall story is much slower and darker than many of her past series. Mao premise so ... far just seems stale. There are cool things to be found, but most of what you see if just bland or forgettable.

Only for hardcore Inuyasha fans. The artwork is so bad and the story is so boring It just doesn't hold up by modern standards.

I suppose some people might like the retro old-school feel but that's about the only good thing I can say here. If you picked this manga up randomly you would think it was from the 1950's based on the artwork and simplistic story. It seems like the author has a large following from previous works so that's probably why something like this can exist. Thankfully the manga isn't pretending to be something it's not. What you see in the first chapter is ... exactly what you get for the remaining 20 volumes. I'm surprised it hasn't been cancelled just from lack of interest.