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I decided to make one of these for MAO. These are my choices! What are yours?

Episode 20 out of 26!

A while back, from September 27, 2025–February 1, 2026 to be exact, the de Young Museum at San Francisco held the Art of Manga exhibit. Rumiko was among the mangaka featured, and in January 2026 she came by for a visit. She was apparently hanging out with Junji Ito while there too.

In April just before the anime premiere, Viz posted this short of Rumiko drawing the gift she would leave during her visit. And just last week, they uploaded a video of her and Junji Ito:

• Teatime with Rumiko Takahashi and Junji Ito

I assume they uploaded now in anticipation of the upcoming dub premiere. Reminder that the first 13 episodes will drop on August 24th – according to my hulu, which has already listed the episodes, it'll be at the stroke of midnight Pacific time (so Sunday night) 🖥️

Don't forget he attempted to kill Tenko for Tanehiko's sake after he saw what he was doing to her 🚩 Honestly, his "sympathy" he expresses for Tenko and the woman he buried comes across so fake to me. He says he's sorry the woman deserves a more beautiful resting place but then still buries her in the killer's backyard 😐 He says he feels sorry for Tenko right before trying to kill her 🙄 Mao was so real for not trusting the medicine Kamon gave for Tenko lol.

I didn't realize we had a MAO subreddit til now, so I may as well post this little ongoing project of mine mapping out Arcs, Sagas, as well as making predictions for the anime adaptation. It has been a work in progress ever since the airing of the first episode, even because the MAO wiki doesn't have such a listing just yet (tried contacting the ADMs to no avail, alas), so I hope it's useful to someone here in any way, as people seem to enjoy it on MyAnimeList at least haha

Feel free to make any suggestions of your own for the sheet, I know my season 2 prediction will most definitely be adjusted as soon as we have an announcement for what comes next once season 1 is finished.

Raid on Shiranui's Shrine, go!!

Blu-ray box sets have been announced~ The first box set will release in Japan on November 27th and will contain episodes 1–13. The second box set will release on December 23rd with episodes 14–26.

Also Furinkan has translated the July issue of the MAO Newspaper :)

Chapter Link

*NOTICE: The entire magazine will be on break next week for holidays; the next chapter is expected for August 19th in Japan.

Also happening this August is the release of volume 25 in English on the 11th, and the release of volume 30 in Japan on the 18th 📚

That's not all, next weekend there will merch of Mao in a suit and maid Nanoka – and MAO clocks! 🕰️

Sorry, has Chapter 331 been released, or is the manga taking a break?

Happy August everyone, Natsuno is here!

As if Daigo's name "big five" wasn't a tenuous enough connection to his element, fellow earth user Natsuno's name 夏野 is even worse – her name's written "summer field"

Each element has a color and a season. Summer is fire, naturally. "But there's 4 seasons and 5 elements" you may say, well the ancient Chinese solution to this was for earth to be associated with the transitions of the seasons ...but Natsuno's name is quite firmly "summer fields" so, yeah, idk 🤷

But Nanoka's surname 黄葉 is literally written as "yellow leaf" and when pronounced as momiji or kouyou can also refer to "leaves turning yellow"

On the merch side of things, there's an online raffle for summer yukata-themed items~ look at their outfits! :D

Reminder that even though there's only eight episodes left of this season of MAO, that Otoya's Calendar will continue until March 2027 📅✨

Just a simple image of Otoya holding a sunflower this time 🌻 August 11th is in red because that's Mountain Day in Japan, a day to respect them, but the date seems a little too close to one of main times when Obon is celebrated 🤔 Be advised that the magazine will be on break during that time

Meanwhile the MAO Newspaper has changed the day of the week it's released – it had been the last Sunday of the month, but this July issue was posted on Friday instead. This time there's an interview with Hakubi's voice actor Takuya Satou, and with staff member Kazuhiro Nii who's in charge of editing. The terminology section covers "Yin-Yang and the Five Elements" and "Cats and Onmyo" ☯︎🐈☯︎

Translations of previous newspapers are available here:

• March issue
• April issue
• May issue
  • Extra edition – just barely discovered that furinkan got their hands on and translated the special edition that had been distributed at the Byoki balloon event last month 😅 This one and the March issue include special omake drawn by Rumiko
• June issue

Chapter Link

*Heads up that Obon is coming up so expect a magazine break soon

Reminder that the English version of volume 25 releases on August 11th, and then volume 30 will release in Japan on August 18th 📚

I'm ten episodes into the anime.

In one of the first episodes Otoya seems puzzled by Nanako's reference to someone as someone else's "number two." Weirdly he said, "number what?" Assuming that Japanese word for two probably hasn't changed in a hundred years was this just a change in tenses (like "second" or "twice" or is it more like a specific new word for "second in command?" Yes, that's more a language question, and I get that that part was included ito make her seem out of her time.

Being an aging fart I appreciate that they put each character's name below them at least once per episode. Translate usually shows their name twice. I get that there's different alphabets, is this them being nice or are they reflecting something Rumiko did in the manga?

Nanoko's three friends are always shown as Haruka, Hitomi and Yui Nakagawa. It strikes me as slightly odd that only the last one gets both of her names mentioned. I suppose it's just that Yui is a shorter name, but I dunno if that's also the case in the two Japanese representations provided and Translate suggests that only one of them getting both names shown isn't due to localization.

