History Main / GirlInABox

!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16778471800.34024100 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/{{Firefly}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/River-Box.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: SantaClaus is getting weird.]]

The heroes will occasionally discover a girl who, for whatever reason, has been placed in a box, usually in [[HumanPopsicle suspended animation]] (or failing that, a box with air holes). Most of the time, this is part of the introduction of a new major character. Sometimes she could simply [[RobotGirl come in a box]] in mint condition.

Notice the phrase itself in Japan means a rich/noble girl that is usually overprotected and knows little of the world and may even have little freedom. Compare with [[CagedBirdMetaphor "a bird]] in a [[GildedCage gilded cage"]]. So Japanese works sometimes give this metaphor a more physical meaning. There's even a movie from 1935 with the exact name, ''Hakoirimusume'' (literally, "girl in a box").

Possibly related to PeopleJars, although usually more benign. If the girl is dead, it may be a case of BodyInABreadbox or DeadMansChest. See also PunkInTheTrunk, PackedHero and HumanMail. Often, as in the page image, she'll have been [[FetalPositionRebirth stored in the fetal position]], possibly [[NakedOnArrival naked]].

Usually the female counterpart of a SealedBadassInACan but they can overlap. Another neutral version of SealedEvilInACan or SealedGoodInACan.
----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Night, of ''Manga/AbsoluteBoyfriend'' is a [[RobotGirl robot boy]] in a box.
* The contents of the bag that Akatsuki was carrying throughout the first half of the first episode of ''Anime/AestheticaOfARogueHero'' was revealed to be Miu, fully naked.
%%* An early example: Fyana from ''Anime/ArmoredTrooperVotoms''.
* The titular character from ''Manga/{{Ayako}}'' is a {{Deconstruction}} and an especially disturbing example since she spent more than [[BreakTheCutie twenty years locked up in a basement]] and now hides in a box whenever she gets scared. [[TheWoobie Which is often.]]
* Male example: Ciel in a suitcase in the first episode of the second season of the ''Manga/BlackButler'' anime.
* Chii in ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'' is a girl on a garbage can, all naked but for the bandages she's wrapped in.
* ''Manga/ChocottoSister'': While not a box (it's a bag), Choco comes delivered in a present by [[SantaClaus Santa]].
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'':
** C.C. is a Girl in a Poison-Control Tank.
** Later on, [[AxeCrazy Mao]] tries to stick her in a suitcase... [[{{Squick}} with a few modifications]].
* Parodied in ''Manga/{{Colorful}}'' with Connie the Consolation Prize, a deliberately two-dimensional girl delivered in a box to a salivating recipient.
* In ''Anime/ConcreteRevolutioChoujinGensou'', TheStinger of episode 7 shows Jirou and Judas finding a box containing the deactivated body of RobotGirl Earth-chan.
* While not a girl, Ein of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' originally comes packaged in a metal briefcase in the episode "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession2StrayDogStrut Stray Dog Strut]]". Ed does this to herself in "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession17MushroomSamba Mushroom Samba]]" when she stows away [[PunkInTheTrunk in the trunk]] of a bounty hunter's car, causing a lot of trouble for said bounty hunter when a cop pulls her over.
* In ''LightNovel/CubeXCursedXCurious'' the girl doesn't so much come in a box, she IS the box.
* ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'':
%%** Havoc.
** Also, in a later episode, the Doll that the Yakuza acquires and tries to sell as a sex slave.
** Season 2 has it happening to Yin.
%%* Rose from ''LightNovel/DragonCrisis''.
%%* Ifurita in ''Anime/ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld''.
* Scary, scary version with Number 28 in ''Manga/ElfenLied''.
%%* Reverie in ''Manga/ElementalGelade''.
* During a dream sequence in ''Anime/EurekaSeven'', Anemone appears naked and in the fetal position in a refrigerator.
* Hyatt, Ropponmatsu I, and Ropponmatsu II are introduced to ACROSS members this way in ''Anime/ExcelSaga''. This only applies to the anime, not the original manga.
* The ''Anime/FrameArmsGirls'' turn up at Ao Gennai's doorstep in this fashion, courtesy of Kotobukiya drone delivery.
