Boogiepop wa Warawanai (2019)

Once in a while, there may come a show with complex storytelling and character roster that is much more than what it seems. The light novel medium is such a style of Japanese novel literature where imaginations are endless. As one of the earliest light novel originators, Boogiepop Phantom’s presence could be felt as far as back in the early 2000s. While I have seen that show many years ago, it felt like Boogiepop Phantom was missing something, or perhaps needed a boost to regain its popularity again. It’s 2019 and here we are again, connected by a powerful entity known as the Boogiepop, a legend among community who came to judge humanity. Consisting of 22 light novel volumes, it’s obvious the show doesn’t have the time to adapt every single one. The 2000s’ series ended up being an anime original while this show commits to a much more faithful adaptation. Jumping into the new Boogiepop may seem like a walk in the park but make no mistake, this show is not so easy to understand. In fact, I would recommend re-watching scenes and episodes at any chance to get a better experience. And it all begins with the first 3-episode arc: Boogiepop Does Not Laugh. Before I venture deeper, do be aware that while the anime overall has interconnecting themes, it follows non-linear storytelling structure. In fact, it adapts an arc format where each arc consists a series of episodes together. From this adaptation, we get four arcs with “Vs The Imaginator” being the longest. That being said, I should mention that the first arc will most likely make or break for most viewers. Essentially, we are introduced to a supernatural entity known as Boogiepop, the urban legend with a keen insight on observing human behavior. But as the show progresses, it’s shown that her ambiguous actions may be more puzzling than what it seems. Who is Boogiepop? What exactly does it want? Why is it here in our world? These are some of the questions many will have in their mind for this first arc. Indeed, it shouldn’t take long to realize humanity is in jeopardy with the presence of “Synethic Humans” among society. On the outside, they may look like us but on the inside, they are beings with a twisted ambition. Their existence also proves how weak humans are by manipulating our free will. It’s a fate worse than death when you realize the atrocious acts manipulated individuals can commit. Spooky E is a prominent example during his reign of terror during the “Boogiepop vs Imaginator” arc. Having no second thoughts about harming or even killing humans, he represents pure evil as an agent of the Towa Organization. That also brings in a big question. Just what exactly is the Towa Organization? While it’s an organization responsible for creating synthetic humans, no one truly knows their real agendas. The catalyst of this mysterious group is a character named “Echoes” who came to Earth to judge humans. The first episode establishes him as a being who is confused about human behavior. The Towa Organization seems to organize ways to test humans through dangerous experiments, many which result in deaths or disaster consequences. Their main goal throughout the show revolves how to control human’s way of evolution. It’s a complex concept that may take untold amount of time to achieve. In addition, the Towa Organization is known to have great influence in the world, capable of escaping the law and defying authority. I think it may take some time for viewers to figure out their purpose in the show because as I mentioned before, there’s multiple subplot building on in each arc that can get very confusing. The remainder of the course of the series also explores other important themes such as human choices. Some characters in the show (who are ordinary humans) play important roles to make differences in certain outcomes. If you remember before, free will allows people to accomplish great things if they put their mind into it. On the other hand, Boogiepop is someone that has potential to accomplish imaginable feats. It’s why she is perceived as a main adversary against the Towa Organization. In a way, I even see her as a successor of Echoes. However, Boogiepop isn’t necessarily an “overpowered character”. In the final arc, she wonders if defeating the King of Distortion is possible. But in essence, it’s her wise words and wisdom that I find more appealing than other characteristics. Her words may be interpreted differently depending on how you perceive them but by the end of the day, she really lives up to her name of being a legend. Madhouse is responsible for once again to bring Boogiepop to life and for what’s worth, it’s somewhat well made in terms of accurately committing to its ominous atmosphere. There’s no doubt the quiet and eerie mood lives throughout the entire duration of the show. This especially applies to the static shots in the opening episodes. It also uses a clever amount of raw character emotions to show how humans react under extraordinary circumstances. My main criticism though lies with some of the raw animated scenes as at times, it feels off . This shouldn’t hold the show back altogether but can weigh down the enjoyment on occasions. Luckily, the music, OST, and theme songs for make up for this with its well-timed choreography and directing. We live in a world now where almost anything is possible. For a show like Boogiepop, its world contains ideas that you can’t even begin to imagine if any of it became real. Being one of the most influential light novels, many writers have followed its origins and made work that became worldwide attractions. Now I will say this anime is really not one aimed for the casual audience. Many episodes may require re-watches as any scene may hold significance or clues to the show’s plot. It’s also recommended to watch this in marathon sessions than a weekly airing. But hey, once you get hooked into the world of Boogiepop, you may want to stick around for more.

