The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria (light novel)
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| THIS IS A MANGA ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS ANYTHING BEYOND THIS VOLUME. ---------------------------------------- Continuation of vol. 3. As if it couldn’t get more convoluted, we learn in this volume that Daiya’s masterplan had one more layer to it. IIRC, this vol. mentioned ‘Zeroth Maria’, you should get what it means after reading the volume, might have been mentioned on the 1st vol. though but I can’t remember. |
RadiGenSep 3, 2013 5:55 AM
| This arc is one of my favourites. It was interesting to see Kazuki's change in those circumstances, for better or for worse, nobody really knows. With the mention of the "zeroth maria" this far into the story, we see how well planned out this is. |
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| My favourite arc, I liked it more than the first but overall they'd probably be about even. Daiya is awesome, and Kamiuchi got what was coming to him. Brilliant arc. |
| A consummate volume beyond words. I'm amazed at how well this LN manages to be so intricate, and yet never fails to properly explain and wrap up any of its mysteries. Looks like Daiya completely took advantage of Kamuichi's 'box' and has figured out how to use his own. He will probably be the toughest enemy to defeat for Kazuki. Also, I wonder how Kazuki will meet the "0th time" Maria. |
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| Holy crap. Mikage wasn't kidding when he said volumes 3 and 4 will get a lot more complicated. I had to read the rules a few times to get a grasp of the game. We finally know the origin of the title, it's pretty interesting. So far this novel has exceeded my expectations, I hope it continues to be this great. |
| Great conclusion to the arc. Daiya was awesome this arc. Definitely my favorite male in this novel so far. I really like how they relationship between Kazuki and Maria grows after each volume. |
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| Damn, this got complicated but this continuation between volume 3 and 4 are astonishing. I'm quite impressed. Lol'd @ the tsundere moments and some other humorous parts too. |
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| Damn this has turned into an epic space-time transcending, mind-fucking, complicated romantic tale of Hoshino and Maria. This a romance story hidden in a complicated supernatural plot!!! I usually don't give score before I finish the story, but 10/10 in this case. Shout out to Daiya, too. It seems that the author carefully considered characters' motives and reactions, so much so that little details in volume 1 hint at revelations in later volumes. Neizaru said: Beloved Code Geass +1.Holy nutcrackers this volume was intense! This and entire Kingdom Royale arc in general, I haven't been this excited ever since first watching my beloved Code Geass. Sequels are usually subpar to the original but this volume not only keeps up to the Rejecting Classroom but in some ways exceeds it. Unfortunately only two volumes left to read :( |
| My Reviews and Rants: http://bunny1ov3r.wordpress.com/ 痛就是爱 |
Pain_is_love said: Neizaru said: Beloved Code Geass +1.Holy nutcrackers this volume was intense! This and entire Kingdom Royale arc in general, I haven't been this excited ever since first watching my beloved Code Geass. Sequels are usually subpar to the original but this volume not only keeps up to the Rejecting Classroom but in some ways exceeds it. Unfortunately only two volumes left to read :( Beloved Code Geass +1 too ^^ Since volume 1 i always think that Diaya will play a big role later and while i reading Eqilogue of volume 3 i already suspect that Diaya might really not the owner of this box since his NPC doesn't even enjoy the killing and reason for Kingdom Royale exist is because of boredom, so it just doenst make sense ^^. Any way love how kazuki's tranformation ^^ he doesn't rely on Maria anymore and also love how Maria use "O" as an alibi to be with kazuki ^^ dont know whether i should start reading volume 5 or not since everyone said cliffhanger on volume 6 just too damn epic :) Hope volume 7 release soon ^^ |
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| SPOILERS Amazing conclusion. I was considering Kamuichi orginally, but Daiya totally tricked me into thinking it was him, even after I doubted for a while. I also didn't think Kazuki would actually go through with the murder. It will be interesting to see how that will affect him. I also loved the growing relationship between Maria and Kazuki. I can't wait to see what will happen between them next. Also, am I the only one who feels really bad for Mogi? She left the hospital to see him and Kazuki ditches her for another girl. I understand why he did it, but poor Mogi 😢 |
DarkRuler17 said: There is a button/tag for it, learn your BBCode before postin', it's even in the Quick Reply form, fer Cris sake. |
There is such thing as shit taste. Only idiots think that every "work of art" should have the same value. Persona anime are good. Deal with it. |