* Hako-chan (literally "Box-chan"), from ''Anime/TheGirlWhoLeaptThroughSpace''. Her appearance is still mostly unknown due to [[spoiler:her not leaving the box yet]], though we do learn that [[spoiler:she has light skin. There was one point where she almost came out, but then [[TheDragon Aleida]] convinced her that staying in the box was better because "being in the outside world is worse than being in the box".]] Admittedly, it does seem to be a pretty nice box: it has some sort of camera system allowing view outside, though not from outside in, and [[TalkingWithSigns text can be displayed on the door]] of the box like it's a computer screen. Also, it apparently has some sort of hovering/movement device.
* [[spoiler: Lucille Lilliant]] from ''[[Anime/AfterWarGundamX Gundam X]]'' was a Lady in a Capsule. For worse, [[spoiler: she's been locked for ''15 years'' inside of it, and the enemy now wants to get to her to use her considerable PsychicPowers. Poor Lucille [[BarrierMaiden is physically indefense]], as her body is pretty much comatose, [[GrandTheftMe but her conscience finds a way around that]].]]
%%* May in ''Anime/HandMaidMay''.
* Given a GenderFlip in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', where [[TheDitz Italy]] is found hiding in a tomato crate.
* Hina from ''Manga/{{Hinamatsuri}}'' first arrives in Nitta's apartment wrapped in a small metal cocoon.
* Mimi from ''Manga/IDreamOfMimi''. Akira buys her in a box thinking she'll be a normal personal computer, but she turns out to be a gynoid.
* ''Anime/IzettaTheLastWitch'' begins with the title character being transported in a steampunk [[HumanPopsicle suspended animation]] pod to New Berlin by the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Germanian military]]. Unfortunately for them, she wakes up enough to recognize her beloved Princess Finé, a prisoner on the same aircraft. One magical outburst later, her pod has been blasted open, the plane rent in two and the Germanians are short ''two'' important assets.
* Yui from ''Koharu Biyori'', being a [[RobotGirl robot maid]]. The OpeningTheme specifically mentions this.
* Michiru from ''Kono Kanojo wa Fiction desu'' first appeared naked in a large bag instead of a box.
* [[spoiler: [[SuperPrototype Ginga Nakajima]]]] in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' was stored in a metal suitcase to be transported to the BigBad when she was defeated and captured.
* Princess Snow from ''Manga/{{MAR}}''. In her first appearance, she's encased in ice, only to be freed (and [[AccidentalKiss accidentally kissed]] by) Ginta. This freaks him out since she looks, sounds and acts exactly like his childhood friend Koyuki. Oddly enough, [[spoiler: the second time she needs to be rescued, she's inside of an ACTUAL box in a fetal position. A Rubix Cube-like deathtrap to be precise, which will kill her if not solved correctly and even if it's solved correctly will kill whoever solved it instead. Putting a bit of a dark spin on this trope.]]
* ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'':
** Izumi, presented as a parody. "Where else? In the box."
** The dub version is funnier: "As Schrodinger would say, [[UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat the answer is in the box.]]"
*** [[spoiler:Yurika]] becomes one of these too in TheMovie.
* From ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': Kyon's little sister hid in his duffel bag so he would take her on vacation with him. Spoofed in ''WebVideo/TheAbridgingOfHaruhiSuzumiya'':
-->'''Kyon:''' Why is my bag so... ''ohmygod'', a loli in a bag!
** Amusingly, a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs - Kyon immediately notices that his bag is a good 30 kilos heavier than it should be and catches her. In the anime, he brings her along anyway, whereas in the {{light novel}}s he sends her back home.
* Zia in ''Anime/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold'', in the "smuggled aboard a ship" variety.
* Byakki/Shiro in ''LightNovel/OurHomesFoxDeity'', who was delivered in a box.
* Melfina from ''Manga/OutlawStar'', in what is probably [[TropeCodifier the example that most casual anime watchers will think of]] when you mention this trope.
* ''Manga/PuellaMagiKazumiMagica'': Kazumi is introduced by breaking out of a suitcase the villain was carrying.
* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'': Utena's coffin scene. [[spoiler:And the scene in the final battle.]]
* In the third season of ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' (aka ''Anime/GenesisClimberMospeada''), Marlene (Aisha) is found in an [[spoiler:alien egg]].
