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Boogiepop Phantom - Boxed Set (Evolutions 1-4)

Boogiepop Phantom - Boxed Set (Evolutions 1-4)

List Price: $64.98
Your Price: $58.48
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a true excursion into darkness
Review: Boogiepop Phantom is an awesome excursion into the stuff that is mystery and the macabre. After a strange light appears in the center of a city somewhere in japan a cereal killer only known as the manticore escapes from the labs in which it was created and various people start gaining rather strange abilities. However the strangest thing about it is the seemingly random appearances of the entities known as boogiepop and poompoom. A truly eerie foray into the dark recesses of mans world and crosses the line into the depths of darkness it's self. I liked the dark twist for a change of pace.The storyline gets confusing only if you don't pay attention to the details and it is rather hard to see but it in my opinion allows for even more eerieness when your mind tries to compensate for what is really going on and plays off the all too common fear not of the darkness itself but what lurks in it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome!
Review: "The world is changing, the sky is on fire, and people are disapearing. For in this world everything exists; Anything can happen at any moment, and everything does happen...all the time."

Boogiepop Phantom is a horror/suspense anime series, with top-notch animation and a plot that will keep you guessing until the end. It is a very confusing series, because it jumps around a lot. Watching it twice, all the way through, still doesn't always help you to fully understand the story about Boogiepop. It has scenes that can be grotesque and confusing, but the storyline is immaculate! The characters are very well developed. Sound is another important factor in this anime. The music can be techno/disjointed, freaky, or normal at times, but it all fits in very well to this series. While it may not be called a 'shoujo' anime, sometimes certain things in it make me confirm that question. While the scenes and plot are nothing like 'Cardcaptor Sakura' and 'Ah! My Goddess', the anime is mostly all (and centered around) the female characters. Anyway, this is a series I would definatly recommend to anyone who is not sure about it. It is very similar to 'Serial Experiments Lain' and will give you wishful thinking. If I could give it a higher rating than 5 stars, I would. ^_^

"Boogiepop...probably exists."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome!
Review: "The world is changing, the sky is on fire, and people are disapearing. For in this world everything exists; Anything can happen at any moment, and everything does happen...all the time."

Boogiepop Phantom is a horror/suspense anime series, with top-notch animation and a plot that will keep you guessing until the end. It is a very confusing series, because it jumps around a lot. Watching it twice, all the way through, still doesn't always help you to fully understand the story about Boogiepop. It has scenes that can be grotesque and confusing, but the storyline is immaculate! The characters are very well developed. Sound is another important factor in this anime. The music can be techno/disjointed, freaky, or normal at times, but it all fits in very well to this series. While it may not be called a 'shoujo' anime, sometimes certain things in it make me confirm that question. While the scenes and plot are nothing like 'Cardcaptor Sakura' and 'Ah! My Goddess', the anime is mostly all (and centered around) the female characters. Anyway, this is a series I would definatly recommend to anyone who is not sure about it. It is very similar to 'Serial Experiments Lain' and will give you wishful thinking. If I could give it a higher rating than 5 stars, I would. ^_^

"Boogiepop...probably exists."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You won't want to stop.
Review: Boogiepop Phantom is an anime that begins as a series of short story-style tales. Filmed with sepia filters for 11 of the 12 episodes, it creates a world that is dark and haunting throughout. What makes Boogiepop Phantom so incredible to watch, though, is the way its story is slowly unfolded across the tableau of episodes. You get the first hints of this when the second episode utilizes a scene from the first - and it only becomes more haunting when you realize what it implies.

The individual episodes are wrapped around a handful of incredible events. The way the show lets time flow around each episode is magnificent, and its impact as you slowly realize some of what is going on is always stunning. Every time you watch Boogiepop Phantom, you will understand more of its subtleties - don't get me wrong, it is *very* interesting on first viewing, but it's absolutely amazing to see an anime that you want to keep watching again and again to pick up on more small, but well-rendered, threads of its plot. The characters are all intriguing, and each episode usually provides a very penetrating analysis of at least one of the show's figures. The way it constructs its story (which has some horrifying moments that make what gore there is on-screen completely necessary - it actually strikes just the right note with each bit of weirdness) is marvelous.

