"Do you have a wish?"
"If your wish can be granted by a box, would you use it?"

The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria is a dark story about a wish granting device that causes trouble for the protagonist Hoshino Kazuki and the people around him. The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria is a crazy, reckless and downright combine it with emotional rollercoaster ride. It's like you throwing a bunch of different characters into one room while telling them "Now do what you want."

The story always made you questioning like "Why did you do that?" or "What is the reason you doing something like this?" and so on. The story is not all about thriller or mystery. It also deals with topic such as human nature through its characters. While some stay true to their ideals and nature throughout the story whereas others grow out of their comfort zone, losing their humanity aspects just for the sake of their wish to be granted. The author perfectly executed the philosophical complexity of human nature with the environment the characters interact in. What makes this possible is how the author designed the functionality of a plot device called boxes.

Boxes in the story allow the user to make any wish perfectly how they perceive it, including their doubt. This sort of concept gives the author the liberty to throw the characters into all sorts of creative scenarios without the reader feeling like the situation is unnatural. That concept leading us to the main theme of the series, wishes. I've learnt several things from this series and what i believe a particularly more definitive understanding the concept of a wish and the similarities and differences with a goal.

This series is really went down deep with the theme and how some of the most amazing aspects of humans is like the flip side of a coin and can also be the darkest parts of human nature. Without going into a bunch of spoilers, i can only say that each volume here has its own story about some kind of mystical phenomenon caused by the boxes. Each volume tells about how the wishes that is usually fill with happiness turn up into a dark one.

Not gonna go in-depth with every volume but i can say that volume 1 is one of the best introduction i've ever seen in any kind piece of entertainment. It gave you many feelings such as confusion, amazed and can get you surprised by how amazing it introduce the theme, the concept, the world etc. Volume 3-4 and 5-6 are pairs of "connected" volumes because the event that happened in the first of them (3 and 5) doesn't end but continues in the next volume (4 and 6). And volume 7 yeah it's a pinnacle of writing that made my jaw dropped to the floor (if you know you know).

I can also add that with each volume you are imbued with the concept more and more. Reading it becomes more interesting, more likely due to the fact that after volume 2, the plot in the following volumes becomes stronger. As well as the amount of philosophy and moral that the author is very fond of emphasizing because they significantly influence the plot itself, which is not mystical but also keeps you in suspense right up to the end of each volume.

Another thing that made The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria unforgettable is the characters and my goodness they always surpass my expectations. Characters who love each other but end up hurting each other. Characters who hate each other but end up realizing how much they resemble each other. Most of them are incredible and unique to their role. We get to see how much their personality change when the fate of someone else is depends on their decision. You'll also meet characters who at first look will not affect the plot but then you will realize that you're pretty much mistaken by that thought. Most of the characters are well developed, as how their backstories such as tragic pasts, how they deal with the boxes, their involvement on mind games, ulterior motives, and how their personality changes as more boxes involved around their life. I think almost every characters tend to have a spoilery stories so i also avoid to tell it more. Such tragedy happened in almost every characters and i'm not gonna lie here, some of them nearly made me cry.

In conclusion, The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria is a work that contained not only a story that was brilliant but also a work that contained a lot of philosophy topics about real life and moral in general. From the ending itself, i learnt that we never can turn away from reality no matter how cruel it is. The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria is definitely one of my favorite story in general and i'm glad to experienced such an emotional ride from beginning to end.