* ''Manga/RozenMaiden'', which [[JustifiedTrope works perfectly]]. Where do ''you'' store porcelain dolls when they're not on the shelf?.
* Lime, Cherry, and Bloodberry from ''Anime/SaberMarionetteJ'' are all introduced this way. They're also robot girls with their slavish devotion to the male protagonist preinstalled, so they hit this trope pretty hard.
* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': Keroro first met Angol Mois after finding her inside a closet that landed on Keron.
%%* Yakumo from ''Anime/{{Shinzo}}''.
* In ''Anime/StrainStrategicArmoredInfantry'', the boxed loli is found by the ''villain'', and becomes his [[ReplacementGoldfish replacement sister]] and MoralityPet. [[spoiler:She doesn't do such a good job of the latter, since, as it turns out, he was already crazy to begin with.]]
* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'': In the final episode of ''Alicization: War of Underworld'', Alice mails herself to Kirito's home stuffed in a large box (and ''naked'', on top of it). Somewhat justified given that [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots she's in an android body]].
* Nia from ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann''.
** Male example: according to WordOfGod, Team Dai-Gurren found Attenborough in someone's luggage. No, really.
* ''Manga/TodaysCerberus'' begins with Chiaki receiving a box from his globe-trotting father. Inside is Cerberus in a LittleBitBeastly human form declaring she'll be his guard dog.
* Misty in ''Manga/{{Vandread}}'', she's rescued from an escape pod.
** Lacus Clyne in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' has the same thing happen to her, albeit she's rescued by an enemy ship.
*** And later in SEED, the same happens to [[spoiler: Flay]]
* Another boy version happens in ''Manga/YoureMyPet'' with Momo.
* In the Millennium World arc of ''Anime/YuGiOh'', we first meet Mana hiding in a large ceramic pot.
%%* ''Anime/ZoidsChaoticCentury'' starts like this.
* Literally happens in the ending of ''Anime/LoveFlops'' where all four love interests of the male MC arrived at his home in their respective large delivery boxes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* ''ComicBook/MsMarvel'' once featured a plot arc where The Puppetmaster was collecting superheroines, [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mind-controlling]] them and then selling them. He had teams out catching the women, and they would be shipped to his South American headquarters inside wooden crates.
* The first issue of Creator/JackKirby's ''ComicBook/{{OMAC}}'' has the title character learning to his horror that the girl he likes is actually an android, built as part of an evil conspiracy. He learns this by finding her disassembled in a box.
* Junior in ''ComicBook/SecretSix'', due to a severe aversion to being seen, runs a criminal empire from inside a wooden crate, and travels inside a burlap sack.
* In ''Pikappa'', an alternate continuity of ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'', the android Lyla Lay is found deactivated in a box in an old factory. Luckily, the janitor who found her [[ItMakesSenseInContext happens to be versed in super-science]], and can "revive" her.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Diana has Serva transported to Holliday College in a trunk when Serva needs a place to hide from her twin Hypnota. Serva is especially suited towards this method of travel given her job as a magician's assistant, but opening the trunk definitely surprises the Holliday Girls.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2683602/1/Walking_the_Line Walking the Line]]'' by Starving Lunatic, Shego finds Kim in a box and keeps her as a pet.
* Though the girl in question is a pony, the protagonist of ''Fanfic/MyLittleDashie'' finds [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Rainbow Dash]] in a box.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'': At the end of the climax, [[BigBad Edgar]] is trapped in a box and sent to Timbuktu.
* In ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'', the villain of the "Den" sequence does this to Den's girlfriend to get him to cooperate.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In the MeetCute of ''Just You and Me, Kid'', Creator/GeorgeBurns finds a naked Creator/BrookeShields hiding in the trunk on his car.
* ''Film/BloodsuckingFreaks'': In this low-budget gorefest, one of the villain's many bad habits is stuffing young, blond women into wooden boxes to be sold to men overseas.
* ''Film/BoxingHelena'': Jennifer Lynch [[note]]Creator/DavidLynch's daughter[[/note]] made a movie about a trauma surgeon who keeps his bitchy ex-girlfriend in a box... but only after [[AnArmAndALeg he trimmed her to fit.]]
