Boogiepop Series

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: ブギーポップシリーズ

Information

Type: Light Novel

Volumes: Unknown

Chapters: Unknown

Status: Publishing

Published: Feb 10, 1998 to ?

Genres: Horror, Mystery

Theme: Psychological

Serialization: None

Authors: Kadono, Kouhei (Story), Ogata, Kouji (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.32¹ (scored by 1,466 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #299²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1801

Members: 11,036

Favorites: 354

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8.32

Ranked #299Popularity #1801Members 11,036

Light NovelKadono, Kouhei (Story), Ogata, Kouji (Art)

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Synopsis

There is an urban legend that children tell one another about a shinigami that can release people from the pain they may be suffering. This "Angel of Death" has a name—Boogiepop. And the legends are true. Boogiepop is real.

(Source: Seven Seas Entertainment)

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Background

Seven Seas Entertainment published the first three and the sixth volume of the series in English from January 14, 2006 to August 5, 2008, before dropping the series due to low sales. The publisher later re-released these volumes digitally with new copy-editing. The publisher has licensed the fourth and fifth volume, and plans to release the first six volumes in two omnibus volumes.

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Related Manga

Alternative version:	Boogiepop wa Warawanai, Boogiepop wa Warawanai: VS Imaginator, Yoake no Boogiepop
Spin-off:	Boogiepop Dual: Makeinu-tachi no Circus, Beat no Discipline
Adaptation:	Boogiepop wa Warawanai, Boogiepop and Others: Promotional Trailer, Boogiepop Dengeki Bunko CMs, Boogiepop wa Warawanai (2019)

More characters
Characters

Boogiepop

Main

Kirima, Nagi

Main

Miyashita, Touka

Main

Suema, Kazuko

Main

Saotome, Masami

Main

Niitoki, Kei

Supporting

Orihata, Aya

Supporting

Kuroda, Shinpei

Supporting

Asukai, Jin

Supporting

Minahoshi, Suiko

Supporting

Reviews

Dec 13, 2023

lastnameEver

Recommended

Preliminary (1/? eps)

Basically, imagine the one scene in the Tatami Galaxy where they overlay a bunch of still images of the douchebag character from different angles, as a visual representation for the narrator’s explanation of how his perception of the douchebag as a person changed the more he learnt about him. Now apply the same logic to the narrative structure in Boogiepop. At the start we’re introduced to a highschool student and his meeting with Boogiepop. Boogiepop explains himself as something automatic, a being that rises to the surface like a bubble and then vanishes. Some vague threat is established, and Boogiepop is there at the school ... to fight it, but the narrator isn’t involved in the action at all, and it ends suddenly without him ever knowing what it was all about. Basically we know how the story ends at the start – Boogiepop wins – but the reader’s understanding of the story and perception of past events change as they read through. The story in Boogiepop is told from different perspectives, each perspective has its own individual narrative, and through these different perspective the reader learns more about the overarching narrative, which involves a monster known as the Manticore threatening a bunch of high-school students.

The trouble with commenting on these individual narratives is that I’m inevitably going to be drawn into a bunch of irrelevant comparisons between each narrative which avoids the main question “is the book good?” and I would say yes unless someone laughed at me for saying yes, if someone laughed at me, I would deny ever having read the books and hide underground for the rest of my life. Generally, the narratives are good, they have enough variety. The personalities of the narrators are conveyed easily by having them written in a certain style, examples being Keiji’s narration written formal and proper, the playboy’s narration written loose and colloquial. The main triumphs of Boogiepop are its characters who are all enjoyable and friendly and entertaining, and the concept of who Boogiepop is.

I think this sort of fantasy story works because Boogiepop itself links back in some way to reality. The idea of Boogiepop is pretty similar to the human body’s autoimmune system and how it fights off diseases. Your mind can easily accept Boogiepop’s existence since it already has a prior reference point to work off of, similar to how the aliens in Ridly Scott’s franchise look like and are based on underwater sea creatures, and so are more easily believed and scarier as a result.