The name Boogiepop is pretty stellar. It’s catchy and unique, of course, but it also has a wealth of meaning behind it not many people are aware of, at least not here in the West. The name Boogiepop is a self-deprecating inside joke Kouhei Kadono, the author of the original novels, thought up to mock himself and his struggles in actually getting said novels published. Kadono has always been something of an arthouse writer, and he had quite a hard time getting any of his initial works published since he had yet to make a name for himself and all the publishers he approached said they simply couldn’t turn a profit printing pieces with such little popular appeal and no audience base, even after—according to Kadono—honestly admitting how good they were. To successfully break out into the market, Kadono made a compromise with himself. He decided to tone down his more abstruse, niche stylization, his self-proclaimed “boogie” writing, and tone up the more accessible, popular style which the inherently cynical publications were willing to print, hence the name Boogiepop: a forced dichotomy between the imagination of an auteur and the creative restraint of a corporate shill, “boogie” and “pop.” The original anime adaptation of the series, Boogiepop Phantom (2000), which was also produced by Madhouse, is founded on that so-called “boogie” style. It seeks to be tonally expressive, narratively experimental, visually symbolic, deep seated in the thematic gravity of the novels which the adaption team clearly had an genuinely intimate understanding of, and most importantly, it sought to market itself toward a largely mature target audience. On the other hand, this new adaptation, Boogiepop and Others (2019), is founded on the “pop” style, which seeks merely to appeal to the lowest common denominator of kids and teenagers with obtusely frenetic action, archetypal writing, generic self-insert character designs, spoon-fed theming, and as much modern anime pandering as they could fit in the package. While my irrepressible love and respect for the masterful novel series this terribly disappointing and wildly misguided adaptation was based on will inevitably turn this review into a thinly veiled diatribe, there is a fair deal of credit to give where it’s actually due. Firstly, the show looks gorgeous…in ways. As mentioned, the artwork is stylistically abysmal. It doesn’t look like Boogiepop should look nor feel like Boogiepop should feel; it’s simply the most accessible, basic art style imaginable which has completely abandoned the textured, almost brooding darkness which characterized the original novels and the atmospherically brilliant original adaptation. However, the actual technical quality of animation—while plagued with about as much inconsistency as any other anime these days—can get stupidly high and make the show a feast for the senses if not for the discerning eyes. I remember hearing the Natsume Team at Madhouse had dropped One Punch Man and being utterly dumbstruck. Why in the world would they’ve dropped one of the industry’s most profitable titles in decades? The manga is always best selling and the anime was an international success, so what could possibly have taken precedence over such a commercial giant? Apparently, this. Director Shingo Natsume utilized many of the same connections he called upon for One Punch Man and Space☆Dandy and landed the show with some positively daring fight choreography and bombastic sakuga—sometimes even to a fault, seeing as a significant portion of episode directors working on the project clearly did not share his creative vision for Boogiepop, but for now I’m getting ahead of myself. Despite the exceptionally clever, thoughtful, and inventive antagonists of the novels being reduced to needlessly enigmatic, vapidly motivated, edgy shounen-style villains, I’d be lying if I said their respective confrontations and subsequent defeats weren’t animated about as well and with about as much personality as Madhouse could’ve managed, and even if the moment-to-moment of the show looked boring as hell, when it occasionally went all out, it brought to life scenes I never thought I’d see outside my imagination, and even I can’t deny that gratification. Even with the visuals being so strong, at least technically, the audio is even better, and more importantly, more emblematic of what Natsume was actually going for with this evidently fallacious adaptation. While the sound design—a facet of production which is seemingly overlooked to a greater and greater degree with each passing day as studios realize their main audience, young people, lack any critical sense for quality soundscapes—is expectedly lackluster, the actual score is outstanding. The composer, Kensuke Ushio, truly is the rising star of the anime industry, praised for all his rightfully acclaimed work from Devilman Crybaby’s revolutionary synthwave, Liz and the Blue Bird’s outright emotive orchestra, Koe no Katachi’s SFX-based composition, and Ping Pong: The Animation’s unforgettably rousing, electrifying soundtrack which amounted to one of the best anime has ever seen. While his music for Boogiepop and Others (2019) doesn’t quite reach the heights of his more legendary work, it’s still as magnificent as you’d expect given his repertoire, but the fact his distinct style is what Natsume was looking for in a composer speaks volumes about why this adaptation feels so off. If you’ve had the pleasure of listening to Ushio’s music before, you’ll know what I’m talking about, but the fact Natsume thought Ushio’s calming aesthetic jibed with the experimental identity of Boogiepop in any way whatsoever really shows why he missed the mark. The novels are mature, and therefore root their humanity in their nuanced characterization. Almost every novel after the first is fueled not by character, but by mystery, spectacle, and metric tons of Kadono meticulously expounding on his genius theming and bizarre concepts, all of which simply do not play well with Ushio’s soft, ambient sound. Boogiepop is contemplative and poignant, certainly, but while the first book wherein these few chapters of concentrated emotion lie would fit well with Ushio’s music, these moments are cut from the anime in their entirety, or worse yet, edited around to such a degree they lost all the catharsis which they had in the original. And this is the problem with Boogiepop and Others (2019): if you’ve read the novels, then the characters and themes will’ve lost all thought, and if you haven’t, then how could you even invest in such a hollow cast or be intrigued by such vacuous symbolism in such a seemingly aimless storyline? Natsume has more than proven himself as a talented director in the past with his work on One Punch Man, the action spectacle you all know and love, and the infinitely better yet infinitely lesser known police procedural, ACCA: Jusan-ku Kansatsu-ka, and if One Punch Man showed us his phenomenal action direction and ACCA his equally phenomenal character direction, then Boogiepop and Others (2019) showed us just how well he could combine the two into a show as (potentially) exciting as it is (potentially) contemplative. Sadly, the script absolutely annihilated any sense of flow which those two works had and greatly limited his skill as a director. The writers of this adaptation very blatantly ordered scenes as if checking off boxes on a bulleted list and make no attempt to add characterization, style, personality, or nuance, simply wanting to show X, Y, and Z just for the sake of having shown it. Myriad scenes had frankly choppy execution, were poorly edited, had awkward pacing, and were made with poor sound design and messy audio mixing. Additionally, what exactly is shown on screen has been greatly edited and sometimes completely censored from what the original anime adaptation was willing to show in gore and what the original novels were willing to show in nudity. The characters are empty husks,…

You know there comes a time when an anime series needs your attention. Not because of the quality of the show, but the fact that if you want to get the full experience of the show, you need to sit down, watch it and pick up any details can be answered and explored later on. Of course not everyone has time for that, but some people like to pick apart anime to fully understand it. This anime is one of these cases. An anime with an interesting structure of storytelling, character development and how to get everything out of it. Sit back, relax and get your surgical kit on because you are about to dissect an anime and its meanings as I present to you the anime review for Boogiepop and Others. Lets begin. Story: 7.5/10 Set in modern day Japan, the story follows the growing rumours of a mysterious, cloaked figure that deals with all kinds of supernatural events. They call it Boogiepop. A person who only a few people have come into contact with due to them being involved in these supernatural events. They are naturally curious as to why these events happen and what exactly is Boogiepop. With all these events happening, Boogiepop must stop them in order for balance to maintain in this world. The show is very arc focused. Each arc deals with some kind of supernatural phenomenon where a handful of characters get dragged in and eventually run into Boogiepop as it also must deal with these events, although they are dealt with rather disappointingly swift as soon as Boogiepop enters the scene. But you see, this isn't some shounun battle anime. This is a mystery thriller and Boogiepop acts as the protector? Maybe? Because you see, there are mysteries that make us theorise and put pieces together in order to make sense of it. Now that could mean that the story could not make sense in general, unless it was intentional. Maybe the show wanted you to go back and re-watch earlier episodes again. But now, you will have a better understanding after watching later episodes. The four arcs are told differently in this regard. Where it is a prequel arc, or an arc that is shown in the wrong order. They tell the story in a way that requires your attention. For some people, it might get them engaged, others might be turned away; which is why the method of storytelling is rather rare. But the fact that it encourages you to re-watch episodes means that its rather unique way of storytelling is rather refreshing. To get me engaged in a story not by a gripping narrative, but by filling out the blanks. Now a good mystery always keeps spoon feeding the viewer answers but still leave some mysteries to keep the viewer engaged. I would say the show manages to do this pretty well. There always seemed to be some kind of answer as to what some of these things mean. The main mysteries of this show are what exactly is Boogiepop, why do these supernatural events keep happening and what is this mysterious Towa Organisation that people keep mentioning. The show did eventually give me answers to most of these mysteries by either saying out loud or by piecing together some events to make more sense out of them. But still, I felt like the show still kept me in the dark with some of these mysteries and I feel like I didn't get the answers I was looking for. So it isn't all perfect. But it didn't deter me from enjoying the overall mystery of this show. Characters: 7/10 There are only a handful of characters that appear in multiple arcs but other than that. The characters are rather secluded in their own story. Some of them are just innocents that got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, others are actively finding out the truth about certain events and people to get a sense of closure. I wouldn't say that there is really a bad character in this series as they all play their part. They all have their role to fill in the story and even then, if you don't like a specific character, chances are they aren't going to return in a different arc. Of course, the main character the show focuses on is Boogiepop itself. Since we don't know what Boogiepop is exactly, it leaves us to theorise. Is it some kind of genetic experiment that escaped, is it merely just an alter ego, is it simply the supernatural protector of humanity to keep things in the balance or is it some kind of otherworldly creature who sees humanity as precious beings? Okay that last might be a bit ridiculous but you get what I mean. You question what exactly is Boogiepop doing, what is its purpose and where it came from. Only through watching, re-watching and putting pieces together will you get some idea. Although I am disappointed that we don't get some clarity on Boogiepop's human persona, Touka Miyashita. Is she an alter ego for Boogiepop? is it the other way round? or has she merely been used as a vessel for Boogiepop? We never really find out, even with re-watching some episodes. And considering people have seen Boogiepop's face, you would think that they would ask questions for Touka about anything wrong with her and is she okay. But no. Another recurring character is Nagi Kirima as throughout the arcs, we see her whole character progression and how she came to be. Being a rather "unconventional" girl due to events from her past and her way of doing things. Nagi is kind of like the non-supernatural version of Boogiepop because, like Boogiepop, she likes to uncover supernatural phenomenons as well; leading to multiple confrontations between Boogiepop and Nagi. I like Nagi in this regard because she has her own sense of keeping balance because of what she experienced in her past, it feels like she is the only one that can do it when Boogiepop is not around. She is prepared, she's confident and has a lack of fear for these things. She makes for a nice character to watch how she grows into the Nagi we see present day. Animation: 8.5/10 Ahh yes, Madhouse, one the most beloved anime studios of all time. They are known for putting a good budget on an anime to make it look good with fluid animation. While they usually do it in battle centric anime, it doesn't mean they can't do it in other series. And they have done a good job with this show. While there are moments where Madhouse can flex its muscles and produce some really good looking scenes, what sold me was the show's art style. More specifically, the lighting. Now that might sound a bit strange but the lighting in this series is really well done. The way they do sunsets, the lights that illuminate the city. It really does look good. Now the art style in general takes a more different look than the original material, but I would say it still looks good. I wouldn't say it looks better, but looks different in a good way. There were times though when characters looked poorly drawn so it isn't perfect. Sound: 9/10 The soundtrack is rather ominous with a heavy use of techno and minor instrumentals to add to the ambience. It generally plays in the background, adding to the supernatural elements of this show. But that is a good thing and the right thing to do because the music shouldn't be a distraction. The focus should be on the story to unravel the mystery. So the music mustn't be a distraction. So it doesn't use anything bombastic to distract you, but uses more sombre techno music and instrumentals to add the supernatural elements that is going on here. This is especially true when the music sounds like its playing backwards, giving this very creepy vibe. MYTH&ROID have become somewhat of a fan favourite amongst anime viewers. While they haven't done much openings, their openings for Re:Zero, Saga of Tanya the Evil and Overlord III are amongst people's favourites. So here they come again with another great opening called "Shadowgraph." This opening is just fantastic with its ominous music, great vocals, great visuals and well used symbolism highlight Touka not knowing what is going on or about Boogiepop until she embraces it with open arms. Like many other o…

