Empty boxes, a girl whose name we can't figure out, and a mysterious thing that resembles everyone yet no one at the same time. HakoMari is definitely interesting.
Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria, or the English equivalent "The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria", is perhaps the one of the best unknown mystery light novels that's been created recently that I've had the opportunity to read via BT. The great thing about this is that I can tell others what an extraordinary work it is and revel in them enjoying my recommendation. However, as the coin has two sides, the downfall to this is that there really isn't a great deal of a fan base, so speculation on the characters and future plot development is rather limited. Actually, to be honest , the only things that I've seen about HakoMari are basic plot descriptions and how well the reviewer enjoyed reading it. Anything remotely tied to predictive analysis or character review comes up nada with a google search. So, to be a pioneer in opening up this brand spanking new box, I'll do what I can with my mad literary skillz and really look at what's really going on. So, let the parades begin.
Firstly, as with any good review, I'll start off with the generic plot description and go from there. HakoMari, a kawaii shorthanded name the author came up with, tells the sinister story of Kazuki Hoshino, who is almost madly attached to his everyday life, and his antagonist Aya Otonashi, who suddenly transfers into his class—for the 13,118th time. She majestically announces her intent to “break” him, without paying heed to anyone else around them. This is but the start of a dark roller coaster ride that turns the two against themselves, the people around them and the one who may be god as their relationship slowly changes and they have to go against their most basic values in their struggle against the world itself.
Sound pretty epic, nya?
The first volume begins with someone having a dream about a seemingly genderless person (as denoted by being continuously referenced with "he/she"; and, for future refernce, I'm going to say this person is a guy as it's easier this way until a better solution becomes apparent) asking if the dreamer has a wish. The dreamer gives an answer, one that is presumed as "yes", because he gives the dreamer a 'box' that can grant their wish.
First impression is that he is some kind of genie or, as the plot description says, a being that could be god. And he is interested in this particular human in that this person is the only one out of the 7 billion humans in the world that he can actually distinguish is different from the rest. The dream ends with the dreamer calling him disgusting. I have a feeling that last line is actually what will ultimately determine who the dreamer was.
Just so you know, I'm currently reading volume five, so most of my opinions on what has happened until then are pretty much set in stone, but going back and rereading the previous installments are already giving me altered idea's on what's going on. So, don't be surprised if I unexpectedly change what I'm thinking about certain things at the drop of a hat. For instance, I've thought until now that it was Kazuki who was dreaming, but rereading the prologue I'm now sort of thinking it wasn't, but I'll stave off my predictions until later about the identity of this person.
In the first book, things don't really start unraveling until the 2601st time, where we see Kazuki call Aya Maria. The story may be about Kazu, but the title is about boxes and Maria, a "Zeroth" Maria to be accurate.
What is the Zeroth Maria? That's simple: The Zeroth Maria is the Maria of the 0th time. Fast-forwarding to the first 0th time, it's a narrative about someone pretending to be alright but is really lonesome and hurting inside, something Kazuki notices because it's out of the ordinary. At the end, we see this person having a similarly different dream about wishes and boxes. The second 0th time is a narrative about someone completely different, and this person instantiates the Rejecting Classroom. We are led to believe it's Kazu in the 2601st time during Maria's interrogation at the back of the school, and this theory is rather solid. But is that really the case? Would Kazu, who is so abscessed with his everyday life, use a supernatural item given by him to perpetually repeat March 2nd thousands of times? Yes, but only under severe duress, which he is not. After all, how can he choose to repeat the same day if he can't even remember why he should repeat it? Kazu isn't the owner of this box because the boxes defy his everyday life.
And Maria wants this box.
And she also knows that Kazu's met him, which infers she's also met him or at least knows of him.
But this also means Kazu's met him as well.
And has rejected his box.
This is why he doesn't realize when he fell in love with Mogi in the 27,753rd time. In the 8,946th time, Mogi-san is rejecting (or turning down) someone's confession. If what Aya Otanashi says about each repetition being nearly identical to all the others, then from the 1st time to the last time, Kazu's been in love with Mogi and has confessed to her each time on, presumably, March 3rd, to which she always says "Please wait until tomorrow." But she's also been the victim of the truck accident, as seen in the 5232nd time.
And the victim of the 0th time.
Mogi was the original pedestrian hit by the truck which was witnessed by Aya Otanashi, ultimately causing her to retain her memories as the beginning of the repetitions started immediately after Mogi was killed and visited by him. My support? A quote from the 10,000th time:
"I don't want to die!"
Aah --- Heh. Finally, I figured it out.
So that was my 'wish'.
(Italics were from BT) Mogi's wish was not to die so she can be with Kazu. In order to escape this, she plans to use the box to construct a world where she can be together with Kazuki and then destroy the box to permanently seal the "fake" world, replacing it with the real one. The last part of the second 0th time explains that the box becomes a chamber which replicates the world, meaning that the box isn't the world itself but only a convenient alternative - a separate space.
So anyone - or anything - that isn't convenient is rejected, as we see this happening with there being fewer and fewer classmates with each iteration.
But Kazuki, being Kazuki (as tautological as it may sound), rejects this.
He rejects the Rejecting Classroom because it defiles his everyday life.
Boxes defy his everyday life. So he crushes them, one by one, even if it means denying his love for Kasumi Mogi. He makes the same mistake the 0th Maria Otanashi did.
In the 27,754th time, he chose to abandon everything for the sake of his everyday life and realizes that Maria is a box, as well as that she's used a box and her wish is currently being granted. Her wish was a long term goal of some sort - I've got nothing on this yet - with the price of losing everything.
The second 27,754th time explains, in depth, several happenings in the Rejecting Classroom, as well as Maria giving up on obtaining the box (from Mogi) as well as her newfound determination to not kill humans. And she also says something strange, which I'll quote:
"Hoshino. You're truly amusing. I haven't met anyone like you before. At first glance you look like an ordinary person with no special beliefs, but actually there's no one who is more attached to everyday life than you. For exactly this reason you're able to clearly distinguish this fake everyday life from the real one-even better than I can."
(The underlining is something I added, not from BT.)
Where else have I heard this?
…
Oh yes, what he said in the prologue:
“Because you’re truly interesting! I can’t distinguish one human from another human, even though I’m fascinated by humanity. Ironic, don’t you think?”
“But you're an exception - I can distinguish you from the rest of humanity. You might think that this is nothing special, but it’s more than enough to capture my interest!”
(Again, the underlining is something I added for emphasis) So, is Maria him? And merely masquerading as a human in order to get close to Kazu?
But this is assuming that the dreamer was Kazu and that he accepted the box if the Prologue's account is to be trusted. However, the boxes inherently oppose Kazuki's wish to continue his everyday live.
But if we're to append the Interlude to the Prologue, then Kazuki would've returned the box he received before even using it.
...
Almost everything, obviously, is confirmed in the fifth 27,755th time with him redacting the box from Mogi. The rest of the book from this point on is rather self explainable, but I shall point out one more thing of interest: he is '0'.
…
I know this was rather vanilla with spoilers. Actually, looking at what I wrote I really don't think I did anything but tie in some points in the first volume. Oh well, it's my first rodeo so I'll probably get better as time passes. I am planning on doing another part, probably not like I did this one though; like I said, this was rather vanilla and uninteresting as far as analysis is concerned, so I'll try to juice it up with the next installment. Until then,
As always
"Thank you. Fuck You."
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