What better way to kick things off than with a shot of SEKIGUCHI holding a bloody cleaver in front of a girl's body parts strewn about the background? Oh no, that's not me being sick, that's the beginning of the episode. If you think that's disturbing, and you have already watched it, you may have unwittingly skipped over the implication that there will not be - there *cannot* be - a magic bullet solution to this case, because there is no single culprit to accuse. Hell, at this rate we may need a magic Uzi. That, my friends, is far more disturbing.

The iconic serial killer who commits string of unique crimes invites the idolatry of copycats, a possibility that lurks dangerously in the background of a murder investigation as additional victims are discovered. However, if the details remain concealed from the public, the notion of copycats cannot congeal into a distinct possibility. How can one copy what one has never seen?

Though Kiba bases his assumptions on this logic for a short while, all of his educated guesses go flying out the window when he learns about Dr. Mimakasa's past involvement with the military. Arranged alongside the military's plans to engineer an immortal soldier, the scene from the beginning of the episode and sightings of a darkly-dressed man wearing white gloves point to a multi-person operation, compared to which the quickly fading prospect of a lone killer actually seems... inviting. (Note: If you aren't watching this series, you NEED to be watching it. Seriously.)

Medical experimentation. Military research. Murder.

We are only four episodes in and I am ready to bow down in awe. This is anime at its finest. The first, monstrous segment of the episode rains shuddering impact after impact: bloodstained Sekiguchi wonders aloud why his latest 'experiment' failed as his subject's empty gaze stares into nothing, her body in pieces on the ground; the OP airs, then the episode picks up right where it left off last week, bombarding us with stills of the party's contorted expressions - astonished, bewildered, puzzled faces - while frantic echoes gather up the pith of their verbal crossfire. Kanako has disappeared! Suzaki is dead!

The police snap into ready rank and file, and one can almost hear the gears of an official investigation cranking slowly into motion. Kiba retreats to another room with Fukumoto and Youko; there, he desperately entreats her for her trust. Why can't she give him more answers? What is she not telling him? "Who is your real enemy?", he growls as he leans close, his eyes gleaming passion. She replies in barely above a whisper, "...you." The animation is staggering. The emotion, utterly palpable.

It is not over. Kanako appears in the next scene, or rather, a grey-haired and gold-eyed semblance that could just as easily be her apparition as her weakened, bedridden body. She watches Yoriko, Youko and Kiba, bathed in blue, as though through the watery lens of a dream. The three fade like a distant memory; sleep's seductive embrace again pulls her beneath the surface of consciousness for an indefinite stretch of time.

She awakens next in a stark white room, and watches bodiless limbs ascend the walls and fall abruptly through a trap door in the roof. The sheet covering her flies off in a fury, revealing - horrifyingly - mechanical limbs where her real arms and legs ought to be. Their cranking sound is ghastly, alien. She sleeps. AMEMIYA's voice is the last to greet us, as evil, greedy eyes peer inside a metal box to gaze at her sleeping body and gloat at the "work of art" before them. A train whistles, as the screen fades to black. [Commercial break.] WTF??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?

I'm loving the 1950's feel.

I usually dislike writing summaries in episodic posts because I assume, perhaps wrongly so, that readers have either seen the episode already and have no need for a rehash of what they already know, or haven't seen it and would much rather not have it all spoiled. However, the aforementioned arrangement of scenes is an unusual case; it is so powerful that even if you have seen it already, it is worth watching again to contemplate its tremendous impact. Each scene is an important piece of a masterful narrative that rotates round and round its mainspring, grinding a bit deeper into the gravelly mystery with every revolution.

After having ruminated upon Kanako's kidnapping and even borne witness to her dreamy interpretation of the surgeries she is being subjected, we are ready to step back into daylit reality and examine the murder incidents Sekiguchi referred to in Episode #02. During the first two or three weeks of September, a total of four victims are identified as the original owners of several limbs found packed neatly into boxes and tucked into random corners of people's compounds. Kiba is officially off the case, unfortunately, and must ponder the meaning of all this from the sidelines (his "base camp", as it were) of a nearby apartment, completely reliant upon his protege's legitimately acquired information. Amemiya has gone missing.

The townspeople blame a kasha, a youkai said to scatter the limbs of ill-fated cadavers. The detectives know better; however they can do little but for the strange politics at play, which ironically afford Sekiguchi and Atsuko more investigative freedom than Kiba himself. The real professionals are held in check by government eyes, eyes easily blinded by a badge's shiny brass and quick to ignore meddlers who might succeed at any number of transgressions whilst they busy themselves with the minutiae of legalities.

