MAO (2021)

[MAO（マオ）]

Volume 9

Author/Artist: Rumiko Takahashi
Publisher: Shounen Sunday Comics

Synopsis:
Mao and Nanoka cross paths with Natsuno while pursuing their latest case.

Story/Characters:
The case surrounding the murdered shaman prompts a deeper dive into Natsuno's past, particularly an episode that involved Kamon that makes her exact nature rather nebulous, something that isn't helped by the fact that Natsuno herself doesn't clearly remember everything. We then pursue some travelling performers who seem to be linked to remote villages being wiped out. We see some good teamwork from Mao, Kamon and Natsuno, with Nanoka contributing a bit as well. (It's amusing that with her Byouki powers, Nanoka holds up pretty well in the fight and has the leisure to complain about one of the critters leaving a bite mark after her corrosive blood melts the thing away.) Back in the present day, Nanoka starts high school with the first reference to the coronamadness I've seen in a manga. (I can fully sympathize with mangaka not wanting to deal with all the characters in friggin' masks all the time.) Although Mao is going to celebrate Nanoka's academic advancement, they get sidetracked with their next case, involving a schoolgirl who was cursed, prompting Nanoka to go undercover at the school. We encounter Hakubi's female lackey Kagari. After their encounter, Kagari succeeds in landing a curse that allows her to bring Nanoka to Yurako. We've been piecing together the mystery around her for a while now and we finally get more of the big picture straight from the horse's mouth, closing on a cliffhanger that promises us with more about her relationship with Mao.

Art:
The art is solid as ever. The fight with the travelling performers was pretty decent and I like Nanoka in the old-style school uniform when she goes undercover.

Conclusion:
If you're wanting to know more about Natsuno and Yurako, we get some pretty big pieces of the puzzle. I know this isn't the first time Nanoka has gone undercover, but I enjoy when she does it and the dust-up with Kagari is pretty good. This one is definitely worth a read.

Rating:
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