Forum - View topicREVIEW: MAO GN 1
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MangaNeko
Posts: 139 |
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I have been waiting for this series’ English release. I was so happy Barnes and Noble had one on the shelf almost 2 weeks before normal release date. It does seem Mao does come from the Heian era, which is a few hundred years before Sengoku. I believe Mao is officially an onmyoji, unfortunately they chose exorcist for the translation. I will not be surprised an anime is announced eventually. Yashahime has another season, which will give Takahashi more time with Mao. Mao volume 9 came out recently in Japan and I fully expect Mao to be 25+ volumes at least. I just hope the anime is not like InuYasha:Final Act, which covers like 25 volumes of manga.
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Wyvern
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I have yet to read Mao, but setting the story in the 1920's is interesting. But I'm wondering how much it actually resembles the actual 1920's? The era seen in Inuyasha didn't seem to resemble the actual historical period much at all. The Sengoku era in Inuyasha was, in practice, basically a fantasy world (heck, in Yashahime they just give up and start calling it "the other world") where magic is everywhere and Japan consists of a few villages that are constantly under attack by yokai; plus, no actual wars seem to be occurring despite it being the Warring States Period.
That's not something that really bothered me about Inuyasha (it worked fine for the story that series was telling) but I think one thing that would help Mao stand on its own would be if its time-travel setting was more accurate and less fantastical than Inuyasha's, since people are inevitably going to compare the two. |
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Marinekineko
Posts: 1 |
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In my opinion, this is not a fair review for MAO. It's quite simplistic and the comparissons made (while necessary) weren't well done. Also, I have the strong feeling that the reviewer is not familiar with Rumiko Takahashi's works, nor with japanese culture. Confusing terms, and implying that this manga has a recycled plot makes me think there hasn't been a proper research. Many people could be discouraged from reading MAO because of the scarcity in its description. I hope these reviews improve in the future.
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Brun_Ursus
Posts: 1 |
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Mao originally belonged to a time 5 centuries older than Inuyasha's sengoku period, saying that they are from a similar time is like saying that our current world is like the 1500's
another thing about the designs. They are obviously similar to the rest of Takahashi's works, it's the thing with having a distinctive and recognizable style. I find it curious that when talking about authors like Tezuka or Masami Kurumada "recycling" designs is a curiosity of the author, even something favorable. But if Takahashi does something fairly similar to a previous design, then it is a criticizable defect |
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Gaby Rodríguez
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This review is wrong in SO many ways and the person in charge of it shows a huge ignorance about Japanese culture by generalizing everything considered as "similar".
The moment I read Mao was an "exorcist", I knew this person hadn't even read the manga. This is NOT a fair review. What a way to denigrate the work of Rumiko Takahashi... |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2656 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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"Exorcist" is the word used by Viz in the official translation. As was mentioned in the first post in the thread, the original term was "onmyoji." |
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Nakyome
Posts: 1 |
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I don't think saying Mao has the same elements as Rinne or Inuyasha is fair.
This Review instead of motivating people might made them think that this is the same as the previous Takahashi's works when it isn't. Mao has a big potential but sadly, with this kind of reviews people might pass from read it and don't give an opportunity to this awesome series. Also, by reading the first volumen doesn't give you the complete plot, and people who follow the manga will assure that we still do not know who' s the villain (and in the review they Say that is Haimaru the cat). Removed 'how dare...', we don't do that kind of stuff here. |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 3036 Location: Email for assistance only |
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Okay, evidentially this link got shared somewhere and we've got a lot of posts reiterating the same misconceptions and faux outrage.
This review gave the first volume a B. The presumptions about Rebecca's knowledge is laughable to anyone who reads this site regularly. This is starting to look like an attempt to comment swarm here, which isn't very cool. |
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MagicPolly
 Posts: 1625 |
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I've been meaning to read MAO for a while. I'm wondering how I'd end up feeling about it as someone who has no experience with Takahashi's other works aside from one episode of Rin-ne. The comparisons are fair though, since on the surface it does seem to borrow a lot from her other works.
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Hiju
Posts: 9 |
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I wonder if those three comments criticizing the review are done by the same person since they all have joined on the same day and they all have only one post. They even commented almost sequentially.
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16963 |
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Perhaps I am being a bit pessimistic, but I would bet money it will head down familiar paths. Which I suppose if you have enjoyed her previous works then that won't bother you. For me personally I would enjoy a bit more difference between this and her previous works when it comes to tropes, story elements, etc. Especially when it comes to any sort of romantic development between MC's which historically has taken ages to develop. Rinne for example to me felt too similar to her many previous works and didn't stand out enough. Hopefully Mao won't follow suit as I am a fan of her artwork, and several of her older titles. |
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vol.2
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I would be interested anyone's more current impressions of the manga as it seems to have moved quite far along since the 2021 publishing of the original review. RT's romance territory aside, I have a feeling that it's probably just another Inu Yasha clone like before. I kind of wish she would do something with a different topic again other than feudal or yokai. My favorite has always been Maison Ikkoku, and then Urusei Yatsura. |
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Shay Guy
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I'm still (mostly) up-to-date on Mao. I only ever read like one volume of Inuyasha, but I do recognize the similarities with Mao, though with the heroine going to the Taisho period instead of the feudal era. (I think I've seen commentary on Inuyasha brushing over Kagome's modern-day life -- "So is she still, like, going to school and stuff between adventures on the other side of the well?" -- which is very much like how Mao's been treating Nanoka.) My big issue with Mao, I think, is that the character dynamics feel so uninteresting, to the point that it makes it hard to remember who everyone is. Even the central couple doesn't have anything more interesting going on than Nanoka wanting to be more useful in a fight and Mao being upset about her letting Akanemaru taking too much of her blood. By comparison, Kagome and Inuyasha's "Osuwari!" shtick is still iconic. Long-term plot development is less about relationships changing and more just learning more lore about stuff that went on in the Heian era. One of the things that interests me most about Takahashi's career is how she had an incomparable 30-year run, with four major hit series, revolutionizing shonen and seinen romance manga… and then her sales figures plummeted. And when I compare RIN-NE and Mao to what I've seen of her earlier serials, the big thing that jumps out at me is the lack of interesting conflict between the leads. Takahashi's romcom bickering is legendary, even though there was long a contingent of fandom that hated one lead or another, or both, for it. And I guess those people got what they wanted? RIN-NE still had some of that Ranma energy in the conflicts with the side cast -- Sabato Rokudo in particular has serious Genma energy -- but Sakura and Rinne themselves fall flat. They're nice. He's always broke (partly because he charges so little for his services); she's almost comically chill and go-with-the-flow. That's mostly it. And in Mao, there's even less that stands out among its cast. The Mao/Sana/Yurako dynamic is interesting, I guess? |
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