What is the worth of Boogiepop Phantom?
It is made of excellence and deserves to be on our Enlightenment list.
27.3%
3
It is too unremarkable to be on on either of our lists.
36.4%
4
It is vastly overrated and deserves to be on our Relations list.
0.0%
0
I have not watched this series because eating heart-bugs is just gross.
36.4%
4
11 votes
| Boogiepop Phantom is now up for vote. Decide if it will collect the spooky ghost children of Enlightenment or if it will eat giant bugs. Seriously, who does that? That's just messed up. Oh yeah, something about Relations. RULES: 1. You can only vote for a title if you've finished watching/reading it. You must’ve read or watched at least 60% of the published content for unfinished titles. There might be exceptions for very long finished titles – they are decided on a case by case basis, but usually amount to more than half of the published content. 2. Write your vote at the very top of your comment. 3. Below your vote, give a substantial explanation to back it up. It doesn't have to be lengthy; it just needs to cover the points you want to make. 4. If you have only read/watched the adaption/source material of the respective nominee, please state so in your post. 5. It will take a minimum of 5 votes for either Enlightenment or Relations to make it into any of the lists as an anime (3 votes for manga). If it fails to reach that, it will be deemed Invalid. 6. The votes for Enlightenment will have to outnumber the votes for Unremarkable and Relations for it to be included in our list; the same goes for Relations. If it fails to reach that, it will be deemed Unremarkable. 7. Behave yourself. We accept discussions and debate, not flaming and incoherent fanboy/fangirl behavior. 8. The fate of the poll will lie in the hands of the officers if it turns out that there are more first time voters than regulars or the series cannot be gauged by both voting and discussions. This polling process will last 14 days. BEGIN!!!!!!!! |
Ducat_RevelDec 22, 2013 6:59 PM
| Option 1 Enlightening Well, where do I start? Boogiepop Phantom is a series that is built on a jigsaw puzzle, tying in a collection of stories of social escapism into the intrigues of a much larger event that you are constantly aware of but can never seem to grasp completely whilst somehow making everyone's intentions remain comprehensive. It interweaves some heavily imaginative supernatural elements to the series, cleverly connecting each supernatural event that the series shows us to the whole mystery and making each element essential to many of the characters in the series. Much of the supernatural elements combined with the major plot leave a lot to one's own interpretation whilst constantly maintaining a consistent story direction, which is any achievement by any standard IMO. And to add a cherry to the cream, the series is non-linear, not non-linear for the sake of being hard to follow but to allow the important scatter of events over a 5 year 3 month timeline to feel like it is naturally developing as a story. Each episodes builds on a new event whilst explaining previous events that the story has identified, with a plot twist occurring at least once every episode after the first. All of which, once mixed together, explode into one of the most ferociously well written series that I have ever encountered in any medium. Boogiepop Phantom has been applauded for its technical merits constantly, and I will have to agree with this. Boogiepop Phantoms soundtrack is literally in a league of its own in terms of its energetic commitment to the story being told. A lot of the sound is static in nature, which compliments much of the supernatural elements and the distorted moods of much of the characters simultaneously. And it largely contributes to the dense atmosphere that the series has which is also compliments the art-style that the series adopts, the most part of the series is drawn on a dark, hazy greenish sickening pallette that does well in setting up the atmosphere amidst the already electrifying soundtrack. Boogiepop Phantom is a horror series, I mention this because finding a well-written horror series is like asking for a person not to be bitten whilst moving around in a snake infested pit. Especially when it comes to movies, it's a different case for books, but that is beside the point. I mention this because I feel the enlightenment list should cater to the interests of a variety of genres and horror is one part of the enlightenment list that is SEVERELY lacking. To bring up the term horror comes with many misconceptions, much of Boogiepop Phantom opens up fears that we do not what encounter in our everyday life without ever going to the extent of resorting to simple gory violence and pseudo-horror. It builds its atmosphere from its top of the class technical merits, intimidating brownish-greenish pallette, the shows incredible sound effects, and combine that with the nature of the entire story, it builds an almost trademark atmosphere that is at the polar opposite of lets say "Aria The Origination". So, this shows that Boogiepop knows what it wants to be and knows full well what it is doing, and in its particular genre I believe it excels extremely well. The characters whilst not being a highlight of the series are still undeniably well-written but I think their biggest problem would be that they are not very relatable. Many of the characters have been described as "walking mental cases" elsewhere and to an extent, I agree, but something is lost in this