3 Reasons Why Boogiepop wa Warawanai Episode 1 was So Confusing

Hello everyone and welcome to our place!

Boogiepop wa Warawanai just aired yesterday and, of course, I had to watch it right away. It’s not always that we are presented with an Anime which has the tags mysterious and psychological. I love mysterious and psychological, so I was pretty stoked about this one.

I know Boogiepop is an adaptation from an older Anime, Boogiepop Phantom, which means that people who have watched the original will understand better what the hell is happening. But, for someone who just ended up across this work and decided to give it a try, the first episode ends up to be a little bit over the place.

Do not take me wrong though. I understand what was the objective and what the creators were going for. The main purpose of episode 1 is to introduce Boogiepop as also bring some intriguing rumors/images to make us interested in knowing more. Now, if the viewers actually feel it’s intriguing instead of confusing, well that’s another story. For the ones who don’t know anything about what I’m talking about, here’s the MAL Synopsis.

The actual Anime seems to be in the average bar. The animation is nothing breathtaking and, although I understand why they decided to use a character design a little more mature, it really doesn’t feel that great. When it comes to the score, I would say it’s below average. It’s not the score is bad, but there were times where the music just stopped abruptly and felt odd. But, let’s get to the reasons why Boogiepop confused me.

1. The Pace

The pace of the first episode is all over the place. First of all, it’s probably the first Anime where 2 characters meet each other, have no deep interactions and call themselves friends by the end of it. In fact, during the episode, it just seems that a couple days have passed and in those couple of days is not like our characters were with each other 24 hours a day. They meet from time to time and it’s most quick interactions with no deep meaning. So, it just feels odd for them to see themselves as friends by the end of it.

But, that’s not the end of it. Boogiepop says that she has appeared because of some kind of trouble happening in the school. However, she ends up going away without actually have done nothing by the end of it. In my opinion, this last one is a hint and I’ll explain it a little further down below. But, if you are just watching the Anime for the sake of watching it and not thinking about writing a post afterward it comes out a confusing.

Then we have this change of plot where there are some scenes which are about another girl in the school and it’s a parallel story. I will speak about it further down below. However, dropping a character’s name in the middle of the episode before that character even has appeared in such a suave note just makes you wonder who the hell they are talking about and ask yourself if you missed something.

2. The Parallel Story

I believe this is not something that someone would notice right away. However, while our main male character, Takeda, is trying to understand who or what is Boogiepop, there is actually a parallel story in motion. The story of Kirima Nagi.

Kirima Nagi is a character who only appears by the end of the episode. However, in the middle of it, we are able to see some girls asking Kazuko Suema, the murderer profiling specialist of the class if she thinks Nagi is a murderer.

Trying to start 2 stories in the first episode, especially how it was done, is pretty confusing. The idea is just to show some rumors and whatnot, something normal when it comes to mysterious pieces. However, at this point, it is still too early for the viewer to even think about what will happen in the future. I mean, we are still trying to understand what the hell is happening right now.

Nevertheless, after Nagi appeared at the end of the episode I understood the meaning behind it. As I told you before, Boogiepop goes away at the end of the episode telling us that she didn’t have to do anything and that the problem was solved. A little after that, Touka Miyashita, the girl who Boogiepop possessed (or something like that) happens to meet Nagi. That meeting has to mean something. If not, there was no reason for that to happen.

So, this is my idea by taking into account the rumors and this last meeting, I believe Nagi was the one who killed the guy who was murdering HighSchool girls. I don’t know if she is also possessed by something like Boogiepop, or if she is just an angel of justice who will defend the school/city/humanity from the evil surrounding it.

3. The Male Main Character Behavior

Maybe it’s just me, but if one day my boyfriend stopped to answer my texts and some minutes later found it in the middle of the street dressed in a strange way trying to help some miserable guy, I would freak out. But not Takeda! Takeda takes it pretty calmly which is a little bit confusing.

Basically, when he gets to know that her girlfriend is now Boogiepop, he calmly goes to the library to read books about multiple personality disorder. Then, when he discovers that Boogiepop is actually something possessing his girlfriend, he still does not flinch. I mean, that guy is made of iron! The funniest thing is how he ends up showing a little bit of sadness when Boogiepop is saying that she is going to go away (which means that his girlfriend will regain consciousness of her body).

As a character, he is just way too confusing for me. Shouldn’t he be a little more freaked out with what is happening with his girlfriend? Even if doesn’t show that, shouldn’t he be at least happy that her girlfriend is coming back to herself by the end of the episode? I mean, pursuing criminals is not really that safe, is it?

So, yeah, I would say that Takeda is kind of a mess… And, not a good one.

Conclusion

In the end, Boogiepop wa Warawanai premise does seem promising. I also liked the quick frames where you can see the girls dying. It gave me that Persona 4 vibe. However, the first episode was kind of a mess and confusing. I will continue to watch this, at least until episode 3 so I can do a First Impressions post about the Anime. So, let’s hope they are able to keep things together next episode.

What about you? Did you watch the first episode? What do you think about it? Tell me all in the comments 😉