

Sea in a Box
盒中之海
22 receives an invitation from a game company to participate in a trial of their virtual reality game, The Sea in a Box. In the game world, a fishing village on the southern coast is where villagers bring their household deities to the streets for a "deity procession" to celebrate the Lantern Festival. 22 and three other test players discover a female deity they've never seen before, "Cizhou Shenggu" (Sacred Maiden Cizhou). As they delve deeper into Cizhou Shenggu's origins, they gradually discover traces of manipulation from outside the game, a mysterious force subtly influencing the NPCs within. Meanwhile, 22's sister, 33, also discovers suspicious behavior from the employees outside the game. A scheming company, NPC fishermen secretly planning a mysterious ritual, and seemingly secretive companions—a vast conspiracy involving multiple forces gradually surfaces. (Source: Bilibili, translated)
22 receives an invitation from a game company to participate in a trial of their virtual reality game, The Sea in a Box. In the game world, a fishing village on the southern coast is where villagers bring their household deities to the streets for a "deity procession" to celebrate the Lantern Festival. 22 and three other test players discover a female deity they've never seen before, "Cizhou Shenggu" (Sacred Maiden Cizhou). As they delve deeper into Cizhou Shenggu's origins, they gradually discover traces of manipulation from outside the game, a mysterious force subtly influencing the NPCs within. Meanwhile, 22's sister, 33, also discovers suspicious behavior from the employees outside the game. A scheming company, NPC fishermen secretly planning a mysterious ritual, and seemingly secretive companions—a vast conspiracy involving multiple forces gradually surfaces. (Source: Bilibili, translated)
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TasRook
April 20, 2025
It's a Chinese animated movie about a group of testers who were invited to playtest a new virtual reality video game. They all come from different walks of life but quickly bond over their curiosity of this game world. They explore and wonder, they meet NPCs and experience their customs and even go on something of a quest. Which goes horribly wrong. It's a Lovecraftian psychological horror drama in a virtual reality. It has some really cool ideas, but it all kind of falls flat because the main character cast is just so boring. I'm not really going to get into because of spoilers butI had to watch this movie over three days as I was falling asleep throughout. The first two thirds of this rather long movie seriously drag on, and only kept me interested because of the many twists and surprises it kept throwing my way. I suppose the authors were really going for that "suspense" and "shock" value but I didn't get much of that. It comes somewhat alive by the end with flashy action and a pretty epic scenery which did remedy some of the bad taste, but ultimately I was just glad to have it over with. I will remember this movie for it's fantastic concept, not for the story it tells. If you're into Lovecraft you might like it a lot more than I did. 6/10
thereIwasnt
October 31, 2025
Well that was the goofiest take on Lovecraftian Horror I've ever seen on film! For those of you who aren't aware, BiliBili is a Chinese streaming service that hosts anime, sort of like Crunchyroll in the West. And just like Crunchroll, BiliBili has a cute, Moe-girl mascots named 22. So yeah, this movie is Bilibili character Mascot fanfiction. The story has 22 and three other people volunteer to test a VR game. They discover that the game is not functioning as expected, which leads down an odd path before pulling in a bunch of components from Shadow over Innsmouth (if you have seen one Lovecraft story, you'veseen them all). Video game components still abound though, which results in an interesting balancing act between self-aware comedy and horror. Visually, the directing is good and the animation is fluid. Characters are drawn in a soft, Moe-style so the whole thing has a 'cute' feel to it which runs contrary to some of the events occurring around them (think Madoka Magica or Higurashi). My one gripe with the visuals is that some monster models and the leads in range shots switch to 3D animation, and when this happens it's very obvious. Thankfully these shots are done at a distance, so the impact is minimal, and none of the mentioned characters talk during these moments, so you don't get the uncanny look that happens when this is tried in other anime. The horror kept me paying attention, and the humor got me to laugh. This works for and against the film, as even up into the start of the third act the show takes itself very seriously when it's trying to present horror, doing a lot to evoke that misty, gloomy, seaside town atmosphere that Innsmouth is known for. By the end it becomes hard to take seriously, and I found myself grinning more often than worried for the characters. If I had to level criticism against the show, it would be on two areas. First is the aforementioned obvious 3D. The second is that the characters don't really grow or change during the story, making it so that there's never really a particularly impactful moment of the sort that would get me to give this an 8 or higher. As a result, between the humor and visual language, the work can come off as 'cheap' at times, and anyone who came here expecting a serious take on Lovecraft or similar will be disappointed. Finally, please be aware that the only version of this I can find had tiny subtitles in Chinese, and even tinier subtitles in English. There are no dubs that I know of. In all, a solid film to watch alone or with friends for a laugh or a few thrills, but probably not for someone looking for a solid horror or serious take on Cthulhu Mythos.
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