Manga Review: Mao Volumes 16-18 by Rumiko Takahashi
Note: This review contains SPOILERS for the first 15 volumes, so you might want to go back to earlier entries if you’ve missed one or more.
Quick recap: Nanoka is a 21st century girl who was cursed by the cat ayakashi Byoki. She discovered that a certain gate for the local shopping arcade allows her to travel to Tokyo in the Taisho Era (1920s). There she meets doctor and onmyoji (priest/wizard) Mao. Mao is unaging, having been alive since the Edo Period. He too has been cursed by Byoki. Together they have to deal with dangerous ayakashi and Mao’s former colleagues in the Goko Clan, some of whom are out to kill him.
Mao meets the reanimated Daigo, and confirms it’s him. But his old friend and skilled earth mage is apparently soulless and does not recognize Mao. Byoki appears and confirms that he was behind the bringing of Daigo’s right hand back to the corpse in hopes this would bring the mage back, but the cat ayakashi has had no luck with talking to him either. Hakubi the metal wielder shows up to capture Daigo. For unknown reasons, Byoki assists the pair in escaping.
Mao pauses long enough to help the star-crossed couple that Daigo had seemed to be assisting. Meanwhile, we learn a bit more about what Byoki is up to with his alliance with Hakubi,
The rest of the volume is taken up with the tale of Hazuki. Hazuki believes herself to be an orphan from the Great Tokyo Earthquake, and assists the thief who rescued her by setting small fires with her mind. We know that she’s actually not an orphan, as Nanoka sees a flyer for a missing child named Hazuki.
The situation is complicated by the thief having been hired by the Otori Clan to kidnap the child, only to have the earthquake and fire make him unable to find his clients or Hazuki’s parents. Now the sinister fire exorcist clan has finally tracked him down and taken the girl.
As it happens, Hyakka, the fire wielder who is one of Mao’s fellow apprentices, was originally from the Otori Clan. He assists Mao and Nanoka in confronting his distant relatives and the new head of their clan. Hazuki has a happy ending, but Hyakka is left with the taste of ashes.
Volume 17 has Soma, the boy with the cursed beast, tasked by Hakubi with an assassination mission. Hakubi wants his underling to become inured to murder, which will both tie him closer to the Goko clan, and bring Soma more in line with the Beast’s intentions.
Natsuno, the earth exorcist, returns after a long sleep. She, Mao and Nanoka go to investigate a politician who’s had his throat slit but hasn’t quite died yet. This brings them into conflict with Soma, who’s come to finish the job. Natsuno is gravely wounded.
This leads to the reveal of Natsuno’s greatest secret. But that just raises further questions, so it’s time to talk to Shiranui, the water-wielder who’s the current leader of the Goko Clan. A rumor is spread that Mao is using the Taizanfukun immortality spell to draw Shiranui out, with Kamon the wood exorcist joining the group. The two sides again exchange information and threats, and the backstory just gets more complicated.
Another cursed artifact surfaces, this one called the Box of Monstrosity. It turns any human or animal touching it into a monster that kills indiscriminately, preferring to take over a person in authority that then slaughters their family or underlings. Renji the fire musician and Sasuga the water shell wielder are sent to retrieve it by the Goko Clan. After a couple of clashes, Kamon and Hyakka join the search.
Eventually, the box is tracked down to a girls’ boarding school. Hakubi also joins the battle, as he’s the only one able to use the Box of Monstrosity safely. The box escapes in the chaos, but Hakubi and Kamon get to meet and exchange formal but hostile words.
Nanoka and Mao visit the ayakashi swordsmith Meimeido to check on the progress of Nanoka’s cursed sword Akanemaru. It’s healing nicely, but Meimeido assures Nanoka that she has more to learn about unlocking its potential.
Then it’s time for Hosho family drama. Kagari, the younger sister, is trying to show that she is valuable to the Goko clan with her cursed needles. But lately, her older sister Ayame has been undoing all her curses with her superior magic skills. What neither of them know is that Hakubi has deliberately set them against each other in hopes of increasing Kagari’s skill and malice.
Hakubi allows Kagari to go to Mei’s garden of death to boost her needle’s power with the poisonous effluvia of the human kodoku. Kagari’s able to ambush her sister, but this calls in Mao and Nanoka, who the impulsive girl is still not quite a match for. Will the sisters ever be reconciled?
The Goko Clan has a new client, a dying man. He’s not foolish enough to ask for life extension, but he has one regret. There’s a village that needs to be destroyed.
Mao and Nanoka learn that Dragon Bone Village has been stricken with first floods and then a drought. Ayakashi waitress Tenko lets Mao and Nanoka know of this and her worries. You see, Dragon Bone Village is also known as The Village of Human Sacrifice, ritually murdering a maiden each time there’s a drought to bring back the rains.
When our heroes arrive, they learn that the drought is artificial, created by Renji and Sasuga. The sacrifice has already been chosen. Sasuga kind of fancies her, and is willing to save her if she will come with him. But the villagers claim that they no longer actually kill the “sacrifice”, and she’s chosen to believe that. The villagers shoo all the strangers away, even if there’s no killing they don’t want outsiders at the ritual. Sasuga shrugs.
You see, the reason he created the drought was so the ritual sacrifice would be performed, getting all the villagers in one spot as the Goko Clan destroys the village and everyone in it. Good riddance except that Mao and Nanoka are down there rescuing the maiden!
There’s no trips back to the 21st Century, though one of the chapter covers features Nanoka with her grandfather and housekeeper just to remind us that’s a thing.
No new continuing characters this time, and little myth arc progression. The “firestarter” and “human sacrifice” arcs are pretty cool in themselves. We get some expansion on the supporting characters, even if most of them don’t go very far.
The art continues to be excellent.
Still recommended to fans of Rumiko Takahashi’s work.