* In ''Film/SweetMovie'', Miss Canada gets stuffed in a suitcase and shipped to Paris from North America.
* The [[spoiler: mermaid in the glass case]] in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides''
* Male version: in ''Film/GeorgeOfTheJungle'', George ships himself back to Africa in a giant UPS carton.
-->'''George:''' Next time, George get bigger box.
* Another male example; at the climax of ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', Bond subdues [[TheDragon Nick-Nack]] by shutting him up inside a suitcase. (A ''normal'' suitcase; Nick-Nack is a midget and small enough to fit.)
* ''Film/Ultraviolet2006'': Another male case, a young boy is kept in a suitcase (using space-warping technology).
* In ''Film/TheCell'', Carl Stargher puts his female victims in a glass box and leaves them there to be retrieved later, after they are dead.
* In ''Shuttle'' [[spoiler:after the protagonist is sold into sex slavery, she's trapped in a box and loaded onto a ship so she can be sent to her new owners abroad]].
* Liz in ''Live Animals'' is found in a small box, having apparently been kept for some time as a "toy" by the antagonists.
* ''Tri Couleurs Blanc'': A male example is used for comic and dramatic effect simultaneously.
* In ''Film/TheTransporter'', [[spoiler: this turns out to be what is being transported.]]
* Bianca in ''Film/LarsAndTheRealGirl'' quite literally comes in a box (although, despite the title, she's not a real girl).
* In the film version of ''Film/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', Gael is discovered in a supply barrel after stowing away aboard the Dawn Treader.
* ''Film/DjangoUnchained'': The first time that Django's wife Broomhilda is seen outside of flashbacks and fantasy sequences, she's naked in the "hot box" as punishment for trying to run away from Candieland, however, the circumstances make it very much FanDisservice.
* ''Film/{{Oblivion 2013}}'': Julia Rusakova [[spoiler: later Harper]] kicks things off when her escape capsule lands on Earth and Jack investigates.
* ''Film/DerWixxer'' sees [[spoiler:the Earl of Cockwood]] smuggling entire girl ''bands'' in suitably large wooden crates (at least judging by the one example revealed on screen).
* In ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}'', which is based on the myth of Perseus, Princess Danae and her newborn son Perseus are shut into a box and thrown into the sea by Danae's dad Acrisios, who is angered that she has had a child despite him locking her away from men. Danae's lover and Perseus' father is the god Zeus, who instructs the sea god to ensure that Danae and her child are taken by the currents to a safe place, the island of Seriphos, where Perseus grows to adulthood.
* ''Film/CountessDracula'': When the bailiffs call, Ilona's jailer hides her by stuffing her inside a trunk.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''The Girl in the Box'': Jackie, the protagonist of the teen novel. In this case, the "box" in question is a cramped basement, where she's being held after being kidnapped for unknown reasons.
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': {{Gender Inverted|Trope}} when [[spoiler:[[TheChosenOne Rand al'Thor]]]] is captured by Aes Sedai, forced into a trunk, and tortured on his way to the White Tower. He's rescued ''en route'' in a bloody battle, but the experience causes him lasting trauma and claustrophobia.
* E. Veltistov wrote a series of books about the adventures of Electronic, a RidiculouslyHumanRobot in shape of a boy. The first book is titled "Electronic - a boy from the box"
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': A scene late in ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'' evokes the Cleopatra legend below.
* ''Literature/MrHooksBigBlackBox'': There's any number of people trying to open the titular Box, all with their own ideas what might be inside. But when they finally get a moment of quiet, our heroes finally hear a young girl begging to be let out. Her name is Hope, and she doesn't know why someone locked her in there.
* ''Literature/EvaLuna'': A bunch of girls who were about to be sold to a prostitution ring are kept in a locked crate with limited air inside. Their ship got stuck due to bureaucracy and the girls suffocate to death.
* ''Literature/AcrossTheUniverseBethRevis'': Amy and the other passengers from old Earth are frozen into compartments, resembling boxes. Well, Amy is until [[spoiler: Elder unplugs her.]]
* ''Literature/TheLongShips'': Viking Toke smuggles a girl on a longship in a large chest.
