What are you going to do, Boogiepop?
What They Say:
Episode #18: “Overdrive: The King of Distortion 5”
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Kentarou is poised to shut down the program and open the doors to the tower.
Yet he finds himself pulled into an illusion just before he can do so. The King of Distortion stops him. He’s not done with his thought experiment, Boogiepop hasn’t confronted him yet.
I’m torn between really loving the presentation of this episode and being annoyed at how the reveal about the King of Distortion came out of nowhere. Shirou has, of course, been a major player in this arc but the only hint given that he was a King of Distortion was that he seemed immune to the distortion. The creation of the King of Distortion was a fluke coincidence of Shirou entering the tower. His emotions and guilt about Naoko created the entity which seeks to resolve those unresolved feelings.
The pivitol moment in this episode is what amounts to a therapy session between Boogiepop, Shirou, and Kei. Shirou seems to almost have a death wish, and appears to be trying to goad Boogiepop into killing him. Yet Boogiepop refrains, calmly pointing out that he isn’t an enemy of mankind. Kei is basically along for the wild ride because she was in the right place and the wrong time. She is able to come to a conclusion about her own emotions, shaking Keiji’s hand at the end of the entire mess and no longer avoiding him. Shirou is a bit of a mess, and the scene is surprisingly tense. Yet he manages to pull through, and Kei is the one to finally input the code into the tower.
When the security system asks for a favorite song, she enters Boogiepop’s.
After that the last crumbs of plot are swept up. The doors open, the visitors wake up, the sun comes out. Sakiko attempts to get one finally conversation in with Boogiepop, as does Kei, but Boogiepop is done with the scene and hurries away. Touka is, after all, very late for her date. It’s fun to see Kei run into Keiji, and to watch her talk around the fact Touka is Boogiepop. She doesn’t know Keiji is well aware of the fact. Kentarou is left a bit dazed and confused about the whole thing, and Shirou is able to meet back up with him. It’s implied that those in the tower who dreamed of the King of Distortion won’t remember their encounter. Yet Makoto does.
The last scene we get is somewhat ambiguous. Touka and Keiji ride home on the train, with Touka napping on Keiji’s shoulder. He then meets Boogiepop in the desolate futurescape to have a brief conversation, which I think happens while they doze on the train. He didn’t really get to talk to Boogiepop during this adventure, so if they did get to converse briefly one more time it’s nice that they were given the chance.
Episode Grade: B
In Conclusion:
Boogiepop and Others is a hard series to pin down. It’s a perfectly updated adaptation of the source material and probably the best looking the series has ever been. The voice acting is all on point and Boogiepop is still a standout character that is fascinating to watch. Yet some of the storytelling suffers from pacing issues, and ultimately it’s a series which puts the emphasis on emotions rather than logic. The interplay of pop-psychology and teenagers might have originally been the series selling point, inspiring many other series to the point where this now feels rehashed rather than original. Some of the horror elements are still absolutely horrific, but other times they just feel unintentionally silly, especially with all the musical references. The explanations for the supernatural elements are never clear cut, and in the early episodes the nonlinear storytelling can make it impossible for the viewer to get a handle on the plot. The episodic nature of the series means this adaptation just stops, with no greater overarching plot-line beyond whatever scheme the Towa Organization was up to for that particular arc.
The Boogiepop novels were a product of their time. We don’t get many of these weird, brooding psychological anime stories anymore. For anime fans wishing to recapture an ounce of that feeling of uncertain otherworldliness and existential horror once prevalent in anime will want to check this series out.
Streamed by: Crunchyroll & Funimation
