Saturday, June 14, 2003

Site Maintenance

Working on the web site again... updated the archive page and started work on a Boogiepop Phantom set of pages.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 7:54 PM

Monday, June 09, 2003

Boogiepop Phantom 5

Interlude (Spoilers ahead).

The mysterious Towa Organization? There are rumors going around about such an organization on the net. We see two officers speaking about an organization that is just watching the world, observing, to prevent change in the world, and the older officer we learn is named Morita.

Scene 001 - Miyashita House - Our first introduction to Miyashita Toka, who attends Shinyo Academy (along with Nagi). As she picks up her school bag to head to school, we see the larger dark blue bag with teal straps that she was carrying in episode 1. A side-scene indicates that the construction crews in the city are having problems with fresh concrete cracking and new steel beams rusting.

Scene 002 - Kisaragi House - Hmmm, lots of police cars outside, and the house is overgrown with vines. Inside, they find and old woman (Kisaragi Miyo, age 71) who has been laid out in the traditional manner (leaves over the eyes, flower in the mouth). She's lived alone for the past 5 years, but has a 35 year old daughter who's in the hospital with amnesia. Yet the detectives find little girl clothes and a note that says there is a granddaughter named Manaka. The daughter was pregnant at one point, but lost the baby due to a fever (she also suffered brain damage from the illness).

Scene 003 - Shinyo Academy - Speculation about the dissapearances again, but mostly we learn that Nagi is now out poking around the construction zones. Meanwhile, the officer Morita is explaining to his parnter that this organization has found that every 1 in a million kids is "special" and that the organization is using other people with powers to kill off these kids. (One begins to wonder just how much Morita's information is rumor vs. first-hand knowledge.)

Scene 004 - Old City Redevelopment Area - Back to Nagi, who is indeed poking around the construction zones with a compass (that is going nutzo) where her classmate (Suema) catches up with her (the one who was pressing her for answers a few episodes ago. Suema was the target of a serial killer 5 years ago, but was suddenly saved. Shortly after the incident, Nagi went into the hospital for a year (not many know about it, somehow Suema has uncovered that).

Morita now spins the tale that a member of the organization betrayed them and stole a drug a few months prior to the serial killings 5 years ago. Supposedly, the drug ended up at the Prefectural Hospital and might have produced the serial killer.

Scene 005 - Prefectural Hospital - Suema goes to the Prefectural Hospital, possibly looking for information on Miyashita Toka (whom Naji apparently has an interest in). In the garden, Suema meets the young girl with the white light butterflies. The young girl releases the butterflies towards Suema, who suddenly sees a vision from the past where Kuroda Shinpei and Kirima Nagi are speaking in the hospital waiting area (see Scene 004 of episode 2). As Suema looks on, suddenly a body drops behind her and crunches on the floor as a pool of blood spreads. A second flashback shows Suema the scene where a female doctor gives Kisaragi Miyo's daughter a drug while she's pregnant - to help her have a strong baby. Then flash bulbs start going off and pictures of Suema start to flutter around her. She comes back to reality as the little girl with the white butterflies pulls the butterflies back inside her and walks away. Suema then runs into Toka and we learn that Toka also spent time at the Prefectural Hospital a few years ago. As Suema and Toka part ways, Toka suddenly takes on the voice and manner of Boogiepop and admonishes Suema that there is a difference between missing the old days and being stuck in the past.

New character introduction, a young lad in a red hat (reminds me of Robin Hood) meets up with the young girls whose butterflies dredge up the past and asks to be friends with her. They then fade to white and we hear a woman in the background frantically wondering where the young girl has gone.

Monita is still explaining things to his partner. About an incident from a month ago that the organization can't figure out. Once of the composite humans killed and ate everyone at the laboratory and then suddenly dissapeared. Since then, the number of humans evolving has increased rapidly, so the organization has sent out another composite human called Snake Eye to hunt down these newly evolving humans (this is Morita).