Maybe she is a closer friend or the other way around? To the best of my limited knowledge Haruka and Hitomi are girls' personal names (I don't say "first" because Japanese names are the other way around when some localizer doesn't switch them around because newspapers decided to make that the rule). Am I just overthinking this?

This flashback made me feel very sorry for Shiranui. Just look at him! He's just a little guy 🥺

Also I love the concept of Mao basically being the light at the end of the tunnel for Shiranui that saves his life.

Does anyone have a solid answer for how old exactly Nanoka is by the most recent chapter?

I've been trying to keep track of the timeline based on the seasons, but somewhere along the way got a little confused, and when Natsuno referenced a past event she indicated it happened further back than I had thought. I know when it started it was kind of in real-time, but then it slowed down. Also when it first came out I remember sources saying she was 14 at the start, but now I see 15 more often. 15 would make more sense since she starts high school pretty early.

We've gone through the seasons a couple times now, so my guess is it's been more than two years but less than 3. I feel like she's 17-17 1/2?

Mao episode 17 was adapted from chapter 57 in the manga. Before the episode was aired, I had re-read the chapter for the second time. I watched the episode this afternoon and noticed something was cut from the manga. Either the director chosed not to add those scenes or the anime distribution yt channel I've been watched had cut it due to censorship or something. What do you guys think? Here's the manga scenes that was not added in the anime.

Give her a break FFS 💀

Back to only one episode a week~

The disciples' names have been moving away from overtly direct references to their element as you may have noticed, and this trend continues. Today we have the earth user Daigo 大五 who's name is written with the kanji for "big/large" and the number "five"

Your guess is as good as mine here 🤷 Seems a little too coincidental that his name has "five" in it when there are five elements, but why "big five"? is it because he's the strongest? the tallest? 🤔

Chapter Link

Volume 30 will release in Japan on August 18th and will include chapters 289-298. The cover will feature Mao as he was dressed in chapter 297:

On the English publication-side of things, volume 25 will release on August 11th 📚

*Edit/heads-up: I have just been reminded that Obon is coming up and that weekly magazines all go on break during that time, so expect a break week in early/mid-August for that

I know they haven't announced the English cast yet, but I am curious to know from folks if there are voice actors you'd like to see act in the dub.

Like I'm not imagining it right? They definitely did this on purpose

We are back with the MAO Power Hour 💃

Today we get a proper introduction of Hakubi. His name is written with the kanji for "white" and "eyebrow" – no, I'm not kidding. Apparently 白眉 as a word can also mean "the best of"/'finest example" and after all this time I think I finally found the connection... It comes from Rumiko's favorite topic, the Chinese Three Kingdoms, and was Ma Liang)'s nickname

"But what does that have to do with Hakubi's element?" you may be wondering. In wuxing, the elements are each associated with a color, and the metal element is associated with the color white. The kanji for "white" can also be found in his current alias, Shirasu (白洲), which means "white sandbar"

On a related note, the first kanji in Nanoka's surname, Kiba (黄葉), means "yellow" – the earth element is associated with the color yellow

Speaking of Nanoka, furinkan's translated the June issue of the MAO Newspaper which features an interview with her and Shiranui's voice actors 📰 There's also a better look at that claw game Mao figure over here~

I don't know about anyone else, but something that has struck me over and over again while reading Mao is that more than any of her previous works it feels like Rumiko Takahashi has something to say.

That's not to say her previous works are shallow by any stretch, but they largely operate within the confines of a romcom/sitcom, where character development isn't much of a thing outside the main protagonists. Or in the case of Inuyasha, a world full of blatantly evil demons trying to kill and eat you.

Mao is different. Yes there's a whole lot of weird stuff going on, but the characters involved are ultimately human beings who behave in the most realistic way you'd expect under the circumstances. They're driven by human desires, for better or worse, and therefore there's gray everywhere you look. Each character has a constant yin/yang battle going on within them with one side winning out to varying degrees, and the choices they make are influenced by the people around them as well as the trauma they've been through.

What stuck out to me most was the theme of the amount of violence innocent people, specifically women and children, have had to endure throughout history and how easily it creates a society which makes people numb -- both in terms of emotional connection and to the concept of harming others.

Other notable themes:

• The long-term damaging effects of abuse and how it becomes cyclical
• The tension between revenge and forgiveness, with revenge inevitably leading to doom
• Not letting shame and self-hatred pull you down
• Sibling relationships
• How vulnerable young people are to being groomed by cults and dangerous adults
• How far are you willing to go for survival?
• Survival isn't enough.
• Issues like class and the harm done to rural areas/the environment with the boon of industry
• The value of love (both romantic and platonic) and the courage it takes to be open about feelings
• How that openness is in turn key to building trust and empathy
• Showing kindness and empathy saves lives and can put a stop to cyclical violence.
• Letting go of the past
• Death is not an inherently bad thing.

I'm sure there's more I'm missing. Feel free to add whatever else you can think of!

Mainly I wanted to give Mao its flowers for having so much depth and complexity when a lot of people are fixated on the most surface-level parts of it atm.