Mao

Mao (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine since May 2019, with its chapters collected in 17 tankōbon volumes as of August 2023. In North America, the series is licensed for English release by Viz Media. Plot Eight years ago, Nanoka Kiba was saved from the wreckage of a fatal accident at Gogyō Town Shopping Center. Drawn to the abandoned passage of storefronts on her walk home from school in present day, she becomes inexplicably transported to Japan's Taishō period where she meets the mysterious Mao, a fellow traveler whose arrival at a ghost-inhabited village is simultaneous with hers. Together, they investigate the bizarre events that begin to occur around them, and Nanoka soon pieces together her broken memories of the accident and how she and Mao may have something more sinister in common. Characters The wielder of a deadly longsword, Hagunsei , Mao is a man cursed in many ways. Known as an onmyōji, he searches for the whereabouts of the byōki, a powerful kodoku created from a terrifying ritual. He is also able to lend some of his blood to Nanoka as they share byōki blood. Mao sees himself as sort of a guardian to Nanoka. He is one of the Kou Clan Manor disciples from 900 years ago and lives as a doctor in the Taishō era. A plucky third-year middle school student. She died when she was eight years old, but miraculously still lives on. Now fifteen, she uses an abandoned shopping district passage to travel to the Taishō era and investigate mysterious killings, cults, and disappearances with Mao. Like Mao, she is also cursed by the byōki and can therefore wield the Hagunsei and lend some of her blood to Mao. She currently wields the Akanemaru , a sword that sucks blood from its wielder. She seems to have developed a crush on Mao. A shikigami and Mao's assistant. He is very knowledgeable about medicine and is rational, helping in battle. A shikigami sent by Mao to look after Nanoka. She creates the "disgusting" shakes that suppress Nanoka's byōki energy. A demon with similar appearance to the cat once known as , who cursed Mao and Nanoka to be its unwilling vessels.