The manga author Aki Shimizu continued the adaptation of Natsuhiko Kyogoku’s “Hyakki Yakou” series with the second novel, “Mouryou no Hako” or “Box of Spirits”. It continues to build on the themes from “Ubume no Natsu”, like crime, suspense, body horror, psychological trauma, and esoteric Shinto rituals, while adding some mad science to the mix.
The cast returned as they were from the first novel. Chuuzenji the exorcist, Sekiguchi the novelist and reader P.O.V., KIba the cop, and Enokizu the detective, carried on with the same roles. This time, Kiba was the one entangled with the femme fatale.
The artwork is lovely I do like how the unlikely friendship between the two girls is described, I also like the dreamy atmosphere, then everything gets a surprising twist at around the last 3/4 of the manga, and the twist would keep you guessing, I will stay tune for volume 2!
I enjoy the novel version of this story, I like how the manga handles the plot and the characters, but sometime the characters become a bit too wordy and long winded whenever they have difficult topics to explain to readers, but it's still a fine opener for a manga series.
Eine gruselige Geschichte. Aber zu verrückt für meinen Geschmack. Und auch keine einzige von den Figuren war mir sympatisch. Ich glaube nicht, dass ich diese Manga-Reihe fortsetzen werde.