MAO (2021)

[MAO（マオ）]

Volume 8

Author/Artist: Rumiko Takahashi
Publisher: Shounen Sunday Comics

Synopsis:
Natsuno tells Mao what she knows about the day Sana was killed.

Story/Characters:
Natsuno's account sheds some new light on the exact nature of Yurako and Mao's culpability for Sana's death. I do rather like the iterative style of recounting what happened each time we encounter a major player. Nanoka's jealousy rises to the surface and we have a classic Takahashi couple-style spat, which leads us into a nice breather chapter where they patch things up. Mao having less of the usual flaws of male leads in Takahashi's stories makes making up a whole lot easier. With that taken care of, we move into the next arc which involves a bloodline that inherits the possession of this cursed beast. The current host is out of control, which draws in Mao to investigate. The younger brother of the host and next in line to inherit the curse becomes our focal point for the arc. Unsurprisingly, the curse is connected to the Kou Clan, which gets Hakubi and Hyakka involved as well. Young Souma is a bit interesting as there's an element of coercion to what he does but also a part of him that's more than willing to go along with being the next host for the curse. We get a big fight scene and it seems like a villainous team is forming up. We get another breather episode before moving on to the next case, which involves a blind patient implicated in a murder who wanders out of the hospital at night. We just get the opening chapter of this new arc, just enough time to set up a red herring and toss it out the window for the cliffhanger.

Art:
The art continues to be solid. The design of the cursed beast, particularly when it's warping its host, is pretty neat. The big fight scene isn't bad either. It's interesting that in Byouki mode, Nanoka fights a lot like Inuyasha. Speaking of Nanoka, she really does look good in a kimono.

Conclusion:
The cursed beast arc that comprises the bulk of this volume does a good job of weaving together the different character threads and if we can see more development along these lines, I may well be upping my rating for this series in the near future. It's not quite at the must-have level yet, but it's definitely worth a read.

Rating:
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