YMMV / Boogiepop Phantom

• Audience-Coloring Adaptation: For much of the West, this was the most popular piece of the Boogiepop franchise, with only the most devoted of fans getting into the novels from which it was based on. This led to many thinking that Boogiepop Phantom was the name of the franchise of the whole, something reflected in English Fanfiction websites such as Fanfcition.Net and Archive of Our Own. It also led to the idea that Boogiepop as a whole series was all like Phantom, which is to say full of psychological horror and having a relentless dark tone, which is not the case; the novel does have its points of both, but it has a wide pattern of story moods (from just as dark to surprisingly hopeful) and isn't a whole train of noir-esque darkness like Phantom. The fact that the anime also relies heavily on knowing plot points from the light novels in order to understand what's going on, combined with the fact that this was never really advertised when the anime was exported, gave the series a reputation of being deliberately obtuse and difficult to follow, which is not really the case either. The books have perfectly understandable narratives and the story in Phantom is relatively understandable provided you've read the requisite books.
• Awesome Music:
  • "Angel in the Dark" by M.Y.K.N.
  • The opening theme, "Yudachi" ("Evening Shower") by Shikao Suga.
• Continuity Lockout: The series is, as mentioned in the main page, a sequel to the light novel volumes Boogiepop and Others and Boogiepop at Dawn, none of which were adapted to anime until 2019, and both of which feature quite a complex plot - which means that, up to that year, anybody watching Boogiepop Phantom was forced to read those two books or at least study their synopsis on the Internet in order to have a remote chance to understand this series. In particular, a key element of the over-arching plot (the true identity of Boogiepop Phantom and its relation to/the origin of Manticore) will seem to come out of nowhere, and the final episode will be utterly incomprehensible. It doesn't help that the Sci-Fi Channel showed this without any other part of the series, or indeed any indication that this was a part of a larger narrative, leaving viewers unfamiliar with Boogiepop totally lost.
• Fandom Rivalry: With Serial Experiments Lain.
• Values Dissonance: Western viewers might be puzzled at Akane, whose existential problems come from abruptly abandoning all of her literary projects only because a teacher said she should pursue science. However, in the traditional society of Japan, choosing one's career and having in consideration the word of figures of authority are Serious Business. It can still be argued that she was already emotionally fragile and suffered a huge overreaction to his words, especially given that being a scientist and writing children's books are fields hardly difficult to balance, but it isn't so weird if one knows the context.
• The Woobie: Many of the characters have tragic backgrounds to accompany them. The idea of Japanese teenagers being subjected to incredible pressure to succeed, with little regard for their emotional well-being, is a major theme of the series.
  • Jonouchi (episode 2) wanted to grow up as a hero and protector but an illness made it impossible to do so after elementary school. When the pillar of light allowed him to seemingly wipe people's regret, he took it upon himself to clean the world of the regret.
  • Misuzu (episode 3) tries to deal with the loss and murder of a friend by advocating her friend's outlook on life. She eventually gets found by Boogiepop Phantom who tells her that she is nothing like her friend and has actually been doing harm to the world by assisting the Manticore's phantom. The end result for her is not pretty.
  • Yoji (episode 4) is trying to deal with extreme pressure from a family which really doesn't care about what he wants. His father is pushing him towards academic education where he is interested in graphics. This causes him to immerse himself in games and dating sims... an addiction that gets worse over time.
  • Shizue (episode 6) lost her father at a young age and his memory never left her. Her mother eventually moves on and begins a relationship with another man but this causes her and Shizue to grow further apart since Shizue sees it as a betrayal of her father. They never reconcile their differences in this regard.
  • The entire Oikawa family (episode 7). The father worked as an architect scheduled to build Paisley Park during Japans' stronger economic years. The project failed after hardships arrived and he nearly crossed Despair Event Horizon. Mamoru is traumatized by neglect by his father during this process and begins focusing on removing the "useless" parts of society. His sister, Sayoko, still cares for Mamoru a great deal and tries to stay with him as much as she can. This results in her being on the receiving end of violent outbursts from Mamoru.
  • Saki (episode 9) has had a family which has pushed her to becoming a pianist after noting her talent. Her family makes many sacrifices and she focuses nearly exclusively on pursuing this dream. The pressure to make their (and her) dream come true is crushing and puts her in a suicidal state of mine where being taken away from the world by Boogiepop seems like a good option. She receives commenting from a college level instructor that she'll never be a professional and it absolutely crushes her.
  • Akane (episode 9) has made her lifelong dream to become a writer. The very first thing she's recommended? To pursue science. So she burns all her books and buries the idea of becoming a writer forever. Seeing her creations come to life nearly kills her.

---