空ろの箱と零のマリア

UTSURO NO HAKO TO ZERO NO MARIA

NOVEL

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
7
RELEASE
June 10, 2015
CHAPTERS
254

DESCRIPTION

Kazuki Hoshino treasures nothing more than his ordinary life, and March 2 should have been an ordinary day. The arrival of a transfer student, the mysterious Aya Otonashi, shouldn't have shattered the world he knows. He's never seen this girl before in his life, but she says she's met him thousands of times--and declares war on him for a crime he can't even remember... As the truth begins to unravel, nothing is as it seems, and at the heart of it all is a wish powerful enough to change everything...

(Source: Yen Press)

CAST

Maria Otonashi
Kazuki Hoshino
Daiya Oomine
O
Kasumi Mogi
Kokone Kirino
Yuuri Yanagi
Koudai Kamiuchi
Iroha Shindou
Haruaki Usui
Riko Asami
A
Ryuu Miyazaki
Ruka Hoshino
Mother Kamiuchi
Miyuki Karino
Touji Kijima
Nana Yanagi

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

Tricquester
100/100
Unapologetic beautiful chaos. A psychological thriller and romance for the ages.
If I say reviewing this is difficult to put into words, it's because there are both too many and not enough words to express how magnificent this series is. I started reading this at the end of my workweek (Friday morning) and finished all seven novels by Sunday morning that same weekend. Then, I reread the series again over that next week. HakoMari is most definitely the best light novel series I've ever read. It's not too drawn out, but it has enough content to stick in your memory. The beginning of the series focuses on Kazuki’s adamance about maintaining normalcy in his day to day life. The degree to which he works for that result is literally the core of his character, dictating all his actions and goals. Then, we have the main heroine Maria, the literary embodiment of altruism. She will give life and limb to attain happiness for everyone but herself, and if she can’t achieve that via her actions, she does so by granting others a wish, but at a cost. The focus on the relationship and trust between these two established in the first volume becomes the foundation of the series. Maria’s inability to lose herself to her goal because of her relationship with Kazuki, and his truly warped desire for normalcy eventually encompassing Maria is the catalyst for most of the character development. The psychological warfare between O, the antagonist, and our two heroes ends up causing no shortage of harm to those involved, and at one point you truly get to witness the hero live long enough to become the villain as Kazuki descends into madness. As you read through the series a sense of depravity is displayed in a way that can be seen anywhere you look. Tackling dark subject matter in a way that causes one to reflect on the lessons each arc has to offer has influenced my way of thinking a lot. Death, distrust, betrayal, and the silver linings between them are considered in each of the volumes, culminating in both a heartbreaking and emotionally liberating experience. It left me speechless when I read it, but since then I’ve only had praise to give. My words do not do this series justice by any means but saying HakoMari has kept me up at night is no exaggeration. It has provided me with food for thought, intrigue, and one of the most beautiful emotional train wrecks I have ever had the pleasure of consuming. It is truly a mistake to overlook this series, and I only regret not having read it sooner.
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notPara
100/100
"There's no despair that can't be overcome by everyday life"
"Do you have a wish?"
"If your wish can be granted by a box, would you use it?"

The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria is a dark story about a wish granting device that causes trouble for the protagonist Hoshino Kazuki and the people around him. The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria is a crazy, reckless and downright combine it with emotional rollercoaster ride. It's like you throwing a bunch of different characters into one room while telling them "Now do what you want."

The story always made you questioning like "Why did you do that?" or "What is the reason you doing something like this?" and so on. The story is not all about thriller or mystery. It also deals with topic such as human nature through its characters. While some stay true to their ideals and nature throughout the story whereas others grow out of their comfort zone, losing their humanity aspects just for the sake of their wish to be granted. The author perfectly executed the philosophical complexity of human nature with the environment the characters interact in. What makes this possible is how the author designed the functionality of a plot device called boxes.

