Kouhei KadonoBesprekingen

Even though the events in this novel pre-date those in Boogiepop and Others, they're told from a flashback standpoint and in such a way as it expects you to understand where its all leading to. The significance to Kirima meeting Kuroda Shinpei for instance or Niitoki Kei's involvement with Boogiepop.

This is an easier book to read then Others, the pacing is a little more familiar to English readers and the existentialism is dialed back a notch. I wouldn't say this is an easier book to understand, it does muddy the waters even further for some characters even while shedding light on certain other ones.

The book is again broken up into sections, each one building upon the one before it. This is a book mainly about Kirima Nagi's beginnings as a 'super-hero' and Miyashita Touka's beginnings as Boogiepop.

The only problem there is for Dawn is that some of the references and innuendos won't bare understandable fruit for a couple more novels--except at this point in time the English Publisher (Seven Seas) hasn't reached that point nor does there seem to be any forward motion in that area. Actually the news is rather dismal as Light Novels in general tend not to sell well in America.

The Summary doesn't do it justice, but to reveal too much is to give away some important plot developments. Which is why this review may be a little sparse on the details.

Boogiepop as a series is kind of hard to categorize. Its not that Boogiepop is a separate entity--and thus its own identifiable being--but that Boogiepop exists only as a fragment of another. In this book its Miyashita Touka, an average 1st year HS student with little by way of 'extraordinary' talents. Its made unclear in the anime (at least the English Dub) whether Boogiepop is real or not. He is--its not a mental breakdown of Miyashita's due to trauma (as the English Dub suggests).

Boogiepop is also not magic, or a ghost, or an alien. Boogiepop just is. Throughout this book we see as lives intersect, crash into and separate from each other. Some of the events are repeated, but from the varied viewpoints of the participants so that its given a different spin. For instance a group date as viewed by Keiji is just that--a happy little group date that his underclassmen are having. Later, we see the group date through the eyes of one of the underclassmen--and hear his thoughts in regards to the people he's with, the reasons he's with them and Keiji whom they encounter.

The book can feel disjointed, since some of the storylines extend beyond others by quite a bit of time (some are short, existing only to clarify one or two moments of time, while others extend to 'before', 'during' and 'after' the incident) so you'll jump around in time a lot, and have the sense of de ja vu at times as well. The translation is really well done, so you have a feel of the tone that the original Japanese author was striving for, but for the western audience it might feel too foreign to the casual reader. At its core, the Boogiepop books and movie and anime are about human nature. What makes us human, what defines us and what can be called a human by those definitions.

The book moves slowly more often then not, bogging down in the minutiae of a day to day life of a school student, but frequently what is such a small thing to one narrator is a big deal to a later one. This doesn't make the book go by quicker, but it gives better insight. The action is very frenetic, wham-bam-thank you ma'am sort, but again we get it from several different viewpoints.

Unfortunately the book is out of print, but should be pretty easy to obtain a cheap used copy of. The style is probably something that will take most people a little while to get into and even then, if your attention wanders easily, or you want something with less character centric-ness, this isn't a book for you. Rent the movie.

Note about the Boogiepop Series in general: At the moment America only has 4 out of 15 of the novels (I think), both mangas, none of the short stories or side novel series, the movie and the anime (Boogiepop Phantom). Boogiepop and Others (both the movie and the novel) details the event that instigates the odd incidents seen in the anime, namely the weird light, and runs concurrently at points with the anime events. Boogiepop at Dawn (a novel) is a prequel to the series in general--explaining when Miyashita began acting oddly, and some more background information on Kirima Nagi. The publication order however has Boogiepop and Others before Boogiepop at Dawn.

