Given its narrative structure, providing a plot summary doesn’t do much good, it is probably better to describe the setting the show takes place in. One night in an unnamed city, a pillar of light appears. Approximately a month has passed, and there is strange goings on. Some high school students are disappearing. There are rumors of the mysterious angel of death, “Boogiepop” being responsible for them. In the same city a mysterious series of murders had occurred five years ago that are also connected.
Rather than approach things in a traditional way, Boogiepop Phantom’s style is to focus each episode on one of the high school students living in the city. For example you have Moto Tonomura, an introverted girl with a crush on a boy, Saotome, who disappeared. There’s also Jounichi Hisashi. His dream of being an athlete ruined by a bone tumor, Jounichi starts seeing large bugs appear on people, which he has a strong desire to eat. Misuzu Arito, whose friend was murdered five years ago tries to spread the love of “Panuru” to everyone. While providing us interesting stories for various characters, each episode provides further bread crumbs of the mysterious goings on in the city
The narrative structure is really interesting in several ways. For one thing, many characters receive a brief appearance in one episode, and then a further fleshed out storyline in a later one. For example, the first episode focuses on Moto, but she has a brief scene with Jounichi, who is the focus of the second episode. Upon seeing the second episode his strange behavior in the first makes a lot more sense. This structure results in the story being non-chronological in nature. When you combine this with the numerous instances in which the show flashes back to the events of five years ago, it makes the show like a puzzle, with each episode providing further pieces to put together the whole and more and more of the storyline becomes clear.
This makes the show a really interesting experience in my opinion. It is a show with a lot of depth, and one that really rewards rewatchings. If anything, the second or third viewing experience, once you have a better idea of what is going on, is more fun than the first. Which I suppose is also a criticism one can have for the show. If you’re the type who prefers to only watch things once and then immediately move on to something else, this show may not be the thing for you. But if you’re one who enjoys going back to old favorites, this is a show that will continue to reward you with each subsequent viewing.
In addition to the show’s narrative structure, the style is pulled off really well as well. Each episode is shown in very muted colors, which combined with the mysteriousness of the setting, the character design and some really strong sound/musical choices gives this show a really mysterious and scary atmosphere. The level of mystery and fright that this show provides is really up there.
There are some places in which the show isn’t doing itself many favors, in particular the fact that so many characters look alike or are meant to be facsimiles of each other, as well as that decent portions of the plot are not told in the show but rather warrant additional research into the light novel series that inspired the show in the first place. For example, there is not just Boogiepop, but a separate character known as Boogiepop Phantom who wears the same outfit. It is quite easy to confuse the two characters unless you know to look for certain differences in their facial features. There’s one scene where Boogiepop Phantom appears in a school girl outfit rather than her usual attire, causing most viewers to confuse her with another character, Nagi Kirima, the closest the show has to a heroine. Boogiepop Phantom is also known as the Manticore, but the character of Saotome is also referred to by that name. Boogiepop Phantom takes on the form of a girl named Minako, yet there’s another major character with the name of Manaka. And so on. One is apt to lose their mind with how convoluted everything gets when some fairly easy to make choices could have cleared up a lot of this confusion.
Anyway, that aside, there is no reason to not see this show. I come back to watch this show at least every few years and there is always something new and interesting there for me to discover.
