The first episode of Mouryou no Hako will most likely leave you with no idea of what the show is going to be about—it shows the (somewhat touching) story of two close friends, both of whom have been shunned by their families in the past, seeking comfort within each other. However, at its core, the real story starts off in a classic “whodunit” mystery fashion: The limbs of dead girls are turning up in boxes that are scattered across the Japanese countryside, and there are quite a few people who'd like to figure out why. How are these two plots related, and who is responsible for the murders? Well, essentially, the rest of the series is spent figuring that out. The plot is heavily layered and very complex. That's neither bad or good in and of itself, but simply a matter of taste and comfort. If you're the kind of person who has a tough time remembering names, dates, events, who's related to who, etc. while you're watching, then you'll probably have a tough time with this plot, because there are quite a few things to keep track of. I personally derived a lot of enjoyment from this storyline because, unlike that of many series, it asked a little bit of my brain. If you're looking for something simple and uninvolved, look elsewhere.
You'll note that I said I enjoyed the plot itself. What I had a problem with, however, is the way that it was presented. This is essentially a supernatural mystery story...and yet, most of it is solved on paper and through dialogue. Very little active investigation actually occurs. The detectives receive clues in the form of letters, photographs, books, and other documents which seem to show up at their feet seemingly out of the blue (or through overly convenient plot contrivances). The show suffers from this approach, and from the pacing overall. At least a third of the series is spent in the living room of the main character's house, with all of the makeshift detectives talking about ancient Japanese and Chinese spiritual entities. This discussion is interesting and relevant to the plot, but not interesting and relevant enough to warrant the 60-80 minutes of screen-time that it receives, and you'll probably find that a few of the episodes seem to drag by with not a lot happening. There are frequent flashbacks which make a little bit of progress towards creating the illusion of plot momentum, but they just don't quite make up for the huge amount of cryptic, meandering dialogue present in the middle and end of the show.
The characters themselves suffer from a similar problem: The series seems to take it on faith that we'll identify with them immediately. Obviously time was a factor here, and the cast of characters is big enough that it'd be difficult to fully develop them all. Every main character seems to represent a missed opportunity. The police officer haunted by his past as a soldier, the private detective who is a clairvoyant, the well-read exorcist who seems to know everything about everything, the writer/editor moonlighting as a mystery-solver...they're interesting concepts, but Mouryou no Hako fails to make them three-dimensional enough for us to truly care about. They're not quite bad enough that I'd call them “flat” characters, but they're definitely missing a little something.
Art-wise, this series is two steps above the norm. Character designs are very pleasing to the eye, and the animation, though infrequent, is quite fluid and smooth-looking. Mouryou no Hako hits the nail on the head in terms of relating the lighting and atmosphere to the plot and themes—whether it's a train station at night, a sleazy club in the red-light district, an eerie hospital owned by a somewhat suspicious doctor, or the dimly lit house of a murderer, everything screams “dark detective story.” The backgrounds (moonlit forests, rolling fields, city slums) are created with impressive detail.
When it comes to sound, the bag is mixed. The soundtrack is orchestral, and it's spearheaded by several lovely piano melodies. For the most part, very enjoyable. However, lack of variety quickly becomes a serious problem. The same songs seem to play over and over again, and while you'll probably love them the first time, it's only natural that if they play every six or seven minutes, eventually the viewer will become annoyed.
Overall? Much like the murder mystery that its characters struggle to solve, Mouryou no Hako is a strange case. It's full of good ideas that are marred by sub-par executions. In my eyes, the good outweighed the bad by a fair amount. If you could rate with decimals, I'd probably put this at about a 7.5 or 7.6. The mystery, atmosphere, and art are enough to buoy it the above-average realm.
