Boogeypop

[DB]

Bad name. Good series. I only used Boogeypop here, rather than Boogeypop Phantom because I am going to include the live action prelude movie as well, for reasons which will be explained.

BP is actually a series of novels in Japan, all of them interconnected. The title character is a supposed urban legend, a shinigami who kills people. Only she's not a myth, and she doesn't exactly kill people. She's a protector that resides in the body of a high school girl (who has no idea she's possessed when evil comes acalling).  In this story arc, there's a number of mysteries, including a mysterious electronic entity, a serial killer that's more than he seems, and a Phantom Boogeypop running around in addition to the real one. Ironically, none of these characters are focused on until the end. Will be explained below.

let's start off with the bad news  first.  BP Phantom, the 13 ep anime series, is not the  first novel. To make things worse, the climax of the preceeding novel is the impetus for the entire series of events for the anime, so you'll be very lost at first when watching it, wondering who all these background characters and villains are when they just pop up like you're supposed to know them.

However, all is not lost. The episodes of BP Phantom don't focus on previous characters. Rather they center on a variety of new characters, with the former cast influenceing their lives. Don't get too attached to the these characters though, as they are only centered on for that epsiode. But the episodes aren't standalones. Rather, each of them are interconnected. For example: the first episode centers on a despondent female high schooler. One scene in a nurse's office has some male student approach her and offer to 'eat the spider on her chest'. While this  has nothing directly to do with the female character, the guy is the focus of the second episode, and his actions make sense after seeing his story. Mind you, in the course of his episode, we are treated to another scene with a random character behaving strangely, and discover they are the focus of the third ep. And so on so forth. Each has a different fate, some all right, some not so all right.

To make matters more complicated, many of the episodes run concurrently. Epsiode 2 starts before the end of episode 1, for instance. Although things do move forward from episode to episode.

The series is actually pretty creepy, and you'll have a heck of time trying to figure out what's going on and who the good guys are vs, the bad. Part of what the series captures is the inherent self-destructive nature of teenagers as well.  In fact, the title character, Boogiepop, has no development simply because she has a little character. She is a force of nature which exists and whose presense causes the other charcters to evolve, or not evolve, depening on the situation.

Ironically, the true climax of the series is around the 9th episode, with the remaining ones dealing with an unintentional misguided soul and a denoument as we learn some of the truths of the series in the end.

Now on to the live action movie prelude to this Boogiepop and Others (aka Boogiepop Never Smiles). Son of a gun, but a live action Japanese movie that ties into an anime without sucking. Mind you, it's still low budget, and the costume they give the girl who plays Boogeypop looks awful with the way they shot it, this movies succeeds in being entertaining, and more importantly, informative as to who the background characters in BP Phantom are and why they are motivated to do what they do.  Like the anime, the scenes are separated into different acts which overlap (BP mentions killing the bad guy at the end of the first act, though we don't see the fight until the final act).

As a side note, the actress they got to play Nagi (a heroine) is living proof Amazons live in Japan. She's incredibly tall.

So, the scores. Anime is a 6, but i like series where i have to piece things together. The live action movie slightly less, but it really really helps to watch it to understand the anime.

[Edward]

I've only seen the anime, not the movie DB mentions, but I recommend it as well.  Roughly, it's like a cross between Vampire Princess Miyu and Serial Experiments Lain, though IMO better than the latter.

If you're the type that likes all the answers immediately, you won't like Boogiepop.  It's best to think of each episode as a piece of a jigsaw puzzle - what's in the center of the piece isn't what's in the center of the puzzle.  And those half-understood bits at the edges of the piece will connect to something else later.

[Dracos]

I remember avoiding it a bit when it came out since I didn't really jive with the art style I saw.  Though, I was also busy catching up on classics too.

Dracos

[Edward]

Well, the series certainly isn't for everyone.  Still, I recommend it.