Boogiepop and Others Episode 10 Review: Boogiepop at Dawn 1

In case you were wondering how Boogiepop got her name in the first place, this week’s episode of Boogiepop wa Warawanai, will sort it out for you. A new arc begins and I must say I am pleasantly surprised by how well done, detailed, and linear everything was in this episode.

Plot

In a place that looks like it’s not part of this world (maybe it is somewhere in space), Boogiepop is talking with Echoes and he asks her how she got her name, which makes her tell the story of someone called the Scarecrow. He is a synthetic human named Kuroda aka Scarecrow, that works as a detective that has been sent out by Towa Organization to investigate a guy named Teratsuki Kyouichirou and try to track down any MPLS, which seems to be humans with evolving abilities. His investigation leads him to a hospital where he meets a young girl, Kirima Nagi, who tells him that she has some sort of rare disease that causes her pain all over her body but the doctors have no explanation for it and just think it’s part of her body growing. Soon he realizes that she is an MPLS and decides to help her out, so he sneaks in one of Towa’s facilities and steals a medicine that would hopefully cure her. As he goes to deliver her the medicine, he is tracked down by another member of Towa and after a wild chase, he is fatally wounded. Before leaving his last breath, Boogiepop shows up, and after a long conversation, she asks him if he would be able to return back to life.

Episode Highlights

Towa Organization: So we finally get some more insights as to what exactly they are experimenting on and why they created Synthetic Humans. It’s an organization that tracks down human intelligence and researches evolution. They created synthetic humans to see if humanity can evolve by enhancing their abilities and making them well – superhuman. I don’t really know what MPLS stands for but it probably has to do with people that showcase symptoms of this evolution. The question here is: did they present them by themselves or did Towa experimented with the whole town and are trying to see if anyone is having a positive effect for them, in this case, Kirima Nagi?

Synthetic Humans in action: The hospital and chase scenes were remarkable. The fluidity of the animation in all the action scenes of Boogiepop wa Warawanai is worth mentioning in general but this once was especially great. The way the characters run on the street lights, their movements, the lightning and directing, the sound effects, everything was just really good.

Themes & Trivia

Scarecrow has changed a lot throughout the years: If you have been following the series from its early steps you might have noticed that the character looks nothing like the original. In the novels he was illustrated like this, in the older anime Boogiepop Phantom like this, and in Boogiepop Warawanai like this. I have to say I think that his latest design is much better than any of the previous ones, it really gives the character the edge and the attitude that was necessary.

Comments

Towa Organization is very particular with the names they come up with for their synthetic humans. They are trying to hint things about each character but some of them are particularly intriguing: Spooky E who was creepy and used electrical powers hence his name, Scarecrow was a detective who ‘kept the crowns away’, Pigeon who is probably the one going around giving the orders and missions to everyone, but I think Camille is the most interesting one. After looking it up online I found the following: ‘Camille ultimately originates as the feminine of camillus, a term for a youth serving as acolyte in the ritual of ancient Roman religion, which may ultimately be of Etruscan origin’. Well, well, isn’t that interesting?

Also, I want that shot of Boogiepop acting as a scarecrow for my home screen, it looks so cool and her animation was really well done during that scene, as well as the sound effects for her bells and metallic things that she is carrying around.

Be her friend

Naoko really tried to be her friend and look what he got himself into! I am quite sure that we will get to see more of Scarecrow in the next few episodes as well as Boogiepop, so I am super excited to watch this arc to its completion on the same day!

NEXT TIME: Boogiepop at Dawn 2