First of all before giving a review.To the people who are planning to watch,are currently watching or dropped it halfway. Please for the love of anime, be very patient with this series,because its really worth it Boogiepop is adapted from the novel/manga and not original like the 2000 boogiepop series) Its a psychological,Horror series which is shrouded in mystery and revolves around a enigmatic supernatural entity known as boogiepop, which possesses one of our MC's miyashita touka.Boogiepop though rumored to target and murder people in a really mysterious way is actually is a guardian who awakens and manifests itself when the world is in danger or an enemy appears,enemy that is in the eyes of Boogiepop. The reason being this series can slow paced and confusing at times,you will be like "What just happened,who's this,what does that even mean", but that's the beauty of this series, its like a beautiful puzzle which viewers cannot envision at first but when it comes together,that to when it does it comes in a amazing fast paced manner,it just hits and blows your mind over literally. This show focuses on theme and meaning of humanity in various spectrum.From the beautiful,mysterious side of humans to the dark and disgusting side. It has different arcs which starts with random scenes and characters on which light is shed much later which mostly revealed to be related to a new enemy and threat which is constantly at play at a psychological degree which begins at a personal level, slowing growing to social and global scale,through various mediums including unfathomable chain reactions of character interaction and conversations. Each different arc every time has a majority of new characters with some of the original main cast constantly involved.But the best part is each time when a new character enters with a new arc,almost every single one of them has a interesting personality,character and a decent backstory,which makes it more intriguing to watch & keeps the viewers attention hooked. Also the characters are not only backed up by their words about who they are but by actions too, and i am talking about really good and surprising fighting and action choreography, which for a psychological horror animes was really a feast for my eyes. There are really good badass characters in this show, one of favorites would be Nagi,one of the main cast.Her character, with her backstory and development really caught my eye and made her one of the most interesting characters. One of the best parts which i myself personally find is even though the series revolves around,boogiepop makes the least appearance, while the other characters play out their part in the episodes and the arc in a proper fashion while boogiepop enters as a savior at the last moments with its beautiful yet mysterious dialogues which will just mesmerize you. Another reason why boogiepops dialogues are beautiful is the fact the amazing script and even more amazing and breathtaking Voice acting of Yuki Aoi. I could listen to boogiepops like an ASMR over and over, its that addictive. Hats off to her. During this show, with every episode i just find myself getting totally lost and immersed in the world this series presents,i just love how its made including the characters. The narrative structure,its like we are presented with different pieces of story at different points in time that get pieced together gradually. It creates a nice mystery to her as well. The ideology,the mindset of humanity, how every scene and conversations between characters just plays with the viewers mind in a complex but beautiful manner, the concept/message from the build up period to the finishing of each arc and episode just pure guilty pleasure for a mature audience. Another thing i am glad to see the horror aspects is done with specific scenarios and very mild gore element which can at times spook and take the audience by surprise. Animation wise, Madhouse has done a really good work on this series.The character designs and animation pretty well fit the aesthetics of the show.It mostly reminds me of Parasyte maxim, another great horror show, so you kinda understand what i am talking about. Its really well done. Only problem i had was sometimes i had trouble sometimes distinguishing characters,as most of the designs were quite closely similar. Other than that setting of show, the background sceneries with its slightly dark, but tranquil element captures the atmosphere in high levels. The production and filter usage also were quite top grade. The sound/OST is another great part of this series. Starting off with OP and ED,especially the OP "Shadowgraph" arguably the Best Op of this season and my personal favorite,Myth and roid again with a home run with a beautiful and breathtaking track. Every time i hear it gives my a tranquil feeling and giving me goosebumps at the same time,its that good. ED also quite satisfying to listen to and fits well. The OST's and background music is just great and well adapts to the story line and scenarios,while giving the feel of mysterious, tension and bit of horror, also during the fight and climax scenes it picks up the pace, while giving a chill and tranquil vibe during amazing and deep conversations between characters. Also as i mentioned earlier Voice actors have performed well and given justice character,especially Yukii Aoi with Boogiepop,her calm and soothing voice for boogipop is eargasm for my ears literally. The studio and staff just delivered a great package to the viewers. Coming to the end of the review,i would say this is the underrated show of the season,people have been dropping it due to slow pacing and the confusion the plot causes at the start,but are not patient for it to unfold in an amazing manner which is the unique selling point of this show. It needs immense focus at times but its worth it and i could say its quite a masterpiece in its own way. We might not have another boogiepop, its that unique and kind of a gift from the anime industry to the mature audiences. Watching this show,it really made me realize how much I miss watching a good horror/psychological story, no wonder this series is so beloved and influential towards other LN's. This show needs more recognition and appreciation. Really highly recommended.

