I think this sort of fantasy story works because Boogiepop itself links back in some way to reality. The idea of Boogiepop is pretty similar to the human body’s autoimmune system and how it fights off diseases. Your mind can easily accept Boogiepop’s existence since it already has a prior reference point to work off of. The individual narratives in Others are good but the plot itself isn’t great. The Manticore feels like a derivative idea. The fight between the Manticore and Boogiepop’s allies is exciting enough, and I like the bit of foreshadowing with the boy who’s good at archery, but its not as engagingas the parts where the characters were just talking to each other and living their lives. Because Manticore is an existence that feels disconnected from reality, it feels like its of arbitrary/forced importance, and all the characters involved directly with the Manticore suffer from that same unreal disconnect.

This criticism applies to basically all of the novels in the Boogiepop series. Characters are likeable, but the supernatural elements are literally unbelievable.