Despite episode 4 being the first of a new arc, Boogiepop doesn't break its chain of tying episodes together and begins almost exactly where we left off on the ending of episode 3. This was a minute detail I noticed and greatly appreciated. The rest of the episode requires a little bit more to be unpacked. Boogiepop episode 4 immediately introduces us to the Imaginator, a person whose role and abilities I still do not completely understand even after watching the whole episode. This is fine with me for the moment, as long as the next two episodes better explain what exactly is going on. That was the overall emotion I felt towards this episode in general, actually. This episode certainly sets up a new villian and the powers that Boogiepop will be going up against, but I'm not entirely sure how any of this works yet. Since we have a template in the form of the first three episodes of the series, I sort of expect this story to be clarified quickly and then thrown away, leaving only its commentary on humanity behind and scars on the hearts (and possibly bodies) of the ones it touched as the first loop did. I am almost wondering if that may be a trap I'm falling into. This arc could possibly be a longer one, due to what themes it seems to be preparing to broach, which would be another paradigm shift for me in watching this series. I started off thinking it was episodic. After episode 3, I assumed it was going to be told in a series of loops. If the rest of the show focuses on dealing with Imaginators, I will have been bamboozled thrice. Boogiepop does keep me guessing. Constantly. I cannot completely decide if this guessing has been purposely crafted to fit into the supernatural, mysterious tone of the show or if it's something more lazy. The character designs and occasional moments of wonkiness in this show still show up more than I expected based off of the gorgeous offerings we relieved in its trailer, so I can't tell if the impressed feeling I have from the first arc is going to continue into the second. The fourth episode did not do anything bad in specific to make me say this, I just wonder how many complicated power structures the show is going to be able to build up and bust back down in 12 episodes. It is something I am looking forward to seeing in the show itself and by participating in the community surrounding it. Boogiepop is one of those perfect anime to build a theorizing-community around, and for anybody who has never gotten to experience the fun of watching a show and discussing its possibilities with a vast group of people before, you should jump on it now before things get too far along. The main focus of this episode kicks the student mold to the side and instead elects to set itself upon the shoulders of a Jin Asukai, a guidance councilor/sensei who can look into people's hearts, see a plant, and identify what part of that plant that is missing. After a starting portion of the episode that looked like it was about to barrel down a full sexual harassment plotline, we are kind of given an explanation of this ability and how he is able to use it to help people. Kind of. We definitely need to see more of this power and how it works, and not just because of him. There's another figure who proclaims herself to be a similar soul, with similar abilities, and so far hers do not seem to make as much sense acting as a collective unit. The show does give us hints as to what type of thing she is, however. Imaginator comes in with some sort of parallel-universe-infinite-timelines sort of power that almost seems to be a meta commentary on the storytelling structure of the series itself. Remember my I thought for episode 3, and the screenshot I included at the end which I thought was talking about the story structure? That was a quote from her. Imaginator can change the trajectory of the world in some manner that we don't understand yet. She can appear in several people's dreams and possess and fully control people in a similar manner to Boogiepop, which may be because they are similar types of entities. Boogiepop says Imaginator hasn't "fully split", but Boogiepop has. Imaginator also is similar to Jin Asukai because she can see some sort of death energy before a person dies. She is immediately built up to be a serious problem for the world, but we don't completely understand why yet. By the end of the episode, Jin has some sort of Light Yagami-esque breakdown and is doing something to people that he proclaims harmless but the show sure doesn't want us to think it is by the framing. Regardless of that situation, and how you felt about this episode, I think we can all agree that the phrase "Sometimes it snows in April" was said too damn much. That's by far my biggest complaint. Parallels should be done more subtly. Boogiepop acts a bit more like the Boogiepop the show's description portrays, and I think this brings an interesting layer into things. We also learn that when imaginator jumped off the roof in the beginning of the episode as Suiko Minahoshi, she seems to have actually died. And Boogiepop claims she/they are the one who made sure she killed herself. Though she isn't actually dead...we think?
The vibe of Boogiepop is still refreshing to me, and I love the dark supernatural urban fantasy elements. The large cast also harkens back to days of Durarara, though I suppose it may in fact have been Durarara inspired by this series. Again, the second episode is desperately needed. I'm ready to see where the show goes from here.
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AuthorI've been watching anime since I was 9 and I write about my thoughts sometimes. Archives
June 2019
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