* ''Literature/{{Anathem}}'': A small landing ship is pried open to reveal the corpse of a woman of an alien lineage, bearing an enigmatic clue. The avout rush to preserve her body for study.
* ''Literature/TheThinkingMachine'': The solution to [[spoiler:"The Problem of DressingRoom A"]] involves the missing actress having been hypnotized and then folded into one of the trunks of her room, so she was carried out with the rest of her luggage when the troupe moved cities.
* ''Literature/{{Provenance}}'' has a non-binary version: Ingray arranges for a famous convict to be smuggled out of prison and is dismayed when the person is delivered as a HumanPopsicle -- the only available ship out of town won't transport human cargo without proof of prior consent, which raises some very awkward questions.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', TropeNamer:
** Early ads trying to drum up interest for the series used the tagline "What do [list of quirky character archetypes] and a ''girl in a box'' have in common?" However, Fox messed that one up; they aired the pilot, [[MissingTrailerScene the only episode where she's actually in a box]], '''last'''. The reveal was an obvious homage to the trope-codifying scene in ''Anime/OutlawStar''.
** Saffron, though it was less of an introduction and more of 'getting her on the ship without the other characters noticing'. Or possibly [[spoiler: keeping her away from everyone long enough for them to work up a plan on how to out-con her.]]
*** They get rid of her the same way, when [[spoiler: Inara traps her in a ''dumpster'']].
** A male variant, Tracey was introduced to the show in a coffin. [[spoiler:Too bad the episode has BookEnds.]]
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
** In the episode [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Perfect_Mate The Perfect Mate]] had Picard meet, [[StatusQuoIsGod and have to give up]], a woman initially being transported as "cargo" possessed of the power to become ''anyone's'' MagicalGirlfriend.
** Later on in the episode [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emissary_%28Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation%29 The Emissary]], K'Ehleyr, Worf's LoveInterest, arrives at ''Enterprise'' in what is essentially a torpedo casing. (Getting there ''fast'' was imperative, so they ''really'' had to improvise.)
* In ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise,'' Trip meets a cargo girl from the same planet as the Next Generation example above, only to find out she's a WellExcuseMePrincess. (Naturally, they [[SlapSlapKiss make out a lot]] eventually after the [[HilarityEnsues hilarity starts ensuing]].)
* ''Series/TheManShow'' had a skit where a midget woman in her early twenties was carried around in a suitcase, as a portable stripper.
* Jeannie from ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'' was a Girl in a Bottle, but close enough.
* In ''Series/PushingDaisies'', Chuck is in a coffin when Ned revives her.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'':
** One episode dealt with a body found in a desert where the death pose was in an unusual position; turns out the girl had been attempting to smuggle herself into the country in a suitcase and died in it.
** Another episode dealt with deaths at a circus, including one man who could contort his body into many shapes who was found in an extremely small box.
** Yet a third dealt with "claustrophila," a confined-space fetish: a female practitioner (played by [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0604507/ a real-life contortionist]]) allowed herself to be folded up in a large packing crate and mailed cross-town. Because the [[FictionalCounterpart UPS delivery man]] didn't "handle with care," she was knocked out, asphyxiated, and arrived DOA.
* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'':
** A male version when [[spoiler: Bryce is found to be still alive... and in a box]].
** Used by the protagonists several times, as well. Notably, Chuck hiding from an assassin in a coffin being transported by air, Casey and Sarah smuggling themselves aboard a train in coffins and subsequently imprisoning the BigBad in one, (temporarily) and Sarah stowing away aboard an airplane having squeezed herself into a duffle bag.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' had a gruesome twist on this trope in one episode, where the killer was avenging the deaths of three girls in a box. A group of officers, when they learned they were being sent home, arranged to ship their Asian girlfriends back to the States in a locked crate in the storage hold. But when their orders were changed at the last minute, none of them ended up on the same ship with the girls, who starved to death. [[spoiler: The killer was the fourth girl, the only one who survived.]]
* The series five opening of ''Series/ICarly'' includes Sam in a suitcase.
