Rough Intro To Anime: Boogiepop Phantom

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

In general I’ve never been a big horror movie fan. Maybe it’s the cliches and the gore, but more likely it’s the sameness to the movies: dumb teenagers do dumb things and get themselves killed in amusing fashions. There are exceptions, but this is a path so well worn that you’d be forgiven if you’ve tossed the entire genre away. If it wasn’t for shows like Boogiepop Phantom I’d do the same thing.

I’ll get the first sticking point about this show out: the name “Boogiepop Phantom” might be one of the oddest names for a series I’ve seen. Initially it sounded to me like some lost Hanna Barbera series from the 70s where a group of teenagers solved mysteries with a jive-talking ghost then played in a rock band as a day job (you know, the type where the band’s music played during the chase scene complete with a laugh track?). However, if you can get past the name, there’s a really good mystery/horror series underneath, and one that seems to have a surprisingly intelligent theme throughout.

I guess the hardest thing about this show is describing it. This is a surreal show, where things happen out of order and everything from the music to the way people are positioned adds to the depth of the story. I’ve seen it compared to Twin Peaks, Memento, Fantasia, and Salvador Dali. Describing it doesn’t do it justice, much like talking about a musical piece never fully explains it. Since music is such a large part of this show, the comparison might work — the plot can be described, but the ambiance and tone are a little more difficult.

The show starts with a column of light spreading out from the top of a city’s school, causing power to go out citywide momentarily. After this odd occurrence a strange colored hue is seen over the city (called a “Distorted Rainbow” by some) and various people hit by the energy of the light have strange abilities. Meanwhile the past and present seem to be running co-currently with time accelerating, giving off the strange feel that the city is changing faster than one would expect. People who died are seen sporadically (like a “Phantom Image” which explains part of the title) while others seem to age decades in moments.

This is where Boogiepop comes in. Boogiepop is something of an urban legend amongst the girls in the local high schools; Boogiepop is described as an angel of death dressed in a hat and cloak who comes to take people away who see him. As these rumors go, there are always a few who claim to have seen Boogiepop, but not many speak about it and numerous people doubt his existence. The truth is that Boogiepop is real and sees himself as a defender who is determined to take out the “enemies of the world.” Most of the time Boogiepop is dormant, but when these perceived enemies become a threat he always seem to be at the right place at the right time (although those few who have seen him may not exactly approve of the methods or ways of rationalizing his decisions). With the fallout of from the column of light and the distorted rainbow, Boogiepop emerges to attempt to put things back the way they were.

Meanwhile the rest of the characters come face-to-face with decisions and memories from the past.

That past in the city has included a serial killer who terrorized the city 5 years earlier. For reasons that are not apparent, the killer stopped suddenly with motives and whereabouts both left unclear. For many, the horror of that time is forgotten, but for those who either lost family and friends or found out they were next on the list before the killer disappeared, it’s difficult to simply move on with so much unresolved.

I could go on, but there’s too much to cover; already I’ve only scratched the surface of what this show covers in 12 episodes. There’s a a science experiment gone horribly wrong that is killing people, a giggling little girl surrounded by butterflies who only mimics other people’s words, a reporter who attempts to get to the bottom of the occurrences,  an abandoned theme park (what’s a horror show without one?), and all of the people affected.

And affected people are how the story is told, yet few of the people who tell their stories are main characters. Other than Boogiepop, there are only three people named in the opening credits, and only one is seen in the opening episode (even that is just a brief glimpse). The first episode revolves around a painfully shy freshman whose best friend is drifting away from her as she becomes more popular. As she seeks to find an old crush she ultimately finds Boogiepop, who curtly tells her that he is responsible for the boy’s death. Other stories of similar themes continue as the pieces of the puzzle start to fit together and we slowly figure out what is going on.

There’s a reason I started this guide entry with a Bible verse about growing up: as much as this show is a horror/mystery, there’s a common theme about change that permeates every aspect of the show, as do themes of dealing with the past and difficult memories. Since many of the characters are high schoolers, they are dealing with the change of adolescence into adulthood and making decisions about the future. Some of the adults are dealing with broken dreams and financial realities. The themes of change, maturity, and putting away childish things are a constant in this series, right down to the final scenes.

One good example of this is a being calling itself “Poom Poom,” a pied piper sort of character who encourages people afraid of growing up to stay with him and make new friends in an abandoned, rusting theme park (metaphors like this are plentiful in the series). He seeks out those who feel wronged with deep regrets about life and gives them a red balloon, and a younger version of the person is seen running away with him — leaving the older person with a portion of themselves gone and despondent over life. To Poom Poom and his new friends, growing up means dying to your dreams and accepting a miserable life of banality. He is confronted by main character Nagi Kirima — a high schooler who is determined to end this before more people are hurt. However her way of dealing with a difficult upbringing is almost as tragic as the others: she’s developed something of a messiah complex and sees herself as a defender of the city. While she does much good, it’s clear to those around her that she’s simply trying to atone by being good. Still, Poom Poom realizes her desire to not retreat into a false childhood to deal with life’s difficulties by calling her the ultimate insult: A Grown-Up.

An added touch, one of many, is that the series is presented out of order. The second episode is happening at the same time as the first with one scene intersecting, throwing the conversation presented originally into a new light. This trend continues: The fourth episode occurs chronologically almost entirely before the first three, the 5th jumps around so much that a clock on the wall is a great point of reference, and at least one episode is told in reverse. The final episode takes place a year after the events of the previous episode. This may confuse people to the point of giving up, but somehow it works: the common theme of past and present colliding is re-enforced thanks to this motif, and the series is better for it.

The other touches that are most prominent are visual and musical. As seen in some of the screenshots here, the series appears to have muted the colors considerably and left it with a sepia-toned hue that washes out anything that is too bright. Places and people can tend to get muddled together, and the huge number of secondary characters in this series who appear only for a few episodes is disconcerting at first. There are long lists of characters online to help people figure out how they connect.

The music in this series is largely electronic, and between the music and sound effects they almost become another new character: Boogiepop is represented with the sound of a skipping CD, a simple techno piece ties together scenes in different episodes, Boogiepop whistles Wagner when roaming, and a certain set of characters’ voices sound distorted in some scenes yet remain clear in others.

If this sounds rather confusing, you’re not alone. There is a lot happening in this show, and it’s easy to get lost or realize you weren’t paying attention the first time something happened. Clues are dropped and left alone all of the time until you least expect them. Red herrings are tossed out, and even the true identity of Boogiepop is revealed as early as the first episode if you’re paying attention.

Where to find it: The good news is that the series seems to be re-released every few years on DVD since its first run in 2000. In the US, that means it can be found both in stores like Best Buy, but also at rental places like Netflix. A new re-issue is happening again this summer. Once in a while they re-release the series with the soundtrack, which might just be worth the extra cash if you’re into ambient and techno music. Another invaluable source for those trying to decipher the series is the English commentary by the American producers and English actors: they help explain what is going on and talk about some of the pivotal scenes. If you ever hear them say “remember what he just said!” expect them to come back to it. This is one of the best commentaries I’ve heard regarding a series as involved as this one.

In the first episode a character mentions that the pieces of the puzzle look disconnected, yet make sense when put together. That’s probably an intentional metaphor for Boogiepop Phantom as a whole. The series is challenging and brilliant, something almost no one says about a horror series. As expected with a series dealing with monsters and killers, this is a rather violent series and more than a few upsetting images occur. But like all good horror, sometimes the most disturbing things are the ones you can’t see. This is what they consider “psychological horror” after all, and sometimes the biggest battle is in our mind.