- Rest of the series I need to watch at least once more before I take a crack at figuring it out (e.g. the playground equipment is not spattered with blood, but just rusty due to the electromagnetic field aberation)

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 1:44 AM

Boogiepop Phantom 4

Still with me?... this episode is called My Fair Lady (so be warned, spoilers ahead). One of the more disturbing episodes of the series so far as it focuses on a boy who attempts to force his fantasies on a girl. Timeline for this episode is pretty much one month prior to the rest of the timeline (it starts a bit before the mass dissapearance and the column of light at Shinyo Academy).

Scene 001 - Hijiridani High School - Some classmates are talking about a drug / essence called "Sin-amon" which is supposed to relax you and get your nerves up. One girl thinks she's managed to score a tiny bit of Sin-amon, but Uehara Sunami (Senior, Class 2) takes a whiff of the bottle and pronounces that it's not Sin-amon. Instead, it's a little bit of Type-S, which is supposed to be really hard to get a hold of. Meanwhile, a boy overhears them (Suganuma Yoji, Senior Class 2) while he's putting his books in his bag to head home. Yoji works part time at a resturant near the station and he's a very quiet and introspective boy.

Scene 002 - Suganuma House - Here we find out just what Yoji is looking forward to when he's constantly telling himself that he has a date. He's adicted to a computer date game.

The next day, he interviews a girl (Sato Rie), who claims to go to Shinyo High School (except the real school name is Shinyo Academy). Since she's apparently still in Junior High, technically she can't work at the resturant, but he decides to get her the job and "take care of her". On the way home, he meets up with the classmate who knows her drugs who gets him to try Type-S so that he'll be more outgoing.

Most of the next scenes deal with him partaking of the Type-S, making the girl in the computer game look more like Rie, and trying to get Rie to dress/act more like the girl in the computer game. He uses the fact that he knows that she's still in Junior High against her, threatening to tell the owner of the resturant.

One of the side scenes lets us know that Nagi has been suspended from school (again?) and she's been hanging around the resturant / station area. Her classmates wonder what she's up to.

As Yoji goes to get a re-supply of the Type-S drug from the gal who's been selling it, we see her get murdered by the man-eater and a girl who looks like Nagi feeds on her corpse. We learn that the man-eaters are trying to raise an army of slaves, and Type-S is one of their experiments at obtaining slaves.

Yoji finally goes too far at work and gets fired.for harrasing Rie. Then, during the incident from a month ago with the column of light his computer gets fried (so this sets the time scale for this whole episode as a month prior - in fact, the girl that Hisashi saw get murdered in a vision was the drug dealer - I think! - because that takes place back around that time). Naturally, this drives Yoji over the edge.

Scene 003 - One month later - Back to the current timeline then, apparently Yoji hasn't been doing too well since then because he's out wandering the streets as Misuzu and Panaru (vision) walk by. We see him being restrained by a few officers, who are apparently arresting him for disturbing the peace.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 1:05 AM

Sunday, June 08, 2003

Boogiepop Phantom 3

Boogiepop Phantom 3

Life can be so nice (spoilers ahead)

Scene 001 - Shinyo Academy - Apparently a serial killer stalks the city (Hisashi's mother was murdered by the killer) and a junior high school girl has also been found dead. Nagi is being pressed for answers by a classmate (who has read a book by Nagi's father) about whether or not she was involved in the events of 5 years ago, or even the dissapearances of a month ago.

Scene 002 - Hijiridani High School - Classmates are discussion the dissapearences, Death and Boogiepop. We meet Panaru, who doesn't know if Boogiepop exists or not. Panaru's real name is Arifuji Misuzu and she's a Senior at Hijiridani High School (Class 5). Yoko (the girl that Jounichi Hisashi caught cheating) walks home with Panaru and wonders where Hsashi has gotten to. After Yoko wanders off, Misuzu sees (a vision of the real?) Panaru. Panaru is someone that loves and accepts the entire world as is. Misuzu and Panaru wander off through the town...

