Boogiepop Phantom

<div style="text-align: center;"><!--link--><a href="http://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=369"><img src="http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/8319/01iv9.jpg" border="0"></a><!--center--></div> Boogiepop Phantom is a dark brooding horror/mystery anime series which is often compared with Serial Experiments Lain.[1] The series is 12 episodes long, but the story is not told in a linear fashion. Each episode centers on different characters who sometimes have just a short involvement in the major events of the series. For this reason, many scenes are seen twice, from different perspectives, and some episodes are out of sequence, although there is a slow general time progression. All of the character stories tie to a single event, a single brief point in time where all of the characters saw and were affected by a brief, intense, unexplained light in the night sky. An unusual visual style is employed wherein, for all but the last episode, a much reduced colour palette is used in conjunction with a vignette effect. The story centers on several important characters, most of whom are students from one of two high schools in the city in which the series takes place. The city (which is never named) was held in fear by a serial killer five years ago, who was never caught. When the series begins, high school students have just started to disappear again, and the blame is placed by many on Boogiepop, a mysterious entity who is said to be a Shinigami. Through the daunting non-linear style of the series, the characters are used to develop a central theme of the series: The City, and Evolution of Human Consciousness.