In the first place, I’ll just say Mao is really growing on me. I think this show has improved more since its first episode than any on the schedule. We have a similar scenario to Yomi no Tsugai with a superstar mangaka taking their time establishing the story, and it’s working. Mao isn’t as flashy or grabby as that series, either visually or narratively. But it has something to it – there’s a chiseled edge here. Rumiko is a pretty fearless writer anyway and at this point in her career, what does she have to worry about? No editor is going to veto her choices and no magazine (much less Shounen Sunday) is going to cancel her.

In the second place, Otoya is the real star of this show as far as I’m concerned. I like Mao and Nanoka just fine but the little shikigami boy is hogging all the best moments. That whole sequence when he emerged from the cellar with the shovel was gold, Jerry. Rumiko does love her chibi mascot characters and they can be hit and miss, but this little Post-it is a hit,  And in the third place, the Shorinkyo is in no way a comment on any modern Japanese cults. Especially not ones who continue to exercise an undue influence on politicians currently in positions of power. Nope, definitely not. No one should think that.

That said, Shorinkyo has definitely studied the cult playbook. Hook people in, steal their property – there’s nothing like the classics. This thing is a colossal mess. It’s Shogen – who turns out to be Priestess Shouko’s father – who’s the prime mover here, even though Shouko at some point clearly had a divining power (and maybe still does). Shogen proudly tells Mao that he’s “studied the secret arts”. He even has a stolen spellbook Otoya finds in the cellar of the cult HQ. But he has no faith in his own abilities, so he offs the parents whose property he’ll steal himself (like Yoriko’s father). Initially by having their kids poison them but – after that almost blew his cover – having them drugged and then finishing them off himself.

The joke’s on him, though, because at least one of his curses actually sort of worked – the one on Yoriko’s father. A demon manifested anyway, though it didn’t kill the man because Sogen never commanded it. This works out well for Mao, who gets the truth out of the demon and then binds it to his own control. Those who play with this sort of fire are going to get burned very badly indeed, and Sogen absolutely does. Justice both temporal and eternal is visited upon him, the cult is raided and the bodies found, and both Sogen and Shouko are arrested. And that’s a cop Shouko is willing to call fair – she knew her dad was up to no good and never took responsibility for stopping him.

That’s the end of the Shorinkyo, it seems. But as her final salvo Shouko shouts a final warning to her followers, urging them to flee the capital. The end of the world is coming, she says – the world shall be split in twain, and tornadoes of fire will sweep Edo. Well, any animanga fan who seems “1923” pop up as the setting should know what to expect. Chekov’s Great Kanto Earthquake is clearly going to be a major factor in the story – the only question is exactly how that’s going to play out.

What we know is the date it happened – September 1, 1923, that’s obviously well-documented. Nanoka notes that the date when she left the past (on her return to the present only an hour had passed this time) was May 8th. Shouko either retains some of the power she thinks she lost or (less likely) she’s not who she says she is. The question is how Mao and his situation is directly tied into the earthquake. Was the Byouki responsible for it in some way? Or, perish the thought, was Mao inadvertently responsible himself?