...

I mentioned before that Sekiguchi was a detective, but come to find out - he is actually a successful author with a reputation for dark subject matter. "Personal novels", he calls them, but does that mean that they are about his actual experiences, experiences most authors would only dare explore in imagination? What if the girl from the opening scenes was Atsuko? Her hair and eyes are a different color, but then again, they are the same color as Kanako's hair and eyes in her dream. More intriguingly, when could this have occurred? Let us not forget that we are still in flashback mode. Sekiguchi's little bloodstained pout could have happened long after all the other events had played out, which exchanges what little relief might have been offered by knowing that he isn't a suspect in the current case for the assurance that this dark, dark story has no end in sight.

Revelations about Mimakasa's military involvement are what tie everything together at the end of the episode, so we know for sure that the militaristic origins of the medical experimentation are going to play a significant part in the story. And considering how Kiba has another haunting vision of soldiers being fragged towards the end of the episode, I'm wondering if the military won't play a huge role in the case, or if there are some very troubling memories Kiba has forced out of his head that could be relevant to the investigation. He clearly harbors unresolved emotional ties to his past as a military man. How potent are they, and how will they affect his character in episodes to come? Yoriko has already gone off the deep end, Youko has revealed herself to be a liar (albeit a beautiful, stunning, gorgeous one), so Kiba, you must remain strong and preserve your integrity to the very end!

The seemingly unconnected murder cases may actually be linked to Kanako's kidnapping if Dr. Mimasaka's method truly was to assemble an eclectic assortment of body parts in Frankensteinish fashion. The killer could be collecting limbs here and there for his bitter business, selecting only the ones that suit his taste and casting aside the rest. Prostitutes would be a relatively easy target; after all, the man with the white gloves can be seen claiming one as his latest victim in the middle of the red light district where no one thinks too much about the dirty dealings going on around every corner and in every dark alley. But why go through the trouble of placing the limbs in boxes? Mimakasa Medical Hospital had received little press before, so wouldn't this only generate more unwanted attention? I'll leave the guessing aside for now; I just want to bask in the mood. Until next week! ^_^

Next Episode:

Yay! More characters from the OP!

I have come to the conclusion that Mouryou no Hako must be blogged at any and all cost. Impz says it is an impossible series to blog, and he may be right. There are layers upon layers that require penetration, scenes upon scenes that demand a still eye and ear, and moments upon moments that beckon us to immerse ourselves in the story's beautiful, terrifying design.

Episode #03 ropes us in right where it left off in its typical whirling-dervish fashion, picking viciously at the periphery of what I am going to conveniently refer to as 'The Box Incident' from here on out, while leaving the core facts cryptically undisturbed. Clues continue to collect, drip by drip -- most significantly, we learn that the giant box that Sekiguchi stumbled upon is actually the "hospital" Kanako was headed for, a grim and grey death-machine far more appropriately described as a "laboratory" than a "hospital." Given the historical context, it seems these incidents happened at a time when professional standards were less stringent, physicians were less scrupulous and curative medicine wasn't as far divorced from scientific experimentation as one would expect... or hope.

Kiba is looking more manly than ever.

Actually, before backpedaling to the train incident, we get an utterly terrifying glimpse into psycho-physiological assaults that Yoriko and Kanako are/were subjected to at various points in time. A young lady (Kanako?) awakens under hospital lights to find herself being dissected by "demons", hinting at the truth behind her "treatment"; next, a flashback(?) scene shows a crazed mother-figure suddenly leaping forward and strangling a young girl. Scared the crap out of me. It all happens so quickly that it is difficult to who is who in each scene. The patient under the knife is probably Kanako, and if you pause the video and take a closer look at the next scene, you might recognize the assailant's bland, unadorned features as belonging to Yoriko's mother... or I could be wrong. But the identities of the girls in these scenes are of secondary concern. I think the important thing here is that their identities are being intentionally blended and confused, fastening haunting weight to Kanako's proclamation, "You were me in a past life."

The remainder of the episode is a vortex of snapshots from various dates in August; the initial confusion created by the increasing speed of the vortex is relieved by the fact that these snapshots wind tighter and tighter around the selected timeframe, honing in on Kanako's plight. Detective Sekiguchi is out of the picture for now, though we learn he is but a stone's throw away when Detective Kiba briefly complains about the other detective's involvement as he prepares for another day of observation and guesswork. The date is August 31st, not even a full day after Sekiguchi stumbled upon the hospital.