* ''Series/{{Blindspot}}'' opens with the main amnesiac character, named Jane Doe until her identity can be found, discovered naked in a duffle bag in the middle of Times Square. The CCT cameras for Times Square can see the duffle bag being dropped off, but not who did it.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': A male example when Varys saves Tyrion from his impending execution and has him delivered out of the country by ship in a box. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome By the time the ship makes it to the destination, Tyrion is delirious from hunger and thirst and has soiled himself several times]].
* ''Series/TheMagician'': In "The Vanishing Lady", kidnappers knock a singer unconscious and then stuff her into a trunk, and then casually wheeling the trunk out of the theatre.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Manhwa]]
* In ''Manhwa/TheBreaker'', the protagonist finds a girl in the trunk of a car.
* In ''{{Manhwa/Redrum327}}'', [[spoiler:Gahui was locked in a safe in the middle of a forest by the rest of the cast (minus Gihu) as a child and left to die. She's rescued six days later, after tearing her own fingernails off trying to escape and nearly freezing to death during the raining days]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Another possible TropeNamer candidate is the Blake Babies' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiYa1Zl__jw song of the same name.]] It came out in 1990, long before ''Firefly''.
* Music/{{Gorillaz}}
** Noodle is mailed to in a [=FedEx=] box. Talk about your {{Noodle Incident}}s...
** Male variation: 2D got shipped to Plastic Beach in a suitcase.
* Male example with a macabre twist: Music/VelvetUnderground's "The Gift". Waldo Jeffers, anxious that his college girlfriend Marsha, now living in another city, might not stay faithful to him, and lacking the money to visit her the normal way, mails himself to her. This backfires when Marsha, unable to open the crate, has her friend [[spoiler: puncture it with a sheet metal cutter, which goes right through Waldo's head]].
* Music/{{Slipknot}}'s song Purity
** The live version starts with "This song... Is about a girl in a box."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mythology & Religion]]
* From Myth/GreekMythology, Princess Danae and her newborn son Perseus were shut into a box and thrown into the sea by Danae's dad Acrisios, who had been told that Danae's child would kill and overthrow him. With some help from Perseus's biological father, the god Zeus, they were eventually found by the fisherman Dictys in a beach and he took both of them in.
* According to Jewish tradition, this happened to Sarah from Literature/TheBible, because her husband was afraid she'd be taken by the Egyptians on account of her beauty.
** The (male) baby Moses escapes Pharoah's order to throw every male child in the Nile when his mother makes him a basket covered in water-repellent pitch before sending him down the river. He's also promptly found by the Pharoah's daughter and raised as her own child.
** Zechariah the prophet sees a vision of a woman in a basket with a lead covering over the basket, being carried by two women with stork-like wings to a place in the land of Shinar. Given that she is mentioned as being the personification of Wickedness, she is also considered SealedEvilInACan.
* Literature/SnowWhite isn't ''introduced'' this way, but PrinceCharming ''finds'' her in a glass coffin at the end of the story.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''Artificial Girl 2'', the heroine awakens from a crate in the protagonist's room.
* Azel from (Azel:) ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoonSaga''.
* ''[[VideoGame/{{Parodius}} Sexy Parodius]]'': Players who successfully complete mission 3 face a mission filled with girls in boxes.
* In ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', the Borginian singer Lamiroir [[spoiler: hides in a contrabass case after being very nearly killed by someone who wants her silenced.]]
** Parodied in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'', where [[SchoolNewspaperNewshound Myriam Scuttlebutt]] literally walks around wearing a cardboard box over her head to conceal her identity.
* This is how the Dragonborn first meets Serana in the Dawnguard expansion of [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]].
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': A male example is Vincent Valentine. Granted, you're replacing "box" with "coffin", but still.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'': The female character is first seen (er, heard) trapped in a BagOfKidnapping she was stuffed in.
* In ''VisualNovel/ToHeart2: Another Days'' Silfa / HMX-17c makes her appearance being shipped in a box to Takaaki's house. She also uses the box as her hiding place.
* One of the fighters in ''VideoGame/{{Cyberbots}}'' is a girl in a jar, who hijacked a robot to escape from the government facility where she was stored. She beats up everyone she comes across due to fear and extreme misunderstandings.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': Ooccoo, the odd bird-like female, keeps getting herself stuck in crockery inside the various dungeons, and is only seen if Link finds and breaks the particular pot in which she's trapped.
* Sera from ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga''.
