MAO ‒ Episode 4

© 高橋留美子/小学館/「MAO」製作委員会

It's almost hard to believe we're only on episode 4 of MAO. Despite how little time has passed, the show already feels fully set up and has found its footing as a mystery show, despite admittedly got a lot going on in the background. Rumiko Takahashi's always had a knack for fast-paced introductions (even if the rest of the series doesn't get pacing at the same mach speed) that tell you exactly what kind of series you're in for, and MAO is nothing if not testament to how much she's honed that skill. I couldn't help but think, this week, that in the hands of a less experienced writer, it would take them at least twice the amount of time it took her to establish the same things, which is a good sign!

Still, as a mystery series, I'm still on the fence about whether or not I think MAO works. I say that because a lot of the fun of mystery series is trying to solve the mystery, but we, the audience, can't hope to do that when we're not on the same page as the characters about what the rules of this universe are. When the supernatural is on the table, and the rules governing them are hazy at best, we can't really intuit things the way we could in a more traditional mystery series. We can't, in short, reliably assume at any point that we have all the information we need to solve it—in fact, we can't even be sure we'll get it the same way the characters will. MAO could make up for that by at least letting things unfold excitingly, and I'd say in those terms, this week's mystery was somewhere in the middle of the road. In short: it's still a bit too early to tell whether or not MAO works as a mystery series.

Still, there was at least one thing I really appreciated about this episode, and that was the reference to the Great Kanto Earthquake, close to the episode's end. I haven't read the manga, so please don't confirm or deny this if you know. Given the sheer gravity of it and how soon it's supposed to happen, I doubt this is the last we'll be hearing of it. And what I appreciate about this is that one of the biggest shortcomings of Inu Yasha (I know, I know—I promise this is the only reference to it I'll make this week) is that Takahashi did so little with the historical setting of the show. References to actual historical people, places, and things were remarkably few and far between, making the setting feel like little more than an aesthetic more often than not. So it's good to see Takahashi not wasting the wonderful setting she's got by making tangible use of the historical setting this time around, and I have little doubt that it'll be much to her advantage.

This episode had its ups and downs, but I wouldn't call it anything exceptional. It works as a good way to keep us easing into the world of MAO, but I don't see myself thinking back on it too much as the series goes on. Still, even if it wasn't anything especially memorable, it also made for a mystery with a solid enough execution, and sometimes series fail to deliver on even that, so at least for the time being, I think that's good enough to keep me from nitpicking. So far, so good, but I hope things keep ramping up as the series continues.

Rating:

MAO is currently streaming on Hulu.