Mao

MAO

7.0(4,959)

MAL Score

Ranked #5120

Popularity #4323

Mystery
Supernatural
Historical
Mythology
Time Travel

Episodes: 26
Duration: 25 min per ep
Aired: Apr 4, 2026 to ?
Status: Currently Airing

Synopsis

When Nanoka unexpectedly steps through a portal, she finds herself in the Taisho era, where her encounter with the reluctant exorcist Mao leads to a dramatic rescue from a fearsome yokai. Upon returning to her own time, Nanoka realizes she has acquired extraordinary abilities, prompting her to journey back to the past in search of the truth behind her transformation. As she joins Mao in unraveling a string of chilling murders, her quest for identity deepens, revealing a web of mystery that intertwines their fates.

As the investigation unfolds, Nanoka discovers that Mao is bound by a curse from a cat demon named Byoki, which also afflicts his sword. This powerful weapon can only be wielded safely by Mao, but when danger threatens his life, Nanoka must make a crucial choice. Summoning her newfound strength, she takes hold of the cursed blade, setting the stage for a thrilling confrontation where destiny and courage collide.

Otaku Consensus

Mao has opened to a restrained but respectable reception, reflected in its 7/10 MAL score and 65/100 AniList score rather than breakout enthusiasm. Its strongest assets are the Rumiko Takahashi source pedigree, Sunrise’s familiarity with period-supernatural action, and a clean dual-lead structure that gives Nanoka more agency than the average time-slip heroine. The recurring complaint is that its early material plays within very recognizable shounen exorcism and youkai-mystery patterns, so viewers waiting for a sharper hook may find the momentum more steady than urgent.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Mao if you want the folkloric bite of Inuyasha filtered through a more investigation-driven mystery format, without the sprawl of a long-running battle saga. The appeal is not just “girl goes to the past”; it is the way Rumiko Takahashi’s familiar obsessions — cursed bodies, dangerous intimacy, old grudges, and monsters with rules — are organized around casework and Taisho-era atmosphere. Nanoka gives the series a modern point of entry without flattening the historical setting, while Mao’s role as an exorcist keeps the supernatural mechanics tactile and weapon-focused. If you like yokai stories where romance, horror, and shounen combat keep circling each other rather than separating into neat lanes, Mao is built for that exact appetite.

Key Characters

N
Nanoka Kiba(VA: Natsumi Kawaida)
Nanoka stands out as a time-slip heroine whose appeal comes from active decision-making and a growing discomfort with what her own body may be capable of.
M
Mao(VA: Yuuki Kaji)
Mao is the kind of Takahashi male lead fans recognize immediately: aloof, burdened, professionally competent, and far more emotionally legible through action than explanation.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
Sunrise is the studio behind the adaptation, a notable fit because the studio has a long association with Rumiko Takahashi’s supernatural action through the Inuyasha anime lineage.
2
The series is built around a dual-protagonist balance rather than a single viewpoint: AniList tags both Female Protagonist at 66% and Male Protagonist at 60%, matching the way Nanoka and Mao carry different halves of the mystery.
3
Its genre blend is unusually specific: Mystery and Supernatural are the main genres, while the tagged themes combine Historical, Mythology, Time Travel, Exorcism, Youkai, Demons, and Time Manipulation.
4
The Taisho-era angle gives the series a different historical texture from the Sengoku-period identity most associated with Takahashi’s yokai fiction, creating a more urban-modern threshold between folklore and early 20th-century Japan.
5
The adaptation is airing in a crowded modern market with modest but visible traction: MAL lists it at 4,371 votes with a 7/10 score, while AniList records 210 favourites and a 65/100 score.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: Mao is based on a work by Rumiko Takahashi, one of manga’s most commercially influential creators and the author behind Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, and Inuyasha.
Fun fact 2: Director Teruo Satou previously directed Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon, making him a particularly relevant choice for another Sunrise-produced Takahashi supernatural project.
Fun fact 3: Character designer Yoshihito Hishinuma is closely associated with the Inuyasha anime franchise, giving Mao a staff connection to earlier Takahashi adaptations beyond the original creator credit.
Fun fact 4: Yuuko Kakihara handles series composition, a key role for this adaptation because the material depends on balancing episodic supernatural cases with a larger curse-and-identity mystery.
Fun fact 5: The anime began airing on April 4, 2026 and is still listed as Currently Airing, so its reception numbers are early indicators rather than a final verdict.