Last December, a lot of fans were super excited on the news that legendary manga artist Rumiko Takahashi has another manga series in the works. Takahashi is notable for creating popular titles such as Urusei Yatsura, Inuyasha, and Ranma ½.
After a little bit of wait, we are finally getting some details on this upcoming weekly serial which is slated to be released on May 8 in the Weekly Shonen Sunday anthology. Official cover for the release was revealed in the official Twitter account of the mentioned publication’s Editing Department.
On the cover, one of the characters that stand out is a man with two-toned hair and red eyes, which appears to be the main protagonist for Takahashi’s new series. As of this time, there is still no official title revealed for the series however it has a working title, Mao. Depending on the kanji that is being used on the name, it can be either a girl’s name or could be a name for “devil king”.
少年サンデー春の大型新連載＆NEWS！ 福地翼、満田拓也、高橋留美子、福井セイ!!#少年サンデーhttps://t.co/W7QImmgb4K pic.twitter.com/ZE8FkiiYLC
— 【公式】少年サンデー編集部 (@shonen_sunday) April 17, 2019
Weekly Shonen Sunday released a description about the Mao series which says:
The place where two worlds intersect. A mysterious adventure with a fateful meeting between a boy and a girl.
With the description alone, a lot of us would say that this is hinted to be another Japanese fantasy genre series. It is something worth watching out for since Takahashi’s related work Inuyasha has been very successful and ran for 12 years.
While the excitement for another Rumiko Takahashi manga series is keeping us at our seats, it doesn’t hide the speculations that this could be her last manga series that she will be working in her whole career. Previously, people assumed that the “last series” that she will be working on start with an O which will complete the R.U.M.I.K.O. acronym (Ranma ½, Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Inuyasha, and Kyokai no Rin-ne). Takahashi, however, denied the rumors and said that those are just coincidental.
“It was all just a string of coincidences. I couldn’t do anything that embarrassingly narcissistic.” Takashi laughed.
With that said, we can wait for the release of Mao and it’s surely going to win the hearts of many especially those who are long-time fans of her iconic works.
Source: IT Media, Weekly Shonen Sunday, SoraNews24
