After a mysterious column of light rises over a city in Japan, strange things begin occurring: a rash of serial killings and suicides, kids developing weird powers, and the appearance of the Angel of Death as "Boogiepop Phantom." Based on the novels of Kohei Kadono, this gothic sci-fi adventure apes the visual style of "Serial Experiments Lain", but its fragmented story is both confused and confusing. There are lots of grisly visuals: one boy sees "spiders" on people's hearts, captures them, and devours them; a child dressed as the Pied Piper lures unhappy teenagers into killing themselves; a disappointed musician slashes her wrists at the piano. But there's little coherent plot to support these events. The weird manifestations are the product of biomedical experiments into the future of human evolution and a mysterious creature referred to as "the Manticore." The hokey dialogue panders to teen-age angst with such self-conscious pseudo-profundities as "Why are we all alive? We all die." Director Takashi Watanabe abandons the rollicking comedy of "Slayers" for derivative monochromatic artwork, sepia-toned imagery (often so dark it's difficult to see what's going on), processed live-action footage and actions repeated four or five times in a single episode. As the fragmented story stumbles along to its indecisive conclusion, the flashy editing and artsy visuals become more and more about less and less. (Rated 15 and older: considerable violence, grotesque imagery, minor profanity) "--Charles Solomon"