translation as quite a few of the main characters are still very sane, which is why this criticism has somewhat confused me, as people only seem to be focusing on the abysmal personalities of some of the side-characters. The character development that this series uses is quick and never wastes time. It's only 12 episodes, with a horrendously large cast, this may be a criticism for the series by some viewers but for me I believe that the way Boogiepop goes about it only prove its competence by showing what needs to be shown in the short time that it has, all the characters have motivations for their actions and to top it all off, all the actions make sense, nothing feels out of place, each character contributes something to the entire story by simply going about their everyday lives, none of the characters are forced into the scenario by poor writing elements. Another important aspect is how the characters fit into the whole story, Boogiepop Phantom tells a story of tragic loss and despair but considering the elements of the story involved much of these characters backdrops seem rather inevitable in the larger scheme of things. A lot of the characters are admittedly angsty, but that is where Boogiepop Phantom shines brightly as its themes show that resorting to that form of dealing with your inability to cope with society, (or escapism) is not the way to go about dealing with personal issues as all it leads to is everyone getting hurt with you being the worst off in the end. Contrary to popular opinion around the series, I believe that the last episode is not a weak point to the series, as the way it is constructed contrasts magnificently with the themes that the show had explored up to that point and not presenting it in any other manner would have made the themes that it had dealt with prior completely pointless in regards to the overall message that the series was trying to present, so basically IMO, it was the only logical way the series could have ended. I can still ramble on as to why this series is worthy of enlightenment, but I think I have made it fairly clear. So yeah, option 1 for me. |
 |
| Option 1 Enlightening What is Boogiepop Phantom you might ask? The name of a techno band perhaps? There was this house group in Germany called "Sonic Tickle"... Alrighty, down to the nitty gritty. Boogiepop Phantom is an atmospheric and dark experience with an equally atmospheric soundtrack to boot. I could describe this series as hauntingly majestic. It's horror but not in the hack and slash, jump scare sense. It's a type of horror that creeps up, sets a unnerving mood, and is disturbing. The visuals help set the dreary and despair-filled tone of the show with graininess and washed a out palette. The characters in this show deal with harsh realities of the city's underbelly and dark shadows. Issues such as drug addiction, internet addiction, murder, and escapism explored. The parents are largely not depicted and the series doesn't dwell on these characters when they are gone. It's almost as if they're wrote off as just another casualty. Many of them are alone in their struggle when confronting the dark shadows and urban legends of the city. These characters are caught up in an interconnected web that they struggle to escape from or embrace. Some characters give in to their fear and other confront it. One of the most powerful situations was when Nagi "Fire Witch" Kirima was confronting one of the apparitions. As the situation got more intense the music gradually intensified with it. In this situation, powerful words coincided with powerful music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzncL2I3tKc This series has an outstanding soundtrack, fitting visuals, and a story washed in despair that chills you to the bone. Enlightening! |
| Option 1 Enlightening Now this is something that stands alone. Let me cut right into the meat and potatoes, there are two things that I respect about Boogiepop Phantom: it's not afraid of going against the grain and doing things its own way at its own pace, and second it uses everything at its disposal to create an anime that practically drips atmosphere, and it even innovates to this end. Boogiepop uses special effects with its art style to render everything dark, fuzzy and dreary as hell, and it uses sound effects in such a way that at times I feel as if I'm getting sucked into the shadowy and sinister urban landscapes myself. In fact, let me just say I think the sound effects used here might just be the best anime has to offer, period. The soundtrack also has a big effect on things of course, it's rather eclectic but fits right in perfectly. The story is unique, told in non-linear fashion and often just shows us what's happening instead of spoon feeding information to us. Sometimes we're left to fill in the blanks, and there are different ways of interpreting the events as a whole. Admittedly there is one weakness and that is it's ending. It just felt rather abrupt and almost too ambiguous, and while I loved the first 11 episodes, I didn't like the last one much at all. Fortunately however, it's not something that needs to be seen only as the sum of its parts. Most episodes can easily stand alone and in fact some of the individual episodes are my favorite and can stand up to anything else pound for pound. I like to think of it as a twisted and dark fairy tail anthology of sorts. My favorite episodes in particular are - 2. Light in Darkness 3. Life can be So Nice 10. Poom Poom There is a sense of creativity in these episodes (a disturbing sense that is), when considering everything that goes in them they really just can't be compared to anything else that's been animated ever before or since then that I've seenn. One of the reviewers, Beatnik, had this to say about it - "If David Lynch's son grew up in Japan and became a filmmaker like his father, and if his brain had a mouth, it would vomit Boogiepop Phantom onto our screens." - And I have to say that I'm inclined to agree! So, let there be light! With an En and an ing as well. |
