2. Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator (part 1)

What a long title this book has.

Once again, I’m not one for the manga-based novels, but I do like these.  The main problem I had with the first one, that there were too many characters to follow, disappears here.  There are really only… 6 or so main characters, and instead of each chapter focusing on a different one, the chapters go between two or three main groups.  Suema and Boogiepop is one group (though Boogiepop isn’t really a “focus”, it just appears along with its girl host in several chapters), and another is a boy who just winds up being a third party.  Much of the focus of the novel is on Nagi’s brother and his girlfriend, and an art instructor and the Imaginator.  Forgive me, I don’t remember their names very well, but rest assured it wasn’t nearly as confusing as the first one.

The plot is kind of split though, which isn’t as bad as it sounds.   The main focus of the book seems at the beginning to be on the Imaginator, and the art instructor its using as its go guy.  This seems to be Boogiepop’s main mission, to defeat the Imaginator.  However, we don’t really find out what the Imaginator’s mission is, and we don’t really know what its doing to interfere with humans other than the art instructor seems to randomly kill (?) some students.  We don’t even really find out what he’s doing, though.  The actual focus in this book is on another seemingly evil organization run by Spooky E.  Spooky E seems to be making robots out of school-age kids, though again, for what purpose is never really stated.  Nagi’s brother is dating one such robot, who is in conflict because she really does love Nagi’s brother and isn’t supposed to.  They go on a campaign to find Boogiepop that includes mimicking its method of vigilante justice.

I prefer the Spooky E conflict myself, mostly because that’s what we found out about here and I liked the pairing of Nagi’s brother and “Camille” (the girl’s codename, since I can’t remember her real one).  There are hints that their bond will be sundered, which is a very sad thought for me.  I actually really liked the art instructor as well until he turned into an evil creepy.  Suema isn’t my favorite character in the world though, and I’m kind of sad to see that she’s putting in another appearance, but she’s not a bad character, and she seems to be serving a pretty good purpose so far.

For not knowing much about either of the two plots, quite a lot happens, and I wasn’t too annoyed that not much was revealed.  Presumably, everything will wrap up in the second half of the Imaginator story, and as this book left things, the second half should be pretty epic.

About the only things I didn’t like were minor nitpicks.  The story once again gets kind of philosophical, and Suema brings Kirima’s writing into the fray again, which never makes any sense to me in any situation it’s applied in.  And once again, the writing seems kind of advance for the age level this book is aimed at (I presume middle-grade/early high school age), though the writing style does set a mood I can’t imagine the story without, and I certainly enjoyed it.

And of course, the trademark “fit the pieces together” gimmick of the series is present.  Not only do the pieces fall into place from this story, there are also some head-slapping moments that tie the first book in subtly, too.