I’m a little late this week with BoogiePop but you know how it is…
And here we are again! Lovers of the unusual and confusing… Shania from Quotable Creations (https://quotablecreations.com/about/) and I are back to help you figure out exactly what’s going on here. For a refresher of last week’s adventures check out our episode 3 review here (https://quotablecreations.com/2019/01/14/its-collab-time-with-irina-and-shania-boogiepop-and-others/)
First off though, let me just say the snow in April is pretty common place here. In fact it’s more unusual to not have at least one huge snow storm during the month just as some optimistic folks had gotten their winter tires off their car. So the recurring phrase of “snow in April” as a metaphor for something unusual and special, didn’t ring quite true. A those southern people with their agreeable temperatures. It’s like -35 right now. Buddy is very mad at me for not “fixing” it.
Brand new characters and a new baddie as well, I guess we’ve moved on to another arc, how do you feel about that Shania?
Confused Irina, very confused. I don’t feel like we had enough information or time for the first arc. If we just had a little more time with that first arc, I think we could have felt a little more for the characters. We didn’t even have time to mourn Echoes. And guys, don’t even get me started on the lack of character development. Oh that is a whole rant.
Personally I’m split about it. On the one had the Echoes arc is still full of holes. I mean we know pretty much what happened but the why is still rather nebulous and the characters are for the most part cardboard cutouts. The poor murdered girls where never even grieved for. And I don’t think I got the chance to care about anyone in the 3 first episodes. If the don’t come back to that story at all, I would call it a fail. All the most interesting things happened off camera. So I’m a bit nervous about that arc being left behind. I only hope that Nagi was mentioned to serve as a connecting thread to eventually bring all the plotlines together (which would be cool)
Agreed. If they find some way to use Nagi as a connective device, it would make me actually appreciate the first arc and perhaps this twisty, turny, Sci-fie anime would start making sense for once.
On the other hand though, this first episode seems to introduce much more interesting storyline (to me) than what we have had so far. In that respect the change is a plus.
True, the new storyline is intriguing, but I feel like there was a lot more ‘meat’ so to speak in that arc. But who knows? This arc could provide some things we didn’t get the first time around
What did you think of our new baddie? Imaginator made me think of Disney.
Haha, same. But more than Disney, with the name I got really big Miraculous Ladybug vibes.
I don’t quite get why she needs to destroy and remake the world but ok, I guess.
Any thoughts on sensei Asukai?
*shivers* Ugh. One word. Creepy. He seemed ok at first, but after his talks with the Imaginator, I believe he takes on a major God complex. Death Note anyone?
It seems the show is continuing with the erratic time jump structure of the first arc. However, the’ve now added in the extra fun of having a uncorporeal character that can take over anyone else for brief periods of time, so you can never be quite sure who’s talking…yay…
And because of the irregular narrative, characters seem to at almost randomly. This was very obvious with Jin this episode as his personality completely changed without any visible catalyst or gradual development. It made me wonder for a second if he hadn’t been taken over himself.
I’m all for this untraditional storytelling structure and I think BoogiePop should be applauded for taking the risk. Unfortunately pairing it with such a huge and ever changing cast, and ambitious, expansive plot with aliens, and pandimensional beings and heart flowers… well it requires a supremely talented team of writers and editors, and I’m not quite sure this team is up for the challenge. For example, in an attempt to keep the story from getting to unintelligible, the made imaginator into an exposition dump narrator, plainly explaining everything that’s happening straight to the camera. That’s just plain lazy writing.
Sure you could argue that this forces the audience to connect with the antagonist and see the story from their eyes. And interesting trick which could have a nice payoff in time. But for now, the imaginator is simply to unevenly characterised to be relatable to anyone.
I babeled a lot about story structure and said very little about the actual story. What did you think of the episode Shania?
I agree with a lot of what you said Irina. It stopped jumping around, but I’m not getting any connection to the characters. And that’s usually what I love about an anime. But with Boogiepop, I don’t actually care if someone does in this anime because we dont get to get to know them enough. Although I do like the paranormal aspect, it’s at least enough to keep me interested.
I guess we just have to wait and see if they can actually bring all this together in some way.
I am really trying to concentrate on variety rather than quantity in my screencaps. Hope I did ok
I just realized that drugs seem to be an important mechanism for subverting people in this show.
Are you cought up with the season?
I agree, it’s hard to get into the characters, here, and because of that my involvement with the show is mostly intellectual (and it’s not that interesting). I’ll be watching it to the end, but it’ll be a middling show, really.
I’m hoping for brilliant plot twist. I think it’s by far the most likely saving grace should there be one
I think I am much more forgiving of the style than you are. My mind often mixes up the sequence of events which means it is easier for me to figure this one out.
As far as the school is concerned, the missing girls are all runaways. I find the failure of anyone to consider foul play or for the student body to become upset is puzzling. But rather than demand that now I’ll wait until the final ep before judging. It could turn out to be good anime even with a few holes.
The main problem is that Boogie, Nagi, and Kazuko are all ongoing characters from the original. Presumably if one had watched it, one would already have sympathies for the two humans and a greater understanding of how the Boogie works. I am too cheap to drop $$$ for the STARZ addon to my Hulu, so I won’t be seeing it soon. Or reading the manga, which would no doubt clear up the missing pieces.
I have watched the original – I liked it but it was also quite full of plot holes. It was framed much more as a murder mystery which was interesting but it didn’t manage to wrap things up.
Like I mentioned the events are clear enough but seem to lack gravity because to me there’s insufficient context. Like you however, I’m thinking the show could go back and bulk up the storyline a bit.
I was expecting them to miss Naoko a bit more, we saw her a lot, she was dating Tanaka and was good friends with Nagi. I hope they go back to her. I feel sort of sad the show offed her so unceremoniously.
I felt bad for her and Tanaka as well. At least Boogie gave him some serious closure.
I’m a huge fan of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir! Tell me, have you seen the first run floating around on YouTube, done in traditional animation? (Why, oh, why did they choose CGI?!)
You are? Cool! I love that show so much so I had to make the reference…plus it’s kinda in my nature “Quotable” Creations. heh. But no, I haven’t seen the first run, Now I have to go check it out cause I’m curious!