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| Option 2 I'm probably going to hated for this but, I don't think Mulholland Drive was a great film. Lynch over-pioritized the mood, the atmosphere, and the mystery and forgot to solidify the most important aspect of any story, it's plot. The lack of coherence in the movie made it one of the top mind puzzles in film, but it also took away the foundation of a story, which is the ability to watch it from a surface level. I'd much rather praise Eraserhead. While still containing the atmosphere and visuals that make Lynch the director he is, the film has a coherent plot which allow the viewers to gain some footing first before diving in the subtext and mystery of the film. The reason I bring this up is because Boogiepop Phantom reminds me of Mulholland Drive in that respect. It sacrifices it's stability for it's mystery. In comparison, Paranoia Agent and Serial Experiment Lain outdo Boogiepop since they managed to give a sturdy enough surface level. But the main thing I can't overlook in Boogiepop is the misdirected focus. A lot of weight is put on the mystery of Boogiepop, her phantom, and the events that happened on that one fateful night. But once you actually watch the series, you'll see that it's core really lies in the teen angst. Most of the episodes revolve around the teen angst fueling the mystery of Boogiepop, which if I may add, isn't that remarkable. None of the vignettes presented were outstanding; the issues the teens were given weren't explored deeply enough or were generic, the progression of their downfall was predictable and sometimes comedic, and teens themselves were really bland and uninteresting. And yet, I can't call it a bad show. It's just faulty and misdirected. The atmosphere was good, and some of the visuals were menacing, but that alone can't hold up a story. When both characterization and plot is handled haphazardly, there's little doubt in my head that I won't vote for Option 2. |
| Option 2 Sorry guys, gotta go with Ducat on this one. This series divided my mind in all sorts of ways, making me relate with and criticize various aspects of it at the same time and in the end was both an intriguing and irritating experience. There's one particular term that encompasses a lot of the gripes I have with Boogiepop Phantom, making it lose a lot of impact...it's overwrought. This is exemplified through the countless jargon, excessive material, ( having both drug and video game addictions bundled together-more in a bit) the name bombing, (there's a scene where the Boogiepop...sorry, Boogiepop PHANTOM is accused of being called the Manticore, then calls him/herself the Boogiepop, and then says he/she'll call him/herself the Boogiepop Phantom, yadda yadda) having multiple Boogiepops (debatable) the exposition to expound things in either a cryptic or obvious manner and the final episode as a whole which is basically a needless coda that was really inflated and had a few details that could've been included earlier, some that obfuscated things, etc. There's simply too much going on in this series which makes things come across as a bit incoherent at times, and it all just goes at its own pace without much proper ground until near the last few episodes. At one point when Nagi was talking to the writer and relaying all that weird jargon and slightly confusing contextual stuff, it felt as though the characters were almost breaking the forth wall and deliberately being cryptic to throw me off. Like Ducat said, the story is about the titular Boogiepop Phantom, but yet we hardly have a grasp on what the hell his/her objective is, what he/she is, or much of anything until near the end, and most of the characters weren't totally memorable or investing I find, we are just kind of thrown into their lives and angst happens and then some weird stuff will intersperse here and there, and again, a lot of times it isn't too engaging, so it comes off as more alienating and bizarre. Which brings me back to the drug/computer addiction episode; I found that to be one of the more logically sound ones (not to say it was one of my favourites) but while those addictions do seem to have similarities with blurring the lines of reality and ultimately depriving an individual of their self-concept and sense of reality, it tries to put both of them into one and kind of rushes things over, making the message come off in a kind of extreme manner without a natural progression and subsequently, without a lenient message (to me at least). He started playing the visual novel and liking the virtual girl and tried a bit of the drug and he was pretty much boned (nuts) almost immediately, which seemed to me like the creators were saying video games (or drugs) were flat out bad, end of story. I somewhat agree with people sometimes amounting to nothing more than the product itself (hardcore stoners who plaster paraphernalia everywhere and always talk about the individual drugs as a big topic) but not everyone is