The only reason I feel compelled to write a review is because based on reading others, I truly don't know if I missed something or watched a different show. There's a difference between skilled nonlinear storytelling to build intrigue and just dropping information out of order for the sake of novelty. It's just a bad story but out of order. The show was so sloppy, had so many stories peter out into lame dead ends, and spent most of the dialogue spouting stiff self-serious nonsense. I love introspective and abstract media, this is just not it. Something that I feel is never mentioned is the relationship to the trailer. WHY was the trailer so much cooler than the actual show?? Why did they animate separate footage that was completely unrelated to the story?? Who was the fire skating wizard??? Is there a secret I don't know about??? Please help. There's so many distinctly bad episodes that even on a second watch with an understanding of the plot, I can't even begin to fathom characters justification for their actions. Nobody acts like a person. The first episode is hot garbage. I love hearing about potentials that might be happening off screen but are still too vague to know why the even matter for 20 minutes. The girl who is also Boogiepop may as well not be a character, her only purpose is to be an arbitrary connection to the other students where all this crAaAzYy stuff is happening, despite her not contributing anything. The way that magic or aliens or whatever operates in this world is so incredible fuzzy I wish they had said 'because fairies.' Magical realism can be so compelling if you don't use ambiguous magic as a weird crutch to wrap up story lines. There is the rare occasion where someone says something that could maybe provoke a singular thought, but not nearly enough to justify the stale exposition or philosophizing that goes on for majority of the show. I can't reflect on things that have no anchor in reality. So many of the storytelling choices were so strange or weird, I'm not sure if I should be blaming the source material or the adaptation, but I'll leave the original alone out of courtesy and ignorance. I hate this show. It haunts me. Nothing makes sense. Maybe I'm just an idiot, but I have to live with these memories now and I'll never forgive them for that. If you enjoyed this show, you are valid and I'm jealous I can't have fun with you.

Boogiepop is a DC Universe comic about a girl who becomes a superhero after being bitten by a radioactive private detective. Unfortunately, she has a terminal case of chuunibyou, so she dresses in a ridiculous outfit, speaks in a weird voice, whistles a random Wagner melody she once overheard on the radio and spouts the typical chuuni nonsense like “so this is the will of the world” and “I’m the terror that flaps in the night.” There are other people with superpowers, who all want to make the world a better place, usually by killing or brainwashing everyone, so she’s not so bad in comparison. There is a mysterious organization whose stated goal is to prevent the emergence of said superpowered freaks, except everything they do achieves the exact opposite - a scalding and totally intentional satire of the ineffectual nonprofits and NGOs that do nothing but create lofty jobs for moral busybodies. There is a guest appearance by Batman, who’s a waifu, because anime. Also, there is a random non-sequitur alien, because JoJo has a random non-sequitur alien, and everyone must know that the author loves JoJo. If that synopsis doesn’t strike you as very accurate, it’s about as good as everything you hear about this series. Boogiepop employs a convoluted non-linear structure, which, actually, is the best thing about it. Unfortunately, a big chunk of the audience finds it 2confusing4me and another big chunk thinks convoluted equals profound. In its essence, Boogiepop is a cheesy urban fantasy with on-the-nose social commentary about 1990s Japanese society plus some cool mystery elements. It’s also an anime adaptation of a series of books. I’d like to elaborate on the social commentary, mystery and adaptation aspects. The problem with doing social/political commentary is that it risks becoming outdated very, very fast, and this is exactly what happens here. For example, one of the plotlines (in the original book) involves a gay teen who can’t process feelings he has for another guy because he literally doesn’t know what “gay” is. How plausible does that sound in the Current Year? The anime does a good job of addressing such narrative problems, but that, in turn, attracts ire of the source material readers doing their usual “they’ve changed it, now it sucks” routine. Also, the social commentary here is quite hamfisted to begin with. Said teen is then brainwashed into essentially being a robot, and given an instruction to “await further orders without attracting any attention.” Because he was originally a delinquent, this makes him no longer skip school or get into fights, which prompts all adults around to commend how he has now reformed into a good, productive member of society. Gee, I wonder if there is some sort of message here. It’s only natural, though. Don’t we all have profound conversations with strangers that conveniently fit whatever narrative our author is preaching? That’s just how life works. Like I said, mystery is a good part of this show. Here is how a typical Boogiepop arc is structured: The first episode begins in medias res, throwing a bunch of characters and supernatural concepts at you, as well as posing some conflict. You’d expect it to dial back to the start and provide some explanations next, but the story instead throws in even more characters and concepts, and there are probably at least two plotlines developing in parallel. It seems overwhelming, but the last episode of the arc actually ties up all the loose ends neatly, providing the necessary answers (key word is “necessary”, doesn’t mean it spoon-feeds you). The plot never tries to be confusing just for the sake of being confusing, there are plenty of things with the sole purpose of helping the viewer to keep up. For example, there is a scene of a character smoking a specific pack of cigarettes shown three times from three different angles just to establish which events happen in what order. The show challenges you to pay attention and appropriately rewards you for doing so. Unfortunately, the non-linear structure kinda fizzles out in the second half of the season, making it less enjoyable. My last point is that Boogiepop originally is a series of books. This, however, is an anime, and anime are not books. It seems to me that a lot of source material readers struggle to understand that concept. Books can be long. Books can have dozens of plot points explained entirely through narration. Books can be written 20 years ago - the outdated social commentary point. Anime, however, has these things called “episode length”, “pacing”, “show, don’t tell” and “not putting your audience to sleep”. Most criticism I’ve heard coming from disgruntled source material readers is about how this Background Character B should have had two episodes worth of backstory, or how they’ve cut this very important “the guy walks alone for an entire chapter, thinking about stuff” moment. So, if you’ve heard this anime is bad because it is a bad adaptation - that’s uninformed nonsense. Considering the narration-heavy nature of the source, it is adapted about as well as it could’ve possibly been adapted by someone whose name isn’t Oishi Tatsuya and whose studio isn’t SHAFT. If we’re talking about medium-specific things - the animation is not exactly sakuga material, but it competently does its storytelling job. For example, the first big fight looks goofy out of context, but it perfectly sells the narrative point that the fighters in question are supernatural monsters that only look like humans, who obey neither limitations of human anatomy nor gravity. The voice acting of Boogiepop and the OP/ED songs are the high points of the production. 5/10 for a mystery show with some fun to be found, as long as you bother to pay attention and don’t mind anvilicious preaching (or Pokemon-level artistic license on evolution).

Something about this one just... stuck with me. The audio design is undoubtedly great. The visuals are on point. It's a fascinating string of events. And yet, I don't think I could in any way rank Boogiepop this highly from an objective point of view. I can see how some people would think that it's needlessly confusing and that the entire experience is overly sparse. The characters don't really get much time for us to understand who they are, and the movers and shakers of the world are left, perhaps, too vague in the background. To engage with it fully, the show is asking a lot of its audience; perhaps more than it has any right to. However, as my score and initial proclamation indicate, this may be top ten material for me. Something about the experience struck a chord within my soul, a yearning that I haven't felt in a long while. Can I tell you, objectively, what makes it this good for my subjective tastes? No, I cannot. Maybe, in its own paradoxical way, not knowing why the experience has meant so much is one of the reasons it means so much. If you're up for a challenge, give this a watch. You'll either have something mediocre to enjoy or be unable to put into words why you remember it so fondly after you finish.