Boxes in the story allow the user to make any wish perfectly how they perceive it, including their doubt. This sort of concept gives the author the liberty to throw the characters into all sorts of creative scenarios without the reader feeling like the situation is unnatural. That concept leading us to the main theme of the series, wishes. I've learnt several things from this series and what i believe a particularly more definitive understanding the concept of a wish and the similarities and differences with a goal.

This series is really went down deep with the theme and how some of the most amazing aspects of humans is like the flip side of a coin and can also be the darkest parts of human nature. Without going into a bunch of spoilers, i can only say that each volume here has its own story about some kind of mystical phenomenon caused by the boxes. Each volume tells about how the wishes that is usually fill with happiness turn up into a dark one.

Not gonna go in-depth with every volume but i can say that volume 1 is one of the best introduction i've ever seen in any kind piece of entertainment. It gave you many feelings such as confusion, amazed and can get you surprised by how amazing it introduce the theme, the concept, the world etc. Volume 3-4 and 5-6 are pairs of "connected" volumes because the event that happened in the first of them (3 and 5) doesn't end but continues in the next volume (4 and 6). And volume 7 yeah it's a pinnacle of writing that made my jaw dropped to the floor (if you know you know).

I can also add that with each volume you are imbued with the concept more and more. Reading it becomes more interesting, more likely due to the fact that after volume 2, the plot in the following volumes becomes stronger. As well as the amount of philosophy and moral that the author is very fond of emphasizing because they significantly influence the plot itself, which is not mystical but also keeps you in suspense right up to the end of each volume.

Another thing that made The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria unforgettable is the characters and my goodness they always surpass my expectations. Characters who love each other but end up hurting each other. Characters who hate each other but end up realizing how much they resemble each other. Most of them are incredible and unique to their role. We get to see how much their personality change when the fate of someone else is depends on their decision. You'll also meet characters who at first look will not affect the plot but then you will realize that you're pretty much mistaken by that thought. Most of the characters are well developed, as how their backstories such as tragic pasts, how they deal with the boxes, their involvement on mind games, ulterior motives, and how their personality changes as more boxes involved around their life. I think almost every characters tend to have a spoilery stories so i also avoid to tell it more. Such tragedy happened in almost every characters and i'm not gonna lie here, some of them nearly made me cry.

In conclusion, The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria is a work that contained not only a story that was brilliant but also a work that contained a lot of philosophy topics about real life and moral in general. From the ending itself, i learnt that we never can turn away from reality no matter how cruel it is. The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria is definitely one of my favorite story in general and i'm glad to experienced such an emotional ride from beginning to end.
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NapoJ
70/100
Cada deseo tiene un precio (reseña en ESP y ENG)
La siguiente reseña está en Español e Inglés (traducida con el apoyo de DeepL)

La versión leída es la traducción al español por Esteban de “Twin dragons subs”

Primero una aclaración debido al tipo de obra: No soy alguien con experiencia en Novelas Ligeras, de hecho, la presente es la única que he finalizado porque si bien he leído tomos de otras series, son franquicias que todavía estoy leyendo. Mi equivalente en cuánto a experiencia de lectura es la literatura occidental, así que debido a carecer de un marco crítico específico para este tipo de novelas, los valores evaluados serán los mismos de un “libro cualquiera”. Si hay algo que particularmente lamente, es la inevitable “transformación de intención” debido a ser una doble traducción, de Japonés a Inglés, y de Inglés a Español, una observación sin la intención de desmeritar el trabajo de ninguno de los traductores. Es parte del lector hacer una aceptación de que la traducción tiene la mayor fidelidad a la fuente, de todas maneras, no me referiré a términos específicos a nivel de prosa.

Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria es una novela ligera del autor Eiji Mikage con el dibujo de Tetsuo. Es particularmente famosa pese a no tener ninguna adaptación en anime, manga o siquiera Live Action. Lo primero a destacar es la estructura y presentación del escrito, la historia tiene 7 volúmenes que se dividen entre 5 partes, en cada parte hay una “caja” y conforme a su “naturaleza”, la escritura se adapta como expresión en sí misma de la intención de esa etapa.