Technically, Boogiepop at Dawn is the sixth volume in Kouhei Kadono's series of Boogiepop light novels illustrated by Kouji Ogata, however it serves as a prequel to the entire work. Seven Seas jumped to releasing Boogiepop at Dawn after publishing the first three Boogiepop novels in English—Boogiepop and Others and Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator, Part 1 and Part 2. It was a decision that made sense: the entire series wasn't able to be translated, Boogiepop at Dawn ties in directly with the early novels, and the volume was partially the basis for the Boogiepop Phantom anime. Boogiepop at Dawn was originally published in Japan in 1999 while Andrew Cunningham's English translation was released by Seven Seas in 2008 (two years after the first three books). I discovered the Boogiepop franchise late, after the novels and manga available in English had already gone out of print, but I have still been thoroughly enjoying the series and looked forward to reading Boogiepop at Dawn

As an agent working for the secretive Towa Organization, Scarecrow is responsible for finding other humans who, like him, have extraordinary psychic and physical abilities and strengths. The Towa Organization is very interested in these remarkable people; by controlling them it hopes to control the course of human evolution. Scarecrow's search is made easier by the fact that he poses as Kuroda Shinpei, a private detective; he is able to continue his primary investigation while working more mundane cases. Scarecrow meets Kirima Nagi, a young woman who has been hospitalized with an undiagnosed but painful condition, while searching for evidence against another Towa agent whose loyalty has been called into question. Nagi has the potential to become one of those exceptional, highly-evolved people he is searching for, but instead of reporting her to the Towa Organization, Scarecrow decides to go against his orders, saving her life by risking his own and triggering a sequence of events that will leave multiple people dead.

Although Boogiepop at Dawn is a prequel, it really is intended to be read by those who are already familiar with Boogiepop in general and with the first few volumes of the series specifically. But for those readers who are, Boogiepop at Dawn is spectacular and a very satisfying addition. Ostensibly the volume is the origin story of Boogipeop—a supernatural entity in conflict with the Towa Organization who is also keeping watch over the super-evolved humans, destroying them when necessary—and to a small extent it is. But Boogiepop actually makes very few appearances in the volume. However, Boogiepop at Dawn does provide an extensive background for another of the series' primary characters, Nagi, and explains the purpose of the Towa Organization. Many of the other protagonists and antagonists from the earlier Boogiepop novels make a showing as well, which ties everything together very nicely. I was particularly pleased to learn more about Nagi's father, Kirima Seiichi, an author of peculiar importance to the series whose story hasn't been fully revealed until now.

Boogiepop at Dawn is a collection of four closely connected narratives with an additional framing story that bookends the volume. Most of the stories focus on Nagi, either directly or tangentially. Much like the other Boogiepop novels, Boogiepop at Dawn employs elements from a number of different genres, but it may safely be called speculative fiction as a whole. All melded together in the volume are bits of mystery and detective work, horror, action and martial arts, the supernatural, and science fiction. Boogiepop at Dawn is engaging and at times chillingly dark with heavy psychological components. The individual stories are seen from different perspectives, at various points following Scarecrow, Seiichi, a serial murderer, and an assassin. Boogiepop is mostly a presence in the background, but an important one nonetheless. Boogiepop at Dawn is also similar to the earlier volumes of the series in that it does not adhere to a strictly chronological structure, but it's fascinating to seen the beginnings of the plot threads that will become so entangled in the other novels.

Experiments in Manga

Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator, Part 2 is the third volume in the Boogiepop light novel series written by Kouhei Kadono and illustrated by Kouji Ogata. It is also the third out of four Boogiepop novels to have been released in English. Translated by Andrew Cunningham, the second part of Boogiepop Returns was published by Seven Seas in 2006. In Japan, the volume was released in 1998, the same year as the first two books in the series. Boogiepop Returns is actually a two-part story, and so after reading the first novel in the arc I was particularly anxious to read the second. With all of the setup and steadily increasing tension in the first part, the story needed a conclusion and the final volume of the arc promised to deliver just that. Boogiepop is kind of an odd series which freely mixes the surreal with the real, making use of multiple genres in the process. But it's also a series that I find peculiarly appealing because of that and because of its willingness to explore the more troubling aspects of the psyche.