It's kinda on the short side, but if you're of the right mindset to enjoy it, you will not regret picking up Boogiepop Phantom. You'll probably get a lot of great viewings out of it. It's a lot of fun to watch with others and compare theories; even more fun is showing people the series for the first time and watch them go through this fascinating mental maze. Give it a shot.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You won't want to stop.
Review: Boogiepop Phantom is an anime that begins as a series of short story-style tales. Filmed with sepia filters for 11 of the 12 episodes, it creates a world that is dark and haunting throughout. What makes Boogiepop Phantom so incredible to watch, though, is the way its story is slowly unfolded across the tableau of episodes. You get the first hints of this when the second episode utilizes a scene from the first - and it only becomes more haunting when you realize what it implies.

The individual episodes are wrapped around a handful of incredible events. The way the show lets time flow around each episode is magnificent, and its impact as you slowly realize some of what is going on is always stunning. Every time you watch Boogiepop Phantom, you will understand more of its subtleties - don't get me wrong, it is *very* interesting on first viewing, but it's absolutely amazing to see an anime that you want to keep watching again and again to pick up on more small, but well-rendered, threads of its plot. The characters are all intriguing, and each episode usually provides a very penetrating analysis of at least one of the show's figures. The way it constructs its story (which has some horrifying moments that make what gore there is on-screen completely necessary - it actually strikes just the right note with each bit of weirdness) is marvelous.

It's kinda on the short side, but if you're of the right mindset to enjoy it, you will not regret picking up Boogiepop Phantom. You'll probably get a lot of great viewings out of it. It's a lot of fun to watch with others and compare theories; even more fun is showing people the series for the first time and watch them go through this fascinating mental maze. Give it a shot.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing Set for an Amazing Show
Review: Do you believe in urban legends? Did you ever feel like someone was following you, or something big was going on around you and you couldn't figure out what it is? If so, this is really the show for you.

This show is not for small children. It is a horror show and features some very grotesque scenes of violence. Of course, all of the violence is used appropriately. If there ever was a show that proved that all "cartoons" are not just for children, this is the one.

Boogiepop Phantom is an anime based on a series of novels in Japan. The story is told in a fractured way, each of the 12 episodes features a character and how the events that have happened have affected them. This can be good and bad. The way the story is told forces you to focus on one character at a time and keeps your attention. However soon you will start noticing characters from previous episodes interacting with the ones in later episodes, and you'll start to notice some very evident things going on. Boogiepop Phantom (the character) makes appearances in most of the episodes, but her motives are never given until the end of the series.

One of the most interesting things about this show is that most of the events happening during the series are taking place after a battle between a student and the Manticore. This battle is only shown in flashback for a few seconds twice. You never really see the whole thing, just flashes of it (and you have to pause your DVD to really see what's going on).

There have been many comparisons between this show and Serial Experiments: Lain, but they are two seperate entities. Both shows are very in-depth and require the viewer to think about things in a different perspective, but really that's all there is between them. Lain tells the story of one girl who is learning who she is (more or less), and Boogiepop Phantom is telling more of a traditional story (if you can call it that).

As for technical aspects, this DVD set is nearly flawless. Each disc has a beautiful video transfer, and there were no video problems that I could see. The audio is given as English 5.1, Japanese 5.1 and a dubbing director's commentary. The English 5.1 channel soundtrack is the best one I've ever heard. Sound effects, voices and music all make use of the 5 speakers and it's haunting how good this set sounds. For instance, each next episode preview features random lines of dialogue from the coming episode. The both 5.1 soundtracks have the a different voice coming out of each speaker, layering over one another until you don't know where to turn because there are voices all around you. The English dub of this show is very good, and I think it captures the original Japanese track very well.

