4 out of 5

Directed by: Shingo Natsume

Batshit insane, but that’s an important part of the experience.

As I’ve learned, and as I’ve elsewhere suggested, the billions of sub-classifications of manga / anime lends itself – if you’re bouncing around between genres – to needing to have a ‘go with it’ sensibility when trying something new.  So I’ll try to ignore various insanities to see if a show’s or book’s plot or characters resolve into something grabbing, and in the better instances, all of the wild stuff is just sort of flavor to a good story.  In the worst instances, though, something will just pile on the sound and fury and rely on a cool animation / storytelling style, or fan-service, or action, or a name producer / writer / artist to hook people.

Boogiepop and Others, an anime series that’s part of a massive crop of light novels, manga, a movie, and a previous anime, was my first experience with the concept, and boy-oh does it just drop you in the deep end.  I was worried ‘go with it’ wasn’t going to get me through, initially, and questioned whether this was an instance of kitchen sink storytelling, and yet… I kept watching.  There was something beyond the slew of characters I couldn’t keep straight and the mixed up machinations of entity ‘Boogiepop’ and manipulating corporation Towa; though what that something was, as episodes ticked on, I couldn’t exactly say.  …Which… which might be part of the show’s point, which was when my befuddled curiosity edged into definite interest, and then respect for the series’ heady themes and storytelling style.  I still can’t keep the characters straight, and my take on the show might be wrong, but I’d say the way it’s structured is even allowing for that.

Boogiepop, and kind of noir policeman, would seem to be an elseworld entity that steps into our universe – overtaking someone’s body – when some grevious wrong needs to be put right.  She, or it, is an agent effecting (or possibly preventing) a change.  Towa, a faceless organization, keeps sending synthetic beings out to test ‘evolving’ the human race – eradicating fears, nurturing certain desires, granting superhuman abilities – to an unknown end, embracing or coming into conflict with other other-worldly beings who are also taking over bodies and making Boogiepop-inciting things happen.  Any given set of episodes will propose one of these altered beings, generally starting with an innocent point of view that becomes an obsession, then leads to Boogiepop rather emotionlessly coming forth to rip them apart.  Which I guess sounds “simple,” but the show tosses out a weird spiderweb of linked thoughts and musings on the nature of motivations, and emotions; on what determines “good” and “bad.”  Boogiepop is rather mute toward her role, to the extent that she never comes across as a hero so much as something that the universe uses to maintain some type of balance.  The Towa crew is stereotypically evil, but everything is cast through the eyes of that particular arc’s point-of-view, which lends the bad guys a ‘heightened’ presentation; it’s perpetually unclear if what we’re seeing is reality, or just one take on reality, something that’s supported by the way stories eventually connect in a non-linear fashion, and things that seemed cryptic and creepy reveal their motivations down the road.

Yes, it rewards rewatchings.

The animation (Madhouse) and acting are superb; while there are definitely some action moments, much of this is told through quiet conversation, and the subtle behavioral quirks of all the characters instantly bring them to life, supported by lively voice actors.

A lot of times, shows that are too indebted to their source material chase me off.  I do think it’s partially the job of an adaptation to allow newbies a way in.  Boogiepop and Others does not do that, tossing out references to its lore immediately, but by having a gripping central theme that it explores, it leans into the perplexity of its lore to lead to some meaty writing and a weirdass, gripping series.