A Truly Hidden & Underrated Gem - A Compelling and Entirely Unique Look Into a World with Superpowers and 'Villains' To give the reader a brief rundown of this show and what to expect from it, it involves a series of 'cases' that span several episodes each, where a new 'threat' to humanity makes itself known—in the form of a new 'power' or 'ability' evolving in a person and being used—that threatens to disrupt the status quo of society. From there we see how these powers and the world, as well as the leading character Boogiepop—a product of these new divergent "powers" itself—interact with one another, with the abilities often being complex and powerful, and with the people, and reality, often changing with them. Due to this, more often than not these powers need to be 'overcome' by humanity, with each case—other than Boogiepop and a select handful of recurring characters—introducing a new set of characters affected by the power, whose task is to overcome it. The presentation of each case is often non-linear, requiring at least some attention to make sense of, but with a fairly typical story structure despite that—with always a clear beginning, middle, and end. What makes Boogiepop as a story so special and great to me, is that in this world full of such mystical and grand characters, powers, and organizations, it always just comes down to the common people rising above to overcome the threats faced. Despite what it might look like initially, 'Boogiepop' the character, however powerful they may seem, is quite literally a phantom within the plot itself—without ever really having much of a defining impact on the world or result themselves. They are only ever there so much as an emphasis and guide for the ordinary, everyday human characters of the story to shine and do their part, and to highlight their greatness and potential. It always invariably ends up relying on them, and their actions and qualities. Even with all its dark themes and world—and most of its themes are dark—at its heart 'Boogiepop *and Others* ' as a story is ultimately very optimistic. It's a celebration of humanity and our 'possibility'. On the surface, the author does depict humanity "evolving" with these fantastical new powers and abilities, but it is ultimately always in the mundane yet concerted, ordinary and human-achievable actions through which they are overcome, and through which we truly 'evolve' and move forward as a species. Those powers, much like Boogiepop, only serve to bring these out and shine a light on what is otherwise very grounded human feats. I'd recommend ignoring the ratings and giving this show a try if this sounds interesting to you, or if you especially love amazing soundtracks (courtesy of Kensuke Ushio of Devilman Crybaby, A Silent Voice, and Ping Pong the Animation fame), heavy atmosphere, and thoughtful, moving thematic exploration. This show isn't designed to be loud, flashy, or mass-appealing—the beloved cult-classic Boogiepop novels aren't that kind of story—the heights and climaxes of the story are built slowly, often in a non-linear fashion, and are only really going to be rewarding if you're following the themes and can empathize with the characters and ideas they present. For me, it was and is a highly rewarding, unique, and emotive show, beautiful in the passion of its writing and execution—and extremely rewatchable with all its amazingly developed thematic peaks and moments. It's that type of show you find yourself replaying tracks and moments of, weeks, months—even years after. Certain moments and stories from this I can't see myself ever forgetting to be honest. It's been over four years now since I first watched it, and I'm still passionate enough to write this review on another revisit. _________________________________________________________ -- slight spoiler talk follows from here, where I rant in torrential form, but minor detail, about one of my favourite arcs -- __________________________________________________________ Perhaps my favourite episodes and story in this, and that which I feel reflects the series' best, is that of episodes 10 to 13. The arc involves two 'synthetic humans'—'tools' of an organization used to carry out their dirty work, and search for and subsequently eliminate threats—reaching self-realization as they come to critical points in their lives, where the growing 'bugs' of guilt, doubt and questioning inside them overwhelm and threaten to blossom. It shows us the critical events in their history leading up to this, and the humans that changed them; the humans they killed, and were sent to kill, as well as, in the end—their defining moments—and the humans they save. It is a story that contrasts some of the best of us coming to be the worst, with the worst of us coming to be the best, in each of the characters' defining moments. It focuses on the messiness of us as beings—and the potential beauty that such things as guilt, regret, and otherwise minor interactions and interrelated events can come to lead to. The unpredictable causal chain of our lives that can lead us from the best to the worst, and from the worst to the best, giving the ever-present chance for us to aspire and grow, and to change directions as people—rising above circumstance history—and achieving a new definition in the story of our lives. How such a simple thing as Nagi Kirima's brief but sincere words of enthusiasm and support to Scarecrow, and his aspiration of becoming a crime-tackling hero, can further sprout an invisible but infinitely entangled and complex series of events that end up affecting every character's path in the story. *“Would you be able to cast your regret aside and return again? Return to the moment when your heart was at its most beautiful?”* It's an incredibly heartfelt and emotive story, and what Scarecrow, and later Mo Murder both come to do in this arc, and the place they get to, represents the most beautiful thing in the world and of us humans to me. In but two such short, brief moments, all their development, history, and lives as synthetic humans come to a head, and they each achieve the most human of acts—they opt for danger and self-sacrifice for the sake and rescue of another. To do such an otherwise illogical and risky, but *good* thing for another; all in a situation where the other party will likely never even learn about or appreciate it—or they likely won't live through to see it blossom in any way. And to get to that result—and not regret it or the loss of everything in your final moments... It reflects us rising above our urges, instincts and base desires. We as animals. To act in such a way against our very selves and self-preserving nature. No other being in the world can manage this, certainly for what's little more than a stranger—it is our gift alone. And we with all our intelligence and sentience so rarely manage to achieve anything close. But rarely, every so often, we do manage it. It must be when we listen to that little 'bug' inside, no matter how small and crushed down it may have gotten over the years, that just wants to do and be something good for another like us. The chance doesn’t come around often, if at all for most of our lives, but when it does—and we manage it—it can only be when our hearts are at their most beautiful point. When we 'break through' and become something more than just the sum of our animal parts and our history—where our sentience, will and humanity are realized in but a moment. When we do something just for the intangible concept that is the principle. Sure, there are plenty of stories with characters and much greater 'heroes' in them that put others before themselves, as well as sacrifice themselves. Such a thing isn't very unique to this story. But here, it is made especially profound and emotive as with both characters' stories, you see every beat that leads them to their resolutions, where they start from—very low; flawed and morally troubled, …

Words cannot describe how good this show is. While it's true the plot is inconsistent and and each episode has an entirely different story to tell, I still enjoyed this alot, partly because of that. It's randomness shrouded in mystery, horror, kick ass action scenes and fat plot keeps you at the edge of your seat, lost but wanting more. And when you finally put it all together, it just feels so rewarding. The thing is, everything is actually connected despite how lost some may feel. The universe is unique. Definitely do some background research on a Wiki so you can help yourself understand just what's going on for things like; "What the hell is a MPLS?" Or "Who's this Towa Organization?" and then what you just watched begins to make much more sense. The sound, music and animation are top-notch too. I really enjoyed the music especially though. It adds alot and doesn't sound like your typical generic stuff. It's lovely. So, while I partially agree with every review here, good and bad that raises some factual points, this anime still easily turned out to be a masterpiece for me and I'll definitely be reading the original content soon. Some people claim it's "Too High IQ" or too "Pseudo-Intellectual" but it's really not. If you could watch and understand Death Note, then you're going to have a good time. Please, for the love of god, just be patient with this masterpiece in disguise.

You need big brain to understand. If you do not have big brain it may be hard to understand what is going on, and you may not be able to tell difference between the characters. This is why big brain is required. If you have watched this and are wondering why you did not understand it may be caused by the lack of big brain. If you want to watch this but have a lack of big brain you may need to watch a YouTube video of someone with big brain explaining what happened, however if you already have a big brain this should not be a problem to understand and you will not be required to watch an explanation video. I give 10 because i have big brain and i understand. Please rate accordingly.

