Manga Review: Mao Volumes 14 & 15 by Rumiko Takahashi
Recap: Nanoka Kiba is a modern girl who was cursed by the cat ayakashi (monstrous spirit) Byoki. Among the results is that she can travel between the 21st Century (it’s currently 2020) and the Taisho Era of Japan. In that 1920s setting, she became involved with the life of Mao, an onmyoji (wizard/exorcist) who’s somehow been alive since the Heian Era. They’ve been dealing with both random ayakashi and Mao’s former fellow apprentices of the Goko clan. As we learn more about the past, it becomes more apparent that most of the assumptions that everyone has been operating under are flawed at best. So the mystery of just what happened on the night the Goko Clan fell deepens.
Investigating a haunted mansion, Mao and Nanoka find themselves facing a corrupted well spirit that wants to drown both of them on dry land. Swords do little against the creature–have you ever tried to slice water? But by more fully understanding the nature of her cursed sword Akanemaru and learning more about her connection to Earth chi, Nanoka is able to assist Mao in dispelling the monster and rescuing the well god.
Nanoka’s still weak from the blood she expended using Akanemaru, so she and Mao take a breather chapter to visit a bathhouse, eat shaved ice and view fireworks. On the surface, they seem to be affirming they’re becoming good friends, but both of them seem to be developing deeper feelings.
A new story begins when Mao is called in to help a man who’s seeming unable to rise from his futon and filled with dread. Nanoka sees the shape of needles, and Mao confirms that this curse is related to the metal element. He’s able to lift the curse and send it back to the person who ordered it.
But it’s not Kagari Hosou, the previously encountered needle wielder, who’s responsible, but her elder sister Ayame. Kagari is jealous of her sister, who is the heir to the family business merely by benefit of being born first, and decides she will try to defeat the exorcist who bested Ayame. She quickly learns that Mao is the one responsible, and fails to let this warn her.
Kagari attacks Nanoka in an attempt to get her to turn over Mao for a fight. With her new sword and better mastery of her powers, Nanoka performs much better against the needle wielder than last time. Unfortunately, Kagari mistakes mercy for weakness and escalates to a more deadly attack.
Mao catches up, and Kagari plays her trump card, the Puppet Needle that will turn Mao into a mindless monster if she can strike him with it. But Mao had previously warned her not to do that, and now we find out why–this triggers a spell that makes the needle too hot to hold.
At this point, Ayame shows up to reclaim the Puppet Needle. She reveals that despite what Kagari believed, Ayame is far more skilled at needle curses, and Kagari was loaned out to the Goko clan as expendable. Ayame bears no grudge against Mao at this point, so he allows her to leave as long as she takes Kagari with her.
Back at Goko clan headquarters, Kagari is forced to admit her failure and the cursing of her tool to Hakubi the metal master and Shiranui the water wielder who’s the current head of the clan. Shiranui says he can dispel the curse, but it will take time. Kagari begs to be allowed to stay.
The two former apprentices then discuss events surrounding the Five-Sided Temple where they were apparently cursed with near-immortality.
Then Mao is called in on the case of a traveling peddler who has mysterious magical burns. The peddler barely escaped with his life from a remote village where the mayor “judges” people with a fire-breathing mask. Time for a road trip!
The mask turns out to be another cursed tool, and the “mayor” a former exile who used it to take over the village. He’s not giving the mask up without a fight. And lurking nearby are Sasuga the bubble horn wielder, and the mysterious Mizuchi. The mask is powerful and beats Mao’s most powerful water spell!
This volume continues the battle with the Judgement Mask. Mao tries prying it off the mayor, only to learn it’s melded to the man’s face. Ew. Sasuga reveals his presence, and offers a job with the Goko clan to the mayor. The now fully crazed mayor isn’t interested in working for anyone else.
Sasuga half-drowns the mayor with his water magic, but Mao isn’t about to let the Goko clan get hold of the dangerous mask. He tries to explain why Sasuga shouldn’t do this, but the former rainmaker has decided he likes having steady meals and a roof above his head.
Mao and Nanoka fight Sasuga, and manage to destroy the mask. The now hideously-wounded mayor is willing to work for the Goko clan now, but Sasuga isn’t interested in a mask wearer that has no mask, and the mayor doesn’t survive the encounter. With nothing left to interest them, Sasuga and Mizuchi leave.
Back at Goko HQ, Sasuga apologizes for his failure, but proves he’s still useful by almost instantly removing the fire curse from the Puppet Needle.
Shiranui then confers with Yukako, the woman with Sana’s face about what’s going on at the Five-Sided Temple. She’s sent her ayakashi to investigate, but they were dispelled by a mysterious dark-skinned figure.
Natsuno the earth wielder shows up at Mao’s doorstep to announce that she’s found Yukako. She, Mao and Nanoka go to visit. Mao insists on going in alone, and Natsuno spots that he and Nanoka have advanced somewhat in their relationship. He’s afraid the jealous Yukako will harm the future girl for being close to him.
Yukako has Sana’s heart in a jar, and is using it to fix her face. But she’s now claiming that Sana wanted her to have it! The two sides trade information, and it’s learned that Daigo (Mao’s one friend and Sana’s true love) hadn’t died when it was said he did–but later, under unexplained circumstances.
Yukako realizes that the mysterious dark-skinned, blue-eyed figure at the Five-Sided Temple must be–Daigo! But where has he been all these years, and why is he back?
Mao and Nanoka confer with the wood wielder Kamon, who is now engaged to be wed. Turns out that young heiress Midori is sickly, and after she developed a huge crush on the handsome botanist, and her parents agreed to the engagement to bolster her morale. Except that she suddenly died. Or did she?
At Midori’s family home, Midori is technically alive, but clearly not in good health and looking crazed. It turns out that a local priest had given her a seed that was supposed to cure any illness, but it did this to her instead.
It’s obviously the Seed of Haku, the cursed plant magic Kamon devised. He confronts the priest, who’s been allowing God to decide who lives and dies. Midori is saved, but Kamon must end the relationship.
Yukako reveals to Hakubi that she believes Daigo to have returned, and sends him in search of the mysterious figure, on the grounds that only the former apprentices can kill each other. Mao and Nanoka are also in the area, looking into reports of a cat monster that might be Byoki. They all get entangled in the affairs of star-crossed lovers.
The mysterious figure looks kind of like Daigo, has enormous Earth powers like him, and logically he’s the most likely person, but the figure still isn’t talking. What’s really going on here?
There’s a lot going on here, with almost all the continuing characters having their own subplots. I’m not too keen on the Nanoka/Mao romance subplot, but apparently this is either going to be endgame or a bittersweet ending material.
The art and monster designs are still excellent. The most horrific image is when the Mask of Judgement is partially pulled off, and the Mayor’s face is coming with it.
As usual with Takahashi works, this is likely to drag on as long as the author can come up with new characters and twists to keep the main plot arc from resolving.
If you liked earlier volumes, you’ll like these.
