>>281798300
ma is a letter that overwhelmingly just means "magic" in anime, and i know it's had a strong ominous/evil creature kind of vibe even back when they made it a slur for nobunaga.
neutral or positive spirits in anime are called seirei, yousei, yourei, full of letters meaning "soul", "vital spirit", and they're usually pictured as holy.
TL oddities happen from time to time when CR trannies write "demon lord" , like in tensei slime, but the maou are just kings of magic-infused humanoids, while the more demony demons get introduced later.