Agh, I read like twenty reviews on here of varying caliber before I just decided to watch it myself, as I think this is just that kind of anime. This is a mysterious anime and in general, you'll just have to watch it for yourself. Seriously. Go watch it. Love it or hate it, you'll enjoy yourself. Right, this is a weird anime. The story is not one hundred percent linear, and often uses different character perspectives as well. I think this works quite well, as often times you can figure out the mystery for yourself, as opposed to there being a case of the ol' Sherlock Holmes explain-everything-as-the-falling-action. The downside to this is that the show kind of demands that you pay attention to it. I mean... this isn't a comedy... so, yeah, you have to use a couple brain-cells while you watch this show. This isn't some slice-of-life show to fill the void in your barren, hollow life. That being said, I was hoping for the show to expound a little more on the philosophical themes that it brings up. While the moving parts that form the plot are well oiled and enjoyable, there were times that I was left asking for meaning, not just motive. Don't want to spoil, so again, that will make sense when you watch the show. As for the art and animation, it's Madhouse. At the time of this writing (April '19) you only have to look at how people are reacting to JC Staff replacing them on OPM season 2 to get an idea of how good they are. While true action scenes in the show are sparse, they are beautiful, and honestly, so is everything else. It's good, y'all. I've seen a review that called this show gory, and it must've been from the Catholic Mother's Organization. This is not Devilman Crybaby, don't worry. I also found the sound (Shouji Hata) and music(Kensuke Ushio) to be beautiful. The sound editing and effects (there are dramatic moments where it is cut so perfectly) are great. And the soundtrack is something I can't wait to get my hands on, just to listen to it over and over. The characters? Well, they feel realistic, however, some are not quite as fleshed out as I would've liked. Presumably there's more in the light novels, however we're talking about the anime here. That is the downside of the ensemble style storytelling, after all. Even the titular Boogiepop doesn't really appear in some episodes. Well, it comes down to taste and preference, as when you watch your favorite character might be one that gets a lot of screen time. There's no "waifu" in here for people to jerk off to and then promptly forget about, if that's your thing. Hey, I already said it wasn't a slice-of-life show... Enjoyment: Well, this is the category that I think most people really get hung up on. As I said before, you do have to be thinking about what is happening while you're watching. This is a good show to watch over a week or two, so you don't forget what happened in the last episode when starting the next. I imagine this soured some people's perspectives on the show. I don't want to make this review conditional, but I would also recommend watching the episodes close together. this show is binge-worthy. As for me, I was told it was similar to Serial Experiments Lain, so maybe I could use that as a frame of reference for you, dear reader. This show is similar to, but also far from, Lain. It's hard to explain. If you enjoyed Lain, you'll have a good time with this show. At the same time, this is not as complicated a show. So if you're worried about things in it going over your head, don't be. It is certainly not a waste of your time. To conclude, I recommend this show. I recommend it both to my fellow Lain Lovers as well as any mystery fans. I find it hard to give this show a score. Reviews are for products, not art. I personally think it's a "Masterpiece,"(10) however, removing my subjective feelings I'd say it's "Very Good" (8).

At the beginning I was confused. I didn´t realized what’s happening, because the story wasn´t only told in one direction, many strings were connected and entangled in each other. But I thought that the legendary Studio MADHOUSE will find a way for me to enjoy this series and in the end I wasn’t disappointed. The plot is too complicated to break it down in a few sentences, but I will try. In this world it happens that mystical creatures (or not?) exist, one of them made up by legends and others by a special organization. The urban legend about a Shinigami called Boogiepop who kills people when they are at their most beautiful look is very popular in the society and you will later realize that something is true about it but also many things are turned upside down. However later more and more people with certain powers will show up in the series and we see a lot of fights, deaths etc... But a huge different aspect which puts Boogiepop and Others out of the typical stereotypes is that this series focus on particular topics and focus on the emotion of the people. Questions like what is real? why are we? And what’s the mayor point of all our actions? Are touched on without finding a concrete answer. The rest is up to the spectator So how end this review? I would say that Boogiepop and others is a trip with your own emotional world, your thoughts and actions, knitted in an interesting story. Even though the final isn´t something very special and in the end just a stop for the next station (not every chapter in the Light Novel is adapted) it is still worth to watch But for a series for simple looking, for example, to go to sleep, it is rather inappropriate. It is best if the series binge watched.

Boogiepop and Others (Boogiepop wa Warawanai) is a compilation cerebral anime series based off of 5 of the 22 light novels in the boogiepop universe. The psychological series is truly one of the most complex shows I've ever seen, if not the most complex. Beginning this series may not be for the faint hearted, but completing it has been HIGHLY rewarding. The anime is made up of four connected but separate story are, which I will rate here- Overdrive: The King of Distortion 10/10, Episodes 14-18 VS Imaginator, 9/10 Episodes 4-9 Boogiepop And Others, 9/10 Episodes 1-3 Boogiepop at Dawn, 8/10 Episodes 10-13. This being said, I have not read the light novels (though I plan to) and did thoroughly enjoyed the anime. I've heard many liberties were taken in the adaptation. I understand not appreciating these differences, but as an independent work of art I appreciate the technical expertise that went into this series, as well as brilliantly written dialogue. Boogiepop was directed by Shingo Natsume, which is probably enough to say as far as directing is concerned. This is the man who has been hailed as the next Shinichirō Watanabe, and who every almost every animator in Japan dreams of working with. You know him as the director of One Punch Man season 1. He was single handily able to bring together all of Japan's greatest freelance animators for One Punch Man, which was a massive achievement in directing and animation. The entire reason Madhouse is not producing season 2 of One Punch Man is Boogiepop and others. Love or hate the series for this, having completed it I fully understand why Natsume chose this project over the second season of OPM (though this has probably hurt the animation quality of OPM, which is yet to be seen at the time of this review). All in all, the only anime television series I have seen with even comparable directing is Erased, (or Boku dake ga Inai Machi) with brilliant cuts and fantastic storyboarding throughout the entire series. The animation is fantastic, as we have come to expect from Madhouse. The character designs are all very cute and the characters keep the coldest fits tbh. The voice acting is great and the Boogiepop voice is easily one of the most attractive voices I've ever heard. "The world is not always moving in one direction. Just like a swarm of bugs, it moves in all directions." The dialogue can be very complicated at times, but if one is able to follow it, the truth about this series will reveal itself. Boogiepop is easily one of the most philosophical anime series I have ever seen (Some that compete for this title are Shinsekai Yori, Monster, and Death Parade) and developing a good understanding of this series on one's own such a rewarding feat in its own right. I will not spoil anything because this is something you will want to experience on your own. Only the prequel arc (Boogiepop at Dawn) sees a slight dip in storytelling, but overall the quality is steadily enthralling. “Do you know the smartest thing you can do when confronted with an enemy? History’s proven this, You make you enemy into your ally. That’s the smartest and most effective method.” Many important philosophical views are presented in Boogiepop, many of them are incorrect, but they are so well written that I constantly found myself pondering these questions and coming to my own conclusions. I will always appreciate this series for prompting me to think so much about so many important human issues. The OP and ED are both 10/10 fantastic. Boogiepop ranks with Dororo and Mob Psycho II as one off the most elite anime of 2019 so far, and I truly wish that Madhouse chooses to adapt more Boogiepop media in the future. Watching this series weekly was good but bingeing it brought about so much thought and understanding, I strongly encourage giving this series a chance and bingeing that shit. The MAL score of this series is very disappointing and certainly a result of the complexities being lost on viewers from week to week. If you take anything away from my words and this review, please understand that this series deserves at least an 8.6 on MAL, and fans of the psychological genre will be sure to love this series. I may one day go back and give this series a 10, but at the moment I must rate it 9/10, because if a few confusing moments and the slight dip in writing fir about two episodes in the middle of the series. if 9/10 is defined by MAL as "Great," than this series certainly has earned a 9/10 from this viewer. #AllHailMadhouse #pleasesaysike

