"There's nothing in this world that is ever truly decided. Birds sometimes fall out of the sky, and sometimes it snows in April. Everything is uncertain, nothing is unnatural."
Boogiepop Phantom is a 12-episode anime produced by Madhouse, based on a light novel series by Kouhei Kadono. It first aired in 2000 and is currently licensed by RightStuf, along with the prequel live action film Boogiepop and Others. The first three and the sixth volume of the novel series have been released by Seven Seas Entertainment, but they currently have no plans to release any additional volumes.
Five years ago, a series of terrifying murders took place across an unnamed city in Japan, forever changing the lives of two young girls. In the present day, rumors begin to arise of a mysterious entity known as Boogiepop. No one knows who or what she really is, or even if she exists at all, only that if you meet her in the night you will be taken away. One night, all the power in the city goes out, and a mysterious column of light rises to the heavens, changing a few people's lives throughout the city in an instant. There's a speech-impaired girl who wanders about, surrounded by shining butterflies that only a few people can see. Nagi Kirima spends her days like any other high school student, but by night she wanders the streets of the city, observing and confronting these phenomena and their consequences. How are all of these events connected, and what does it mean for the city? Is there any meaning to pursuing a mystery that may never be fully unraveled? Confused? Welcome aboard.
Looking at the series' animation, I'm not entirely sure how to react. On one hand, the art direction certainly leaves an impression. Dark and muted visuals feel very much like old, slightly worn film footage, which is actually relevant to a key story concept, I won't say what to avoid spoiling. On a whole, the tones and designs are simple, yet very earthy; it still feels like an anime, but the direction reaches for an atmosphere similar to the world we all know, close enough to reality to make the audience uncomfortable. I think the overall atmosphere succeeds to that end, but on the downside the character designs are perhaps a bit too simple, to the point that the plethora of characters can be hard to tell apart. While the use of tones and shadows is usually pretty good, sometimes it can get a little too dark to see what's going on. Then there's the character animation, which has some serious quality control issues, jerky movements and wonky facial expressions abound. To be fair, sometimes the distortions can be used effectively, but on a whole the animation barely squeaks by on its memorable tone and direction, which is heavily reminiscent of Serial Experiments Lain but not nearly as striking.
The use of sound in this series is unilaterally superb, although the show doesn't have much of an actual soundtrack, preferring to rely on much more basic noises to tell its story. There might be some static humming in the background, slowly intensifying as the event at hand approaches its climax, and then cutting off to complete and utter silence for a split-second, only to pull you back in with its next stunt. A single low ring seems to punctuate most of the series' beats, and the characters' voices might trail off into echoes during some key conversations. It's a neat effect, and once again it parallels one of the series' key concepts. However, even though Boogiepop Phantom isn't a very music-intensive show, the music it does have is absolutely fantastic. Combining echoic electronic distortions with a lively rhythm that straddles the line between organic and synthetic, it feels a bit like wandering the streets at night. Combined with a haunting choir it touches on the "angel of death" sound I described in my Texhnolyze review, and it's an easy soundtrack to get lost in. It sounds great on its own, and it adds beautifully to some of the show's most powerful moments.
Boogiepop Phantom was dubbed in 2001, the same year Cowboy Bebop set a new curve for the industry, but the trend of higher-quality English dubbing came a bit too late to reach this series and the end result is just barely serviceable. The Japanese voice acting has its share of hiccups and stiff acting, but for the most part it manages to carry the low-key character interactions well and breathes pretty naturally. The dub takes the cut-and-paste approach to its voice acting and adaptive script, striving to sound as close to the original Japanese dub as possible with no regard for what sounds right or natural in English, resulting in awkward lines with wooden delivery. Even favorites like Crispin Freeman and Rachael Lillis perform only passably, and the best performance in the entire dub is a one-off role by Lisa Ortiz. As if to add insult to injury, the subtitles on the official DVD release have spelling errors. Only a couple, mind, but combined with the lackluster dub, the low production quality of the US release is quite vexing.
If the plot summary I gave at the beginning seems a tad disjointed and confusing, good. Boogiepop Phantom doesn't follow a typical narrative structure, and it doesn't really have any main characters to speak of (well, it sort of does, but we don't find out who until near the finale). Instead, it's the story of the city in a sense, told through a series of brief glimpses into the interconnected lives of various persons concerned with the Boogiepop incident, presented out of chronological order. It's primarily a mystery series, aiming to confuse and to captivate, and along the way maybe make some observations about those affected by the events that transpire. The audience starts off with very little concrete information, and we have to piece together both the backstories and the current story from conversations, interactions and brief flashbacks. There are many, many characters, and it certainly doesn't help that the designs can be difficult to tell apart (though it's kinder on a second viewing). I wouldn't blame anyone for giving up on this show one or two episodes in, but for those who are able to endure it I'll commend the show for coming together fairly well in the end.
