Boogiepop and Others

February 11, 2004 | 4 Comments

Boogiepop and Others is basically the feature film that proceeds Boogiepop Phantom anime. In general, it's good to know that there are some elemental consistency between the movie and the anime. For example, remember the opening theme for the anime called "Evening Rain"? Well, that particular song is actually the ending theme of this film. The song was also heavily used for the multitude trailers that were created for this film. The same can be said for the haunting Boogiepop whistle that is normally heard when Boogiepop is nearby. In addition to these, the look and feel of Shinyo Gakuen/Academy, Geo City, and other locations seem to have been preserved quite well from the movie to the anime.

Please be aware that what I'm about to summarise is not the entire story of the film. That was my original intention but that was before I realised that I'll probably end up with a long-winded essay if I attempt to do this. So with that in mind, I will just cover the 'Pillar of Light' incident and the relevant characters and stories that are related to it. Speaking of characters, the film features a couple of anime characters as well as some new faces which weren't shown in the anime but were integral in the entire 'Pillar of Light' incident. To begin with, there's Boogiepop herself, aka Toka Miyashita. Toka/Boogiepop is an interesting and paradoxical character. On the one hand, Toka is a very cheery and happy girl while her Boogiepop personality is completely the reverse. It really feels as if Toka suffers from multiple personality disorder.

We also get to see Nagi Kirima and she is still as hard-edge as she was in the anime. Nagi, at one point in this film rejected Saotome's advances, which sets the motion for the 'Pillar of Light' incident. After Nagi there's Echoes who's on the lookout for his murderous clone, Manticore. The film also features Masami Saotome, the sadistic bastard from the anime, and his 'girlfriend', Minako Yurihawa or rather the body of Minako Yurihawa which is already taken over by Manticore. The two new characters you didn't see in the anime are Kei Niitoki, a class rep who unwittingly gets involved in the incident when Saotome asks for her help to call Nagi, and Shiro Tanaka, Shinyo Academy's ace archery student who also got trapped with Kei during the incident and has a major role in terminating the Manticore.

As far as the story goes, I'll jump straight to the point where Echoes is in despair because he can't find Manticore. Meanwhile, Nagi who's been suspecting that the killing that has been going on in her school is perpetrated by the Manticore managed to find Echoes and tells him that she knows where he can find the Manticore. At the same time, Saotome is majorly pissed off at Nagi for rejecting his romantic advances and for beating him up when she caught him distributing the SLAVE drugs (which are made from Manticore's tears) to other students. Saotome thus plans to kill Nagi but in order to do so, he needs to draw Nagi to a quiet room. He then asks the class rep, Kei Niitoki, to help him broadcasting the message that he needs to see Nagi by using the school's radio. Not long after the broadcast, Shiro Tanaka also comes to the room looking for Nagi. He�s hoping that she can tell him the whereabouts of his on/off girlfriend, Naoko Kamikishiro.

Nagi, on the other hand, thinks that Saotome is the real Manticore. Upon hearing the announcement, she races to the radio room and quickly tazers Saotome before he has the chance to do anything else. And since both Kei and Tanaka are there as well, she thinks that they are Saotome's accomplice and decides to tazer both of them as well. Nagi then drags them to the school's basement and asks Echoes to see if the Manticore could possibly be in any of the three students' bodies. Of course, Echoes can't sense the Manticore in any of these students. However, not long after this, Minako Yurihawa appears suddenly right behind them and Echoes recognise her as the Manticore. Thanks to the collaboration between Nagi and Echoes, Echoes managed to corner and choke Manticore. However, he didn't expect Saotome to stab his neck with a pen filled with Manticore's tears which end up incapacitating him.

Upon poisoning Echoes with Manticore's tears, Saotome doesn't waste time to do what he had wanted to do, which is basically slitting Nagi's throat with a knife. Nagi who is caught unaware ends up bleeding and die in the basement floor. Okay, let's not get confused and start comparing it with the anime just yet. Just believe for now that Nagi is dead. Kei and Tanaka who saw the entire incident are obviously shocked and scared. Tanaka managed to make a run out of the door but Kei unfortunately unable to do so and is cornered by Saotome and Manticore who wants some snack to revive her scarred face (due to Echoes' choke). Meanwhile, Tanaka who hears Kei screaming stops running and realised that Kei is left behind. Back to Kei, just as she's about to be devoured by the Manticore, a sharp edge lasso suddenly appears, circles Manticore's neck, and yanks the creature straight up to the schools' rooftop.

