Mouryou no Hako TV Animation Official Guide

Title: Mouryou no Hako TV Animation Official Guide
Date of release: 27 March 2009
Price: 2,200 yen (inclusive of tax)
Number of pages: 87
ISBN: 4758011249

Mouryou no Hako DVD Vol 5

Title: Mouryou no Hako DVD Vol 5
Catalog number: VPBY-13260
Produced by: VAP
Number of discs: 1
Date of release: 22 April 2009
Price: 4,725 yen (inclusive of tax)
Total run time: 70 minutes
Contains: Episodes 11 to 13

Mouryou no Hako DVD Vol 4

Title: Mouryou no Hako DVD Vol 4
Catalog number: VPBY-13259
Produced by: VAP
Number of discs: 1
Date of release: 25 March 2009
Price: 4,725 yen (inclusive of tax)
Total run time: 70 minutes
Contains: Episodes 8 to 10

Mouryou no Hako Blu-Ray Disc DVD Box

Title: Mouryou no Hako Blu-Ray Disc DVD Box
Date of release: 22 May 2009
Price: 22,575 yen (inclusive of tax)
Contains: 3 discs
Total run time: 288 minutes for the series and 16 minutes for premium footage, "Chuuzenji Atsuko no Jikenbo - Hako no Yuurei no Koto"
Special premium: 24-pages Mouryou no Hako full-colour booklet, interview with the manga's author, original illustrations from CLAMP
Audio commentatories for: Ep 6, 10 and 13

Mouryou no Hako DVD Vol 3

Title: Mouryou no Hako DVD Vol 3
Catalog number: VPBY-13258
Produced by: VAP
Number of discs: 1
Date of release: 25 February 2009
Price: 4,725 yen (inclusive of tax)
Contains: Episodes 5 to 7
Total run time: 70 minutes

Mouryou no Hako DVD Vol 2

Title: Mouryou no Hako DVD Vol 2
Catalog number: VPBY-13257
Number of discs: 1
Date of release: 21 Jan 2009
Price: 3,150 yen (inclusive of tax)
Contains: Episodes 3 & 4
Total run time: 47 minutes

Mouryou no Hako DVD Vol 1

Title: Mouryou no Hako DVD Vol 1
Catalog number: VPBY-13256
Number of discs: 1
Date of release: 21 Dec 2008
Price: 3,150 yen (inclusive of tax)
Total runtime: 47 minutes
Contains: Episodes 1 and 2

Mouryou no Hako OST

Title: Mouryou no Hako OST
Catalog number: VPCG-84889
Number of CDs: 1
Date of release: 21 Dec 2008
Price: 2,500 yen (inclusive of tax)



Track List:

1. Lost in Blue(TVサイズ)
2. 魍魎の匣 ～main theme ～
3. 月光
4. 惑い人
5. 魍魎の匣～orgel～
6. 蒼月
7. 憑物落
8. 逢魔～solo pf ver.～
9. 儚き刻
10. 誘
11. 匣ノ壱
12. 薄暮
13. 儚き夢
14. 崩壊
15. 逢魔 ～orgel～
16. 帳
17. 急転
18. 惑い刻
19. 匣ノ弐
20. 朧
21. 錯覚
22. 十六夜
23. 魍魎
24. 帝銀
25. 遠き日
26. 匣ノ参
27. 月光 ～orgel～
28. 逢魔
29. 魍魎の匣～solo pf ver.～
30. NAKED LOVE(TVサイズ)

Review of Mouryou no Hako Ep 1

Mouryou - a collective word to describe spirits which reside in mountains, rivers, trees, stones and tombs. So is this anime about spirits which are in boxes?

Just from the title of this anime you may be under the impression that the story is all about horror. However, after finishing the first episode, I think it is more of a mix of horror, supernatural happenings and suspense. Especially since there are lots of mysteries surrounding the characters who have been featured so far and that the key person, Chuuzenji has yet to appear (he's like an exorcist who seems to end up providing the solution to the mystery), I guess we will have to wait and see before we can ascertain which direction the anime is heading towards. Will they be heading more towards the horror scenes or put more focus on the reason why certain things are happening?

In the scene which takes place on the train, Sekiguchi Tatsumi, who is heading home for his grandmother's funeral, meets a mysterious man who sits opposite him and has a strange box on his lap. When he hears some sounds coming from the box, the man opens the door and Sekiguchi is shocked to see a head inside which is surrounded by flowers. I can't judge whether this head belongs to a boy or girl though. Although this event may seem random and not have much meaning, Sekiguchi seems to be quite affected by what he has seen and that may have something to do with the main plot introduced in this pilot episode.

