Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria (Vol 1)

The tl;dr version: Utsuro no Hako IS: mysterious box (hey!!) + tsundere + Japanese schoolife + philosophical questions and the existence of life.

Overall it’s quite a good series and I can see why there’s so much interest in pushing the series to be translated (already 3 volumes translated!). Not like Sword Art Online which I swear only has popularity because right in the middle it says SEX SCENE DON’T SEE UNLESS YOU’RE OVER 18. (What.) But anyway.
I think why I’m not particularly excited about this series is that it doesn’t really have a sense of humor; its pretty serious for the most part. And when you consider that the first novel is like endless eight, it was easy to lose track of following it when I stopped in the middle (or rather, find the mood to pick it up again; its hard for me to pick up something again that’s not comedy or has comedic events). That being said, Utsuu no Haako is probably something I’d tell other people to look at because it has pretty good events. It has the element of surprise, somewhat, and if people like tsundere I guess they’d like the main character. I think the character designs for another girl are cuter and the girl herself eventually turns… interesting too… :V
As a bit of sidetrack, I notice in light novels its hard to get familiar with the side characters at first, particularly because we don’t know how they look yet. Its not like in manga or anime where when a side char is introduced we know what they look like immediately. Instead, they have to describe them in ways I usually gloss over so none of them catch my eye until like 4 chapters later when they suddenly do interesting things. (Or I look at the character illustrations).
I think that, in addition to the lack of significant comedic moments, the first volume also focuses more on romance than I like it to be, especially on ideals and dangers of love. Not to say Bungaku Shojo doesn’t have some romantic connections, but… I think they play more significant parts in Utsuro no Hako than in Bungaku Shojo, which may appeal to others, but not as much to me. The philosophical parts are still more important, though, and that’s always cool; its nice to ponder on the types of things for a while after you finish reading stuff like that.
Plus, it’s a story that revolves around boxes. MYSTERIOUS boxes. MYSTERIOUS BOXES WHICH GRANT WISHES. DUDE CAN IT GET ANY COOLER THAN THAT? I NEVER FELT SO IMPORTANT, AS A MYSTERIOUS BOX MYSELF.

I’d say take a look at it if anyone has any time to read it.

http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Utsuro_no_Hako_to_Zero_no_Maria