What’s the show? Boogiepop and Others, Episode 4.
So how’s this episode? So last week I made a bit of a proverbial song and dance about how “confusing” this show is–which is a very surface level reading of the series, heck it’s not even a reading it’s just an observation. And as pointed out by some commenters that episode wasn’t in fact as confusing as I made out–which given a moment of reflection was entirely true. That’s not to say that things were straightforward by any means but I was simplistic in my review for the sake of not having to over-explain things and for that laziness I apologise.
Wow, an apology right of the bat, what a tone to set for this review. So how’s this episode? We’re given some answers but too we’re given more questions–we’re introduced to some new characters and re-introduced to some old–and there’s also a lot of repeated phrases especially to do with the one “Love is like snow that falls in April, unexpected but not unforeseen.” It’s a gorgeous quote and speaks a lot to the overall sentimentality of this episode. This episode also fits into the formula I spoke about last week and it being similar to ‘Twin Peaks’ and other David Lynch projects (don’t worry this is the last time I’ll bring it up) with soft speaking mysterious figures visiting otherwise normal people and giving them powerful information not to mention the sudden bursts of bloody violence.
Okay back up a bit. What’s this about new and old characters? Well we’ve got Suiko Minahoshi, the girl people thought committed suicide but it turns out she’s something called an ‘Imaginator’ she has an ability that allows her to see into the future due to something about the brain processing things faster than reality. She appears to the high school guidance counsellor Jin Asukai, who’s an otherwise normal guy aside from the ability to see what’s “missing” inside people which he visualises as a rose. She shows him a vision of the future where he’s violently using his power but he rejects this reality and goes about his business. Later he comes across Imazaki Shizuko, another of the girls who disappeared and she holds a knife to his throat demanding money for her drug habit. Suddenly possessed by Suiko the ‘Imaginator’ the drugged up girl slits her own throat instead. After being released by the police after questioning he sees some bad guys trying to get at a girl and so decides to test his newly developed abilities on them.
Right. So by the sounds of it this is a new arc with a lot of differences? On paper it may seem like that but this very much still feels like the same Boogiepop we’ve got to know over the last 3 episodes–everything feels connected even as disjointed it may seem on the surface and I appreciate the show for having this overall feeling. Maybe I made a more concerted effort to pay attention, maybe I’m just understanding the rhythm of this show or maybe this was a genuinely more easy to follow episode but I wasn’t left a sense of confusion about this episode. Certainly we have unanswered questions but that’s what the rest of the series is for–to answer them. More than any of the previous episodes this episode felt like it had a promise of something genuinely interesting to come and that’s exciting!
Previous ‘Boogiepop and Others’ Reviews:
The Evil In Plain Sight – Episode 1 & 2 Review
Puzzling It Out – Episode 3 Review
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Anime QandA 
I think I like the idea of this show more than the show. Admittedly though, episode 4 was a lot more engaging to watch than any of the previous 3 so maybe this anime is finding its feet.
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I’d say “finding its feet” feels like an accurate way to describe this show at the moment. I’ll always be forgiving of a show like this being oblique and weirdly executed because this is close to the kind of fiction I (used to) write.
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This episode definitely didn’t jump around the timeline the way the previous 3 episodes did, so I think it was a lot more straightforward with its presentation. I was kind of wondering if they would have Asukai explain what the different parts of the rose meant, but they might still do that. I also wonder if they’ll give more of a motivation for Asukai becoming someone who is now damaging other people. It seemed kind of weird that he just went along with that.
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I mean the fact that he’s only “damaging” bad people might be his way of justifying his future actions?
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