* Website/GaiaOnline has the Sentinel, a demigoddess who accidentally cursed herself into a box to be tortured by demons for a thousand years... and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero was released by Gaians looking for rare items]], [[AxCrazy crazier than ever]]. By the same token, we have her counterpart the Overseer, Boy in a Clam.
* Octavia in ''VisualNovel/TearsToTiara'' is found inside a box, tied up and helpless. Arawn decides he has enough women hanging around annoying him about how they're his wife or just being ditzy elves, so he decides to seal her back in and pretend he never saw her. Sadly, Arthur catches him and you recruit her instead.
* In ''VideoGame/KillerIsDead'', this is how Juliet (the heroine from ''VideoGame/LollipopChainsaw'') makes a {{cameo}}. In Episode 51, a DLC chapter, if the player breaks open a barrel on a ledge that's shaking, Juliet leaps out and jumps away to the sound made in her own game when she uses her Big Jump move.
* The bad ending for ''VideoGame/HauntingGround'' has the main heroine trapped in a box at the end.
* Suzy in ''VideoGame/{{killer7}}''. Granted, she's just a head...
* Rief in ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', a male example, is kidnapped, trapped in a crate, and abandoned near Harapa in order to force the heroes to rescue him instead of following their original mission to Morgal.
* ''[[VideoGame/FatalFrame Fatal Frame 2]]'' had a ghost woman in a kimono box. [[spoiler: She hid in the box to escape the Repentence, but died there.]]
* In one ''VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi 3'' side mission, [[VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors Gracia]] gets trapped inside a box that is sealed shut by Zhang Jiao's magic, leading Sima Yi and Masamune Date to fight Jiao and his brothers in order to break the spell to free her.
* [[spoiler: The Dolls (save for Cammy, Juni, and Juli)]] are seen stashed inside capsules in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'''s Juri OAV. This is because [[spoiler: their BrainWashing process has damaged their bodies and minds almost beyond recognition, and their capsules either keep them frozen until they can be restored or are part of their medical treatment]]
** In the UpdatedReRelease ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'', [[spoiler: Decapre is shown breaking her capsule [[DarkActionGirl before joining the cast]].]] And [[spoiler: in her ending, both she ''and'' Cammy are now capsuled, after Cammy [[FaceHeelTurn returns to Shadaloo]] [[SadisticChoice after Bison tells her it's the only way to save the dying Decapre]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Suguri}}'' [[spoiler:you meet the FinalBoss [[PhysicalGod Hime]] sealed in a glass chamber in the final stage. [[BigBad Shifu]] awakens her and blackmails her to fight you.]]
* Sarah, the protagonist in ''VideoGame/TheWhiteChamber'', awakens in a boxy coffin and is seen hiding in one on the page image.
* In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' quest "The Tourist Trap", you rescue a kidnapped girl from slavery by smuggling her away in a barrel. [[HilarityEnsues She's not happy about it]].
* The Red Mage job questline in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' evolves the PC and their job mentor finding a girl drugged and amnesiac in a shipping crate.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* During the rescue operation in ''VisualNovel/TheEdenOfGrisaia'' the Thanatos system's autonomous behavior is finally noticed by Ichigaya, who begin shutting out its systems. In response, it fights back as well as it can as well as sending JB to [[spoiler:remove its core: Kazuki Kazami]], who has been in a tube for years. [[spoiler:When she gets out, she's so weak she can barely even stand, let alone walk, requiring JB to carry her out.]]
* This is how Ibuki meets his first CatGirl, Mikan, in ''Let's Meow Meow''. She is curled up, naked, and sleeping in a cardboard box on the street which he happens to stumble upon on the way home. His response? "I was expecting to see a kitten. [[IgnoreTheFanservice How disappointing]]." Let me remind you that this guy specifically wished on the Cat God to have his own catgirl and he has a catgirl fetish.
** To be fair, he initially assumes that was a dream and she a crazy homeless girl in a cosplay outfit.
* At the beginning of ''VisualNovel/{{Nekopara}}'', the protagonist receives two boxes containing his sister's catgirls. They sent themselves by mail to stay with him after he moved.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Elie in ''Webcomic/GiftsOfWanderingIce'' was found in a little cryo capsule as a baby.
