Synopsis: Kiba wonders if Kanako’s abduction is related to the Musashino mutilation incident.

Sekiguchi is looking at dismembered body parts scattered on the floor. In his hand, he holds a bloody knife. And he wonders why it didn’t go well. He wonders if it’s because the method was sloppy. He thinks that if a certain doctor knows, he should meet him. He plans to go out soon.

Kanako’s sudden disappearance left everyone in the room shocked. Kiba tells Fukumoto to take Youko and Yoriko outside. He also tells him to call the policemen stationed outside. Kiba asks the policemen if they saw anyone enter the room after they came to visit Kanako but according to the policemen, only Mimasaka and Suzaki did.

More policemen arrive. They ask Ishii about what happened. Ishii, still shocked by the event, tells Kiba to leave.

Kiba wonders whether Kanako was in the room in the first place. Could it be that the Kanako they saw was just an illusion? He then inform Youko about Amemiya who seem to have left before she and the others entered the room.

Fukumoto asks Kiba that since Kanako is in a critical condition, she might die while being abducted. Youko, however, tells them that Kanako will not die easily. Fukumoto says that if that’s the case, it’s a relief. Kiba then punches him for his insensitive words.

Yoriko tells Youko that Kanako indeed will not die because she has already become a heavenly being. She says that since the train incident, Kanako was a chrysalis but finally, like a butterfly, she has ascended to heaven. Kiba remembers Yoriko’s words that she and Kanako are past and next lives of each other. Kiba thinks it’s absurd.

He approaches Youko and asks her for detailed information regarding Kanako but she says he won’t be able to do anything alone. She also tells him not to get involved any further. Kiba tells her that Ishii can’t find Kanako. He asks Youko who the enemy is. Youko replies it’s him.

Mimasaka suddenly arrives announcing that Suzaki has been killed near the incinerator.

Meanwhile, Kanako wonders if she is already dead. She remembers Yoriko, Youko and a stranger visiting her. She wonders of it was all a dream. She sees disembodied limbs moving about the room but it disappears. She moves her hands and feet and is relieved that they are still there. Her limbs, however, have been replaced by mechanical ones. She then remembers Amemiya and her sister, and malicious rumors about them.

A man takes a peep at the sleeping Kanako and exclaims it’s a wonderful work of art.

On September 6, a right leg encased in a wooden box was found at Hachiouji.

The following day, the left leg was found at Chofu and a right arm at Noborito.

On September 10, Sekiguchi visits a publishing company to discuss the sale of his collection of short stories. The editor rearranges the order of Sekiguchi’s works and suggests that “Vertigo” be the title for the collection. Sekiguchi tells them that he needs to think about it first.

Atsuko arrives and and hands some documents to one of the editors, Koizumi. The documents contained some works by a certain Kubo Shunkou. The other editor comments that Kubo Shunkou and Sekiguchi’s literary style are similar, both contain surreal elements.

Atsuko tells the editors and Sekiguchi that two left arms were found that day at Akishima. It would be the third victim already. The incident has sparked rumors that the dismembered body parts were scattered by a kasha, a ghostly chariot of fire.

On September 15, a girl engaging in prostitution went missing. The next day, a body part was found at Tanashi.

Kiba was placed under house arrest as punishment for interfering in affairs outside of his jurisdiction. In his house, he continues to reminisce the events that happened. After Youko learned of Suzaki’s death, she had a change of attitude and implored Kiba for help, fearing for Kanako’s safety. However, Kiba was not able to do anything due to his condition.

Kiba’s junior at work, Aoki, visits him in his house to consult about the Musashino mutilation inicident. Aoki thinks it is connected to Kanako’s abduction. Kanako was abducted on August 31 and a right leg was found on September 6. Kiba asks if it was Kanako’s. Aoki replies that it wasn’t. The blood type was different and besides, they have already confirmed the victim’s identity. The victim was the daughter of a photographer in Kawasaki who was prostituting herself after the influence of her friends.

Kiba asks Aoki about the connection between the various mutilation cases. Aoki replies it’s a box. At first the body parts were found encased in metallic boxes but later on they were found encased in boxes fashioned from paulownia wood. The two wonder if the second set of murders were done by a copycat. However, the fact about the boxes is not yet made known to the public. Besides them, only Sekiguchi knows since Aoki and another police officer, Kinoshita spilled the beans to him one night (Kiba remembers the night when Sekiguchi and the others came upon the strange facility). Aoki says that it is not yet known whether the crime was committed by one person or a copycat, well, unless Sekiguchi is the culprit. Kiba tells Aoki it’s a bad joke.