The individual narratives in Others are good but the plot itself isn’t great. The Manticore feels like a derivative idea. The fight between the Manticore and Boogiepop’s allies is exciting enough, and I like the bit of foreshadowing with the boy who’s good at archery, but its not as engaging as the parts where the characters were just talking to each other and living their lives. Because Manticore is an existence that feels disconnected from reality, it feels like its of arbitrary/forced importance, and all the characters involved directly with the Manticore suffer from that same unreal disconnect.

This criticism applies to basically all of the novels in the Boogiepop series. Characters are likeable, but the supernatural elements are literally unbelievable and so prone to inducing indifference. Instead of just repeating myself over and over for the other books, I’ll note the interesting parts.

At the start of VS Imaginator the concept of a man who can see into the hearts of people and see their flaws is really cool for the same reasons that Boogiepop is cool. The hearts/souls of people being represented by flowers, and how what is missing is described by their flowers missing petals, or leaves, or stems, is a really vivid image, it sticks with you.

The Peppermint Wizard suffers in readability due to the fan translator trying too hard, despite that, it’s my favourite story besides the first one. The wizard’s a really good character and the message is pretty strong too.

Anime adaptation’s pretty whatever.

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Feb 11, 2023

StandOnBabylon

Recommended

Preliminary (5/? eps)

"...The actual events probably form a very simple story. From a distance, they appear to be quite confusing; to have no clear threads connecting them whatsoever, but the reality is that this is undoubtedly a much more straightforward, commonplace tale." - Boogiepop and Others
Thus opens the first volume of Boogiepop, and this statement perfectly describes the main theme of Boogiepop - the importance and relevance of all perspectives both in stories and, ultimately, the world at large.

Without getting into details, the first volume conveys this idea by presenting different parts of the same story from five different perspectives, which all come together to form ... a simple, yet thematically deep story, but apart seem confusing and disparate. While the story itself isn't all that revolutionary, using the way it is told to add thematic depth without over complicating the story is what truly sets Boogiepop apart. With each perspective we experience, more of the larger story is revealed to us and more of the hanging threads left by the other perspectives begin to come together. Additionally, with each perspective revealed to us, new themes are introduced and old ones reinforced.

Talking about themes, Boogiepop has a lot of them, from the impact even seemingly ordinary people can have on the world, to the effects that the pressure society puts on the youth can have, to the effects of an uncaring, cold system only concerned with itself, and to both sides of humanity, the irredeemably evil to the all-redeeming good. However, one common point which ties together many of the themes is the effect of the lost decade on society and those within it - when Boogiepop was originally written, Japan was it the midst of a decade of recession followed by stagnation. The youth were promised a future and that future never seemed to come, and that had a profound effect on Japanese society which can still be felt today. However, Boogiepop also balances those themes out with many more hopeful themes which focus primarily on the actions of ordinary people, and the good those actions can do, the impact those actions can have.

Ultimately, Boogiepop's story and world are thematically deep without being all that complex or convoluted, and although the structure is a bit more complex, it is effectively used to further increase the thematic depth of the story.

On the other hand, Boogiepop's characters all have a certain level of complexity to them. They are effectively used to move the story forwards, to display varying perspectives, and to explore Boogiepop's many themes. Although they are not always handled perfectly, not only do they serve their purpose, but they vividly display how both the world around them affects them, and how, on occasion, they affect the world. Additionally, unlike many stories, they feel very human - flawed, but not made of flaws - and they don't feel like tropes or a collection of tropes.

Finally, the art is... Fine. There's not much to say about it, but the character designs range from solid(most characters) to great(Boogiepop). But unlike most modern LNs, there isn't all that many illustrations, mainly just text.

Overall, I highly recommend reading Boogiepop to anyone who is interested in LNs or looking for a unique story. Boogiepop has never really gotten a proper adaptation (While Phantom captures much of the style and impact of the LNs, it is an anime original story, not an adaptation), and it is both interesting and entertaining to read, with the ending and the complete story also leaving a substantial impact on me personally.