DarkRuler17 said: SPOILERS Amazing conclusion. I was considering Kamuichi orginally, but Daiya totally tricked me into thinking it was him, even after I doubted for a while. I also didn't think Kazuki would actually go through with the murder. It will be interesting to see how that will affect him. I also loved the growing relationship between Maria and Kazuki. I can't wait to see what will happen between them next. Also, am I the only one who feels really bad for Mogi? She left the hospital to see him and Kazuki ditches her for another girl. I understand why he did it, but poor Mogi 😢 oh well there's no spoiler in your post. this is volume 4 discussion thread, so................... |
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| The main is becoming somewhat more bearable.... His growing harem is annoying me, but the entire Game of Idleness and its intricacies was amusing to read. Daiya and Maria are pretty much carrying this LN for me but the scenarios these characters get in are truly interesting. |
| Wow,this one gets better volume by volume :D I am liking this Daiya more day by day :D |
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Nibelungen said: If you consider two people a harem, then sure. And I would hardly call it -growing- Mogi, Maria, Yanagi... that's 3... but sure its just barely a harem. I was going to add Kiri, but volume 5 basically makes it redacted... overall my apologies :P |
| Volume 4 was good, with Daiya being a great MVP, and the suspense and plot twists were quite well-handled. However, the story overall is still not great enough for me to consider it godly, let alone literally "one of the best works of fiction", as some people seem to claim. Part of the problem is the prose (yes, I'll keep talking about this, sorry if it's starting to annoy some people); I don't necessarily fault the translator (I appreciate all his work), as it could just be Mikage's writing itself, but characters sometimes over-explain/over-state things, several characters talk in similar ways (especially when they're being serious), the dialogue and non-dialogue text are occasionally kind of awkward, and there aren't many descriptive or complex sentences that really make me appreciate their flow and construction. Do people not care about prose, and am I just being too picky? This is a novel, not an anime or other visual medium, and so I personally place good weight on the writing composition. If the English translation were to be published to the mainstream, there'd have to be a good editor for this. It's little (and some bigger) things like Kamiuchi saying "...Ah, do you let me go already?" (pg. 43, Volume 3; the text is objectively unnatural) when it should've just been "...Ah, you're letting me go already?" that accumulate and distract me from my immersion in the story. Also, why does everyone seemingly have some kind of jealous/dirty love-problem backstory (except Maria)? I was never really a fan of this kind of drama in the first place, but now pretty much everyone has it (it may not exactly be the root of the person's backstory, but it seems to play quite an important role for everyone). Just once or twice wouldn't have been a real flaw, but now it is, in my opinion; there should be more variety. There are other "realistic" problems that Mikage could've explored. But probably the main thing that prevents HakoMari from being a masterpiece is the entirety of Volume 2; pretty much that whole book could've been discarded and we wouldn't lose out on much (there was a little relationship building between Kazuki and Maria, but that could've been done elsewhere; same for some other short plot details, like Daiya revealing that he has a box). Miyazaki and Asami were quite unremarkable antagonists who don't even appear ever again in later volumes. Well, guess I should mention some good stuff. In Volume 4, the four main things that I applaud are Kazuki's development, the relationship between Iroha and Yuuri, Daiya's awesomeness, and of course some of the plot twists. In the previous volumes, Kazuki was rather lackluster as a protagonist, but he's finally stepped up his game (kinda literally lol) in this book. The Iroha-Yuuri relationship was also something I generally really liked: they're both pretty complex (though I was still kinda meh with their whole love drama; does the random boy even become an important character later on? I doubt it), and they both forgive each other for deceiving and even friggin killing each other (the NPCs, but still), though they're still feeling guilty of course. Now that's an interesting relationship. As for Daiya, his reasoning is great and he's the source of some of the best plot twists here, not to mention he trolls Kazuki which is fun to see. Guess that's it from me for now. |
| "Beyond the veil of cherry blossom petals blown by the wind - almost like their promised reunion - Feelings pile up with the passage of time: once the torrent of emotions comes rushing down, what is the spectacle that awaits?" |
| Kazuki got some good development in this volume. I'm surprised he's been able to hide the fact that "Game of Idleness" happened from Maria for so long. I'm sure she has some kind of suspicion though.. I kinda wish their relationship would progress faster xD But I'm happy it's progressing :) Their fight with Daiya will be really interesting. I'm excited to see exactly what his box will do. And Nana Yanagi and Touji are both in Maria's box? :O 3 more volumes to go~ |
