English Dub Review: Boogiepop and Others “Vs Imaginator 4”

A failed love.

Overview:

Orihata suggests that Masaki become Boogiepop.

Our Take:

I truly feel bad for Orihata/Camile. She is very obviously being used by Spooky E, and is even told outright by him several times. At the same time, she has a very low amount of self-confidence and is most comfortable being ordered around- including giving up her body for the Towa Organization. She says she is under orders to not be hated, but it really feels that she just doesn’t want to be hated by Masaki, because against all odds, she has grown to care for him. Something that was just an assignment became something real.

At the same time, she truly does care for Masaki, and wants to keep him out of harm’s way. Even though he’s involved with her by choice, she knows that just by being around her, she is putting him in danger. She’d love for them to be a couple, and to just have a regular life, but in reality, there’s no way for that to happen.

That is a true shame because Masaki seems to like her for who she is. He is willing to be Boogiepop for her, even though he’s not into the idea. However, he recognizes that it’s something that means a lot to Orihata, and goes along with it. They clearly want to keep spending time together, apart from everything, but this, unfortunately, isn’t a series where that comes very easily. They probably will have to struggle a lot before that can become a reality.

Spooky E, and by extension, Towa, are very against Boogiepop and all that Boogiepop represents. Unknown to Orihata, her asking for Masaki to become a fake Boogiepop actually plays directly into her controllers’ hands, for now, that there is a Boogiepop for them to actually find and kill, leaving a corpse behind, Boogiepop can be defeated. Boogiepop exists mostly as an idea come to life, so ‘killing’ an idea by making the public no longer believe would make sense. In trying to hunt down Boogiepop, Spooky E has realized that finding Imaginator is the best route. It seems that one way or another, finding Imaginator is the quickest way to Boogiepop.

Imaginator’s powers are definitely out there- by pruning people’s desires, it makes them happy, but it also robs them of their personalities. In the wrong hands, this is extremely dangerous, as it can simply be used on any obstacle. A lot is happening at once, and it’s a race to see who catches who.