Beginning this week on April 4th, the anime adaptation of Mao, Takahashi’s latest printed story, will begin streaming on Hulu in the United States and Disney+ in various other countries. The new anime adaptation will be brought to life by Sunrise, the same production house responsible for both Inuyasha and Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon. With this new anime reportedly set to air twenty-six episodes, anime fans should buckle up for a big new series that flips the script on previous stories from Rumiko Takahashi. Much like in the story of the white-haired demon, Mao sees a young girl transported to a new world where she encounters the titular hero, facing supernatural threats within this new locale.
The Coming of Mao
Courtesy of Sunrise
If this is your first time hearing about Mao, here’s how Hulu describes the upcoming anime adaptation, “Mao, a young mystic who lives in the Taisho period of early 1900s Japan, is a mysterious onmyoji who, after suffering a life-altering curse, has continued to live for nine hundred long years. His world becomes even stranger when he meets Nanoka Kiba, a junior high schooler who seems to have traveled from the future. In spite of her tender years, Nanoka has lived a strange life herself, marked by her traumatic experience as a young child losing both her parents to a grisly accident.”
The description of the anime adaptation continues, “But when Nanoka decides to return to that fateful shopping arcade, she is transported to another time and place – a world where supernatural ayakashi thrive in an era long before her own. There she meets Mao, whose abrupt and bizarre question prompts Nanoka to see herself and her curious life in a completely new light. Now the two travelers from different worlds unite as they take on the dark powers that grip both their lives. Rumiko Takahashi’s long-awaited anime adaptation is about to come to life. A shadowy world of mystery and time-devouring curses awaits!
The cast will include Yuki Kaji as Mao, Natsumi Kawaida as Nanoka Kiba, Hiro Shimono as Hyakka, Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Kamon, Momoka Terasawa as Otoya, Kazuyuki Okitsu as Shiranui, Motoko Kumai as Funa Uozumi, Yoko Hikasa as Tenko, Risa Shimizu as Sana, Reina Ueda as Yurako, and Takashi Matsuyama as Byoki. Ultimately, it will be interesting to see if Takahashi’s latest manages to hit the same heights as its spiritual predecessors.
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