A good, thought-provoking series, but you may have to hang on for a while to get into it. There are a lot of episodes that retell the same events from a different character's POV, and the plot is not linear, but something you have to piece together. It's a supernatural / sci-fi / horror / mystery. It centers around a shinigami called Boogiepop, who shares a body with a regular high school girl. Shinigami was alternately translated to “reaper” or “angel of death” in the English version I watched. She only shows up when the world is in danger. The name “Boogiepop” is so goofy that I put off watching the show for a while. Some high school girl wearing a cape and a stovepipe hat and calling herself "Boogiepop" says she’s here to save the world? It was hard to take seriously at first. But I digress. It’s really hard to give a synopsis of this show because it's divided into four arcs, each covering one story (1 or 2 volumes of the light novels), so I'll review each of them briefly, then give some thoughts on the series as a whole. ————— "Boogiepop and Others" is episodes 1 - 3. This was the most rushed of the arcs, and its pacing wasn’t good either. I honestly had no idea what was going on the majority of the time. Once you watch the whole show and get the characters straight, it makes much more sense. Plus, the ending is pretty straightforward. "VS Imaginator" is episodes 4 - 9. Boogiepop doesn’t appear in this arc much. You get to learn a lot about the mysterious Towa Organization hinted at in the first arc. There’s a lot of mind-control and memory-altering in this arc, by different parties and for different reasons. The most prominent characters here are Nagi Kirima’s younger brother Masaki Taniguchi, and Aya Orihata, a girl he meets during a confrontation with bullies on the street. Combine this with a guidance counselor who starts seeing a mysterious apparition in the vein of Boogiepop, and dangerous things start happening. "Boogiepop at Dawn" is episodes 10 - 13. My favorite arc by far. It’s Boogiepop’s and Nagi Kirima’s origin story, and the main setting is a hospital. We learn even more of what the shady Towa Organization is up to and why. There’s assassins and a serial killer running around, and it gets wild. “Overdrive: The King of Distortion” is episodes 14 - 18. Several characters from the first arc turn out to be important in this one. Everyone in a building falls asleep and has to come to grips with painful memories of their past. Who’s causing it and why? ————— Complicated though it may seem, each arc boils down to a single philosophical question the villain / antagonist asks: "What if x didn't exist?" or something similar. Their intentions might not be bad, but the antagonist tries to implement them the wrong way. It gives the viewer a degree of sympathy for the antagonists… except the ones in the first arc. The art was pretty good, but the supporting characters were borderline indistinguishable for me at first. All high school kids wore the same uniform, and there were even a few characters that changed bodies. Sometimes the quality dropped and there were faraway characters who had no face, and similar lack of detail. The setting is kind of gray and bland, and there isn't a lot of atmosphere, particularly in the scenes at the school. There were a few cool fight scenes, about one per arc. Boogiepop and Nagi have great character designs. I think the art improved as the show went along, so the first few episodes were underwhelming. The OP and ED were both fantastic, probably some of my all-time favorites. Not only that, but they fit the show perfectly, both the lyrics and the animation. The songs are almost entirely in English. If you want a feel for what the series is like, watch the OP. It’s like that, except for the heavy synth music. The voices and sound design are excellent as well. Boogiepop comes with her own theme music: Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which she is prone to whistling before she shows up. I watched it dubbed in English, and LOVE Boogiepop's voice. The characters—as I’ve mentioned before—can be hard to tell apart, especially if you’re not good at remembering Japanese names like me. Nagi Kirima was a standout, and I’d watch a whole series about her. Boogiepop herself was interesting because she didn’t automatically jump in and save the day, instead she only interfered when necessary. Some of the supporting characters are interesting too, such as Suema, a high school girl who studies criminal psychology based on something that happened in her past. "Boogiepop and Others" is not going to be to everyone's taste. If you like people discussing psychological concepts interspersed with some horrific crime scenes and incidents involving a secret organization interested in evolution, try it. If not, you’ll probably fall asleep because the first two episodes are mostly talking. I’m on my second viewing now, and plan to read the light novels the show was adapted from. I still think "Boogiepop" is a goofy name.

[Spoiler free review] "A great non-linear story telling anime, but unfortunately not for everyone" <Short Ver> Pros: 1. The OP and ED songs are pretty awesome! 2. The story telling is very unique, definitely stood out compared to other series 3. The VA is superb. They did a fantastic work portraying their characters 4. I love Boogiepop's character. Cons: 1. Not enough time to develop each character. 2. Too many characters and their designs are very similar so it would be hard to differentiate between each character if you can't remember their names 3. The art is meh. It's obvious that there's a lack of budget for this series. 4. Story can be quite hard to follow if you didn't pay full attention <Long Ver> I have heard about this anime before it started airing and it was hyped a lot. The light novel for this inspired a lot of talented LN authors nowadays so of course people are going to be hyped for a remake of such a classic LN series. However, after it started airing, a lot complained that the story was very hard to follow and they understood nothing. Some also said that they found it hard to connect with the characters in the series because they are very bland and have no interesting character traits. Well, after finishing the entirety of the anime, I can safely say that those arguments are correct. If you read my cons above, then you would know that I too have a problem with how they handle the characters. It's actually quite hard to remember who is who and actually give a crap about them when some of them only appeared for like 2 episodes. However, the strong points about this series ain't its characters but actually it's story. This anime take a unique approach in story telling which is called a non-linear story telling, which means everything that happens isn't in chronological order. For example, what you see in the first arc may not have anything to do with the second arc but it's related to the last arc in the anime. Plus they keep on changing character perspective per episode or even in said episode itself, so of course it would be hard to keep track of what is actually happening. That's why I won't blame anyone for hating on this series for it's confusing storyline. It's actually very hard to follow. However, if you're someone like me who pay utmost attention while watching the series, the story is actually quite easy to understand and I fully respect the authors unique way of telling a story. Now moving on to the art and animation, aka the overall quality of the anime. It's quite bland actually. It just doesn't seem like it's made by Madhouse and some more by the director behind one of the most popular anime for it's outstanding quality One Punch Man. If you say that this is made by studios like A1 Pictures or Silver Link, I might actually believe you. So that's one of the weak point of this series. It doesn't have the visuals to capture us audiences' attention even though it's made by Madhouse. For the sound department, the VA is actually excellent. I have no complaints. Each VA did put in a lot of effort in portraying their character. Both the OP and ED theme are excellent. Of course when the OP is sung by a pretty famous group recently, Myth and Roid. The BGM is quite bland, nothing that stood out too much, however there are still some tracks that are pretty well done. For the characters, as I stated above, their screentime just ain't enough for me to give a crap about them. Their designs are bland and similar so it's quite hard to differentiate them between each other. However I do like Boogiepop. I love her voice, her designs and her overall personality, however her screen time is just too few although the name of the series itself is named after her. Sadly... All in all, I still thoroughly enjoyed every episode of this anime just for its story itself. If you're not a fan of non-linear story telling then I highly recommend you to skip this but if you are then you should definitely check it out. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in my next review.

