2:24 p.m. - Monday, Jul. 11, 2011
Mouryou No Hako Review 8/10
*The Following Anime is SEINEN and is meant for an ADULT, MALE audience, though other genders can enjoy this as well. Children under 13 are advised against this*
The story begins with two school girls who become really close. They are supposedly reincarnations of each other, and after they die, they become each other. One school girl is very mature and beautiful. Her life is a secret. Her name is Kanako. The other girl admires Kanako. She has a horrible life, living with her mom, who is obsessed with "Mouryou"-demons and spirits. She believes her daughter to be possessed by an evil spirit as well. During one particular episode, Kanako is pushed before a moving train and is hospitalized. This leads Detective Kiba to investigate.
Meanwhile, several body limbs have turned up around the town...the limbs of young girls. Segikuchi, and two other men, eventually join in the case to find the connection.
I will be discussing the story, the characters, the anime design, and the theme music.
Story-The story is VERY complicated. From the beginning, I had no clue what was going. At first I thought maybe it was just the subs were a little faulty, but after getting accurate translations and speaking to Japanese speakers, I realize that this really was just a very confusing anime. The story is complex and very deep. It is a story about spirits and demons, but most importantly, how spirits and demons are often seen as real, when really they might not be necessarily. There are many satirical elements floating in the story. It takes some deep, deep thinking, a bit of a rewind, or maybe a second watch to really grasp what this whole thing is about. I mean, it's pretty obvious this is a murder and investigation story, but who is being murdered, why, and what the true investigation is about completely flew over my head for a while, and I fancy myself a deep thinker. I am normally able to grasp abstract concepts such as this anime, but the story was so complicated that I didn't really understand even a little until the end, and even still, I am baffled. It's a bazaar and baffling story. Many times, it's hard to see how the story connects at all, and in many instances, it seems like three or four different stories are being told at the same time. Scenes don't happen in succession but is rather all over the place. It's very important that you pay attention to dates and times. At first, I ignored them, but with this anime, I finally saw the importance of the dates and times towards the end. The story takes place in 1952, after WWII, and the nation is just starting to recover, and adapt westernized ideas. That's another thing that might be a bit confusing. Some things in the anime that seem normal to us might seem a bit suspicious to some of the people in the story. For instance, the recorder. I have a hard time believing there was an actual voice demon in there, but the fact that it was a recorder of voices might have freaked them out. Or maybe the voice carried an evil spirit. Not sure...but again, this story is not for the simple-minded AT ALL. The story starts making sense towards episode five to episode seven, around there. But even still, you have to keep it. For me, however, this challenge was the most exciting part and so I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Most stories try so hard to be this complex, and try so hard to grasp a mature audience. This story doesn't have to try anymore. They have succeeded in creating one of the most complex stories ever invented. The story will blow your mind. It's a supernatural feel, mixed with detective mystery and horror. Later, towards the end everything makes sense, so don't give up on it yet! Even those simple-minded ones, don't try to figure it out and just wait until the end. Me and my sis figured out who did what in the beginning, it's just things got a little confusing, but they got back on track in the end. This story focuses on darkness.
Characters-The main characters are really unknown to me, BUT according to posters and many other advertisements, the main characters are Kiba, Sekiguchi, Eno, and Kyogokudo. Initially, these men seem unrelated, as if they have their own separate individual stories that have nothing to do with each other. With some of them, we recognize that they know each other somehow, but it still took me a while to realize that they were really all investigating the same thing. They all don't seem to be detectives, but I think they are. They all add to the investigation. Some seem more clairvoyant than others, two in particular. Kiba has a "Kurogane" (Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles) feel to his personality, you know, the angry, up tight been-through-a-lot kind of guy. He has these weird flashbacks of WWII. Eno is the easy, breezy, funny guy, who says whats on his "clairvoyant" mind. Sekiguchi is most suspicious...he's an author, and is the most dense, shall I say. He ACTS like he's not particularly interested in occult studies, but I think somewhat deep down, he is putting on an act...And last is Kyogokudo, who seems to be the wise expert on the whole manner. He seems to have strong clairvoyant tendencies and yet always has a logical explanation for them. He is the key hero of the story. He is not an active guy, and is known to "beat around the bush" with everything, even when it comes to explaining things, but once he does he uses clear logic. My favorite character is Eno-San! Funny man! To mention, some of the character designs are by CLAMP! I was really excited about this. When most people think of Clamp they think of Cardcaptor Sakura and Tsubasa, but this is more on the lines of XXXHolic, especially in design. Of course, Madhouse, another great animation team, designed the rest. The characters are interesting, but very confusing and just as complex as the rest of the story. Though they seem one-dimensional in many instances, they have complexities to them that allow them to grasp your attention. Of course, the development isn't strong, but it is there. My favorite part is that most of the characters love to read and write. It seemed like a horror designed for writers alone, which makes me feel a tad bit special, he he.
Anime Design-Think XxXHolic, and you've got this anime, minus the ridiculous lanky-ness of the characters in XxXHolic, and the over-the-top anime movements. The anime is serious, and everyone keeps a cool look about them. But the style, the color, shading...it all reminds me of XxXHolic for some reason. Autumn toned colors and shades, particularly in the clothing. Come on, this is the vintage era. It has a rich darkness.
Theme music-I think the opening theme's sound doesn't fit for me. It seems like it's made for a Shonen. The ending is perfect. Both lyrics go well with the nature of the anime, and the complete soundtrack is what you would call classical. Soft sounds, which is why the opening seems to be out of place. The ending song is dark sounding to me, so I feel that it goes with the horror mode.
Overall, I give this anime a 9/10. It is quite interesting, a little slow and very hard to understand at times for most people, though that's what I enjoy most. However, it is a forgettable anime. I personally feel it is an average murder story, told in a more original way, by jumping the times around a bit to confuse us so we can piece it together by paying attention to the dates...but it's still a good watch.
~Over and Out~