* ''Webcomic/TimesLikeThis'': Although not real girls, [[http://timeslikethis.com/?id=351 this]] is how RobotGirl Nicki and a human-like stunt dummy are shipped to France as part of a UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc rescue effort.
* ''Webcomic/AllenTheAlien'' has a rare male example; Allen is put in a box after an AlienAbduction.
* ''Webcomic/PlushAndBlood'': Katt.
* In the beginning of ''Webcomic/NotWhatIWas'' a scavenger finds an amnesiac feline girl in a medi-tube that fell off the back of a transport.
* In one story arc of ''Webcomic/FullFrontalNerdity'', the guys are playing a crossover campaign of Dungeons & Dragons mixed with Pirates of the Caribbean. They are hired to deliver a mysterious, locked box and while en route to their destination find themselves being followed by ships from three different navies. Realizing they've been setup they decide to open the box and see what is so important. [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1355 Frank says that inside is a little girl which prompts massive freakouts from the guys.]]
-->'''Shawn:''' AAAGGH! A little Girl!
-->'''Lewis:''' The stuff of every adventurer's worst nightmares!
-->'''Nelson:''' I'll just work out the point spread on her being a demonic horror, a dragon, or a device for making us have an alignment violation every five minutes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In Website/{{Pixiv}} community, this is denoted as "箱入り娘" [[note]]literally "girl in a box"[[/note]].
* ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'' begins with the protagonist Ruby ([[BeastMan a bunnygirl]]) waking up in a box-like locker. [[spoiler: [[BookEnds It ends]] with the minor character Daisy ([[BeastMan a dog-girl]]) waking up in a box-like locker.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheBotsMaster'', a few of hero Ziv Zoolander's RidiculouslyHumanRobots note their creator's crush on villainess Lady Frenzy. So they kidnap her and present her unconscious body in a box to ZZ on his birthday.
* Aelita of ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'': Jérémie finds his virtual MagicalGirlfriend in suspended animation in {{Cyberspace}}.
* In the Franchise/{{DCAU}}, Franchise/{{Superman}} first finds Supergirl as the last frozen survivor of her homeworld.
* Lampshaded in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' where Marge is eavesdropping on a cellphone conversation between Moe and Carl. According to Moe, Groundskeeper Willie ordered a mail-order bride from some other country but refused to pay a shipping fee, resulting in the girl stuck in the crate at the post office. (We have to take Moe's word on this here, but weirder things have happened on this show...)
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'': In [[Recap/StarWarsResistanceS1E6SignalFromSectorSix "Signal from Sector Six"]], while investigating a derelict freighter that was attacked by pirates and has dangerous creatures roaming loose, Kaz and Poe find an unconscious woman inside a crate, and take her off the ship to safety. [[spoiler:She's one of the pirates who attacked the ship, and hid inside the crate to escape the giant creature eating the other pirates.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* This is supposedly how Julius Caesar and Cleopatra met for the first time (she was hidden in a rolled-up carpet, rather than a box, though).
* Hugo de Groot, a Dutch writer in the 17th century was imprisoned in castle Loevestein. Every month the guards would replace his bookcase, which consisted of a large wooden trunk. Guess how he escaped.
* In the pre-Civil War United States, some slaves managed to escape bondage by ''mailing'' themselves northward. The most famous of these was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Box_Brown Henry "Box" Brown]] (not to be confused with a different [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Brown_%28inventor%29 Henry Brown]], inventor of the safe.[[labelnote:*]]Amusingly enough.[[/labelnote]])
* Many refugees have tried to smuggle themselves in ship containers with various degrees of success.
%% * In 1961 a woman was smuggled from East to West Berlin in two suitcases. They were placed next to each other in the luggage rack with false sides making them one space, with her top half in one suitcase and legs in the other. [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/16/escape-from-east-berlin She made it through.]] (Description doesn't seem to match source.)

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itaa8Hm81ng This soldier]], who happened to be coming home from Afghanistan on his daughter's third birthday. (Sadly, the video is no longer accessible, as of 20150930.)
* The true-crime story of [[http://truecrimediscussions.blogspot.ca/2014/02/the-colleen-stan-case.html Colleen Stan.]]
[[/folder]]