Line #35 Anime/MouryouNoHako


1	[[quoteright:378:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mouryou2_7921.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:378: ''"...hou..."'']]
3
4	''Mouryou no Hako'' (''Box of Goblins'') is a relatively obscure anime revolving around [[ArcSymbol boxes]], based on the second novel in Natsuhiko Kyogoku's ''Kyogokudou'' series.
5
6	The year is 1952. Japan is still struggling to get back on its feet after its crushing defeat in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The old folk beliefs are slowly being overshadowed by emerging modernization. And amidst the lonely hills and fields on the outskirts of Tokyo, boxes containing the severed arms and legs of unknown female victims keep turning up. A small private detective agency gets involved in the investigation, and along with them, a very different sort of detective: the coldly skeptical ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Onmyodo}} onmyouji]]'', Chuuzenji Akihiko.
7
8	Meanwhile, a young girl named Yuzuki Kanako has gone missing. Her troubled schoolyard friend Yoriko witnessed her falling into a moving train late at night, pushed onto the tracks by a mysterious gloved assailant. Kanako was taken to a strange box-shaped hospital deep in the nearby hills, only to disappear from her hospital bed as if transformed into air. Her washed-up actress sister has employed haunted ex-soldier Detective Kiba to find the severely crippled girl before it's too late.
9
10	And in the pages of an up-and-coming novelist's newest work, a man on a train encounters a gloved passenger carrying a box with a human head inside of it. A head that is, beyond all reason, ''alive.''
11
12	Despite gorgeous animation courtesy of Creator/{{Madhouse}}, and a plot adapted from one of the finest supernatural mystery novels in recent years, this series is still sadly below many people's radars.
13
14	----
15	!!Provides examples of:
16	%%* AllMythsAreTrue: [[spoiler:[[ZigZaggedTrope Maybe.]]]]
17	%% * AlternateCharacterReading
18	* AnArmAndALeg: The killer places the limbs of the girls he butchers into boxes, which he leaves strewn about in various locations.
19	* AndIMustScream:
20	** The fate of [[spoiler:Yuzuki Kanako. She would have been better off had she died the night she was run over by that train. Instead of that happening, however, her [[ParentChildIncest mother/sister]] took her to an experimental 'hospital', where her [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan ex-Unit 731]] dad/grandpa proceeded to cut off all four of her shattered limbs and keep her hooked up to a warehouse-sized room full of life support machines. Then she's stuffed into a box by a man who loves her, and dies one hour later. ''All while being aware and awake.'']]
21	** There's also [[spoiler:Kubo Shunkou, the disturbed perpetrator of the severed-limb murders. Almost religiously obsessed with boxes and closed spaces since childhood, he ends up offering himself to Kanako's dad/grandpa as another guinea pig. When Mimasaka and Youko decide to escape with him (now nothing more than an upper torso and head) in a box, he somehow ''escapes'' from the box and kills Mimasaka by chewing his neck. Kubo seemed happier in the box than outside of it. He was still insane, though.]]
22	%%* AnachronismStew
23	%%* ArcSymbol: Boxes.
24	%%* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: This is what kick-starts the plot.
25	* TheBeautifulElite: Yuzuki Kanako and her sister Minami Kinuko appear to be this at first. Very much [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] later on in the story: [[spoiler:Yuzuki and Minami aren't sisters, for starters. They're ''daughter and mother'']].
26	* BodyHorror: On the most profound, deep-in-your-soul level possible. [[spoiler:For example: how would a head and shoulders, kept alive by wires inside a box, be able to breathe enough to say "...''hou''..."?]]
27	%%* CherryBlossoms: ''Lots.'' Especially in the first episode.
28	* ContinuityNod: Sekiguchi's novel seems at first glance to be a metaphor for what's happening with the Kanako/Kubo case. In truth, [[spoiler:the girl in the book is meant to be Kuonji Ryoko, the [[{{Tragedy}} tragic figure]] from ''Ubume no Natsu'' (''Summer of the Ubume''), the first ''Kyougokudou'' novel (with ''Mouryou'' being the second). But most Western viewers will not have read the previous novel, despite it being available in English.]]
29	* CuteKitten: The Chuuzenjis have a cat (named Pomegranite!) that shows up whenever a scene takes place at their house, and is often shown playing with Enokizu, despite having no relevance to the story whatsoever.