La base narrativa son las “cajas”, un dispositivo/concepto capaz de conceder deseos, o más específicamente, una forma de conseguirlos, por ejemplo, si el deseo fuera tener carne, la caja te daría una vaca y un cuchillo. En últimas depende de la vocación y dedicación de quién la utilizó, el conseguir su deseo. Es una temática evidente, sobre los deseos y el precio dispuesto a pagar por conseguirlo.

Durante el transcurso de la obra se mantiene el halo de misterio sobre el origen o explicación detrás de las cajas o la naturaleza del antagonista, evitando explicaciones concisas a favor de la definición e interacción de los personajes, abarcando cómo se relacionan entre sí y su pensamiento, para entender la forma en que ven e interactúan con el mundo.

Cada personaje principal atraviesa un arco de superación o aceptación englobado en la temática global de los deseos. Una observación que incluye a quienes aparecen en más de un volumen o quienes sólo pertenecen al desarrollo de una parte. Por supuesto, los que disponen con un mayor tiempo de aparición cuentan con arcos más interesantes, aún así, varios de los secundarios tendrán un efecto sobre futuras partes, aliviando lo anecdóticos que hayan podido llegar a ser.

Por arco de personaje y narrativo tenemos un esquema similar, la caja siendo el medio para que el personaje no sólo asume la obstinación para conseguir su deseo, también debe valerse contra las metas de los demás personajes. Es perfeccionado cada vez que es utilizado, consiguiendo una historia narrativamente consistente, coherente y con interesantes elementos simbólicos para quien se aventure a darle significado.

Resquebraja es el análisis individual de cada arco, o más bien, la predisposición de aceptación del lector hacia el mismo, la llamada “suspensión de incredulidad”. Cada personaje empieza con tropos conocidos para quien haya conozca el medio sean el estudiante serio, la amiga juguetona de la infancia o la exótica transferida; y evolucionan conforme se visualiza a través de su fachada, una profundidad usualmente acompañada de atributos “oscuros”, para representar que ese personaje “no era lo que aparentaba”.

Dicho en otras palabras, dependiendo de tus gustos, podría calificarse de “edgy” y desarrollar cierto prejuicio contra la narrativa dependiendo de tu posición respecto al tema. Conforme se revela la dimensionalidad de algunos personajes, estará en tolerancia del lector seguir inmerso en la historia, o reírse por si ya le parece ridículas las acciones o pensamientos.

Puede parecer contradictorio, me he referido a consistencia y coherencia, a la vez que hablo de un hilo narrativo que más de una vez me perdió. Y se debe a que existe una lógica justificada de sus acciones por estrambóticas que me parecieran, la obra no da un “salto de tiburón”, por el contrario, el resquebrajamiento de sus estereotipos está controlado de volumen a volumen. Puede que su mayor contra sea precisamente haberse tomado bastante en serio, habiendo monólogos y discursos en línea de traumas y conspiraciones.

A nivel de escritura, el principal mérito de Eiji es el sentido del ritmo, si aceptas la propuesta, estás a merced de un constante interés por saber lo próximo a suceder, podrías terminar el volumen de una sola vez sólo por no ceder ante no saber qué pasará. También define apropiadamente a cada personaje en cómo interactúa, se expresa y piensa.

El arte de Tetsuo es genial para las portadas de los volúmenes o previo a los capítulos, una representación visual muy acertada de los problemas y consecuencias a causa de las cajas. En cambio los diseños de personaje son bastante comunes en el mal sentido, ninguno se queda en la memoria. Siendo otra razón para que únicamente su escritura sea lo que le brinda su fama.

Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria es una adictiva novela, con una temática definida y explorada por medio de sus personajes, es en la forma en que según las sensibilidades de su lector podrá aceptarlo hasta cierto punto, así que entiendo la discrepancia alrededor de su fama, entre quienes la tienen entre sus preferidas y los que opinan totalmente lo contrario.