SS Review – Boogiepop Phantom (2019) (Short and Sour) Before I start, I have never seen the original anime so I’m going into this fresh. Boogiepop Phantom is about various different stories that take place at the same school with each one mainly concerning or involving Boogiepop in one way, shape or form. Each story is quite interesting and tends to involve supernatural elements in a pretty natural world, meaning the world is ordinary like the one you know but all these strange events and creatures keep appearing around this school. Boogiepop is a very interesting idea…or at least that is what it likes to claim to be, Boogiepop is not one person but an idea that exists to keep normality. If anything appears which threatens normality then Boogiepop exists, you can already guess can’t you…Boogiepop is as its stated a “phantom” and in this case it’s a phantom that acts as a split personality for a girl. You can say that Boogiepop is technically possessing these girl(s) but I don’t think that’s the case. As I said, each story centres on a bunch of individuals. I’m only willing to talk about Boogiepop, I personally think talking about the other characters would spoil too much as each of the stories play very closely to their individual personalities. The animation is very good but at the same time I would not expect anything less from Madhouse. OST fits well too. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed Boogiepop Phantom, each of the stories was interesting and the idea that is Boogiepop was interesting to see explored too. (Side Note: Kind of reminds me of Durarara, but just not as good) 7/10

TL; DR Review Boogiepop wa Warawanai started off on a very high note. The first arc, although short, was interesting and fun to watch; I loved it overall. The second arc was fun too, not as great as the first one though. However, what ruined it for me was the last arc. This anime, in general, is very vague and I had no idea what was going on at the time, but the last arc was the last straw for me. During the first section of the last arc, I was like, "what the fuck is going on," and we later found out why people were asleep, I was already asleep. I kid you not. ZZZZZZZZ. I've rarely fallen asleep watching anime, yet this has succeeded. In case you don't get it, the last arc ruined it for me completely. However, if I were to say one good thing about this anime, it would be that I totally dig the Boogiepop costume and I will cosplay as them. - Spacecraft555 UwU

The new Boogiepop that we’ve somehow been blessed with in 2019 anno domini is an actual adaptation of Kouhei Kadono’s original light novels, unlike the previous Boogiepop Phantom (which was an interesting offshoot that only vaguely referenced the source material.) The new show has taken as its style an inconsistent timeline to make the overly-congested plot seem more complex and mysterious than it is. Though accurately adapted, the separate novels are crammed into just three-or-four-episode arcs for each. I wouldn’t say each light novel could last a full season, but they could certainly be more fleshed out. Nevertheless, it’s a great time for those who can enjoy a little pretentious sci-fi in their anime. Our hero Boogiepop is back in action to stop folks from continually trying to immanentize the eschaton; to create a transcendent utopia on earth. Despite the various incoherent metaphors and vague monologues in the show’s dialogue, the conflicts between Boogiepop and her antagonists can essentially be boiled down to that again and again. Episode 11 gives Boogiepop one of the better monologues of the show; she speaks of every human being having the potential to become an “enemy of the world.” She explains that everyone who is too “normal” lacks “resistance” when confronted with a “unique” person or idea. Translated from obscure-Boogiepop-speak, this basically means the world is full of impressionable moral relativists who can easily be set on an evil path despite good intentions. A very timely theme, given the popular political and cultural movements of our day. Simply writing arcs based around the theme above, we could have a great story on our hands that tells all it needs to tell. Unfortunately we can’t have simple plots in Japanese media when we're faced with the duties of writing in the "psychological" genre. Although this anime actively makes the plot seem more convoluted than it is, Kadono deserves some blame as well. The so-called Towa Organization is an irritating leech weighing down every arc of the show. They’re a secret society searching the world for mutants and just causing a whole lot of destruction for no coherent purpose. Apparently they’re trying to make sure humans don’t get beaten out by “evolved” types and yet in the process create a multitude of synthetic humans to do their dirty work. Seems to me it’s a little counterproductive to exterminate mutants while creating a population of fully sentient androids who cannot be told apart from real humans. That said, I’m not entirely sure that mutant extermination was even their end goal; the exposition is that vague. The overall production is legitimately good and lacks any of the unpleasant CG that’s been inserted into every other anime reboot I’ve watched in the past year. The action scenes are few and far between but always put a smile on my face—the combat animation is heavily stylized and always catches the viewer off guard, juxtaposed against the monotonous scenes that make up the rest of the show. The score is groovy as hell, including the opening and ending tracks. Keep in mind this comes from an individual with absolutely no taste for J-Pop or anything of the sort, yet it’s somehow endearing here. Some background tracks often sound like something you’d find in a “lofi hiphop” playlist; simple computer-generated noises that somehow work to set an atmosphere. I can’t comment much on the Japanese voice-acting given that I don’t understand the language, but Aoi Yuuki is a definite standout as the protagonist. Her soft but jolting voice gives Boogiepop an alien quality that easily separates her from her host: Miyashita Touka. I hope I’ve redeemed myself slightly for my jumbled mess of a review for the Boogiepop light novels back in 2014. It’s worth noting that my first introduction to Boogiepop was Boogiepop Phantom, and not the novels. The source material is worlds different from Phantom in tone, and so is this new show. So if you’ve come to this series as a fan of Phantom, be prepared for a far less absurdly twisted and vile show. The morbidity of Boogiepop is always there to be sure, but Phantom was on another level of horror. Enjoy 2019’s Boogiepop Never Laughs as an often ridiculously convoluted adventure through twisted personalities, but always appreciate the underlying philosophy: mortal man cannot create paradise on earth, and any attempts to do so often result in crimes against humanity. The Tower of Babel is always short-lived.

Boogiepop is truly an anime unlike any other. It takes a look at the psychology of humans and incorporates these themes into a supernatural thriller. The show examines the supposed "inadequacies" of people and displays how they are an important part of how the world exists. For example, in the second arc, the Imaginator tries to create a perfect world and remove the imperfections in our hearts. But Boogiepop, the main hero/heroine, protects humankind. These imperfections make humans what they are. So she fights these oddities and people to save the world. This show helps one reflect deeply about society as a whole and themselves. It is not easy to follow. The show does not believe in time as a fluid concept as evidenced by the show frequently fragmenting to different points of the plot. Also, get ready for a shit-ton of references to split personalities (a major talking point of the show). The whimsical and thought-provoking nature of the show makes you want to watch more. Curiosity of the author and the show became my own. What happens next? What is right? What is wrong? Who gets to decide anything? Ambiguity is something that the show definitely thrives on. Boogiepop is a dialogue driven show that does have some action. The action is subpar and the animation for some of the show leave much to be desired. But the fighting is made up for with the god-tier plot. The opening is a fucking banger. I listened to that shit wayyy too many times. And if you're a sucker for character development, this show has more than your daily amount of Vitamin C. It's fun, it's thought provoking, and it rarely gets boring. You may think the show is good or bad, just like my review, but in the end, "There's nothing in the world that is ever truly decided." ;).

We follow a series of "supernatural" events involving high school. Boogiepop only appears when the world is in danger, and so we follow her through a series of events that have no "reason" to exist? They just do. And we see Boogiepop correct them. It's similar to Steins;Gate or Durarara. Strange things happen, eccentric characters appear, and in the end you don't fully understand it, but it's interesting to watch in case you clarify something at the end. It's one of those where you have to watch the explanations on TikTok. "But it's not just you; any human being has the potential to become an enemy of humanity. Humans are like fuses, and they can explode with any provocation. They can alter the foundations of the world without even considering their consciences." There are stories that move you, there are stories that make you think, "Why would the villain decide to do this nonsense?" (like Doofenshmirtz's plans). If it falters in any way, it's in logic, but like I said, it's all very eccentric. And we can enjoy it without trying to unravel it. Chapters One, Two, and Three: Echoe and the Man-Eater Chapters 4-9: Imaginator and the Flowers, Terminals, the Towa Organization, and Synthetic Humans Chapter Ten: The Scarecrow Chapters 11-13: Techniques to Eliminate Fear from the World Chapters 14-18: The King of Distortion Spoiler Alert: I think it was in Chapter 13 that I realized: the next stage of human evolution is dawning. People with abilities beyond the normal are mingling with normal people, and the Towa Organization wants to eliminate or use them, and to do so, they have synthetic humans. Some of these people use those abilities to kill others; some have strange goals that threaten humanity, or they use them to delve deeper, and so on. We don't know how it starts, but it's not that interesting. Somehow, Boogiepop is stronger or more creative than the others, and he's the one in charge of separating the wheat from the chaff.