A year ago a young woman committed suicide under the influence of an entity known only as the Imaginator. Her life was ended when, being pursued by Boogiepop, the Imaginator failed to change the world through her. But now the Imaginator has returned to inspire yet another person, this time with much greater success. Asukai Jin, with the Imaginator as a catalyst, has begun to use his unique abilities to not only read the hearts of other people but to manipulate them as well. Meanwhile, the mysterious Towa Organization also has a vested interest in the direction humankind is taking. Spooky E, a synthetic human and one of its agents, is actively hunting Boogiepop in order to prevent the spirit's interference with the organization's affairs. In an effort to draw Boogiepop out, he has arranged for the love-besotted Taniguchi Masaki to serve as a decoy by impersonating Boogiepop. Masaki didn't initially realize he was being used as a pawn, and even if he had there was very little he could do to stop the developing crisis.

Despite the title being Boogiepop Returns, the real Boogiepop actually plays a very small albeit very important role in the two novels and is mostly relegated to the edges of the narrative while the other players take center stage. Granted, when Boogiepop finally does make an entrance during the second volume's finale, it's pretty spectacular. But until then the story largely follows the more mundane characters, the seemingly normal teenagers who have been caught up in the battle over the fate of humanity and who frequently are the victims of the supernatural and superhuman forces at work. At the same time, they are also dealing with their own personal issues and troubled relationships. In many ways I actually found these smaller struggles to be more emotionally immediate than the novel's grander schemes, probably because they're more relatable and the more realistic elements help to ground the stranger aspects of the Boogiepop series.

The doomed love story between Masaki and the girl he likes, Orihata Aya, has always been an important part of Boogiepop Returns but it become especially prominent in the second volume. It is because of his love for her that he "becomes" Boogiepop, his feelings and the burgeoning romance becoming closely entwined with the larger events of the novel. The second part of Boogiepop Returns has some fantastic fights and action sequences, but the novel also has deeper contemplative and philosophical aspects to it as well. Employing the trappings of science fiction and the supernatural, the Boogiepop novels explore thought-provoking themes of free will, personal identity, the individual's place within society, sacrifice, and what it truly means to be human. The characters are all damaged or suffering in some way but it's how they choose to live their lives despite that pain that makes them who they are and makes Boogiepop Returns such an interesting and at times even compelling story.

Experiments in Manga½

After reading Boogiepop and Others, I knew that I needed to read the rest of Kouhei Kadono's Boogiepop light novel series, or at least all of the volumes that had been released in English. Sadly, out of the more than a dozen volumes, only four of the novels were ever translated and it is unlikely that any others will be. Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator, Part 1 is the second Boogiepop novel and the first volume in a two-part story arc. The novel was originally published in Japan in 1998, the same year that the award-winning Boogiepop and Others was released. The English translation of the first part of Boogiepop Returns by Andrew Cunningham was published by Seven Seas in 2006. Seven Seas was also the publisher that released the other three Boogiepop novels available in English as well as some of the Boogiepop manga adaptations (which I have yet to read). Technically, all of those Boogiepop books have gone out of print, but fortunately most of the volumes are still fairly easy to find.

When she was only seventeen, Minahoshi Suiko plummeted from the rooftop of Shinyo Academy. Initially it was believed to have been a suicide, but rumors start circulating among the students that it may have been murder or perhaps something even more sinister, something that is compelling others to follow in Minahoshi's footsteps. It wouldn't be the only time that Shinyo Academy has faced inhuman and supernatural influences resulting in tragedy and death. Asukai Jin is a counselor at a local cram school which is attended by several Shinyo Academy students. He seems to be able to look into the hearts of those seeking his aid, offering advice that is uncannily appropriate for each student and their specific situations. The odd ability which allows Asukai to see the flaws of others while being blind to his own has drawn the attention of the same forces a work at Shinyo Academy. The only thing that stands in the way of those forces is the fabled spirit of death Boogiepop, but there are those who are hunting Boogiepop down in order to prevent any sort of interference.