like this/as susceptible as others. If they just focused on one or the other and not tried to shoehorn bits of each into one, it probably would've come out more smoothly and less staggeringly cynical (to me at least). I'm torn a bit here because I feel bad saying it would innately fail for focusing on the teens most of the time, but I feel like there was a bit too much of it and the mysteries weren't 100% natural. I also feel that it's sepia lens style for the first 11 episodes seems a bit gimmicky seeing how the final episode does have some dark moments that looked a bit grim even without the lens, and so while it wasn't jarring to have the slice of life events/stuff focusing purely on the teens in the same style as when the dark stuff happens, but it just felt a little weird. I know they used it for the peripheral effect of most of the weight being "lifted" from the series and such in the end, but when you stack that little contrast with how much mundane stuff there is in that lens style, it feels a bit weird IMO. The final episode executed the darker scenes with almost as much skill as Lain (sans all the strange visuals flooding the screen) and I feel it could've done the rest of the series in the same fashion and still be good. Speaking of which, this series feels a lot like Lain-hell, even the eyecatch voice thingy is the same as the Lain title card voice, and the brooding, pragmatic style of horror is pulled off with about as much skill as well, only Lain was more looking at technology's effect on humanity from a more impersonal focus while still dealing with psychological issues while Boogiepop is firmly rooted in the human condition and multiple smaller character studies to a degree. However, I found Lain more coherent and generally better in many ways, not to say that I hate Boogiepop for not being Lain, but there's just a rift in quality between the 2 and the comparisons help me illustrate it better. Boogiepop Phantom is good, but it is a diamond in the rough; had it been maybe a more focused 6 episode OVA or something, I feel it really could've been exceptional. It is experimental and daring, it's bit of nihilism was far less juvenile than the norm, it has trappings of clever/intelligent writing at times, it is genuinely creepy and intense, it touches on some decent subject matter (once we finally learn about PP, Echoes and Boogiepop, their roles unfold in an interesting way, etc), and that OST...sex, but it isn't quite there yet, still a good 7+/10 from me. On a side note, my favourite episode is episode 6: 'Mother's Day', I really liked the composition of the episode both visual and narrative to an extent and it somewhat reminded me of Kate Chopin's 'The Awakening' which I enjoyed. Hated 'Until URE (...) In My Arms Again', pretty rudimentary stuff, Pied Piper allegory was overplayed and the girl always getting beat up irked me, the little twist made it a bit more tolerable. |
AngelsArcanumDec 21, 2013 12:08 AM
| Option 2 I was really close to giving this an option 1, because I really liked this show. I like anime about urban legends and their origins. I think it's worth examining and it makes for clever stories, and I think it was used well here to illustrate how problems spread between people. I also was a fan of the visuals, perhaps not as much as the option 1 votes, mostly because I felt some characters suffered from sameface, which can be an issue in something with a cast this large. I have no complaints about the sound, That said, I have some issues with this. First is the endings of episode 10 and 12. Both episodes conclude with Boogiepop Phantom and Boogiepop respectively explaining to one of their enemies why they need to expel them from the city. There's no way Poom Poom and the Manticore didn't already know what BP was telling them, and the only reason I could think of for this is that it's there for the audience, and it wouldn't have needed to be there in the first place if the story had been just a *little* clearer to begin with. And maybe I just didn't get it, but I was a little put off by the use of live action footage in one of the later episodes, since most of the time it's hard for me to see that as anything other than trying to draw attention to itself. Although it did fit better here than it would in other anime. Also, this is an entirely humorless series. Maybe this isn't that big of a problem, but I have gripes with this sort of thing for three reasons. One: It's all the same tone throughout. It becomes almost, for lack of a better word, repetitive, and while the series gives you a lot to think about piecing together the mystery and watching all the other characters work through their issues, it's hard to call something entertaining when it's the same thing over and over again. Two: It's hard to relate. If nothing good ever happens in these characters' lives, then it puts a little more distance between me and them when they act upset over what happens to them in this show. There's no juxtaposition between good and bad, and how can one exist without the other. Three: It's just what people do. They deflect. They test boundaries. They try to make life a little easier for themselves. That's the whole reason why humor exists. I feel a little bad about voting option 2 on this one, but...it's tied. I'm not the deciding vote, so I guess I'll leave it up to others |
| With 3 votes for Enlightenment and 3 for Unremarkable, I draw this poll to a close. Thank you for voting. |
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