First of all let me say that I started watching Boogiepop Phantom totally blind - meaning that I knew nothing about this anime other than it was a dark psychological thriller. I had not read or watched the prequel 'Boogiepop and Others' and so I did not have any background to it or know what to expect.

That being said, let me ask one question - if an anime, or a movie, does not stand up by itself, meaning that it is easily misunderstood and purposefully leads the viewer astray, so much so that the viewer ends up so confused that they cannot actually enjoy said anime properly - does that mean that the anime or movie is not well executed? Does that mean that it is not actually a 'good' anime because its makers tried so hard to be obtuse and mysterious ON PURPOSE, that they actually failed to reach their audience and failed to pass on the original message they wanted to give? If your answer is 'yes', then I think Boogiepop Phantom will disappoint you, since this is exactly what it does.

This anime portrays an episodic disjointed series of events which take place in different timelines, to different characters. What makes it more convoluted is that, unfortunately, the art is not the best, resembling early 90s anime, which means that most of the characters are pretty bland, and resemble one another so much that you actually end up asking yourself whether you already saw that person in a previous episode, or not. All the characters and episodes are tied together by a thin thread. An invisible thread which is, partly, exposed during the last two episodes.

But it is not enough. Many of the plotlines and mysteries remain unresolved and many questions remain unanswered. Although each episode tries to focus on very mature concepts and themes (such as the relationship between parent and child, people's expectations, depression, etc), the plot lacks focus. We do not have the time to follow each character for more than one episode, and so, we do not really get to empathise with or care for any of them, which is why perhaps, most of these themes end up short when it comes to actually touching the viewer in any meaningful way.

Although I was not impressed by the art, I did like the dark muted atmosphere. The oppressive and almost stifling tones used to present the city were a perfect foil for the ennui and sad incompleteness felt by most characters. I also loved how bit by bit, we realize that each one of the stories is a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, and that the actions of one character impacts the lives of others, albeit indirectly.

However, as I said, the biggest downside for me was that not everything gets explained or resolved by the end. And not everything is clear to begin with. If you have to go look up an explanation on the internet to understand an anime, it's like the anime itself is lacking from reaching out to the viewer as it should. Another minus was that the 'main' characters were hardly explored at all. Boogipop Phantom, Manticore, Touka Miyashita, Nagi Kirima - in fact one hardly realizes there are any main characters at all, until the last two episodes.

To conclude - as an atmospheric psychological drama portraying slices of life within the city, Boogiepop Phantom is a good mirror of what is hidden all around us. However as a mystery thriller, it certainly falls short, not only because nothing is clearly explained or actually resolved, but because we are never given the time to invest in any of the characters or situations.