English

First a clarification due to the type of work: I am not someone with experience in Light Novels, in fact, the present one is the only one I have finished because although I have read volumes of other series, they are franchises that I am still reading. My equivalent in terms of reading experience is Western literature, so due to lacking a specific critical framework for this type of novel, the values evaluated will be the same as those of a “any book”. If there is one thing I particularly regret, it is the inevitable “transformation of intent” due to being a double translation, from Japanese to English, and from English to Spanish, an observation not intended to disparage the work of either translator. It is part of the reader's acceptance that the translation has the highest fidelity to the source, however, I won't refer to specific terms at the prose level.

Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria is a light novel by author Eiji Mikage with drawing by Tetsuo. It is particularly famous despite not having any anime, manga or even Live Action adaptation. The first thing to note is the structure and presentation of the writing, the story has 7 volumes that are divided into 5 parts, in each part there is a “box” and according to its “nature”, the writing is adapted as an expression in itself of the intention of that stage.

The narrative basis are the “boxes”, a device/concept capable of granting wishes, or more specifically, a way to get them, for example, if the wish was to have meat, the box would give you a cow and a knife. Ultimately it depends on the vocation and dedication of the person who used it, to get his wish. It is an obvious theme, about desires and the price willing to pay to get it.

Throughout the course of the play, the halo of mystery about the origin or explanation behind the boxes or the nature of the antagonist is maintained, avoiding concise explanations in favor of defining and interacting with the characters, embracing how they relate to each other and their thinking, to understand the way they see and interact with the world.

Each main character goes through an arc of overcoming or acceptance encompassed in the overall theme of desires. An observation that includes those who appear in more than one volume or those who only belong to the development of one part. Of course, those who have a longer time of appearance have more interesting arcs, even so, several of the secondary characters will have an effect on future parts, alleviating how anecdotal they may have been.

By character and narrative arc we have a similar scheme, the box being the means for the character to not only take on the stubbornness to get his desire, but also must be used against the goals of the other characters. It is perfected each time it is used, achieving a story narratively consistent, coherent and with interesting symbolic elements for those who venture to give it meaning.

It brokes in the individual analysis of each arc, or rather, the reader's predisposition of acceptance towards it, the so-called “suspension of disbelief”. Each character begins with tropes familiar to anyone who knows the medium, be it the earnest student, the playful childhood friend or the exotic transferee; and they evolve as you visualize through their facade, a depth usually accompanied by “dark” attributes, to represent that this character “was not what he or she appeared to be”.

In other words, depending on your tastes, it could qualify as “edgy” and develop a certain bias against the narrative depending on your position on the subject. As the dimensionality of some characters is revealed, it will be within the reader's tolerance to remain immersed in the story, or to laugh if they already find the actions or thoughts ridiculous.

It may seem contradictory, I have referred to consistency and coherence, while talking about a narrative thread that more than once lost me. And it is because there is a justified logic to its actions, however bizarre they may seem to me, the play does not “jump the shark”, on the contrary, the cracking of its stereotypes is controlled from volume to volume. Perhaps its biggest drawback is precisely that it takes itself quite seriously, with monologues and speeches along the lines of traumas and conspiracies.

At the writing level, Eiji's main merit is the sense of rhythm, if you accept the proposal, you are at the mercy of a constant interest in knowing what will happen next, you could finish the volume in one sitting just for not giving in to not knowing what will happen. He also properly defines each character in how they interact, express themselves and think.

Tetsuo's art is great for the covers of the volumes or prequel to the chapters, a very accurate visual representation of the problems and consequences of the boxes. The character designs on the other hand are pretty average in a bad way, none of them stick in the memory. Being another reason why only his writing is what brings him his fame.

Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria is an addictive novel, with a defined theme and explored through its characters, it is in the way that according to the sensibilities of its reader can accept it to a certain extent, so I understand the discrepancy around its fame, between those who have it among their favorites and those who think the complete opposite.favorites and those who think the complete opposite.favorites and those who think the complete opposite.

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