Short Synopsis: Yoriko calms down a bit and contacts the detective again.
Highlights: Too many to just list here.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (excellent)
With this episode I’m convinced: Mouryou no Hako is going to be THE hit of the Autumn 2008-season. It’s already a very good season, but none of the new shows matches up to it, and in three episodes it accomplished what usually takes three times that length. I’m already engrossed with the characters so far. At first, I was a bit worried about the short airtime, but this series has definitely shown that it knows how to tell a story. The director hasn’t directed a series before, but he’s definitely shown so far that he knows what he’s talking about.
As usual, my Japanese isn’t perfect so I might have missed certain parts (especially that letter that was sent to Yoko. But it seems that the episode starts with Kanako, being brought to a strange hospital that might be able to save her. The detective, Yoko and the guy with glasses whose name I can’t seem to find accompany her. Meanwhile, we get some flashbacks about Shuutarou’s past, when he was still involved with that war that’s still giving him nightmares.
What caught my attention is that there’s a surprising amount of police guards around the place when Shuutarou comes back a few days later. It seems that the explanation for that is that strange letter that Yoko received, though unfortunately my Kanji’s pretty much crappy. What I understood was that someone’s after Kanako. The entire hospital is pretty much strange and unconventional, looking more like some sort of military base. Joshino Suzaki seems to be the most talented doctor around the place.
Yoriko meanwhile has her own problems after wishing her mother do die, while caught up in her emotions. After that, her mother started seeing spirits (Mouryou), and even hires a priest to get rid of them. After that part has calmed down a bit, she remembers how Kanako had some sort of boyfriend. She contacts Shuutarou (who right before that moment sees Kanako’s acquaintance with glasses, who disappears right afterwards). This boyfriend could quite possibly be the one who sent the threat letter.
Yoriko is then brought to see Kanako, who seems to have regained consciousness. It’s faint, but she can recognize her (although the room in which she’s stored is really creepy. What kind of hospital is that anyway?), and she tries to talk to her, but sound doesn’t come out. Yoriko is removed to give Kanako some more rest, but apparently, one of the main detectives in the hospital can lip-read, and it seems that Kanako said something pretty disturbing. When two doctors come to examine her afterwards, Kanako somehow disappears and turns to stone, with two butterflies flying above her bed.
So, there are three people in here that definitely have something to hide: Kanako, her boyfriend and the guy with glasses. I think the latter is merely obsessed and confused with everything that happened, but that boyfriend could possibly form the key to a lot of the mysteries that happened. Although there’s also the matter of Kanako’s body simply disappearing. I think that her boyfriend was the one who introduced Kanako to these strange beliefs, of wanting to ascend to heaven.
I just want to ask one thing: whose idea was it to do with CG? The art in this series is absolutely amazing, and yet there ugly CG-trucks ruin the entire mood. Can’t these people just stick to ordinary drawings or something? CG-trucks are something you’d expect from Gonzo, not from Madhouse.
What also seems strange for this series is that the manga has only been running since past December, and there are only two volumes complete at this point. Will there be enough material to fill this series, and will there be a second season once the manga gets ahead enough? But then again, this is Madhouse, not Studio Deen, and they very rarely go for sequels if they can also go for new concepts. In a way, that’s also admirable, to see that the studio continues to seek out new and fresh concepts instead of milking its own cash-cows, but in this case it remains a pity to see this series end so soon.
There should be enough material. Mouryou no Hako was originally a novel and the manga is only an adaptation of that. But yes, that makes it more likely that this will be only one season.
Well I really hope they are basing the anime on the finished novel not the unfinished manga.
Yeah, it is originally an awarded novel which should have enough material to cover all the things, so don’t worry. Hope they will not do some original concepts which will ruin the series like Claymore = =.
…Also, the novel is the second of a series revolving around an antiquarian bookseller who gets involved in mysteries. So if this first series works well, there’s material for sequels. I don’t know how many novels are in the series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natsuhiko_Kyogoku
Wow, this series is really straining your Japanese, isn’t it? Joshino isn’t a name; it’s his position – “assistant” to the actual doctor, the white haired one.
I have no idea where you got random gloved man in black -> boyfriend, but there is not boyfriend involved at any point, ever. Yoriko just abruptly “remembered” that this man pushed Kanako in front of the train.
The detective cannot lip read, and said he could not make out what she said.
And like other people have pointed out, this is based on a bestselling novel, albeit a really long one. They have plenty of material, and will wrap things up nicely.
I have a hard time to understand what’s so excellent about this. The directing looks rather bad to me. There are too many stretched scenes and some are entirely pointless. Many scenes look like theatre play… not in a good way. The characters behave nonsensical. Apparently they just do this or that because the script says so and not because it looks obvious. The settings looks weird in an exaggerated way.
The color filters are getting on my nerves. The foggy, colored look they use in many scenes gives me the impression that this is all just a dream. The animation is not really great either. Considering that this is really produced for HD, it’s odd that the characters look often noticable distorted when not close-up.
I don’t feel any suspension either, it’s all just borderline boring. There’s still potential but up to this episode this is far from being an exceptionally interesting show. I think there’s also an older live-action movie adaption. I wonder if that’s any better.
I have trouble following the series because it keeps jumping back and forth. Is the decapitated bodies thing around the same time as Kanako getting hurt? What box was the guy talking about – the weird hospital place?
They also have a bad habit of hiding what people are about to say, but in a mystery, not leaving any clues to the audience makes it completely incomprehensible.