"I have found something to protect."

It is not entirely clear to me why the writers have selected certain scenes while leaving out other parts of the story. If we assume the anachronic narrative is an fundamental part of the original work, we also assume that there is a distinct purpose to each of the sections we are shown, as well as a lack of immediate purpose to the parts that have been queued until later episodes or omitted altogether. The intent, I imagine, is not to obfuscate the facts, but to present the drama in a way that best embraces its cast. Consider -- do we even know what the story is about? Who is the protagonist? Is it Sekiguchi? Kiba? Yoriko? Kanako? Whose tale is being crafted through whose actions, and why?

For me, Detective Kiba was in the spotlight this time around. From what I have gathered of his personality, which is at best a handful of fragments and tatters spread thin by the winds of time, something in him has awakened. There is a purposefulness in his step, a hardness to his jaw, a piercing vigilance in his eyes... his passionate actions betray the fire blazing in his heart. It is the same fire that moved him to tears in the movie theater, and the same fire that had nearly been extinguished by the ghosts of his fallen comrades. It may only be a spark when the episode rewinds to the train incident to fill us in on the details of their ride to the hospital and their introduction to its chief physician and his creepy assistant Suzaki, but surely an ember is building strength. Fast forward to the night when Kiba climbs the stairs to find his lovely Youko, mortified, ransom letter in hand, and quickly rushes over to investigate and to console, and we see that the ember has already roared to life. Suzaki's taunt by the stairwell is all too knowing. He understands why Kiba endures the stifling summer heat every single day. It is not for Kanako, but for Youko, and Youko alone.

Within the hospital-box, devilish, miniature boxes lay strewn about.

Perhaps I've given away my fondness for this love affair. Forget lolitas and harem girls; Youko is a REAL woman and I'm not afraid to admit I am quite captured by her beauty. Sure, maybe I've let myself get a bit sidetracked, but one cannot help but be sidetracked by this anime. There are, after all, so many places for the wandering mind to go! MnH is a fantastic story because it draws from the strength of several sideplots, each with its own ambiance, direction, and unique role within the overall narrative. The new romance that seems to have sprung out of the ashes of Yoriko and Kanako's coffeehouse tete-a-tetes and moonlight dances is no exception. Consider: a detective in love with a damsel in distress (notice the film noir feel) is a much more convincing motivation for this wholly uninviting investigation than honor, which only an epically-proportioned superdetective would work himself to the bone to preserve. Classic murder mysteries have deceived us into thinking that all detectives will resort to such zeal, but the truth is that the world has room enough for only a few Detective Ls. The rest, like Kiba, respectable as he may be, are human. And besides, there is no honor to be gained, just a mystery to solve and a lady to protect. Makes sense to me.

But wait. Is theirs really a love story? Is it really so clean cut? Will the forthcoming events concede to Kiba's heroic notions of protection and duty, or is he inviting betrayal? We need to keep in mind that there are multiple motivations at work here. Perhaps Youko can be absolved of undue suspicion. She *acts* the part of the concerned sister flawlessly, but then again, she is an *actress*. Then there is Masuoka. Kiba, whose sharp eyes let nothing slip by, guesses that the ill-tempered Mr. Masuoka is a lawyer, so there must be the prospect of an inheritance tied to Kanako's demise. And we cannot forget the live-in guardian Mr. Amemiya, ever furtive, peering around corners, timidly offering his help and participation, all the while doing little to free himself or his comrades from scrutiny. There may be more to the situation than Youko is willing to let on, and Kiba might have to find that out the hard way.

There are others: Kanako is under the knife and wire of two doctors who, as far as I'm concerned, might as well be mad scientists. Yoriko's mother is a nut whose paranoia of goblins makes her hate Kanako and drives her mad enough to invite a two-timing hustler of a monk to purge her house -- of yen, if anything, which her male friend and the monk will probably divvy up out of her sight once the deception is complete! (During the exorcism scene, I recalled how one of her dolls looked at Yoriko in the first episode; it occurred to me that the mouryou she blames Yoriko for might be entirely her own doing. We need to watch this woman carefully.) Finally, there is the mysterious dark-haired man who shoves Yoriko, and reminds her in the process that Kanako did not jump in front of the train; she was pushed.