Boogiepop Phantom is based on a light novel series, and there are several common pitfalls that such adaptations tend to suffer from, some of which it manages to avoid and others not so much. The smooth flow of its narrative in particular sets this series apart from other light novel-based anime--I can't tell where one novel ends and the next begins; it feels like the same unified story from start to finish. It's far more at-home with its medium than most such adaptations, and the writers were brilliant with how they used the episodic format to their advantage, each episode centering around the perspectives of one or two characters while still tying itself to the main storyline in small but important ways. If I hadn't checked Wikipedia before watching the show, I probably would have assumed that this was an anime-original title. It's not the most tightly-written anime I've seen, there are a few episodes that could probably be removed without too much effort and it can get a little bogged down with dialog and exposition sometimes, as is par for the course with light novel adaptations, but as the series nears its conclusion and ties itself together it becomes easily forgivable.
So where's the pitfall? Well, Boogiepop Phantom the anime is twelve episodes long, and when it began airing, Boogiepop the light novel series spanned eight volumes, and awaited several later installations (I think it might still be ongoing). Do the math, there's no way the anime could cover all of that material in such a short run. Thankfully, the core story chosen for this adaptation reaches a satisfying, cathartic conclusion, but it's made clear to the audience that what we're seeing is part of a much bigger story. I challenge anyone who finds him or herself seriously invested in the story not to want to know more about what Echoes' purpose was, how Nagi evolved from a tragic survivor to the supernatural huntress she becomes, and just what the hell Boogiepop is trying to achieve. We get glimpses of the answers, but if you want more fleshed-out explanations you'll have to read the light novels, which will probably never receive a full Stateside release. What we do get is still engaging, but it's woefully incomplete and seems to enjoy taunting us with that fact.
Now that I've gotten the style of storytelling out of the way, let's take a look at the story on its own merits. On the downside, I have to include the same caveat I did for Texhnolyze: it's consistently dark and bleak, and altogether unpleasant, and you shouldn't watch it unless you're interested in the ugly side of humanity. Some of the characters we follow are fascinating as psychological studies but completely unsympathetic and irredeemable as individuals, which can be incredibly difficult to sit through. Supernatural elements notwithstanding, this series hits very close to the reality we live in every day, and this can get extremely uncomfortable when it starts pointing fingers at the lies we tell ourselves and the missteps we make in our lives. While this isn't exactly a flaw, it does make the series far more alienating, and the lack of a consistent main character to latch onto (there is Nagi, but she's terribly aloof) does nothing to assuage this.
Still, Boogiepop Phantom isn't unrelentingly depressing all the time. It's a mystery first and foremost, and a good mystery needs to keep its audience entertained. The series keeps you guessing until the very last minute, but looking back in the end, the clues were all there. Loose plot threads aside, it's a good story told in a memorable way, and that's always nice to see. Since the episodes are mostly vignettes centered around one or two characters, some of the episodes manage to pull off focused and effective character drama while still working in the necessary plot points for later episodes, and that's downright laudable (then there's the hateful episode 4). The scenario itself occasionally pushes the limits of plausibility and has some cliches thrown in, but the story is so engaging to piece together that this is easily overlooked. While some of the episodes are predominantly just thrilling mysteries, they're at least cleverly executed, and at its best the show really can be downright thought-provoking in its criticism of these characters' human vices and how they cope... or fail to cope. It's an uneven but wholly immersive experience, occasionally cold but never boring.
This show may not be pure gold, but it's still worth sifting through all its blacks and grays to find the gold in it. It has a compelling atmosphere, clever writing, and a some genuinely haunting insight into the darker side of humanity. I still maintain that it feels a bit unfinished and should have been longer, but just the fact that I was left wanting more is a good sign. If you like dark mind-frags, this should quench your appetite just fine. Next week I'll be shifting gears to something warm, lovable and inviting. Princess Jellyfish, ladies and gentlemen. Always keep it classy.
Special thanks to mahoganycow for the request.
Final Grade: 7/10
An incomplete but still engaging mystery story with some interesting (and disturbing) insight.
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