Scores:
Character: 14/15
Story: 10/10
World: 10/10
Structure/Writing: 10/10
Art: 4/5
Overall: 48/50 (9.6)
Recommendation: Highly Recommend

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Nov 17, 2019

kudoshi

Recommended

Preliminary (5/? eps)

“There is an urban legend that children tell one another about a shinigami that can release people from the pain they may be suffering. This "Angel of Death" has a name--Boogiepop. And the legends are true. Boogiepop is real.”
Boogiepop is a light novel series written by Kouhei Kadona and drawn by Ogata Kouji. The premise revolves around the character Boogiepop. A Shinigami that takes over the body of Miyashita Touka and tends to deal with certain characters and creatures that post danger to the world. Most of the review will focus on the first story ‘Boogiepop and Others’ as that is probably the most well ... known stories, and one of the very few novels in the series that have been translated to English.

The story of the first novel ‘Boogiepop and Others’ goes under the idea of a man eating shapeshifter known as the ‘Manticore’ infiltrating a school, and Boogiepop has appeared to track them down. From there we are introduced to the cast throughout the novel till eventually there stories intersect and the picture is put together, which is not as obvious as one would thing, this is because of the writing the Boogiepop novels entail.

The Boogiepop novels have a distinct type of writing, in the sense that the story is not told through a linear fashion. Each chapter splits off from different segments of the story that slowly piece together a narrative. This allows for a layer of mystery, though it can lead to some confusion, most of the question you will have can be answered via the end of the novel. The greatest part about each chapter though is that if focuses on a specific character each time. This gives the author the time and ability to flesh out their characters as we read the novel from their perspective. Were able to learn how a lot of these characters think and act, allowing the reader to see the bigger picture through all the puzzle pieces the chapters provide. This also helps add the idea that the character Boogiepop embodies. We never get a chapter focusing of them, aside from the interactions they have with the characters. This is most evident in the conversations Boogiepop has with Keiji Takeda on the rooftop, this happened in the sooner chapters of the novel. In this segment Takeda would go up to the rooftop and just converse with Boogiepop. From there we are able to learn about Boogiepop as a character, how the character works and operates and even some of their thoughts that they embody when they appear.

The story itself not focusing on the characters is also quite interesting thanks to the non linear fashion. It is able to create a mystery that isn’t clear cut as most stories, instead of just asking what’s going to happen next, sometimes we have to wonder how. For instance during the novel we get a conclusion to event we hadn’t even realised had happened till someone mentioned it. This gives off a different vibe of asking what actually happened to get this result rather than what will happen after said post event.

Now for the my subjective view on the series. Personally I really enjoy these novels as a whole. They have a lot of mystery within them and I personally enjoy that a lot. The supernatural aspects of the novels are also quite intriguing and each novel seems to develop Boogiepop as a character more and more. This is quite evident in the novel “Boogiepop at Dawn” which focuses on the origin story of this Boogiepop, adding to the non linear fashion of the novels even on book counts. The Art that is featured in some of the novels isn’t the most amazing work but fits the aesthetic for the series making it quite fitting and pleasant to look at while shifting through the pages of the novel.

At least to me, while it is listed as mystery, horror and psychological. It has some creepy concepts, they aren’t executed in a horror type manner. So while it does deliver in a mystery and psychological standard, its doesn’t so much in the horror section.

Overall this is great light novel series that embodies a lot of mystery and psychological elements. While it has some horror themes it isn’t particularly scary, but if your looking for an enjoyable mystery with a side of supernatural occurrences and some psychological roots I’d definitely recommend checking this out.

PS - I came to these novels after watching some of the anime and I must say, they cut out a lot in the anime, so word of advice, if u want the best experience read the novels. The anime isn’t bad but comparing to the novel its kind of trash, doesn’t flesh out the characters at all in the anime, especially when mentioning Boogeipop. I feel like Boogiepops character isn’t even remotely as well written in the anime as it is in the novels.

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NEW ANIME Draconix814 - Mar 10, 2018	3 replies	by Boogiepop1989 »» Jan 17, 2:38 PM
Is there a translation for the rest of the series? WitchJacqueline - Dec 7, 2015	19 replies	by Ionliosite2 »» Jul 19, 2023 9:01 PM
How are chapters being counted? rinne-8 - May 15, 2020	1 replies	by removed-user »» Sep 7, 2021 4:05 PM
Seven Seas to republish Boogiepop in Omnibus form!!!! Draconix814 - Mar 16, 2018	8 replies	by KingKronosDC84 »» May 1, 2019 3:00 PM

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