Boogiepop Phantom has always been a series that is difficult to get into. The anime is atmospheric, with the original being a different tone overall from its source material anyway, and the light novels are dense, but good, works of literature. If you liked the Boogiepop Phantom anime, you should know that the light novels are where the heart of the fandom truly lies.
Where To Start The Boogiepop Light Novel After The Anime?
The quick answer if you want to pick up the Boogiepop light novels after both series of anime is to start at Novel 7.
Do note that the anime adaptation skipped Novel 4 completely, so I recommend going back to read that, at least.
Boogiepop Light Novel Read Order
As each Boogiepop light novel has a distinct title, it can make finding “Novel 7,” for example, a bit hard. So here is the complete Boogiepop light novel read order.
- Novel 1 – Boogiepop and Others
- Novel 2 – Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator Part 1
- Novel 3 – Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator Part 2
- Novel 4 – Boogiepop in the Mirror: Pandora (Skipped in 2019 anime)
- Novel 5 – Boogiepop Overdrive: The King of Distortion
- Novel 6 – Boogiepop at Dawn (Prequel to Novel 1, technically)
- Novel 7 – Boogiepop Missing: The Peppermint Wizard (Start here after the 2019 anime)
- Novel 8 – Boogiepop Countdown: Embryo Erosion
- Novel 9 – Boogiepop Wicked: Embryo Eruption
- Novel 10 – Boogiepop Paradox: Heartless Red
- Novel 11 – Boogiepop Unbalance: Holy & Ghost
- Novel 12 – Boogiepop Staccato: Welcome to the Jinx Shop
- Novel 13 – Boogiepop Bounding: Lost Moebius
- Novel 14 – Boogiepop Intolerance: The Ark of Orpheus
- Novel 15 – Boogiepop Question: Silent Pyramid
- Novel 16 – Boogiepop Darkly: The Scat Singing Cat
- Novel 17 – Boogiepop Unknown: Broken Midnight
- Novel 18 – Boogiepop Within: Rust-Covered Babylon
- Novel 19 – Boogiepop Changeling: Dissolving Decadent Black
- Novel 20 – Boogiepop Antithese: Alternative Rebellion of Ego
- Novel 21 – Boogiepop Doubtful: The Divine Act of Rabbit Run
- Novel 22 – Boogiepop Beautiful: The Kingcraft of Panic-Cute
- Novel 23 – Boogiepop Almighty: Dizzy Misses Lizzy
- Novel 24 – Boogiepop in Curse (The latest, but not last light novel)
Is The Boogiepop Light Novel Over?
The Boogiepop light novel series is, surprisingly, still ongoing. Since starting in 1998, it releases rarely. It had a release in 2019 and a the latest light novel released in 2023. So, there’s a bit of a gap there.
Where To Start The Boogiepop Manga After The Anime?
While Boogiepop has a few manga series, it actually only truly adapts the first arc of the light novel – which is what the 2019 anime adapts. So while you can read the anime story in the Boogiepop Never Laughs manga and its sequel, Boogie Pop Never Laughs: VS Imaginator, you won’t get any new story. In fact, the manga seems more like a marketing tool than any sort of dedicated project.
As for the Boogiepop Dual manga, that is a manga-original tale.
What to Expect From The Boogiepop Source Material Compared to The Anime?
It is universally agreed that Boogiepop doesn’t work as an anime. Even the creators of the original Boogiepop Phantom (2000) anime had the realization that the adaptation wouldn’t work, so they made their own original, self-contained story that took on a different tone than the literature.
Boogiepop Never Laughs (2019), however, was an adaptation, and not a well-received one by the light novel fanbase – at first, anyway. They moved at too quick in pace at the beginning and skipped too much. However, what the anime adapted later in the series was pretty good. Regardless, the entire anime was pretty abridged, and it is recommended to read this critically-acclaimed light novel series from the beginning.
Will There Be A Boogiepop Season 2?
Given that it was rebooted in 2019 after so long without another try at anime, you might feel encouraged that you will get more Boogiepop anime someday. While that may be true, the 2019 and was actually made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the light novels. As such, it seems unlikely that there are further plans for another anime series.