Bizarrely, the story decided to end with Kanako's disappearance from hospital, practically in the middle of Yoriko's visit. I mean, if we know already that she was kidnapped and held for ransom, then why bother with all the fanfare? The note from earlier (later, chronologically) points to a kidnapping, but it happened so quietly and sneakily that we might just wonder, in the midst of everyone's wide-eyed incredulity, if Kanako actually did ascend to Heaven in the mysterious way she claimed all goddesses expire. Until next week...

Next Episode:

This still scares me so much, I don't even like to look at it. You folks enjoy it.

What a gem...! It's fortunate that I've been immersed in literature driven by time-divergent narratives lately, because as exquisite as Mouryou no Hako's animation is, its narrative is the centerpiece and demands a nimble eye. It is based, after all, on an award-winning mystery/horror novel written by the youkai-obsessed Kyougoku Natsuhiko, so any effort that falls short of granting the storyline its due process would be a grave injustice.

If an episode or two cannot secure our unconditional trust that the animation renders a meaningful interpretation of the original, then the mere mention of the names 'Madhouse' and 'CLAMP', at least, should be enough to dispel any fears that this series will fail to be a worthwhile indulgence. Mouryou no Hako is a priceless opportunity for the said animation dream-team to run rampant in its metier; and run rampant, it does - every possible detail has been lavished and arranged with meticulous care. This is a confection to be savored slowly. Deconstruct and reconstruct its component flavors diligently, and enjoy it as it should be enjoyed.

Impz described this series as confusing in his first post, and I don't think that's an unfair assessment. However, MnH is no Gordian knot awaiting a final episode's conclusive blade; it really is a tangle of lives that are all somehow connected to a mysterious box containing a dead woman's head, a tangle that must be untangled in order to fully appreciate the circumstances. Whereas episode one led us gently by the hand, dancing to the motions of Yoriko and Kanako's moonlit love story (after greeting us on a train with a head in a box), episode two leaves us groping in the dark for answers, as it probes two past timelines that explain the beginnings of Sekiguchi's case.

Probing thus, MnH continues to introduce its rich landscape of unique personalities: for instance, Kanako's elder sister Youko Yuzuki is a former star-actress; the ill-tempered Mr. Masuoka, her confidant. Kyougoku Chuzenji is an exorcist; and protagonist Mr. Sekiguchi is revealed to be an esteemed detective that has become dangerously fascinated with the girl in the box for reasons we are only beginning to understand. What manner of mystery will unfold? One thing is certain. Kanako's supposed attempt at suicide brings to light the other characters' relationships to her, which her actual death is tied to more, perhaps, than her mystical musings could foretell.

A graveyard. Way to start with a bone-chilling 'bang'.

Is a week's wait capable of erasing our dread at the possibility that Kanako's collision with the train was fatal? Apparently not mine. Peering between stalks of sunflowers at gravediggers stabbing the earth during the very first scene sent shivers down my spine; I remembered vividly, and immediately assumed the worst. But it was a feint. A foreshadowing feint, yes, but a feint nonetheless. Sekiguchi's memory of his grandmother's burial is used as a jumping off point to explore and discuss themes of death; the strangeness of women; boxes and their otherworldly contents.

Sekiguchi, the very picture of cool composure, is inwardly on the brink of insanity.

The opening is also used to render a creative explanation of his obsession with the woman in the box. I say "obsession" because it is strange enough that a person (even a detective) should take such a passionate interest in case, strange enough that he shouldn't flinch, but rather react with jealousy upon hearing the girl's first words, and yet a bit too strange that he should be hallucinating boxes and heads at every turn.

Out of her head with shock, as expected.

The episode rewinds to the train incident. Despite Yoriko's wretched state, war-torn Detective Kiba remains unresponsive and unsympathetic. He is not a bad person or even a cruel person, but his compassion is buried beneath layer upon layer of toughness and manly decisiveness. His inner state is a tug-of-war between sentiment and duty, the latter of which usually seems to take command. Kiba strikes me as a man drawn to hidden truths like a moth to fire, making for an aggressive detective, one who would involve himself in Kanako's situation, unsolicited, and gain interest as mysteries peek from between the facts. The negative side is that this unyielding interest in obscurities may eventually drive him to extreme measures.

What murder mystery would be complete without a sultry, seductive actress?

