Manaka’s life before the events of Boogiepop Phantom was marked by loneliness, abuse, and an unremarkable existence. Living with her mentally unstable grandmother, she suffered neglect and violence, culminating in her murder at the hands of the very person meant to care for her.

Her death coincided with the climactic encounter between Boogiepop, Echoes, and the Towa Organization an event that unleashed a transmission of light across the city, a phenomenon that acted as a catalyst for awakening MPLS abilities in various individuals. Manaka, lying dead during the incident, was one of the few to be resurrected by the light, but not without consequence.

Upon revival, she became a being no longer entirely human, her mind fractured and her powers unstable. While she herself is not malicious, the side effects of her presence, including the spontaneous resurfacing of traumatic memories in others, caused widespread confusion, fear, and chaos in the city.

Manaka is a small, fragile-looking girl with pale skin, long straight black hair, and blank, doll-like eyes that reflect her emotional detachment. She typically appears in a white or light-colored dress, which enhances her ethereal, ghost-like presence throughout the series.

She is often seen surrounded by butterflies made of light, symbolic representations of memories or emotional fragments. Her appearance is haunting and otherworldly, making her both mesmerizing and unsettling to those who encounter her.

Manaka’s personality is marked by emotional numbness, detachment, and a dreamlike, cryptic manner of speech. After being revived, she no longer functions within normal human emotional parameters. She speaks in abstract phrases, and her understanding of reality is fragmented, reflecting the broken nature of both her past and her powers.

Despite this, she is not inherently evil or hostile. Manaka simply exists, drawn to others by unconscious impulse rather than intent. However, because her powers force others to relive painful or forgotten experiences, she becomes a source of psychological distress, even if she does not wish harm.

Her status as an Enemy of the World is thus philosophical rather than practical: her existence threatens the stability of identity, memory, and reality.

• Catalyst of Memory
  In Boogiepop Phantom, Manaka wanders the city, her presence causing latent memories, traumas, and desires to surface in the minds of those she encounters. Her butterflies manifestations of her ability trigger flashbacks and emotional breakdowns, forcing characters to confront their unresolved pasts. Each episode features a character indirectly affected by Manaka’s power, and their personal unraveling often leads to revelations, tragedy, or irreversible change. Though she appears only briefly in many of these stories, her influence is omnipresent.

• Perceived Threat
  Because of the unpredictable impact of her powers, Boogiepop identifies Manaka as an Enemy of the World a being whose existence has the potential to destabilize human society. Unlike other enemies, Manaka does not pose a physical or direct threat, but rather a conceptual one, highlighting the series’ unique definition of danger. Boogiepop eventually confronts her, not out of malice, but to restore balance and contain the damage caused by her uncontrolled abilities.