Boogiepop Phantom Evolution 3 (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-2 min Promotion Featurette-Special Edit Ending Featurette-Evolution 1-6 Promotion Trailer-Cowboy Bebop;Evangelion Death & Rebirth;Lain;Rurouni Kenshin Audio Commentary DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	71:58 (Case: 85)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Takashi Watanabe
Studio Distributor	The Right Stuf Int. Madman Entertainment	Starring	Kaori Shimizu Yu Asakawa Mayumi Asano Jun Fukuyama Kazuo Konta
Case	Click
RPI	$34.95	Music	Yota Tsuruoka

    Boogiepop Phantom is a Japanese animated series that features a number of supernatural elements and an unusual story structure.

    The series opens with a strange column of light appearing in the city and causing a widespread blackout. Five years ago a serial killer was terrorizing the community but they suddenly stopped for no apparent reason. Unhappy students from the cities local high schools are disappearing without a trace and objects are rusting quickly. All these events are somehow connected and a few people believe that Boogiepop the angel of death, who is commonly regarded as an urban legend, may be involved.

    This twelve part series uses an unusual story structure that may initially confuse some viewers. The story is based around a series of related events that take place over approximately five years. During each episode these events are examined from a different person's perspective and often utilize a very non-linear time line with numerous flashbacks and an occasional flash forward. To help the viewer keep track of the jumps in the timeline each major scene change is clearly marked but the actual dates of the events are not provided. Luckily, providing the viewer is aware of the jumps in the timeline, keeping track of these events does not pose any significant problem.

    This disc contains the following three episodes. I have included a very short description for each but, as these may contain some minor spoilers, you may wish to skip directly to the Transfer Quality section.

until ure in my arms again
    Mamaro is convinced that he must rid the world of all the useless things. When younger he was quite close to his little sister but after being let down by his father he has isolated himself from others. Since the appearance of a strange light in the night sky Mamaro has begun to exhibit a range of unusual powers.

she's so unusual
    Kishida is a writer for a magazine and he is researching an article about the author Seiichi Kirima. When Kishida travels to the city he meets Seiichi's daughter Nagi, and follows her as she continues her personal fight against the Manticore. During their travels the two come face-to-face with Boogiepop Phantom.

you'll never be young twice
    Saki is a high school student who has devoted her life to becoming a professional pianist. Her parents have sacrificed their time as well as financial rewards to help prepare her for entrance to university. Unfortunately Saki's tutor does not believe she has the talent to continue with her chosen career. When travelling home Saki meets an unusual boy in the park, and he offers to be her friend.

Video

    The transfer is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

    The transfer displays a very unusual image that has a vignette filter applied to it at all times. This results in the outer edges and corners of the image appearing slightly darker and softer than the centre of the frame. The image always appears quite soft and has obvious intentional low level noise present during many scenes. During the numerous dark scenes varying levels of shadow detail may be seen. During some scenes significant information may be seen in the dark portions of the image but in other scenes the dark areas reveal almost no information. All of these variations in image quality are part of the unusual original animation design and are consequently not a problem.

    The transfer displays a significantly reduced colour palette that features a heavy reliance upon greys, browns, and yellows, and all these colours are constantly quite muted. This palette design is an intentional part of the original animation design.

    Two very minor posterization artefacts may be seen at 14:14 and 40:49 but these only occur during a single shot and are not annoying.

    Two very minor aliasing artefacts may be seen at 5:03 and 44:57; both these artefacts are very minor and are never irritating.

    A very small number of film artefacts may be seen. You can see some examples of these at 4:45, 8:44, 9:38 and 17:25. All of these are very minor and never distracting.

    During the eye catchers (that originally lead into, and out of, advertising breaks on television), small NTSC to PAL conversion artefacts may be seen around the Boogiepop logo in the bottom right section of the frame. These artefacts only last for a short period of time and are only minimally disturbing.

    A single set of English subtitles are included on this disc. These subtitles are primarily yellow, but during some scenes, when multiple characters are speaking concurrently, a white set of subtitles is used to differentiate the speakers. The subtitles are always clear and easy to read. At a number of points non-removable white English subtitles are used to translate Japanese text on signs and books. A set of yellow English and white Romaji subtitles are provided for the opening and closing music sequences for each episode. No subtitles are provided for the short episode previews that appear at the end of each episode.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand. The English track sound design has been slightly changed to help emphasize the differences between the characters' internal thoughts and general dialogue. Pleasantly there is only very minimal differences between the dialogue in the English and Japanese tracks.

    As this is an animated feature there are the expected obvious problems with audio sync for each soundtrack. No dropouts were detected during the transfer.

    The effective original score by Yota Tsuruoka varies considerably ranging from instrumental segments to experimental electronica. Surprisingly, these sound choices work extremely well and always seem to suit the on screen action.

    During the English soundtrack the surround and subwoofer channels are used extensively and they provide an extremely enveloping soundstage.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The minimally animated menu is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Two Minute Promotion (2:00)

    This is a short video for the television release of the series. It is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. A set of non-removable white English subtitles are also provided.

Special Edit Ending (1:05)

    This is a music video of the closing theme 'Future Century Aki Club' for the series. It is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, and non-removable white English and yellow Romaji subtitles.

Evolution 1-6 Promotion (0:33)

    This is a television advertisement for the Japanese VHS, DVD and laserdisc release of the series. It is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack and non removable yellow Japanese subtitles.

Audio Commentary

    This scene-specific feature-length commentary is presented by Jeff Thompson from The Right Stuf International, and Rachel Lillis, the English voice of Manaka. In this commentary they discuss the plot and help to explain the action on screen. During the track they reveal a number of spoilers for the show and due to this it would be recommended that viewers do not listen to this track before watching the entire series. This track is presented as a Dolby Digital 112 kbps 1.0 track and includes the original audio mix in the background.

Trailer: Cowboy Bebop (1:29)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Evangelion Death and Rebirth (1:38)

    This trailer is presented with a Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and it is not 16x9 enhanced.

Trailer: Lain (0:30)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with an effects based Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Rurouni Kenshin (1:30)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

    The Region 1 and Region 4 versions of this appear to be identical and I therefore would have no preference for either version.

    Boogiepop Phantom is an intriguing series that should appeal to any fans of supernatural anime.

    The video transfer accurately reproduces the unusual original animation design.

    The audio transfer helps to capture the stunning original sound design that is displayed during both the Japanese and English soundtracks.

    The extras included provide some interesting insight into the series, but viewers should be aware that the commentary track does contain a number of spoilers.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall