Customer Reviews

Boggiepop Phantom

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this because it was so inexpensive, and it was worth every penny and much more! Great gothic, urban stetting and supernatural storyline. Don't miss it!

I find myself saying that a lot as I dive deeper into the world of anime. But this series has something that draws you in. When I was at a store, which I will not mention, HACK,COUGH (best buy) this DVD set was almost screaming at me to buy it. The cover art was nothing special the title cought my intrest and I had heard good things about it. When I got it home I riped off the packaging and watched, this is where the actual review begins.

I was hooked from the first episode!! I even neglectied my homework, well you know "Don't do today, what you can do the next morning 5 mins. before it's due". The art, OH the art! It was spectacular, and the hepa filtersthat they filmed it with really gave it a dark and creepy feel even in the day time.

The characters are wonderfully developed, even though most of them only appear in one episode. And I love that fact that all of the episodes intertwine! A seen from episode one appears in episode 3 or something like that. The only thing I can dock it for is it's sudden ending I thought there could have been more!

BUY THIS ITEM!!!!!!

The anime itself leaves nothing to be desired. The animation is top-notch. The audio is what really sets this series apart. It keeps your attention and complements the bizarre storyline. The addition of a music CD was a very nice touch. The plot keeps you guessing and scratching your head. It's a confusing show.
The main flaw with this particular recording is the DVDs themselves. The disks came slightly scratched. My DVD player was reluctant to play them at all and then when they did play, frequent glitches in the sound and video became an irritating, if infrequent interruption. What's more, the default language for these shows is Japanese, which seems an odd choice for a region 1 DVD.
The show is fabulous and a real steal for the price, but I would have rather paid more for a higher quality recording.

Okay, I really didn't understand the point for most of the show, honestly. I enjoyed it, but didn't understand it till the end then it concentrates on two characters who never appeared till the end, I was like..huh? But I love it because it's so damn confusing! Like Lain, one of my top fav shows! I've seen Lain about 7 times and now think I understand at least most. I have to start watching boogiepop again as well now. A definitely good buy, one I do not regret. If you enjoy confusing, yet somehow entertaining animes, pick it up!

Boogiepop Phantom is an anime that begins as a series of short story-style tales. Filmed with sepia filters for 11 of the 12 episodes, it creates a world that is dark and haunting throughout. What makes Boogiepop Phantom so incredible to watch, though, is the way its story is slowly unfolded across the tableau of episodes. You get the first hints of this when the second episode utilizes a scene from the first - and it only becomes more haunting when you realize what it implies.

The individual episodes are wrapped around a handful of incredible events. The way the show lets time flow around each episode is magnificent, and its impact as you slowly realize some of what is going on is always stunning. Every time you watch Boogiepop Phantom, you will understand more of its subtleties - don't get me wrong, it is *very* interesting on first viewing, but it's absolutely amazing to see an anime that you want to keep watching again and again to pick up on more small, but well-rendered, threads of its plot. The characters are all intriguing, and each episode usually provides a very penetrating analysis of at least one of the show's figures. The way it constructs its story (which has some horrifying moments that make what gore there is on-screen completely necessary - it actually strikes just the right note with each bit of weirdness) is marvelous.

It's kinda on the short side, but if you're of the right mindset to enjoy it, you will not regret picking up Boogiepop Phantom. You'll probably get a lot of great viewings out of it. It's a lot of fun to watch with others and compare theories; even more fun is showing people the series for the first time and watch them go through this fascinating mental maze. Give it a shot.

Sometimes, within reality, we draw lines in the sands of thought and imagine that they will always remain intact. We build legends in the mist and pretend that they don't exist, and that death doesn't come on swift wings for those that it wishes. Still, this reaction to the physical, this denial that something may indeed be looming and preying on the human wombs birthing thoughts without suspect, is sometimes wrong. It has only been a few nights since the bright light shined through the sky and people began acting differently, that the serial killer began stalking the depths of the city, and that "the angel of death" began taking away the children. They, special in their own rights, seem to call out to it and it comes, sending shockwaves through the minds of those that find the life they once believed in was nothing but a dream.

BoogiePop Phantom is a series that I found highly addictive, with its ups and downs tempered by the fact that it was atmospherically charged by the transitions taking place and that the characters in it were fleshed out so well. Each episode focuses on the life of one person as the events begin transpiring, and the people they run across and the things that they cause, no matter how mundane the interaction is or how horrible, can sometimes be an intricate portion of someone else's tale. Sometimes this leads to oddities with a sea of strange scenes, distorting pieces that seem confusing at first until you see them later and then understand exactly what went on in that certain someone's life. Then again, it sometimes does quite the opposite, making it all the more strange. The pulse of the show is enigmatic because of the way its told and the way the music is incorporated into it, with fragmentations of completion being fed to the watcher slowly and the mood being set like a tablepiece to accent the motions. Within it there are depths of shocking darkness, mysterious revelation, and sadness mingling beneath an electric sky, digging deeper and deeper into everything until its finally revealed exactly who the manitcore and BoogiePop are and why the world has become so perplexed. By then, however, the picture painted will have sent ripples through a microcosm of society that will be changed forever.

For anyone who enjoys a series that meticulously feeds you little pieces of a broadening horizon, letting you see things that accent the way people think and feel, then this would be a work for you. It is a darkened sky, though, complete with the fleeting images of demise and dying dreams, but that only adds to the aspects of what is taking place herein. Be warned that it does have moments in its pace that seem pointless in one episode to another and that sometimes frightens newer seekers, but this is because the series is actually one picture being painted on twelve individual canvases. Watch them all and ingest them in order, knowing that the concept will be a shadowy affair, and you'll find yourself addicted.

I have read many reviews on this series before I decided watched it. Most of the reviews rave about how "intellectual" this series is, I agree with that somewhat. However, since I am not a hardcore Anime fan I do not find myself the urge to go back and watch this series. For those of you who think like me, read on.

A good description of this series would be a cross between Pulp Fiction and X-Files. You see, this Anime is broken into 12 episodes, each is somewhat related to another like the way Pulp Fiction the movie told its story. At first you will think this is a horror anime since it is quite scary, however, by the middle of the series the scare factor gets considerably less, and the mystery/conspiracy factor start to kick in. There are many adult issues dealt in this anime, such as suicide, drugs use, sex, and outworldly conspiracies, so kids are definitely not recommended (although I am almost sure most kids will not like this series anyway).

The biggest problem I have with this Anime is that the story is not told completely. This series actually is a sequal to a japanese Movie made before the Anime. In the live action movie the background of the BoogiePop is explained a little better.
No matter how everyone tells you that "the plot is complete" by the end of the series, it is not. If you actually tried to sort out the story you will end up with more questions by the time you finish watching this Anime. This series left many, many open ends. In Japan the novels has spanned some 7 volumes, this Anime series only covers the earlier stories.

Now onto the Quality of this DVD. With the exception of the last episode, the rest of the episodes are done in an olive/brown shade, adding to the spookiness to the overall weird plot. The atmosphere of the anime creates an uneasy feeling for the viewers.
The sounds are VERY well done, adding significantly to the plot and the scare factor. The character design is ok, although this series is unlikely to impress any of your non-Anime fanatic friends. One thing which annoys me is the similarity between many of the female characters in the series; many of the female students just looked like each other! I understand that many other animes do the same, but at least in other animes the similar looking characters has different haircuts/colors, or dress differently. In this series many of the female characters look just same, which confuses the viewer even more.

Overall I would recommend this series to anyone who is a sci-fi lover with a good attention to detail. Despite some flaws and pseudo-intellectual mumbo jumbo which this series throws at you, it is nontheless one of the biggest thrillers I have watched in a while.

This is a great anime if you like a challenge. When you watch the first few episodes, you'll probably scratch your head and say "What the hell is going on?" As time goes on, however, most of your questions will be answered. To fully understand the plot line, I've found that you must watch all of the episodes a few times and make some mental notes, such as what sounds or people were in the backround of certain scenes. This may help you figure out when an event occured. The series tends to jump around between the present, 5 years ago, and one month ago. It can sometimes be hard to tell when the scene is going on. Over all this gets a VERY good review from me. It's intriguing, mysterious, and creepy up to the very last episode. If you liked Serial Experiments: Lain, you'll LOVE this. Well, that's about all for now. I hope this was helpful to you!

Obviously the first thing that comes to mind when watching this series is Serial Experiments: Lain. Once you've made one great dark eerie series about [messing] with the heads of the people watching the show, you want to do it again, right?

Boogiepop follows a different format than Lain in the way the plot unfolds. You certainly don't need to watch most of the episodes in order. Each episode of BP is sort of self-contained. Each follows one specific character, and at the end of the episode, unlike the reluctant-to-give-information style of Lain, you have a wrap-up of the story that occurred in that episode. The next episode doesn't have much to do with the one you just saw. They all tie together in the end, but not as strongly as Lain. This also makes for a bit of an anticlimactic ending at the end of the series. The final episodes end in a similar way to the other episodes; The final scenes are not intensely dramatic. SE:Lain definetly had a more interesting ending.

Despite having whole episodes devoted to each, the characters seemed a bit flat to me. They were developed, but they didn't seem to have much emotion. Although that could just be a side effect of the dark, stern nature of the show. But it makes up for it in creativity. The episode about the guy obsessed with hentai games was definetly my favorite. Then the woman with daily amnesia, that freaky girl with the butterflies, the self-fashioned superheroine Nagi, the enigmatic monsters Snake Eyes and Manticore, and the mysterious Boogiepop herself. You could say Lain's plot was "a little" like something else; BP is definetly a show all its own.

Despite a few flaws, I have to give Boogiepop 5 stars. BP is all about suspense, about giving you the hints about what's going on but not quite telling you. I love that moment when it suddenly dawns on you, "That's who that guy in episode 3 was!" There's little second guessing in this series. Something interesting is happening, but you cannot explain it. CANNOT. Until it is explained to you. And even then, you may not understand, which gives the show even more meaning when you get to sit around and talk about what it meant with the others who saw it with you.

There are so few good shows that really make you think; Boogiepop does it. Maybe not as well as Lain, IMHO, but... apples and oranges. Watch them both. Then watch your brain ooze out of your head in a pudding form.

Do you believe in urban legends? Did you ever feel like someone was following you, or something big was going on around you and you couldn't figure out what it is? If so, this is really the show for you.

This show is not for small children. It is a horror show and features some very grotesque scenes of violence. Of course, all of the violence is used appropriately. If there ever was a show that proved that all "cartoons" are not just for children, this is the one.

Boogiepop Phantom is an anime based on a series of novels in Japan. The story is told in a fractured way, each of the 12 episodes features a character and how the events that have happened have affected them. This can be good and bad. The way the story is told forces you to focus on one character at a time and keeps your attention. However soon you will start noticing characters from previous episodes interacting with the ones in later episodes, and you'll start to notice some very evident things going on. Boogiepop Phantom (the character) makes appearances in most of the episodes, but her motives are never given until the end of the series.

One of the most interesting things about this show is that most of the events happening during the series are taking place after a battle between a student and the Manticore. This battle is only shown in flashback for a few seconds twice. You never really see the whole thing, just flashes of it (and you have to pause your DVD to really see what's going on).

There have been many comparisons between this show and Serial Experiments: Lain, but they are two seperate entities. Both shows are very in-depth and require the viewer to think about things in a different perspective, but really that's all there is between them. Lain tells the story of one girl who is learning who she is (more or less), and Boogiepop Phantom is telling more of a traditional story (if you can call it that).

As for technical aspects, this DVD set is nearly flawless. Each disc has a beautiful video transfer, and there were no video problems that I could see. The audio is given as English 5.1, Japanese 5.1 and a dubbing director's commentary. The English 5.1 channel soundtrack is the best one I've ever heard. Sound effects, voices and music all make use of the 5 speakers and it's haunting how good this set sounds. For instance, each next episode preview features random lines of dialogue from the coming episode. The both 5.1 soundtracks have the a different voice coming out of each speaker, layering over one another until you don't know where to turn because there are voices all around you. The English dub of this show is very good, and I think it captures the original Japanese track very well.

All in all, this is an amazing DVD set, and an amazing series. It deserves all 5 stars that I have given it, and more.