BOOGIEPOP PHANTOM
Note: *not* a bad teen dancing film
Review by: M.H. "Babies taste of chicken" Torringjan
Length: 12 eps
Genre: Mystery, horror
Watched: entire series, subbed
When you first watch this series, you may sit in your chair, rubbing your forehead and thinking, "oh god, not another mind-fuck." So, of course, I jumped at the chance to watch this series. On further review of the series, I came to realize that the series itself wasn't a mindfuck so much as it was non-linear storytelling, which seems to be in the mode these days. Although it does lend a bit of confusion to the plot of the series, the general gist of the series is too easily understood for me to classify it as a mindfuck.
Plot summary: In the year 1999, the peace is disturbed in a city in Japan by a series of gruesome killings. After the murders stop, though, the peace does not remain as five years later, a pillar of light erupts during the night, followed by a series of strange occurrences amongst the population (which seem oddly like mass halleucinations brought on by intake of various illicit substances). The people affected with these symptoms usually end up disappearing, with whispers of the name "Boogiepop, the god of death" following them. One girl, Nagi Kirima, is trying to fight these unknown forces and discover the cure for what's going on.
Artwork: The artwork is pretty run-of-the-mill, nothing really interesting about it. The character designs, with the exception of Boogiepop, are forgettable, and the background work isn't all that special, either. One major quibble that I have, though, is the almost constant haze that somebody told the artists to include, probably to give it an artistic, gritty feel and enhance the mood or some such tripe. It really got on my nerves after a while, not necessarily because it screwed up the visual presentation, but more because it just didn't really enhance anything. They could have done much better.
Music: The music in the series was pretty decent, ranging from the boogie (appropriately) opening theme to the rock ending theme. The in-episode music was what set the mood much better than the visual presentation, with a techno-sounding creepy feel to it for the most part.
Characters: One of a small cast of constant main characters is Nagi Kirima, a tough girl at school who keeps mostly to herself, except for when she finds a person threatened by a creature that she refers to as Manticore. She seems to have the best idea of anyone in the city as to what's going on, although she seems to be mixed up on some of the facts. Boogiepop is a mysterious supernatural figure who shows up on the scene when the strange things happening to the people get out of hand and takes matters into her own hands. Although she isn't going to tell anyone exactly what's going on, she is the only person in this series who actually does know what's going on. Manaka is a girl being held in a hospital because of what seems to be a mental disorder, which results in her only form of communication being echoing anything that is said to her. She can also summon golden butterflies that can show people the regretful moments of their pasts. Toka Miyashita is a friendly, outgoing girl at the Shinyo Academy who seems to have some connection to Boogiepop. The rest of the the characters are minor and only show up for one episode with occasional cameos in the other characters' episodes.
Plot: As previously mentioned, this plot is *very* non-linear, sometimes going around and around twice in an episode, but almost always ending at about the same time. The style of storytelling invoked in me the same response that any non-linear attempt I've seen so far has invoked: that of indifference. Although it isn't the best and most exciting storytelling method, it's not that bad either. It can add depth to the story, and in this case, it seems to do that (and also helps to stretch the series out to 12 episodes instead of only 6). The plot starts in medias res, which adds to the confusion that you may experience while starting out the series. If you just stick with it, though, and maybe write out a timeline, you'll see that it isn't that weird and is, in fact, pretty easy to understand compared to standard mindfuck series (see Serial Experiments Lain). Or maybe I'm just too weird, myself. And if you’re still having a hard time on your own, check out this site, which has a decent timeline worked out for the series. It might take a couple of times to get it, though.
CHICKS!! This series, being more of a mood piece with delusions of grandeur, falls somewhat short of the requisite chick count of the standard anime series (one hot chick for every four episodes, rounded down). However, it still has one or two to keep in mind when lying awake in bed late at night staring at the ceiling. Nagi Kirima is one of those girls that would keep Stan busy for hours and hours on end, being the tough girl and probably able to kick his ass (in his defense, though, that probably goes for most men) and the girl who rides a motorcycle. She has what appears to be a decent figure, although she keeps it hidden much of the time under a thick biking jacket.
Overall: This series does what a lot of series I've seen lately fail to do, which is to develop an interesting backstory, add multiple lines of plot to the present series, and resolve *all* of the plot points satisfactorily, while keeping a consistent mood and interesting characters. For that, I will give it passing marks. However, the visual appeal of the series is somewhat low, and the series lacks a true main character. The series is pretty interesting, but I wouldn't exactly describe it as something that you'd push other things out of your way to watch. Give it a check when you don't have anything better to do with your time.
In a nutshell:
+ Full backstory
+ Interesting plor
+ Mood set well
- Visuals unappealing
- Generic characters
Final score: 8/10
Similar titles: Serial Experiments Lain Kakurenbo
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