30	* DramaticThunder: Leading to ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: episode 3, 11 and 12.
31	* DrivesLikeCrazy: Enokizu. Unfortunately for the others, he's also one of the few characters in the series who owns a car and actually knows how to drive. And his complete disregard for road rules comes in ''very'' handy when they're in a rush to get somewhere, which happens often enough in a story where crimes occur left and right.
32	%%* TheFourGods: Referenced in several instances by Chuuzenji.
33	* HyperAwareness: Chuuzenji, to the point where, despite not having any supernatural powers, he figures things out before Enokizu, who can use {{Psychometry}}.
34	* MindScrew: To the point where it's almost impossible to figure out what's going on if the viewer hasn't been paying attention well enough. However, the ones who have been paying attention are vastly rewarded for their efforts.
35	%%* MrExposition: Chuuzenji, whose primary function in the plot is this.
36	* MundaneMadeAwesome: Talking scenes are underlined with [[DramaticWind gusts of wind]], dancing is punctuated with torrential amounts of cherry blossoms, and Enokizu's driving is always as maniacal and erratic as possible.
37	* MusclesAreMeaningless: The lanky and delicate-looking biseinen, Enokizu, who can [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom punch WWII veteran Kiba across a room]]. It's even more obvious in the manga series, where we see him simultaneously taking down multiple opponents who're much bigger than him using just physical strength.
38	%%* ParentChildIncest: An important part of [[TheReveal the shocking truth]] revealed near the story's end.
39	* PrettyBoy: Enokizu Reijirou, who, in the novels, is often favourably compared to a European porcelain doll.
40	* {{Psychometry}}: Enokizu can sense and/or see brief visions of things that have left a strong impression on people or objects he comes into contact with, though it appears that he doesn't have to touch them.
41	* {{Reincarnation}}: Kanako believes that she is Yoriko's reincarnation and vice-versa. At the same time. Seriously.
42	* RefugeInAudacity: To Sekiguchi's shock, Enokizu forces his way into Yoriko's house, ''after'' talking to a departing Yoriko. [[spoiler:Good thing he did, though, or else her mother would have brought down the house during her attempt to [[DrivenToSuicide hang herself]].]]
43	* ReligionIsMagic: Averted somewhat. [[spoiler:Despite a large amount of attention paid to Shinto, Buddhism and folklore, the mysteries are shown to be psychological or scientific in nature. The series is probably one of the more truthful representations of ''UsefulNotes/{{Onmyodo}}'' in anime.]]
44	%%* ReligionOfEvil: The Cult of Onbako-sama.
45	* TheReveal: The last two episodes are entirely devoted to the denouement, with exposition galore courtesy of [[MrExposition Chuuzenji]], plus contributions from the culprits.
46	* SceneryPorn: Pretty much every background scene is beautiful and creative in both colouring and design.
47	* SerialKiller: [[spoiler:Kubo Shunkou. If the [[Series/{{Dexter}} Ice Truck Killer]] had lived in the same era, he'd probably be looking up to ''this'' nutcase in admiration. Seriously, Kubo's THAT friggin' messed-up.]]
48	* ShellShockedVeteran:
49	** Kiba, right down to the flashbacks and the stoic facade that alternates with a hair-trigger temper.
50	** Arguably Sekiguchi, since there's no way to know whether his weird personality existed before the war or was completely or partially a result of it.
51	** Averted with Chuuzenji and Enokizu, who were also in the army but saw less front-line action than the former pair and seem to have been far less affected, if at all.
52	%%* ShrinesAndTemples: A couple are shown, most notably that of the Onbako-sama cult.
53	%%* StoicSpectacles: Sekiguchi in front of other people (even his own wife), though his monologues reveal otherwise.
54	* {{Telepathy}}: The entire first half of an episode chronicles the real-life story of Mifune Chizuko, the Meiji-era psychic whose misfortune also inspired ''Film/TheRing''.
55	%%* UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler:Yoriko.]]
56	%%* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:Yoriko.]]
57	* {{Youkai}}:
58	** Not only does the story tie very closely into the myth of the Mouryou, Chuuzenji gives us a downright etymological and cultural low-down of what "Mouryou" actually means.
59	** It's extremely important for understanding things later on. It also helps if you know a bit about UsefulNotes/{{Onmyodo}} and kanji, to say the least.

Context Anime / MouryouNoHako