MovieChat Forums > Boogiepop Phantom: Boogiepop wa Warawanai (2001) Discussion > Questions about this series.

Questions about this series.

posted 18 years ago by andrewis-1
20 replies | jump to latest

I'm surprised people haven't posted a whole list of questions about this anime - is it only me that doesn't understand it? Here's a couple to get the ball rolling... When she was in hospital Nagi was given a mysterious drug that halted her evolution. Dr Kisugi finds this drug and administers it to other children which appears to speed up their evolution. Does this make any sense?

Also who/what is boogiepop phantom? Apparantly it was created by the manticore attempting to escape at the pillar of light incident but this doesn't make sense as (a) boogiepop phantom appears to be good whereas the manticore is evil and (b) the manticore is clearly seen in the form of Saotome during the series. Anybody throw any light on this?

[–] Bitchy_Tsunderes 18 years ago

There's a whole lot I don't understand about the series. For example, I can't even tell Boogiepop and Boogiepop Phantom apart. You're not the only person who doesn't understand it all, most people don't understand parts of it. I think your explanation of the drug in the hospital doesn't make a whole lot of sense but it makes as much sense as any other explanation, really.

I have a clearer idea about Boogiepop Phantom. Boogiepop's essence was blown apart at the pillar of light, and to fill the void Boogiepop Phantom was created. Then Boogiepop recoalesced back into existence. Boogiepop Phantom has nothing to do with Manticore I think. Boogiepop Phantom I think is a lot ruder than Boogiepop, more denigrating and more violent. The girl in the 3rd episode, I think that was Boogiepop Phantom who sneered at her and said she wasn't worth killing. I think Boogiepop would've killed her. Of course I could be wrong, like I said I can't tell the two apart worth a damn. Despite that it seems like Boogiepop Phantom is more likely to kill the monsters.

My questions:

1- How is it the hospital people think that the fever woman lost her baby? There'd be a dead fetus in her womb or something, it wouldn't just vanish.

2- What episodes are Boogiepop and which are Boogiepop Phantom?

3- Who is the girl getting strangled at the pillar of light? Who is lunging at the manticore in the pillar of light?

Actually I have a lot more but I doubt anyone responds to this anyway.

[–] troika19 15 years ago

Three years late but what the hell lol.

"3- Who is the girl getting strangled at the pillar of light? Who is lunging at the manticore in the pillar of light?"

That was in fact The Manticore (it had taken the form of a girl it had killed) as for the guy lunging at her/it I forget his name but he was the guy seen selling that drug in the Anime and was Maticore's accomplise.

The problem with Boogiepop Phantom is that the events in it follow the events in the first novel in the series which until recently was never available in English though it was adapted into a live action movie called Boogiepop & Others.

Either the novel or the movie will actually help understand the Anime better.

Sadly though the company that started publishing the novels in English dropped them due to poor sales.

If you can track down the ones that were released (Boogiepop & Others, Boogiepop Vs. Imaginator Parts 1&2 and Boogiepop at Dawn) they are a cracking little read.

The live action movie is also good other then it's budget limitations.

[–] Bitchy_Tsunderes 18 years ago

You didn't read my question properly. I didn't say she lost the baby. I asked how on earth could the hospital think she lost the baby? It doesn't make sense. There would be physical evidence.

You say by watching the anime closely you can tie the loose ends together but that's not exactly true. The anime gives you next to no information aboout Yurihara (Shurihara, I've seen her called Yurihara everywhere else, but I don't know for sure). The anime also gives you little information about Echoes or characters like Spooky Electric.

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[–] Zaphekiel 18 years ago

None of that is really well established in the anime. Yeah, it's pretty easy to figure out in *hindsight* after seeing the movie, but come on. And by the way, we can do without the condescending attitude like seeing someone being strangled on the rooftop for a split-second from a bad angle makes it totally obvious it's Yurihara, etc. I'm just saying the anime-know-it-all who treats other people like fools with no cognitive or reasoning abilities is not a particular appealing message board stereotype. Maybe you'll deny this but I doubt you figured all of this out without the movie, or maybe the manga.

The Panuru theory is an intriguing one but that scene happened before Panuru was killed.

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[–] Zaphekiel 18 years ago

Ouch! Hey I'm just saying how you came across to me. It's not like I called you an expletive or something. But you kind of act like somethings are patently obvious when even on the DVD notes they acknowledge some things you really don't have the information for. I'm a little doubtful you haven't seen the movie or the manga, for example, how do you even know Yurihara's name is Minako? It isn't mentioned in the anime or the credits. Some of what you said was established in the anime wasn't, it was established in the movie.

The episodes and the scenes of Boogiepop Phantom are not in cronological order.