All in all, this is an amazing DVD set, and an amazing series. It deserves all 5 stars that I have given it, and more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: Excellent story, gorgeous animation, delicious sound. What more do you want? Hurry up and buy this. You wont be sorry, unless you like Shojo like Card Captors and Sailor Moon in which case you need to look elsewhere...

Just because everybody else does, I am forced to mention Lain. Let me also mention that the style here is very much similar to Blood, so is the mood.

If you like bizarre films along the lines of Twin Peaks or The Kingdom then Boogiepop is for you. Yeah it has a stupid name... but thats the only down side.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Boogiepop Phantom- Worth it!
Review: I bought this because it was so inexpensive, and it was worth every penny and much more! Great gothic, urban stetting and supernatural storyline. Don't miss it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is my new favorite series!!!
Review: I find myself saying that a lot as I dive deeper into the world of anime. But this series has something that draws you in. When I was at a store, which I will not mention, HACK,COUGH (best buy) this DVD set was almost screaming at me to buy it. The cover art was nothing special the title cought my intrest and I had heard good things about it. When I got it home I riped off the packaging and watched, this is where the actual review begins.

I was hooked from the first episode!! I even neglectied my homework, well you know "Don't do today, what you can do the next morning 5 mins. before it's due". The art, OH the art! It was spectacular, and the hepa filtersthat they filmed it with really gave it a dark and creepy feel even in the day time.

The characters are wonderfully developed, even though most of them only appear in one episode. And I love that fact that all of the episodes intertwine! A seen from episode one appears in episode 3 or something like that. The only thing I can dock it for is it's sudden ending I thought there could have been more!

BUY THIS ITEM!!!!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Review by your average Anime Fan
Review: I have read many reviews on this series before I decided watched it. Most of the reviews rave about how "intellectual" this series is, I agree with that somewhat. However, since I am not a hardcore Anime fan I do not find myself the urge to go back and watch this series. For those of you who think like me, read on.

A good description of this series would be a cross between Pulp Fiction and X-Files. You see, this Anime is broken into 12 episodes, each is somewhat related to another like the way Pulp Fiction the movie told its story. At first you will think this is a horror anime since it is quite scary, however, by the middle of the series the scare factor gets considerably less, and the mystery/conspiracy factor start to kick in. There are many adult issues dealt in this anime, such as suicide, drugs use, sex, and outworldly conspiracies, so kids are definitely not recommended (although I am almost sure most kids will not like this series anyway).

The biggest problem I have with this Anime is that the story is not told completely. This series actually is a sequal to a japanese Movie made before the Anime. In the live action movie the background of the BoogiePop is explained a little better.
No matter how everyone tells you that "the plot is complete" by the end of the series, it is not. If you actually tried to sort out the story you will end up with more questions by the time you finish watching this Anime. This series left many, many open ends. In Japan the novels has spanned some 7 volumes, this Anime series only covers the earlier stories.

Now onto the Quality of this DVD. With the exception of the last episode, the rest of the episodes are done in an olive/brown shade, adding to the spookiness to the overall weird plot. The atmosphere of the anime creates an uneasy feeling for the viewers.
The sounds are VERY well done, adding significantly to the plot and the scare factor. The character design is ok, although this series is unlikely to impress any of your non-Anime fanatic friends. One thing which annoys me is the similarity between many of the female characters in the series; many of the female students just looked like each other! I understand that many other animes do the same, but at least in other animes the similar looking characters has different haircuts/colors, or dress differently. In this series many of the female characters look just same, which confuses the viewer even more.

Overall I would recommend this series to anyone who is a sci-fi lover with a good attention to detail. Despite some flaws and pseudo-intellectual mumbo jumbo which this series throws at you, it is nontheless one of the biggest thrillers I have watched in a while.


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