Side scene, we see a disturbed lad being restrained by the police. As Misuzu and Panaru wander by, he calls out the name "Rie" and reaches towards them. (We'll see him again in a future episode.)

As Misuzu sees the guy that she has a crush on with another girl, Panaru fades away (she was just a vision) and Misuzu claims that she's never gotten angry or upset because she accepts the world as it is. Anything can happen in this world, and everything does happen in this world. Suddenly, a voice calls out "Liar!" and Misuzu turns around to see a vision of Panaru with blood covering her face.

Misuzu goes to a record store and buys (2) CDs and has the clerk gift-wrap one. As she's riding on the train, we see the white light appear up on a power transmission tower and it then darts down and begins to chase the electric train. When it catches up, the train suddenly comes to a stop, but Misuzu doesn't seem to notice (she's listening to her music player). As the conductor looks around outside for the cause of the problem he sees blood up where the power lines connect with the train. A voice speaks to only Misuzu and asks, "who summoned me?", it then takes up residence in Misuzu's CD player and begins to speak to Misuzu through her ear phones. It wonders why Misuzu was able to summon it, then it sees something in her mind/memories and understands.

Scene 003 - Kitaguchi Park Same timeline, Misuzu has gotten to the park we learn that the 2nd CD that she purchased is a gift for the deceased Panaru. Misuzu lays the CD at the base of a tree and the man-eater (in the form of Saotome) shows up to talk about Panaru's world love and asks if Misuzu wants to spread Panaru's love to the entire world.

Next up, Yoko is complaining to Misuzu that ever since Hasishi dissapeared, the pain in her heart has beeng getting worse. So, Misuzu summons forth the man-eater (again, in the shae of Saotome) to help Yoko to be more accepting of everything. However, Yoko dies as a result of the feeding before she could experience the happiness, or so Misuzu believes.

Nagi finds Misuzu at the Kitaguchi Park playground (Nagi calls it creepy, Misuzu calls it special). Misuzu leaves, and Nagi notices that her compass is going nutzo, plus she starts to see blood spattered on the playground equipment. The man-eater sees Nagi as a threat, and convices Misuzu to lure Nagi to a place of his choosing so they can "teach her world love".

As they wait for Nagi to show, Misuzu finally starts to realize that maybe things are not what they seem to be. Boogiepop appears and things come to a head as Misuzu argues that her and Saotome are not the enemies of the world and that she rightfully took over Panaru's world love. A vision of Panaru again appears and calls her a liar.

Scene 004 - Junior High School Flashback. We see Panaru exhorting Misuzu not to cry over things like that as Panaru introduces Misuzu to the words of Panaru. But, the very next day, when Misuzu goes to meet up with Panaru at Kitaguchi Park, she finds that Panaru has been slain by the serial killer.

Back to the present, Boogiepop continues to admonish Misuzu, explaining that Misuzu's version of world love is not Panaru's, but merely an attempt to hide from the world. Misuzu begs Boogiepop to take her to the other side like HIsashi, but Boogiepop refuses saying that Misuzu is not worth taking and then vanishes. Misuzu now stumbles through the street, looking for someone to take her from the world.

And, who does she stumble across but a nice officer - who turns out to be not so nice (same officer that was watching Hasishi). Nagi seems to show up about 30 seconds too late (the officer has bundled Misuzu's body into the back of his patrol car and is driving off) and smashes the CD player that Misuzu dropped, releasing the man-eater back into the electrical network.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 11:46 PM

Boogiepop Phantom 2

Light in Darkness (spoilers ahead)

Scene 001 - Old City Redevelopment Area - Episode opens with a young man running from Boogiepop (with that smile, I'd say she enjoys the hunt). The young lad's name is Jonouchi Hisashi who attends Hijiridani HIgh School (same as Moto and Yasuko), except he's a Senior (Class 1) and he's wondering why this is happening to him.