See now, what is that? I don't need to be told that. That's evident. But within the episodes, they don't change time periods without a placard telling you they've changed time periods, or some other signal. They don't just randomly jumble scenes out of order without any signifier they've done so. Your explanation is the best I've heard so far, but it seems like you're forcing it a little. You're not the only person to do this, I've seen people give explanations of things in Evangelion or Betterman that are total nonsense, but it's like they can't live with accepting that some things can be explained. I'm not saying this can't be explained, but just that the explanation doesn't fit what I'm seeing. You see them walking together like that before she's killed. I don't think you can assume the time period has changed just because it fits your theory, there should be a compelling indicator that time has changed. If you can point one out, I'm all ears because like most people I'd rather this was resolved than not, but I don't accept explanations that don't seem to fit just to have an answer.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Bitchy_Tsunderes 18 years ago

That's kind of a glib response to the child question though, isn't it? Dr. Kisugi is at the hospital, she can make anything happen. I can't even remember the woman's name now. But she had the baby at home. Dr. Kisugi couldn't have done anything about that. Or how would she even know, or why would she even want to? The series was fresher in my mind when I first asked the question. As far as I can tell the person primarily responsible for the baby coverup was not Dr. Kisugi but the mother's mother (the old grandmother). But the idea that the paramedics who got to the mother after she had the baby could just assume she "lost" the baby with no physical evidence is a little ridiculous. I assure you if there was a mother who was pregnant and then wasn't, the authorities would not just say "Oh she lost the baby" without a dead fetus or something lying around, there are too many mothers who abandon or murder their babies for anyone to do that.

[–] thorne-9 17 years ago

Lathis is right. Watch this series several times and everything starts to become clear.
It took me about 8 times before all the light bulbs started going off and I could safely say I understood what was going on and when it happened, and 4 more times before I could come close to explaining it to other people.

I haven't seen the film yet, but from what I've heard it helps to tie a lot of loose ends up and go into further detail about certain events in the series.

[–] andrewis-1 18 years ago

Thanks for answering my questions it's good to see people are using this board again. Anyway here's my next question: is boogiepop phantom good or evil?

I read the comment 'Boogiepop Phantom is not good, she follows and captures the mutants because with their powers they use up the magnetic forcefield that keeps him/her alive.' However my understanding was that Boogiepop Phantom was protecting society. She could have simply killed the mutants if she'd wanted to, which is the sort of thing the Manticore would have done.

Wasn't the point that all the kids that evolved weren't able to handle their new abilities? A good example is Jonouchi in episode 2. He wanted to do good but became addicted to his power which in the end merely harmed himself and society. Boogiepop Phantom put them to sleep to protect society and themselves. They were to wake up when society had evolved as well and could help them to fit in, so everyone lives happily ever after? I think. Could be wrong though.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Char2056 17 years ago

Dr. Kasugi is dead, she died before Minaka was born. She was killed by Boogiepop when Boogiepop and Nagi found out what she was diong. Dr. Kasugi gave the drug Mayumi while she was pregnet. The drug is what gave Mayumi her fever which led to her memory lose. Minaka got the ability to see people's memorys(light butterflys)and rapid growth (she is only 5 years old at the time of the main story). Minaka lost the ability to talk after the colum of light.

CHAR

[–] Sara_Lissemin 17 years ago

Im curious about why Dr. Kisurgi didnt check up on that baby. She was giving her the drug, so would therefore want to know the results.o_O

Each instant is my universe,
Which at a nod may fade again.
-Walter de la Mare

[–] Char2056 17 years ago

Boogiepop Phantom is good. She is saving the childern, because of their evolution they are in danger from the Towa Organization agents hunting them down (Snake Eyes and Spooky Electric). The childern don't effect the EMF it is going away on it's own. Boogiepop Phantom is in a hurry because when the EMF is gone she goes too.

If the childern couldn't use their powers was not an issue. It was an uncontroled experiment outside the Organization and they sent the assassins to kill the childern. The scene with Spooky E he is telling Snake Eyes about the brother/sister pair. The brother killed Snake Eyes and Spooky E goes on to the events in the 2nd and 3rd novels.

CHAR

[–] watedge 16 years ago

I'd like to clarify two things regarding the simultaneous Boogiepop characters, as the above information is incorrect.

'Boogiepop is the urban legend whispered of among the female students of Shinyo Academy. Reputed to be an "Angel of Death" with the appearance of a beautiful boy dressed all in black, who comes with a whistle to take girls away before they turn ugly. Few people know that Boogiepop actually exists, and is the dormant alter ego of Touka Miyashita who rises to the surface when enemies of the world appear'

'Boogiepop Phantom is an entity born in the electromagnetic field the moment Echoes' light appeared in the sky. Amongst the memories scattered by the light it could only find Boogiepop's attire, but not his face, and so chose the appearance of Minako Yurihara at random. He claims to be Boogiepop, but later renames himself Boogiepop Phantom out of respect for the original. He too confronts the enemies of the world, but has his own agenda in mind.'

Boogiepop = bad; Boogiepop Phantom = good. You can tell the two apart when you hear the whistling.

Last but not least, the two characters - in this anime; some of the light novels it's different - are in fact male.

[–] sophiavladimirovna 14 years ago

A year late, but anyway :/

After watching and re-watching this series, as well as reading a lot of Wikipedia entries, I finally managed to understand what's happening. However, there's still one question bugging me:

Who/what exactly was Panuru, and in what way did the girl in Eps. 3 (can't remember name) believing in her influence the story? Someone here had an apparently intriguing theory about Panuru, but then that post was deleted, so I'd like to hear some ideas please.

The champagne had died. So it goes.

[–] 15 years ago

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