I enjoyed the light novel Boogiepop and Others, and decided to pick up the two-volume manga prequel. Got this from Better World Books. (See also the live-action film Boogiepop and Others; it's well done and very creepy. I admit I preferred the anime series, but the film was quite powerful too.)

This volume opens with a boy stumbling across a disturbing scene - there's a dead schoolgirl on the floor, and another girl, naked, licking her body... From there the story jumps around between character-viewpoints, and touches on many occurrences that at first seem quite unconnected. There's the mysterious Boogiepop in long coat and strange hat, who appears to console the weeping, bloodied stranger whom everyone else has been ignoring; there's a rash of missing students; rumors of a strange new drug; a powerful being called Manticore; and the mystery behind the silent Echoes (the weeping stranger). I found that it took me several readings/viewings of the various source material to be able to put the story together, but it was fascinating to watch even when I wasn't clear as to what was going on!

There's bonus material here that is quite informative.

[The TV Tropes page for the series has some interesting and entertaining info; it did help a bit in figuring out what the main storyline was!]

I plan to drop this off at the book-swap shelves in the park-and-ride terminal at around 2:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released as part of the 2014 D for December release challenge. ***

*** Released as part of the 2014 Movie release challenge. ***