One of the things that I particularly enjoyed about Boogiepop and Others was its narrative structure, and so I was happy to see the first part of Boogiepop Returns use a similar one. Specifically, the story continues to be seen from the perspective of multiple characters, although in this volume the chronology is slightly less disjointed overall. The events in Boogiepop Returns take place both before and after those in Boogiepop and Others. (A handy timeline included in the back of the volume helps to make this all clear.) Although the plots of each novel aren't directly related, the events of the first are alluded to in the second and both volumes do share some of the same characters. However, the importance of the characters' individual roles has shifted somewhat. Taniguchi Masaki, for example, was a side character in the first Boogiepop novel; he wasn't much more than a stepbrother to another important character. But in Boogiepop Returns he is one of the leads in the volume's ill-fated love story.

The Boogiepop series has a fascinating mix of genres--science fiction, horror, mystery, and even a bit of romance all make an appearance in the novels. There are strong psychological elements and strange and bizarre occurrences, too. I didn't find the second Boogiepop novel to be quite as dark as the first, but it could still be thoroughly disconcerting and it was consistently engaging. Because Boogiepop Returns is a two-part arc, most of the first volume is spent setting the stage and introducing the major players. At this point the significance of some of the events is still unclear and far more questions have been raised than have been answered. It's difficult to say just exactly what is going on and perhaps even more challenging to anticipate what will happen next. This will probably either frustrate readers immensely or intrigue them. (As for me, I was intensely intrigued.) Much like Boogiepop and Others, the first part of Boogiepop Returns is peculiar and unsettling. I'm very curious to see how the story will continue to develop in the second volume.

Experiments in Manga

Boogiepop and Others is the first volume in a series of light novels written by Kouhei Kadono and illustrated by Kouji Ogata. The novel was originally released in Japan in 1998 after winning the Dengeki Game Novel Prize (now known simply as the Dengeki Novel Prize). Boogiepop and Others has been credited with igniting the light novel trend in Japan. Whether that is true or not, the novel has inspired more than a dozen other volumes in the Boogiepop novel series as well as other books, short stories, manga, music, a live-action film adaptation, an anime, and more. Out of the fairly large franchise, four of the light novels--including Boogiepop and Others--two short manga series, the anime, and the film have been released in English. The English-language edition of Boogiepop and Others, translated by Andrew Cunningham, was published by Seven Seas in 2006. Although I had been aware of the Boogiepop Phantom anime series for quite some time, Boogiepop and Others was actually my introduction to the franchise and is set before the events of the anime.

No one is entirely sure who or what Boogiepop is, but there are several rumors and theories among the students of Shinyo Academy. Stories are told about a spirit of death, an assassin who can kill instantly and painlessly. When a number of female students at Shinyo Academy go missing, many naturally assume that Boogiepop must have had something to do with their disappearances. Others believe Boogiepop to be nothing more than a myth or urban legend, but they can't deny that something very strange and very wrong is going on at their school. Most of the missing girls are written off as runaways by the police and their cases are quickly dropped. And so a few of their classmates take it upon themselves to investigate since they can't rely on the adults to pursue the matter. But it's already too late. Some of the girls who have disappeared have lost their lives and there will be even more deaths before those who are responsible can be stopped. If they can be stopped. Any survivors will be left struggling to comprehend everything that occurred at Shinyo Academy.

Boogiepop and Others isn't told from a single point of view, within a single time frame, or even through a single narrative. Instead, each chapter is seen from the perspective of a different student. Some of the characters are directly involved with the events unfolding at Shinyo Academy while others are only tangentially related. However, none of them know everything about what is going on, though they may have their suspicions. There's Takeda Keiji, who becomes one of the people closest to Boogiepop, Suema Kazuko, who once was almost the victim of a serial killer herself, Saotome Masami, a deceptively unassuming underclassman, Kimura Akio, one of several boyfriends of one of the missing students, and Niitoki Kei, the president of the discipline committee. They each have their own story to tell, and each version of the events is accurate, but the complete truth can only be understood when all of the individual accounts have been completely disclosed and are then considered and taken together as a whole.

