After a mysterious column of light rises over a city in Japan, strange things begin occurring: a rash of serial killings and suicides, kids developing weird powers, and the appearance of the Angel of Death as "Boogiepop Phantom." Based on the novels of Kohei Kadono, this gothic sci-fi adventure apes the visual style of Serial Experiments Lain, but its fragmented story is both confused and confusing. There are lots of grisly visuals: one boy sees "spiders" on people's hearts, captures them, and devours them; a child dressed as the Pied Piper lures unhappy teenagers into killing themselves; a disappointed musician slashes her wrists at the piano. But there's little coherent plot to support these events. The weird manifestations are the product of biomedical experiments into the future of human evolution and a mysterious creature referred to as "the Manticore." The hokey dialogue panders to teen-age angst with such self-conscious pseudo-profundities as "Why are we all alive? We all die." Director Takashi Watanabe abandons the rollicking comedy of Slayers for derivative monochromatic artwork, sepia-toned imagery (often so dark it's difficult to see what's going on), processed live-action footage and actions repeated four or five times in a single episode. As the fragmented story stumbles along to its indecisive conclusion, the flashy editing and artsy visuals become more and more about less and less. (Rated 15 and older: considerable violence, grotesque imagery, minor profanity) --Charles Solomon
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: A Must-See For Anime Fans Comment: Boogiepop is great for people who love interesting animation and dense subtext-filled storylines. Part horror, fantasy and film noir, the story is full of surprising twists. The music is very good too. I think Boogiepop is too violent and difficult to grasp for children, but older teens and adults would enjoy it. If you like the anime, you might also want to read the paperback manga books on which it is based. Customer Rating: Summary: Make SURE you buy other Boogiepop DVD's Comment: This is the anime prequel to the Boogiepop world. Not having watched anything else in the Boogiepop genre, you may be a bit confused...or MORE than confused...you may be wondering (as I did) the whole four disc series what was going on and waiting for a plot.
Now I know it is a prequel, and relies heavily on the fact that you are more than passing familiar with the Boogiepop world, though the set does basically explain the existence of Boogiepop and is a wonderful prequel. It's just lacking coherency, it does not stand on its own, hence my caveat to purchase other DVD's in the Boogiepop realm to make sense out of this.
The animation is not to be missed though, quite quite wonderful. I'm waiting till my next paycheck to buy more Boogiepop products, as this gets you hooked with an almost obsession to find out more of Boogiepop... Customer Rating: Summary: Ahh yes, it all makes sense to me now Comment: This is an excelent series for those who like having their heads messed with, however one thing is important to realize. This is not actually the first part of the story, in fact it is the second. The first part is layed out, much in the same way as this series in the novel Boogiepop and Others from Seven Seas entertainment, also available through Amazon.
Having watched this series before when it was on Tech TV, I admit that it diddn't really make much sense to me, but having read the novel recently, all the puzzle pieces fall quickly into place, and I find myself, shouting at the characters on screen to "Stay the heck away from that guy" and so on.
Definitely worthwhile to pick up both. Customer Rating: Summary: Fantastic Head Piece Comment: For those who enjoy think pieces that go somewhere this will entertain. Yes, there are a plethora of characters to keep track of and the stories over various timelines could be confusing but if one can keep track of such things this is a really fun puzzle. The primary characters portrayed are easy to keep an eye on, but in each vignette it is all the surrounding characters that bring a continuity and whole to the film. I haven't enjoyed a film this much since "The Usual Suspects." *hint, hint* I hope those of you who go with this enjoy it as much as I did. Customer Rating: Summary: A must...now available on DVD Comment: If you liked {{Lain}}, you will LOVE {{Boogiepop Phantom}} which is, in my view, much more interesting. Every episode has it's own story, and can be watched by itself. As the story progresses though, it all fits together to form a larger plot. One last thing; the music is excellent and very well used to create intensity.
