In this month’s issue of Newtype magazine, formally out on July 10, there’s an announcement that the famous mystery novel Mouryou no Hako will be adapted into anime.
The good news is that CLAMP will do the character concept for the anime that will be animated by MADHOUSE. The first anime which CLAMP did the character concept for was Sweet Valerian (2004), also animated by MADHOUSE, followed by the currently on air Code Geass, by Sunrise studios.
Click to enlarge it.
r_u_k_i_a-san points out (and I agree) that the character concept seems to be done by Nekoi.
Mouryou no Hako (translated as Mouryou’s Box) is a novel written by Kyougoku Natsuhiko that was adapted into a live-action movie released in Japan on 2007.
Plot summary from EigaWiki thanks to syaoranmew:
In 1952 the mutilated corpses of young women are found in boxes and a strange psychic is thought to be responsible. When the daughter of a former actress goes missing, a private detective, a writer, and a policeman team up with a Shinto priest nicknamed “Kyogokudo” to get to the bottom of the mystery.
The anime staff is the following:
Director: Nakamura Ryosuke.
Series composition: Murai Sadayuki.
Character Concept: CLAMP.
Character Design: Nishida Asako.
Color setting: Harue Ono.
Prop Design: Masahiro Kimura.
Animation: MADHOUSE.
I guess this is why Ohkawa was having business meetings at MADHOUSE studios last January.
I’m so excited with this news! CLAMP doing the character concept for a MADHOUSE anime!
Stay tuned for more info!
53 thoughts on “Breaking news: CLAMP does character concept for Mouryou no Hako’s anime”
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Chibi Yuuto's CHRoNiCLEs 
Omg awesome! That’s great news! 8DD
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It really is! 8DD
I can’t wait to watch it. Yay at CLAMP doing more anime character designs!
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Fabulous news! I’ll definitely watch the anime when it’s out.
And I see that Nekoi was the one who did the character designs this time. The guy in the top right corner looks a bit like Kazahaya.
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Fabulous news! The more CLAMP does original character designs the better. I’m still waiting for a game designed by them ^^
>And I see that Nekoi was the one who did the character designs this time. The guy in the top right corner looks a bit like Kazahaya.
Good point! I still haven’t really looked at the picture with more attention, it’s definitely Nekoi!
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Got a larger scan! Check it out! =)
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Thanks for obtaining the bigger scan!
I’m not surprised that they picked Nekoi for the job. Mokona’s art is a bit too elaborate for a serious mystery anime 🙂
Anyway, the anime looks promising.
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I agree. I think Ohkawa must relate Nekoi’s art to mystery somehow, Gouhou Drug and XXXHOLiC, for example. I agree, her men, specially, can be very sinister xD
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Thanks for the info… even if I hope that won’t be the news we’ll see on the obi of Vol. 24… I was hoping there would have been more TRC OAD…
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Don’t worry, this is not the obi news =) The obi news is related to Tsubasa. So we have one more breaking news waiting for us!
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*breath in relief* THAT’S GREAT!
Then I’m really glad about this new!
And I’m anxious to see the anime! I’ve a weak side for mystery stories and I’m glad my fave artists are involved in one as well as Madhouse. I’m sure it’ll be awesome!
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Yes!
I’m sure CLAMP must be thrilled as well, they love mystery stories ^^
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I think so too!
I truly hope someone will sub it as soon as it’s trasmitted! (or I won’t get what’s going on at all… ;_; my knowledge of Japanese is so poor…)
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Wow! I think it will be very beautiful anime since there’re Madhouse and cLAMP together ^_^
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Right you are. CLAMP x MADHOUSE is always an excellent partnership. Only good things come out of it xD
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Wow, MADHOUSE! XD
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YAAAAY XDDDDDDD
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Wonderful news
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It really is, can’t wait to watch it ^^
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CLAMP/MADHOUSE is my OTP. In all caps.
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HAHAHAHAHAHA LOVED that! I’ll join you! CLAMP/MADHOUSE = OTP!
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It certainly does look Like Nekoi. {her style has developed so much the latest years.}
It’s cool that CLAMP is into new projects, i really want to see fresh new things.