Aoki also tells Kiba there are rumors about a kasha. It digs corpses from graveyards and scatters the body parts around villages.

Kiba then asks Aoki how the Musashino incident could be related to Kanako’s abduction. Aoki replies it’s due to a gloved man. Youko released a statement that on the day Kanako was kidnapped, she saw a man wearing gloves, similar to the one Yoriko described, lurking outside the facility. The man, however, disappeared after she saw him. Also, according to witnesses of the Kawasaki incident and the one prior to that, a man wearing black garb and gloves were seen around the area where the victims disappeared.

Kiba soon visits a movie director who is also an acquaintance. He asks the director about Youko. He saws he has never directed a film with Youko in it but he knows her. According to the director, Youko was hounded by some rumors. Not long after, she quit the industry. The director says that gossip about Youko eloping with her assistant is false though there was a modest man who was always with Youko. Kiba wonders if it’s Amemiya.

Kiba also asks him about the strange facility. The director tells him that he’s heard that during the war, a doctor was attempting to create something like the Frankenstein monster, a soldier that will never die. That doctor’s name was Mimasaka.

As Kiba walks on his way home, he remembers what the movie director said about a soldier that will never die. Kiba then sees a vision of soldiers standing in formation being run over by a huge tank. Kiba wonders if it’s the kasha.

On September 23, Masaoka visits a certain agency.

********

At first, it was shocking to see Sekiguchi wielding a knife at the start of the episode but I realized that most of the episode introductions were lines from Kubo Shunkou’s The Girl in a Box. It could be that Sekiguchi is reading the novel aloud and imagining himself to be part of the story. Still, I wonder about the significance of that novel. Perhaps it is a parallel to the actual events that occurred.

As for Kanako’s abduction, no clue has yet been found except that it may be related with the Musashino mutilation incident with the gloved man as a link. Although Yoriko’s account of the gloved man pushing Kanako was dubious (since she could have fabricated it just so she can see Kanako), I wonder if Youko actually saw the gloved man. Could it be that she was fabricating it too, making the gloved man as some sort of scapegoat? I don’t see any reason though why Youko would do such a thing. At first, she told Kiba not to get involved any further but when she learned of Suzaki’s death, she pleaded him for help. I wonder what is it that drove Youko to have a change of heart. For certain, Youko knows of something that the others don’t.

The movie director spoke of a Mimasaka who was attempting to create the perfect soldier. This Mimasaka could be related to the one at the facility. Or it could be the same person. In the second episode, when Sekiguchi and the others, came upon the facility, Sekiguchi thought that they encountered a demon when he saw Mimasaka standing at the doorway with Youko. Also, Kanako thought that she was being dissected by two demons, who were actually Mimasaka and probably Suzaki operating on her.

I wonder what Mimasaka did to Kanako. We don’t see the rest of her body as it is covered with a sheet. Though the sheet was removed in this episode and mechanical limbs were revealed, it could just be Kanako’s dream. Or it could be a metaphor for some change in her body. For all we know, it could just be Kanako’s head with no body under the sheet. If so, it would be an eerie semblance to the girl in the box. When the stranger peeped at Kanako and exclaimed something to be a work of art, could he be referring to Kanako’s body or to what Mimasaka did to her body?

Amemiya’s whereabouts are still unknown. It is somehow possible that he is involved in Kanako’s abduction. He could be involved in Suzaki’s death as well since Kiba saw Amemiya near the incinerator earlier and Suzaki’s body was found near the incinerator too. Or is Amemiya a victim?

All the present events in Mouryou no Hako seem to be related to something that happened in a war. It could be the Japanese Invasion of Manchuria (1931-1932), which the movie director mentioned. After the invasion, Inner Manchuria was proclaimed as an independent state, Manchukuo. Many atrocities were committed during the Japanese rule in northeast China. These atrocities include human experimentation were prisoners of war were vivisected and experimented upon. According to the movie director, Mimasaka was involved in these. The Manchukuo background reminds me of Murakami’s The Wind-up Bird Chronicle which also explored this dark episode of Japanese history.

All in all, Mouryou no Hako continues to be intriguing. Many pieces were laid out in this episode but the big picture is yet unknown.

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