Mouryou no Hako

The story follows a series of bizarre murders of schoolgirls who have been dismembered and stuffed into boxes. The private investigator hired by a missing daughter's mother joins forces with an antique book seller and others to unravel the murder spree.
(Source: ANN)

An antique book dealer christened "Kyougokudou" after the name of his store. Also a part-time Shinto priest who performs pseudo "exorcisms" to solve psychological problems, despite the fact that he himself does not believe in the supernatural.   He is fond of spouting knowledge on a variety of obscure subjects, and enjoys philosophical discussion.  He solved the case of the dismembered murder and revealed everything in the last 2 episodes of the anime.  He is friends with Sekiguchi, Eno and Kiba. Also, he has a little sister named Atsuko who is a reporter.

Akihiko Chuuzenji

When he was young, he was in the same college as Kyougokudou and Sekiguchi. Despite being their senior, he quickly became friends with Kyougokudou thanks to their common natural weirdness. He is also a childhood friend of Kiba.  During the war when he was a child, Reijiro practically lost his sight that resulted in gaining in him a special ability to see the floating memories of the people around him. In order to exploit this gift, he became a private detective at the "Rose and Cross" agency he founded himself.  He had a hard time remembering people's names and often teases Sekiguchi for looking like a Turtle.

Reijiro Enokizu

Detective from Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo. He is friends with Kyougokudou, Enoki and Sekiguchi.

Shutaro Kiba

He's a novelist but, as his short stories don't allow him to live properly, he often works for the press. He was in the same college as Kyougokudou and hangs around with him. He's often teased by his friends in regards to his poor social skills.  During the war, Sekiguchi fought with Kiba in the same regiment. While the details about this period are unknown, it is implied that Sekiguchi is a deserter who suffers from psychological disorders because of what he saw and did during the war.  He has a wife named Yukie.

Tatsumi Sekiguchi

Noritada Amemiya

Bunzou Aoki

Atsuko Chuuzenji

Chizuko Chuuzenji

Five Angelic Death Omens Incident

Tatsumi Sekiguchi reads part of a transcript, titled "The Woman inside the Box" by Shunkō Kubo; and imagines himself as the story's protagonist. In it, he is traveling to his grandmother's funeral on a train with another man, who possessed a box containing the live head of a girl. In the main storyline, Kanako Yuzuki chooses classmate Yoriko Kusumoto to be her friend. Yoriko's mother, Kimie, believes Yoriko has been influenced by a mōryō, an evil spirit, when Yoriko begins taking nighttime strolls with Kanako. Kanako and Yoriko plan to go to Lake Sagami over summer break. On the night they leave, Yoriko witnesses Kanako crying, as well as a pimple on the back of her neck; both points perplex Yoriko. Soon after, Kanako is hit by the train on which detective Shutarō Kiba is traveling.

Deceptive Tanuki Incident

Sekiguchi reads more of "The Woman inside the Box," imagining himself as the protagonist. In it, he attends his grandmother's burial. Afterward, he continues to think about the girl in the box. In the main storyline, Kiba fails to get a coherent statement from Yoriko. Constable Fukumoto takes him and Yoriko to the hospital treating Kanako. Once there, Noriyuki Masuoka, Noritada Amemiya, and Yōko Yuzuki also arrive. Kiba and Fukumoto recognize Yōko as the former actress Kinuko Minami. After the hospital stabilizes Kanako, Yōko has her transferred to Kōshirō Mimasaka's hospital. Several days later, the discovery of a severed arm and two boxed, severed legs catches the attention of Morihiko Toriguchi, who travels with Atsuko Chūzenji and Sekiguchi to investigate. While driving around lost, they stumble upon Mimasaka's hospital.

Liberation Incident

Kiba thinks about the events of the last few days. In a non-linear flashback, Fukumoto escorts the transfer of Kanako to Mimasaka's hospital, a virtually-windowless box-like building in the middle of a forest. This facility is staffed by only two doctors, Mimasaka himself and Tarō Suzaki, as well as a maintenance engineer. Meanwhile, Kimie has become even more convinced that Yoriko is possessed. She brings Hyōei Terada to her house. He performs an exorcism of the house, and tells her that she can purify herself by giving him her tainted material wealth. Yoriko tells Kiba that Kanako was pushed by a man wearing gloves. Kanako disappears from the hospital, and Kiba later discovers Yōko with a ransom note in her hand.

Kasha Incident

Sekiguchi reads more of "The Woman inside the Box", imagining himself as the protagonist. In it, he dismembers girls and wonders why he is unable to keep their heads alive. He resolves to meet the doctor that kept the girl alive in the box. In the main storyline, Kiba continues his flashback. Yōko asks Kiba to investigate, despite the Kanagawa police having jurisdiction. Later, Suzaki is found murdered, and Amemiya disappears. Back in the present, Sekiguchi's editor asks him to review a manuscript from Shunkō Kubo. A gloved man dismembers a prostitute. After Kiba is suspended from the Tokyo police, Bunzō Aoki asks him for help on the Musashino dismemberment case and Kanako's kidnapping. Kiba investigates Yōko and discovers that, during her film career, she was stalked by someone matching Suzaki's description. Kiba also investigates Mimasaka and discovers that he researched the creation of artificial, immortal soldiers during the war.