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Got a better scan now, it certainly is Nekoi. There’s one lady that I am in doubt, the one with the hat, it could be Mokona. But the guys are Nekoi for sure.
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ZOMG chibiyuuto, thanks so much for this news, it’s really exciting to see CLAMP designing characters for anime, and for MADHOUSE it’s double awesome XDD.
I don’t know what the story will be about, but gonna watch it for sure 😀
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>it’s really exciting to see CLAMP designing characters for anime, and for MADHOUSE it’s double awesome XDD.
Word on that!
You’re welcome, and I just posted the plot summary ^^
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Thank you n_n, it really sounds creepy, so the holic kind of characters design are great for this genre of anime, imho
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I don’t know about you guys, but I am curious to see how this experience could affect the direction of “My Name is Earl”.
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Yuuto-san! As usual, I picked some infos here and there. Fell free to do the same, since I posted some sources about the storyline and etc. =3
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Oh, thanks for the plot summary! Dead women in boxes, sounds interesting xDD *psycho*
Pity that Ohkawa’s meetings weren’t for a CLAMP anime, but this project has left me very excited nonetheless ^^
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Seems it’ll be a good project indeed!
But who knows, they might be hiding Kobato.’s anime!
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Totally, this anime was just ONE of the issues discussed in that meeting, hihihi xD
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Also, seems the movie was screened recently on New York Asian Film Festival with english subtitles~
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The designs look nice! I wonder what sort of anime it is.
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I just posted the plot summary ^_~ Sounds creppy…
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Oh, cool! Thanks. 😀
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Looks intersting, I may like this one more than Code Geass =)))
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I think so too! XDDD
Code Geass is cool, the PLOT is very good, but all those robots turn me OFF xD
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Me too, I don’t like the robots part T_T
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Gaaah… My eyes… *_* They can’t look at anything else now without deeming it ugly. Nekoi(assuming that it is true that she did it, as it looks rather similar to Legal Drug work…)… I love your art so very-very much. hahaha
This is super-exciting news~ And the synopsis sounds super interesting~~ ^^
thank you for this most wonderful news!!!
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>Gaaah… My eyes… *_* They can’t look at anything else now without deeming it ugly.
Hahahaha! I suppose these setteis were already adapted by the official Character Designer, they look very anime-like. If that’s the case, I hope we’ll get to see Nekoi’s -original- concepts =)
Very good news! I hope it won’t take long for it to be begin, can’t wait to watch it ^^
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Sorry I delete the first comment…I typed one word wrong -_-”
Great News!! I can’t WAIT to know more!! CLAMP+MADHOUSE is something we always must looking foward to ^^
Thank you for the info^__^
and sorry again… my english is so bas T__T
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Don’t worry, renki-chan! We’re ALL learning in here ^^
>CLAMP+MADHOUSE is something we always must looking foward to ^^
Right you are! Best collaboration ^^
You’re welcome!!
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I’m so glad it’s MADHOUS, I’m sure that they won’t butcher CLAMP’s designs like Sunrise did with Code Geass…
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agree! Clamp’s art for code geass was so pretty while sunrise turn all characters into some think stick D:
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TOP RIGHT
DOUMEKI WITH HAIR
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Thanks ChibiYuuto! ^___^
CLAMP+MADHOUSE is a really good combination *0*. Also is mystery+detectives Ohkawa’s favourite themes (maybe she is more exited than us XDDD).
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i really want to see that!!
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Wow, it sounds really interesting plus Nekoi did the character design! I think I’m in love XD
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Cool :DDDD
The plot sounds interesting, too XD
It’s gonna be awesome~
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Awesome! I’m a huge Nekoi-sensei fan, ever since Watanuki-kun. ^^ Thanks for the update!
(Are there any more Alanis Morissette news? :
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hum,,, i think that girl with small hair is like the Mokona girls…
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YEEES!
Mad House usually it’s great! *O*
Well, last CLAMP’s contribution to an anime give birth to CODE GEASS…I’m a little concerned, too! XDDD
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Clamp is something else entirely. I mean the cover designs with the delicate colors are nice. However, the manga and anime can vary. Sometimes they are tolerable to look at, but there are moments when the characters look so unrealistic and even ugly.
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22 years already, oh my….
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