Rumiko Takahashi's MAO manga receives anime adaptation in Spring 2026

On Monday, July 14, 2025, Bandai Namco Filmworks announced that Rumiko Takahashi's MAO manga will receive an anime adaptation in Spring 2026. The announcement was made with a teaser visual and promotional video. The anime will premiere on the NHK General TV Channel

Mao, written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi, is a Japanese manga serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine since May 2019. The manga's chapters have been collected into 24 compiled volumes. Sunrise picked up the series to produce an anime adaptation.

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MAO anime reveals teaser visual and promotional video

On Monday, July 14, 2025, the newly launched official website and X (formerly Twitter) page of the MAO anime unveiled that Rumiko Takahashi's manga is set to receive an anime adaptation in Spring 2026. The anime will be produced by Sunrise and will premiere on NHK General TV Channel.

This announcement was made with the anime's teaser visual and promotional video. The teaser visual features the anime's protagonist, Mao, against a black background and the series' name written in red. Amidst this, the protagonist is shown wielding his blade and menacingly looking at the audience while having his back turned towards them.

The poster line on the visual reads (machine-translated):

"Residing in those eyes is a 900-year curse."

As for the promotional video, it first focuses on Nanoka Kiba. She seemingly died when she was younger, but miraculously lived on without knowing why. Amidst this, she happened to travel back in time to the Taisho Era, where she gets attacked by a yokai.

The promotional video then gave fans some glimpses from the anime, hinting at the protagonist Mao and Nanoka's past and the 900-year curse. Additionally, the anime revealed the cast members for the four main characters and the staff members.

A scene from the promotional video (Image via Sunrise)

Yuuki Kaji is set to voice the protagonist Mao, and Natsumi Kawaida will voice Nanoka Kiba. Yuuki Kaji has previously voiced Eren Yeager in Attack on Titan and Shoto Todoroki in My Hero Academia. Meanwhile, Natsuki Kawaida has previously voiced Sein in Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Yukimaru in Fena: Pirate Princess.

Joining them are Hiro Shimona as Hyakka and Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Kamon. Hiro Shimona has previously voiced Zenitsu Agatsuma in Demon Slayer and Dabi in My Hero Academia. Meanwhile, Toshiyuki Toyonaga has previously voiced Yuuri Katsuki in Yuri!!! on Ice and Hideyoshi Nagachika in Tokyo Ghoul.

Nanoka Kiba as seen in the anime (Image via Sunrise)

The staff members for the anime at Sunrise are as follows:

• Director: Teruo Sato
• Series Script Supervisor: Yuuko Kakihara
• Character Designer, Chief Animation Director: Yoshihito Hishinuma
• Art Director: Hiroshi Katou, Izumi Hoki
• Color Key Artist: Masumi Ootsuka
• CG Director: Tomohiro Fujie
• Compositing Director of Photography: Akane Fushihara
• Editing: Kazuhiro Nii
• Sound Director: Hiromi Kikuta
• Music: Shuu Kanematsu

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Edited by Gokul Chettiyar