One after another, symbols appear that draw Detective Kiba closer and closer into the case. First, it was the familiar image of Kanako's face, tugging at memory. Kiba drives Yoriko to the hospital where Kanako is being treated. Mr. Masuoka awaits him inside and rudely demands his identity on first sight. The two lock horns briefly. It is not long before Kanako's sister (the starlet) appears; her unexpected appearance sends Kiba into an emotional tizzy. A fond memory of one her movies reveals that a passionate heart throbs beneath his gruff exterior, bringing a softness in him that softens his behavior toward Yoriko, at least temporarily. Either by means of intriguing fact, or sentiment, or sometimes both, Kiba is roped into the case by a cascade of coincidences and soon finds himself among Kanako's inner sanctum, peering suspiciously at the adults.

How could he resist those eyes, the eyes of his goddess?

What I find most interesting about this sequence is that while Yoriko broods in a corner, Youko, Mr. Mazuoka, Mr. Amemiya and Detective Kiba continue to analyze the possibility of foul play. No one has tried to force an explanation out of Yoriko, despite the fact that she was on the scene at the time of the incident. No. They continue to chisel away at the possibility of murder as though it were the only feasible explanation and the only explanation they could bear to accept. Suicide, somehow, is unacceptable.

Irrelevant, you say?

And then there are those cryptic allusions to "Kanako not being able to die before [someone]", or her early demise being a convenience for Mr. Masuoka, or "irrelevance". Forget their wildly varying displays of emotion; when they have unscrupulous discussions such as these, as though she were some kind of mutual business investment, we need to separate the teary-eyed hullabaloo from the evils, and see which one effervesces first.

We must approach this mystery as a detective would. MnH only tells us the tidbits we need to know -- while that may imply that there will not be much divulged at once in the way of backstory or conspiracies, by the same token, it also implies that just enough loose threads will be exposed for us to begin picking away at the tapestry whole. Kanako is not dead yet, but will she be murdered before she has the chance to die in a fashion she would have liked? What do they want with her? More intriguingly, is it possible that her "suicide" would have violated an agreement she made with them?

The protective familial instincts have kicked in.

I'll reserve my judgments for Kanako's questionable next-of-kin. A jarring collision with the cold, hard fact that she will die unless transferred to another hospital is what it takes to shake them out of their ponderous complacency and build the tension appropriately. They are all holding their breath when the surgeon steps out of the operating room to deliver a status update: she will live.

"...I heard about it half a month later," interjects the narrator, referring to a murder.

Sunflowers and graves. A drive under the country sunset and a conversation about murder.

Now here's the confusing part: the segue is narrated by Sekiguchi. Meaning that even though he was not present at the previous chain of events, the train incident still ties into *his* story. Although his meaning in the segue is obscure, one interpretation could be as follows: the anime shifts forward roughly half a month (from August 15th to August 30th). The dismembered body of a girl has been found. The implication is that it is either Kanako's body, or the body of the girl whose head is in the box, which may or may not be one and the same. Nothing is explicitly stated. The authorities have located the limbs of the body (in a box, no less), but not the head -- this would make sense if in the present time, Sekiguchi is still chasing after her head.

In this interpretation, the important point to keep in mind is that Sekiguchi gets involved after the train incident. My kneejerk reaction is to assume that the girl is Kanako, but we cannot rule out Yoriko, and above all, we cannot make assumptions about facts that are not supported by evidence. To our knowledge, Sekiguchi has never met either of them alive, and it is unclear what went on in the fifteen days that transpired. Considering how careful the series is about what it lets escape and what it does not, I would prefer to err on the side of caution and keep my eyes open.

And guess whose haunting figures await...

Mr. Sekiguichi is joined in his investigation by a Mr. Toriguchi (the driver and an informant of sorts), and Atsuko, Kyougoku Chuzenji's younger sister. Their pleasant cruise in the sunset abruptly turns sinister (notice how fast the sun sets here) as Toriguchi's proclivity for getting lost leads them swiftly away from their destination and forces a U-turn onto an unknown road. Well, whether lucky or unlucky, one can be sure that some kind of luck is at work. Wrong turn, indeed. Toriguchi is SO skilled at getting lost, in fact, that he manages to lead the trio to a secret research facility patrolled by men in uniform. Surprise! Detective Kiba is there (if Kiba-danna has been away for a stretch of time, you can be sure that somewhere, something juicy is going on!) And guess who else appears? A ominously large box looms in the background like a monolithic ghost.

Next Episode:

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