As the camera closes in to the Manticore's painful expression, we see that her attacker is actually the Boogiepop herself who's been watching the entire event unfolding from the rooftop of the school. She also presumably met Tanaka who run away and told him to come back with his arrow and bow as well as a Pen filled with Echoes' tears because after ensuring that the Manticore can't get out of the choke, she tells Tanaka to shoot the Manticore with his arrow. Upon hearing the instruction, Tanaka appears and points his arrow which is now connected to a Pen filled with Echoes' tears and aims it to the Manticore's neck. Being the ace archer that he is, Tanaka hits Manticore's neck bulls eye and the Manticore screams in agony and becomes incapacitated, causing Saotome to go insane when he realises that his 'girlfriend' is dying.

In order to prevent Saotome from harming the two other students, Boogiepop then jumps from the rooftop. Upon landing, she finds Echoes who have managed to free himself from the Manticore's tears debilitating influence. Not wanting the Manticore to be able to do the same, Echoes decides to destroy her physical body as well as his own so that the Manticore can't find any other place to inhabit. In doing so, he absorbs all of the city's electricity and turns himself into a major explosion. Saotome, who witnessed the entire incidents screams in panic and attempts to grab Echoes, presumably so he can stop Echoes from destroying his 'girlfriend', the Manticore. A bright light then envelops Saotome and blasting into the rooftop, almost blinding Kei and Tanaka in the process. The bright light grows taller and taller creating a pillar of light which can be seen throughout the city.

Upon the destruction of both the Manticore and Echoes, somehow the blood that poured out of Nagi's neck has now turned into dust. Nagi has also regained her consciousness and is very well alive. So it looks like Nagi was brought back to life thanks to the death of Manticore and Echoes. Meanwhile, Boogiepop who opens half of her hood is recognised by Kei as 'Miyashita-san'. But Boogiepop denies the name and coldly tells Kei, Tanaka, and Nagi that she is Boogiepop and leaves the three on their own. The film ends with Nagi and Kei waiting for Toka to come out of her class which allows Nagi to introduce herself properly to the alter ego of Boogiepop who may or may not aware of the presence of her other personality. As expected, just as Nagi introduce herself, Toka's cheery voice/mannerism all of a sudden changed into Boogiepop's more serious tone. The two then exchange greetings and part ways with one another.

To be honest, even after seeing the movie, I'm still not sure if Toka is aware or not of her other personality. On the one hand, she always carries that huge bag around whenever she goes so she must be aware of what's inside that bag. But sometimes she seems so spaced out when she turns into Boogiepop it looks as if she's in a trance and on top of things, the change in her mannerism is like a flick of a switch so it's almost impossible for Toka to do this consciously. One thing that is completely solved from watching the movie is the complete events that precede the 'Pillar of Light' incident. I know now for sure that Boogiepop wasn't the only one who had a hand in eliminating Manticore (unlike what is implied in the anime). She was helped by Tanaka and Echoes and to a certain extent Nagi since she was the one who lead Saotome and the Manticore to appear in the basement to begin with.

Anyway, I definitely recommend the film if you want to have a complete understanding of the Boogiepop events. The film is told in fragmented ways just like the anime but in general it's far easier to understand. Basically, you get to see it from the perspective of few peripheral characters which I didn't mention before like Toka's boyfriend, Keiji Takeda, who's confused about his girlfriend's double identity. Then there's Kazuko Suema from the anime and the aforementioned Naoko Kamikishiro and her other boyfriend, Akio Kimura. Then the film ends it with the Pillar of Light incident. The film's effects can be a bit cheesy at times and the young actors are definitely not as good as Battle Royale actors with the exception of the girl who plays Toka. But in general, the acting is not too bad. If you're interested, here are some of Boogiepop and Others cast members:

Sayaka Yoshino .... Toka Miyashita/Boogiepop
Maya Kurosu .... Nagi Kirima
Yasubumi Terawaki .... Echoes
Hassei Takano .... Masami Saotome
Ayana Sakai .... Minako Yurihara/Manticore
Yosii Hirohashi .... Kei Niitoki
Hideyuki Kasahara .... Shiro Tanaka

© memento 2003