Clairvoyance Incident

Sekiguchi reads a section of his own work titled "Vertigo" and imagines himself as the story's protagonist. In it, he pursues a woman through a large, empty house. In the main storyline, a flashback to 1880 recounts scholars testing Ikuko Nagao and Chizuko Mifune for clairvoyance. In 1911, they test Ikuko for psychic photography. One of the scholars reports to the press that clairvoyance is fake. Back in the present, Masuoka hires Reijirō Enokizu to find Kanako. Masuoka explains that Hiroya Shibata, the only heir to the fortune of Yōkō Shibata, eloped with Yōko Yuzuki before she became an actress. She later gave birth to Kanako. Yōkō agreed to fund all expenses for raising Kanako under the condition that Kanako must never know her true parentage. Amemiya was appointed to monitor that condition. After Hiroya died during the war, Kanako became Yōkō's heir, and Yōkō recently died. Sekiguchi introduces Toriguchi to Akihiko Chūzenji.

Box Incident

Atsuko interviews several kids in the area of the crimes. They all report seeing a man in dark clothes with white gloves. Sekiguchi and Toriguchi continue to meet with Chūzenji. Chūzenji describes the differences among espers, diviners, mediums, and priests. In particular, he cautions that people can mistakenly follow mediums as if they were prophets of a religion, but religions are organized by the believers, not the leaders. Toriguchi relates how he obtained a list of believers in a new religion. The list is labeled "Onbako-sama," but Onbako-sama is the name of a box that Hyōei Terada, the leader, has. Previously Terada was a box-maker. Onbako-sama is the source of his spiritual power. Furthermore, Terada's grandmother had a spiritual power that scholars tried to study. She left a box, inside which was a tin vase containing a piece of paper with the word "mōryō" written on it. Terada began gathering religious followers when he discovered the box in an attic after the war.

Mouryou Incident

Sekiguchi reads more of "The Woman inside the Box," imagining himself as the protagonist. In it, he remembers being alone is the large house where he grew up. In the main storyline, Sekiguchi and Toriguchi continue to meet with Chūzenji. Toriguchi relates that the teachings of Onbako-sama are that mōryō gather in places that are enclosed. Chūzenji says that Terada has grasped the basic nature of mōryō. Toriguchi explains further that Terada convinces his followers that they must part from their impure materialism. Toriguchi wants to expose Terada as a criminal and believes Terada is involved with the dismemberment case, because all the victims are daughters of followers listed in the Onbako-sama membership registry. Sekiguchi notices that Shunkō Kubo is on the list of followers. Sekiguchi reads more of "The Woman inside the Box," imagining himself as the protagonist. In it, he sells the large house and rents a single room. He proceeds to fill the room with custom-made boxes.

Kotodama Incident

Sekiguchi reads more of "The Woman inside the Box," imagining himself as the protagonist. In it, he finishes filling his room with boxes when he receives notice of his grandmother's death. He takes a train to his grandmother's funeral and finds himself sitting with the man who has a box. In the main storyline, Sekiguchi gives a copy of the Onbako-sama registry to Satomura, the coroner in the dismemberment case. Satomura gives it to Kiba to give to Aoki. Sekiguchi, Toriguchi, and Enokizu meet with Chūzenji. Sekiguchi notices that Yoriko's mother is on the Onbako-sama list. Kiba arrives and overhears Enokizu telling the group that Yōko is Kanako's mother, not her sister. Chūzenji suggests Kiba and they share information. Yoriko finds herself locked out of her house as Enokizu and Sekiguchi arrive to talk to her. She excuses herself to meet the gloved man, who tells her he thinks he knows where Kanako is. The gloved man takes Yoriko to an abandoned temple filled with boxes.

Chuuzenji-sensei Mononoke Kougiroku: Sensei ga Nazo wo Hodoite Shimau kara.

School x Supernatural x Mystery. This story takes place before the exorcist Kyougokudou opened up a used bookstore...

Our setting is in Tokyo in 1948, just right after the war. Kanna Kusakabe had just become a second-year at a high school when she meets the new language teacher, Akihiko Chuuzenji. Mysterious supernatural things keep happening around Kanna. Once again today, Kanna is going to open the doors to the library prep room to seek help from the surly Chuuzenji-sensei who is waiting inside.

A high school supernatural mystery featuring the unlikely duo between a teacher and a high school girl is about to begin!

(Source: Pony Canyon, edited)

Mouryou no Hako Special

A side story that reveals the investigative notes that Atsuko, the younger sister of the main character Akihiko Chuzenji, wrote about the brutal dismembering incidents in the main story.
(Source: ANN)

The story follows a series of bizarre murders of schoolgirls who have been dismembered and stuffed into boxes. The private investigator hired by a missing daughter's mother joins forces with an antique book seller and others to unravel the murder spree.
(Source: MangaToshokan)

Mouryou no Hako

Rank #2237 (Most Popular Anime)

Rank #4387 (Highest Rated Anime)

Episodes

View all

#1

Episode 1

#2

Episode 2

#3

Episode 3

#4

Episode 4

#5

Episode 5

#6

Episode 6

#7

Episode 7

#8

Episode 8

Characters

View all

Akihiko Chuuzenji

Reijiro Enokizu

Shutaro Kiba

Tatsumi Sekiguchi

Noritada Amemiya

Bunzou Aoki

Atsuko Chuuzenji

Chizuko Chuuzenji

Franchises

#Anime

Chuuzenji-sensei Mononoke Kougiroku: Sensei ga Nazo wo Hodoite Shimau kara.

#Anime

Mouryou no Hako Special

#Manga

Mouryou no Hako