The two main characters in this particular arc are Kusumoto Yoriko and Yuzuki Kanako who are classmates. Kanako seems to have everything in the world i.e. brains, beauty and charm while Yoriko's family is poor, she's quite plain and boring. In short, they are people who are extremely different from each other. Nonetheless, Kanako approaches Yoriko and they soon become close friends.

However, something is not quite right about their friendship. Or at least that's what I feel. It appears that Yoriko is mesmerized by Kanako to the extent of appearing as if she believes wholeheartedly whatever Kanako tells her. For example, the part that they are each other's past lives just seems like a concept which Kanako is administering into Yoriko's mind without much resistance on the latter's part. My guess is that Yoriko has been too lonely for ages and Kanako's companionship makes up the void in her heart. As such, Yoriko may be willing to listen to Kanako and believe her without any doubts. Of course, this is frowned upon by Yoriko's mother who seems to be seeing a doll maker, Sasagawa. This Sasagawa seems to be another puzzling figure as he gave a doll which appeared to have a soul to Yoriko. I don't know whether this was deliberate though. Well, it is no wonder that Yoriko freaked out and views Sasagawa as a suspicious figure.

At the end of the episode, we are faced with the mystery as to why Kanako committed suicide (or so it seems) and what significance this has on the events that would follow. From the way it looks now, I think the anime will be divided into a couple of main arcs so it would probably take some time before we can know what is going on.

One funny thing is that the main character Chuuzenji Akihiko is still missing from the story. I suppose he would only appear when someone enlists his help to solve the mystery.

With regards to the OP and ED, the former is OK but I didn't like the ED at all. I wonder if NIGHTMARE is somehow related to NTV in one way or another because it just seems strange for them to be singing themes for big-name animes consecutively despite the fact that they are not that well-known. It appears that this anime will only run for one season so there is little chance for the OP and ED to change. For those who don't like the songs, I guess we have to bear with it.

Mouryou no Hako DVD & BD Box to be released on 21 Dec 2008

Although Mouryou no Hako only started airing this autumn, the DVD release has already been decided as it enjoys a strong following. Vap will release the first volume on 21 Dec 2008 which includes the first two episodes. Total run time for Vol 1 is 47 minutes. There will also be a special hako (box) which allows fans to store all 5 volumes of the DVD release. The first volume will be sold at a price of 3,150 yen (inclusive of tax). The release schedule is on a monthly basis for the next five months following Dec 2008.

In addition, the Blu-Ray Disc Box (BD Box) is scheduled to be released in April 2009.

Release info for OP of Mouryou no Hako - Lost in Blue by Nightmare

Title: Lost in Blue
Artiste: Nightmare
Catalog number: VPCC-82624
Distributor: VAP
Release date: 17 September 08
Price: 1500 yen

Comes in limited and regular edition. Limited edition type A includes bonus DVD with the music video for "Lost in Blue" and one anime-print trading card.

Mouryou no Hako 魍魎の匣 (The spirit in the box) - Autumn 08

Title: Mouryou no Hako
O.A. 7 October 2008
Showing on: NTV
Timeslot: Tuesdays, 1.29am
OP: Lost in Blue by Nightmare
ED: NAKED LOVE by Nightmare
Official website: here





The novel, Mouryou no Hako by Kyougoku Natsuhiko is the 2nd instalment under the Byakkiyakou series and won the 49th Japan Suspense Writers Association Award.

There is a real-life adaptation movie shown in Dec 2007 starring many famous actors including Tsutsumi Shinichi, Abe Hiroshi, Shiina Kippei. More information to be found here.

Mouryou is a collective word to describe spirits which reside in mountains, rivers, trees, stones and tombs.

Cast:

Kyogokudou (Chuuzenji Akihiko) - Hirata Hiroaki
Enokitsu Reijiro - Morikawa Tomoyuki
Sekiguchi Tatsumi - Kiuchi Hidenobu
Kiba Shuutarou - Seki Takaaki
Toriguchi Morihiko - Namikawa Daisuke
Aoki Fumizo - Suwabe Junichi
Kusumoto Yoriko - Takahashi Mikako
Kusumoto Kimie - Tsuda Shouko
Yuzuki Kanako - Tomatsu Haruka
Yuzuki Youko - Hisakawa Aya
Chuuzenji Atsuko - Kuwajima Noriko
Sekiguchi Yukie - Honda Takako
Mimasaka Koushirou - Tanaka Masahiko
Amamiya Noritada - Hiyama Noriyuki
Masuoka Noriyuki - Miki Shinichiro
Fukumoto - Ueda Yuji
Sasakawa - Koyama Rikiya
Ishii - Ugaki Hidenari