Genres: Horror, Psychological, Supernatural
Plot Summary: A light in the sky, followed by a
strange aura and grisly murders. Each character tells there own
connection to the event and to a similar murder spree 5 years ago.
All of the different stories are slowly tied together by seemingly
minute similarities and the story of Boogiepop is unraveled.
The story centers on several important characters, most of whom are
students from one of two high schools in the city in which the
series takes place. The city (which is never named) was held in
fear by a serial killer five years ago, who was never caught.
Nearly five years later a number of students began to go missing
until a strange light pierced the sky one night, causing a
city-wide blackout. Now one month later, high school students have
just started to disappear again, and the blame is placed by many on
Boogiepop, a mysterious urban legend who is said to be a
Shinigami.
Each episode centers on different characters who sometimes have
just a short involvement in the major events of the series. For
this reason, many scenes are seen twice, from different
perspectives, and some episodes are out of sequence, although there
is a slow general time progression. An unusual visual style is
employed wherein, for all but the last episode,
a much reduced colour palette is used in conjunction with a
vignette effect. The sound design features many varied music genres
from Gregorian to electronic, and even some sounds that appear to
be unique to the show. Through the non-linear style of the series,
the characters are used to develop the central themes of the
series: Change, Escapism, Memory, and Relationships.