Boogiepop wa Warawanai was a very intriguing series which made ample use of its two brief volumes to tell a unique tale full of surprising twists, interesting psychological musings, and unpredictable occurrences. The romance was ever-present, but while not being a big fan of school-kid love stories, I was very taken with how each and every romantic entanglement served an important purpose in the overall plot.

I was expecting much the same from Boogiepop Dual, but soon realized that I was completely mistaken. This is nothing like the original; in fact, it's little more than a cliché high school romance with a supernatural twist to it. I can't even believe the story was written by the same person -- because it feels more like a loose adaptation by a novice author than a spin-off penned by the creator of the aptly popular Boogiepop novel series.

If you liked the original manga and novels or are a fan of the anime, don't waste your time with these two volumes; believe me, you aren't missing a thing.

... Last updated on January 21st, 2012, 7:10am

The characters are kinda interesting and the character interactions are really engaging. The art really delivers in fleshing out their tensions, their thoughts, their inner and outer conflicts, etc., etc. Though at times, I felt like there were far certain things lacking in the characterization: besides the bare minimum, there wasn't much to the characters at all. In fact, I felt as though most of the plot revolved around Boogiepop and the main storyline. But then again, it's a 2 volume manga after all. Yet I do wish there had been more to actually and really flesh them out. Because by the time the story ended, I just didn't get the point of the villain's existence, except to err... add more details to Boogiepop's existence, I suppose.

About the story: it is also kind of interesting and leads to many questions about Boogiepop and his/her existence. Yet at times, it seems seriously disjointed without narration or some other sort of plot device to really steer the story. Characters sometimes say things that supposedly refer to "certain moments" out of nowhere and sometimes, random scenes pop up into the story without much foreshadowing or anything else to connect the scenes. Experimentation is all and well but when it kinda disrupts or cheapens the story, I can't really buy into that.

... Last updated on April 16th, 2010, 12:47pm

As the poster below has already pointed out, this is distinctly different from the rest of the Boogiepop franchise. However, it still has the same author, and the storytelling remains deft and engrossing, albeit in a totally different way. Boogiepop Dual is much more of a drama than its compatriots, and is more driven by emotional- rather than psychological- depth as a result.

If I were to compare this to the anime and novels, I would be forced to say that I'm disappointed as reading this is a totally different experience. But as a standalone story this is very good. It's moving, enthralling, and just a little bit tragic. The characters may not be the most realistic in the franchise, but they all have strong development and make decisions well within their established personalities. Capping that all off, we have sleek art by Takano Masayuki of Blood Alone fame, which is always pleasing to the eye.

This is worth a read, whether you're a fan of Boogiepop or not.

This manga's story is completely unrelated to the Boogiepop franchise of the novels, the Boogiepop Doesn't Laugh manga and the Boogiepop Phantom anime. ...and it shows. The story is a bit more linear (which might be a bad/good thing, depending on your opinion on that sort of thing) and lacking the depth of the series as a whole. However, this manga was a bit more sentimental and emotional than the other manga and the anime were.

All-in-all, I'd say it's worth a read if you're a fan of Boogiepop... and maybe even if you're not. Just don't base the entire franchise of novels/manga/anime on this manga - as it really has little in common with it, aside from the Boogiepop character, himself.

... Last updated on August 7th, 2007, 2:13pm