Scene 002 - Elementary School - Flashback to elementary school where we see Hisashi beating up on a 6th grader (says he has always wanted to be a hero).

Flashback to the present, where Hirsashi finds a white icky-looking bug - which, shockingly enough, he consumes with passion.

Scene 003 - Prefectural Hospital - As his parents are congratulating Hiisashi on being able to go to a new school (I'm guessing when he's about to enter Junior High), he has some sort of strange attack (grasps his right forearm in pain) and his parents rush him to the prefectural hospital (prefecture is an area of government, so you could easily just say the local hospital). We find out that he has a malignant bone tumor and will need years of therapy.

Scene 004 - Junior High School Spring - Hisashi is still going to the local hospital for treatment every day. While waiting for his appointment, we see Kuroda Shinpei and Kirima Nagi in the waiting area as well. While Nagi addresses Shinpei as Detective, Shinpei addresses Nagi as "Detective" (e.g. she's either not a full-fledged detective, or a detective wanna-be). We see that Nagi is a patient here at the hospital.

Scene 005 - Junior High School Fall - Hisashi is doing much better, but regrets that he'll not be able to become a professional athlete. His doctor admonishes him that there are other goals in life other then physical prowess and then says that he's so weak while his mother is so strong. She then says that's okay, because cowards live longer and that it's when people are full of fear that Death comes. In fact, Death prefers when strong people become afraid because it makes their souls taste better, while a coward's soul always tastes awful. The doctor then offers Hisashi a special medicine if he wants it.

Flash back to the present and we learn that while the medicine put him in bed for a week, it really didn't have any effect. (We also find out that that was 5 years prior to the current timeline.) But a month ago, Hisashi suddenly gained the ability to see psychic bugs that have attached themselves to people. (He sees a spider on his father, who is grieving for his wife as well as other bugs on a few people along a street as he walks.)

Scene 006 - Hijiridani High School - Hisashi confronts a girl who cheated on a test (he guesses because he could see a bug attached to her). He pulls the bug off of her, and she feels better, although she doesn't understand what he did. After she walks away, he then eats the bug and finds it to be sweet. We then see him consuming other bugs from other people in a series of vingettes until we get to the scene in the nurse's office where he meets up with Moto. (The scene from episode 1.)

He feels that he's helping these people by removing the knots in their heart. Finally, he removes the one from his father. But as a result, his father can no longer remember his deceased wife. Finally, a cop catches him eating a bug and finds his actions suspicious enough to inquire. (We'll see this cop again later.)

As Hisashi stumbles through the streets in a daze (because he's become addicted to eating bad memories), we see the girl who was reaching towards the sky in episode 1. She greets Hisashi by releasing a butterfly made of white light which shows Hisashi a scene from another time (in the same alley?) where we see a girl that has been murdered and another boy (looks like Saotome) is crouched over the body. This freaks Hisashi out and he runs away from the young girl.

Again, we see him stumbling down the street, but now the cop from before is watching him (or followed him?), so when he sees another woman with a bug, he starts to ask but then breaks off contact. He later manages to score another meal, but as he's consuming the memories, Boogiepop shows up (she forms up out of white light as well) and begins to hunt him (she don't look happy).

Just as Hisashi is finally cornered and is wondering why Death wants to eat him because cowards taste awful, Nagi shows up (in her motorcycle outfit). She's able to see Boogiepop, but says that it isn't Boogiepop, but Manticore (which the apparent Boogiepop denies). Nagi tells Hisashi to run as Nagi moves towards the Manticore/Boogiepop. However, Manticore/Boogiepop manages to lose Nagi and catches up with Hisashi. Hisashi asks, "are you going to eat me", to which Manticore/Boogiepop says that she's not here to eat him, but to show him the way to somewhere else. Hisashi is visited with a vision of all of his childhood friends within white light laughing and encouraging him to hurry up. He then dissapears and classmates are heard commenting that it's been a while since anyone vanished.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 11:03 PM

Boogiepop Phantom 1

Spoiler alert ahead - Episode title is Portraits from Memory

Watching episode one again, since I haven't watched it in so long. There is a Director's Soundtrack (the english director that made the dubbed version), but the background audio is also english... and as a general rule, I dislike the english dialogue actors in most anime. So I'm probably not gonna listen through that althought it might be useful for figuring out some other bits and pieces. Not gonna re-list the characters from my last entry, but more list the scenes in this episode and where they fit on the timeline.

Scene 001 - Shinyo Academy - Time is 1 month prior to the main timeline (as far as I can figure). Basically, this is the event that everyone talks about where a bunch of people vanished (I think Saotome was one of them). There's some screaming, some glass breaking, some blood splattering on the wall, and a vertical column of white light that briefly knocks out the power.

Scene 002 - Hijiridani High School - Present timeline, girls talking about all of the people who were taken a month ago, also tossing out the words Death and Boogiepop (not sure if the two are considered to be one and the same). We're introduced to the main character for this episode, Tonomura Moto (Sophmore, Class 2) who is a (slightly?) neurotic obsessive compulsive (focused on hand washing). Suzuki Yasuko is Moto's best friend and drags her out to a Kareoke bar that night along with another classmate to go on a triple date. The boys end up asking about Masami Saotome, a boy that Yasuko dated in junior high but doesn't want her current boyfriend (Satoshi) to find out about, so Yasuko dissembles when asked but Moto mumbles that Saotome was probably killed by Boogiepop during the events of the previous month. (Speculation on her part, but Saotome did dissapear at the same time.)

Scene 003 - Junior High School Summer - Flashback time as Moto tells the story of the relationship between Yasuko and Saotome and herself. Yasuko used to be quiet and reserved like Moto, but while Yasuko came out of her shell in Junior High, Moto retreated inward. Eventually, Yasuko broke up with Saotome and Moto discovers that she is falling in love with Saotome.

Scene 004 - The Present - Back to the present, the group is walking back home from the Kareoke club, but Moto isn't feeling well and lags behind as they pass through an alley. As she stumbles, she looks into a side alley and sees white light come together and form the shape of Saotome. She screams and the scene cuts to her waking up in her own bed the next morning. (Again we see her OCD in effect as she compulsively cleans the door handle that her father touched as well as making the back of her hand bleed.)

After the commercial break, we get some introspection by Moto that "we all die anyway so why bother", and in the background is (a girl, can't place who she is atm) reaching towards the sky.

Yasuko now relates a rumor to Moto that Saotome once professed love to Kirima Nagi while he was at Shinyo Academy.

Moto goes to the nurses office, but the nurse isn't in and she meets a boy who says "there's a bug attached to your heart". (More on him in a later episode.) Needless to say, Moto refuses to let him touch her, but she admits that she knows that there is something dragging on her.

Scene 005 - Shinyo Academy - Current timeline still. Moto goes to Shinyo Academy to visit the last known place where Saotome was seen. As she tries to walk away from the gate after looking, she's greeted by some girls from Shinyo Academy and ends up asking whether Nagi is around. However, Nagi left after 5th period. So Moto continues to wander the streets and finally ends up in the alley from the day before where she saw Saotome's image.

While there, she catches a glimpse of the white light running along an electrical wire above and begins to chase it through the streets and alleys until she catches up with it in yet another dark alley. Saotome's shape appears, and we find out that it's not Saotome because it doesn't know who Moto is. In the meantime, we see a girl in Shinyo Academy dress with a heavy bag over her shoulder pushing through a bustling crowd. Moto doesn't care that it's not Saotome (It doesn't really matter... it's okay if you kill me), so the monster prepares to feed upon Moto.

Just as the man-eater is about to feed, Boogiepop shows up and kills it and then chastises Moto. "Forget about Saotome, I killed him" she says. Moto ends the episode pretty much where she started, still disliking her self.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 9:59 PM