The narrative structure of Boogiepop and Others is actually quite effective in creating and sustaining the mystery and mood of the novel. It's a slow build as little by little information is revealed and connections are made between characters and their stories. Piecing together everything is an incredibly engaging part of the novel. At times, Boogiepop and Others can be legitimately creepy and disconcerting. The elements of horror in the novel are just as strong as those of science fiction and mystery. Several of the characters are dealing with extreme mental and psychological disturbances and unfortunate family circumstances in addition to the apparent supernatural occurrences. Personally, I preferred Kadono's exploration of the more reality-based issues over the more outrageous ideas, but in combination even those could be oddly compelling in their strangeness. I thoroughly enjoyed Boogiepop and Others, perhaps even more than I initially anticipated. I definitely plan on reading more of the series.

Experiments in Manga

Keiji's girlfriend stands him up, but while still waiting for her he sees a strange boy who looks very much like her. Upon meeting the boy again, Keiji finds that this boy is (sort of but not exactly) a supernatural multiple personality of his girlfriend called Boogiepop here to help the world. Or something. Girls have also been disappearing from the school and no one really knows why.

Mostly all that happens for the first 2/3 of this book is that Keiji and Boogiepop sit around on the roof after school and talk about the nature of Boogiepop as a being and his relationship to Keiji's girlfriend. The sympathy I imagine we're supposed to feel for Keiji with this girlfriend being sort of possessed isn't really there, since we don't get to know his girlfriend beforehand, or what sort of relationship they had and whether it's worth feeling sad about. The manga has a moody, mature feel, and while it doesn't come off as affected and ridiculous as I've seen in many manga that try at this and fail, it's still unclear what the point of it all is. The point of view changes to a girl at the same school for the last 1/3, and while things have a bit more direction, I still couldn't bring myself to care much.

The premise of this series does seem interesting, and I like that it's trying to take a more mature tone compared to a lot of supernatural stories. But this installment seems fairly aimless to me in both character development and events. Perhaps the novels or anime are a bit better?½

I think that Boogie Pop is a very complex exciting book. It s so imaginative and creative and could catch almost anyone's eye. The book explores legends that people ignore but have to face and I find that compelling. I give this book so many thumbs up i need more hands. I recommend this book for almost anyone, even if you're not an avid reader, you'll get through this book pain free!!!

The first novel in the Boogiepop franchise, this is a very readable series of intertwined stories about a group of teenagers and their involvement with a supernatural event at their school. As is typical with Boogiepop, the story focuses on the philosophies and perspectives of each student, and does an admirable job of giving each a distinct personality. I felt involved all the way through.

An interesting light novel horror/sci-fi series, easily on par with Coda's Missing series.

I read this first volume two years ago and returned to it this week to see if a second reading changed anything for me. Rereading it opens up a lot in terms of cultural references I didn't understand before, a better knowledge of intercharacter relationships and keeping the odd timeline correct as I read along. I will be picking up and rereading the other two novels this week as well.

Seven Seas will be resuming their releases of the novels later on this year after a nearly two-year hiatus. I'm looking forward to seeing how the story progresses from beyond Volume Three.

The second half of the story begins to reach the same heights as the original novel.½

Manages to avoid the pit-falls of most spin-off manga by boldly expanding the mythology.

The storytelling improves in the second half, but I'm still not sure why anyone would read this instead of the novel.½

Manga adaption of the first Boogiepop novel. Drawn by the illustrator of the novels, who clearly doesn't have much experience with manga layouts.

Third book in the series. Structure and characters still fascinating, but the emotional climax comes long before the actual climax.½

The second book in the series, it shifts the focus onto a doomed love story, but suffers from being part one of two.½

Five stories from different perspectives, each telling only a part of what really happened.
Often credited with single handedly starting the light novel boom in Japan.