[Light Novel] Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria

March 2.
At this date, the everyday life of me, Kazuki Hoshino, was destroyed.
With the transfer student Aya Otonashi being the trigger.

"I'm Aya Otonashi"

"--Kazuki Hoshino.
I'm here
to break you."

She treated me with hostility.
...But just why is her hostility directed at someone like me?

Os quadrados coloridos têm uma pequena descrição da personagem que eu coloquei mais abaixo.

Kazuki Hoshino
A completely ordinary high school student who loves idle chatter with his friends and Umaibos, a Japanese snack. One day, he is suddenly antagonized by Aya Otonashi - although he has never met her before. She threatens to "break" him.




Aya Otonashi
A beautiful but unsociable girl with a resolute personality. She transferred into Kazuki's class on March 2nd - almost at the end of the school year. Right after her arrival she announces to "break" Kazuki.





Daiya Oomine
A self-centered and arrogant student who dyes his hair silver and wears three piercings in his right ear. He is also the class president and a shrewd friend of Kazuki's.




Haruaki Usui
A cheerful but frivolous baseball fan. He often hangs out with Kazuki and Daiya.




Kokone Kirino
A bright and beautiful girl who cares a lot for her friends, but is meddlesome at times.
Daiya and her have known each other since childhood, but their mutual verbal abuse has become legendary among their classmates ever since.




Kasumi Mogi
The girl that has won Kazuki's heart. She is docile, silent and expressionless.

"Definitely unique and worth reading!" - Rating: 10.0 / 10.0 by DuckTales:
"This light novel is unique and entertaining, but requires a patient reader especially when you start reading volume 1. The novel becomes lot easier to read after the end of volume 1 and you'll feel rewarded for your efforts as a reader. The increased readability can be attributed to the understanding of the concept of the 'box' and stable list of characters that appear in all subsequent volumes.

This light novel series has a lot of potential. The author, Eiji Mikage is highly skilled and his love and dedication for his work is clearly visible throughout the novel.

The character development is top-notch and the plot development is excellent. There's enough romance, humor, sadness, joy, fiction, jealousy and psychology in this series. Some of these feelings are fleeting and others last longer - All in all this is an archetypal slice of life series. You'll find yourself smiling, thinking about the story and relish the feel-good aspects of the storyline and you'll definitely respect the efforts of the author. You'll also find yourself rooting for the 'flawed' protagonist who tries to find a humanist solution to undo the effects caused by the 'box'.

I want to thank Baka-Tsuki and their project contributors who have done a great service to the English speaking manga community by translating this wonderful modern work by Eiji Mikage. I hope that this author gains more popularity and gains respect for his original work. I also want to convey my thanks to all voters and reviewers who commented on this title and made me read.

If you're reading this review, I hope you give this series a chance and enjoy this novel!"

"Stop and Read" - Rating: N/A by intemango:
"No, seriously. Stop everything you're doing (apart from work, of course), and read this. I scowled at first, seeing how unoriginal it probably would be. But slowly and surely I became hooked. I could try giving it a long description and praising its focus upon human ethics (yeah unlike every other novel on earth) or whatever that usually piques the interest of your inner intellectual, but in the author's own words, the book was written simply to be 'entertaining'. For me indeed it was, and more than that."

"Mystery" - Rating: 10.0 / 10.0 by Vallan.Mandrake:
"this is written in an extraordinary style witch keept me hooked till the end of the translated chaptersI reached after 9.5 hours of uninterrupted reading ... (a long night...).

Brilliant setting. Moving (I had tears in my eyes). I loved it.
It's worth a read."

"Can't put it down" - Rating: 10.0 / 10.0 by Skull_Leader
"I think any attempt to describe the story would not do the novel justice, so I won't try. Instead, I'll go over what the novel represents.

This series is a "supernatural" psychological mystery, with minor touches of unvocalized love/romance.
(Note: I put supernatural in quotes as it is not the typical concept of supernatural.)

The first volume is more supernatural mystery. It's also a bit of a mindf*ck at first. Because of this initial confusion, the beginning of the first volume may be a bit difficult to get through. However, once you start getting a grip on the situation and understand what's going on, it will becoming much more enjoyable and become interesting quickly. Personally, I ended up reading to the end non-stop. The supernatural environment and circumstances of the first volume make it truly epic.

After the first volume, there's a rather severe shift in the nature of the series. As a result of the resolution of volume 1, the epicness ends and a bit more normality returns to the series. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it opens up new situations and interactions not possible in the first volume. At the same time, it retains its can't-put-it-down awesomeness.

Starting from volume 2, the series gets heavier on the psychological mystery components. The mysteries are never simple and attempting to figure out what's going on yourself can be quite challenging and mindbending. Regardless, it remains interesting, especially with the character interactions of the two main characters.

All of in all, I give this series a 10/10. I can't wait for volume 4 to be translated."