The wait for Rumiko Takahashi’s newest masterpiece is finally over—the MAO anime literally just premiered today! If you’re a fan of Inuyasha or Ranma ½, this is definitely the show for you. It’s being produced by Sunrise (the same studio that did Inuyasha and Yashahime), so the art style feels like a perfect, modern evolution of Takahashi’s classic look.
The story follows Nanoka, a high school girl who survived a freak accident as a kid but is now getting pulled back into the supernatural. She ends up time-traveling to the Taisho Era, where she meets a mysterious, cursed exorcist named Mao. He’s been living for 900 years, trying to find the cat demon that cursed him. Together, they start investigating creepy “ayakashi” mysteries that connect Nanoka’s past to the ancient world. It’s definitely darker and more serious than Inuyasha, but it still has that signature Takahashi charm.