| OMG, man this volume was so good. Definitely as good as the 1st Volume if not better! Don't even know what to say. But well, I really like to see our MC do something since I found him mostly as a spectator during the 3rd Volume, and even in the 1st and 2nd it just felt like Maria was the one doing the most, that's not really ture but still he was so dependent on her and that's why I liked that he did something on his own. And it was nice to see Daiya having a big role in these 2 Volumes but it first felt weird that he would the "culprit" and after a while I believed that he really was the culprit, and soon after that I got to know that Kamiuchi really where the culprit afterall. I liked his charcter and his backstory was nice. I like most of the characters in this serie. And I'm really hyped tor read the next Volume hoping that it is as good as this one or atleast close to it. |
Destin98Sep 15, 2015 10:09 AM
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| "Daiya Oomine as [Revolutionary] was too strong. That guy plus [Revolutionary]? Talk about overpowered!" Amen. Daiya outplayed all of them so hard in the first round |
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| Easily the best volume of the series so far. I knew everything won’t play out as Kazuki wants it to be. The whole thing with Iroha and Yuuri was nice, and it’s cool how Kazuki managed to kill two birds with one stone (managed to reduce the hostility between Iroha and Yuuri, while taking over the role of the “king”). But I knew Kazuki messed up when he told NPC Daiya about everything, because if the NPC finds about Daiya’s real motives, obviously the NPC would act according to his plans. Kamiuchi f*cked it up, his backstory was just so f*cked up. Obviously he’s not justified for what he’s done in the past, but I guess it was intentionally written that way. Also, I totally guess that he was the real owner of the box. Having the series revealing that it was Daiya so early into the arc made my suspicions grew, and once Kamiuchi’s true nature got revealed, it’s obvious that he’s the real victim of boredom here and he’s the real owned. Also, I really liked how they handled Kazuki and Maria’s relationship here. A part of me wanted her to remember everything but at the same time, it’s best if she doesn’t know anything. Though the last moment between Kazuki and Maria makes be believe that she actually didn’t forget. Also, Daiya’s plan to study the nature of Kamiuchi’s box was a smart plan, and him trying to “save” Kazuki from ‘O’ was awesome of him too. Right now he’s missing, but I have a strong, strong feeling that he’s going to use his box now. 5/5 |
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| Why isn't there a harem tag on this? After this volume, this surely qualifies - not to mention it's a brilliantly executed one. |
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| Nice game and twist, pretty impressive if you don't get lost at all but since I'm reading this volumes consecutively in hours, It's simpler to find all the meaning of most of the hints....But I guess the name Aya Otonashi takes me a while to process how it's relevant there. It scared me a while thinking "Rino" is actually Kokone Kirino. I'm relieved that she wasn't but that Rino still ended with a tragic moment so I'm still frowning at the thought of it. And to lessen my stress, I'll let myself be humored by Kazuki's growing harem. And lastly, I guess Daiya will be a more prominent antagonist in the future volumes, maybe.... |
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| It was a great read. I knew Kazuki messed up the moment he told npc Daiya everything. Kazuki realised it too late. That twist about Koudai being the owner was completely unexpected and done really well. I particularly liked Daiya's character. So far he is the one with the most layers. The only thing that frustrated me was that sometimes it was hard to tell who was talking to whom and in which context. Some of the events and dialogues were intentionally unclear and while I like that, some other dialogues were confusing without the story trying to do so. It may be an issue with the translation (I read the official translation). |
| Lot better than volume 3, and nearly as good as volume 1. Still haven't quite figured Daiya out and I guess he will be the focus of the next 1-2 volumes. This was a great insight into his character though, one of the more interesting characters of the cast. I also thought that the "Rino" character was referring to Kokone, but luckily not. And that title drop tho... |
| For a moment I was sacred of which ki(rino) they were talking about, but I'm glad it was different kirino(miyuki kirino) not kokone kirino. Daiya swimming in that canal while his dumbass childhood friend laughing was sad, tho glad kamiuchi died. Anyway this volume was really good 5/5 |
| Absolutely amazing. This arc was genuinely insane in every way, there were so many amazing moments with really great character growth. Easily the best arc of the series so far. Really excited to see what Daiya would do next. |
| during vol 3 I had mixed feelings about this arc, but after the conclusion of this volume I gotta say it was amazing! |
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