I begin with a little history here. The first time I encountered the Boogiepop franchise was when I got the DVDs of the original anime Boogiepop Phantom for free; this was sort of a ‘thank you’ gift for being a volunteer at a UK con…I can’t remember which one it was, though. Anyway, I looked at the DVD covers and thought, because I was being that college edgelord who was into the weirder things in life, that this would be a show that would make me happy.
Unfortunately, it did not make me happy. Maybe it was because I had already become too accustomed to shows with regular timelines, and shows that went in a more conventional chronological order. I was trying to be an edgelord, and yet a show like Boogiepop Phantom showed me how much of a fool I looked. I promptly donated those free DVDs at another con, who was doing a second-hand buyer’s table in their dealer’s room.
Which I guess brings me onto this new show in the franchise, Boogiepop and Others. Now I’m a little older and a little wiser (sort of…), perhaps I would look past all the things that put me off the original show, and find something cool in this.
Unlike its predecessor, Boogiepop & Others stretches on for 18 episodes, but is aired only in one cour. The show adapts 4 light novels, and begins with a student worrying about a girl he likes who has mysteriously vanished — only to meet a spirit calling themselves Boogiepop but inhabiting the girl’s body. The spirit claims humanity is in danger, and that the students disappearing is just the beginning. All in all, the show follows 5 different students, all of which play various roles in discovering what is really going on.
These 5 students, however, aren’t really likable people. Nagi Kirima is a delinquent girl who cares more about the supernatural than anything else at school. Naoko Kamikishiro may have telepathic powers, but other than that, she is just another extremely dull third-year. Kazuko Suema has an unnatural fascination with criminal psychology. Shiro Tanaka is a first-year who really enjoys archery (and ends up being the one using his archery skills to kill off monsters). And finally we have Touka Miyashita, the otherwise very ordinary girl who is the ‘host’ to the Boogiepop spirit. And these are just 5 of the characters who appear frequently throughout this show; there are many more who feature a lot in some episodes, and not at all in others. But what they all have in common is that they are just not likable in any way. These are the kinds of schoolkids who both laugh and gossip to each other about urban legends non-stop, and follow said urban legends blindly without a second thought. In addition to this, other supernatural characters like Echoes and Manticore appear frequently, either to wreck havoc in these schoolkids’ lives, or remind them constantly that they appeared to wreck havoc in their lives.
Considering I was this edgelord kid who watched the original Boogiepop Phantom show thinking it would make me cool in the UK anime community, I really thought I’d find stuff to (sort of) enjoy here. It has only reminded me that I was never an edgelord at all, since Boogiepop & Others is a show that is not for everyone. In fact, I believe it is only a very niche kind of audience that will find something to enjoy here. This is the lesson I have learnt as I watched these episodes – the lesson I should have learned when I tried to get into Boogiepop Phantom. Just because a show is trying to look stylish with catchy music, fancy art direction and a quirky script, doesn’t mean the show has actual substance. I can forgive the fact that 4 light novels were covered in this adaptation, but the story as a whole in this show ended up going in all sorts of directions, meaning we as the viewer find it very difficult to find a character we can like and cheer on. In addition to this, I believe that this show should not have gone on for 18 episodes. While it does cover 4 light novels in the Boogiepop franchise, there are a lot of filler moments throughout its 18-episode run – a lot of moments where you just wish that these kids would just hurry up and sort out whatever mess these monsters have made.
This is one of those shows that are created and was built for a specific audience…kind of like what all the Fate anime shows are. If you are a fan of Boogiepop, if you read the light novels, and enjoyed the Boogiepop Phantom anime, then you will love Boogiepop & Others. Everyone else, I fear, will find a lot to criticize in this, whether it be the narrative, or the character design, or all the references to other works and anime shows.