Perfect Blue

sothis Nov 25, 2004

8

StorySet in present day (some years ago, of course), Mima is a well-loved pop idol who loves singing in Cham, a somewhat-unknown singing group who still manage to have a great deal of admirers -- as well as an expected amount of fanboy stalkers. In a career move that stumps all who know her, Mima decides to become an actress, leaving her idol lifestyle behind -- and thus the downward spiral begins. With newfound fame comes obsession, and Mimirun seems to have acquired her own dangerous stalker set on convincing her to return to her old role. With death threats, letter bombs, and a website that details every aspect of her life (told by someone claiming to be her), could this obsession become deadly? While a thriller at heart, Perfect Blue also is very highly centered around character development and general paranoia, which makes for an interesting ride. In the beginning it feels like you are just watching a case of a stalker-gone-bad, but as the story progresses, the actual focus of the story becomes far more confusing and complex. We see things through the eyes and mind of Mima, and watch not only what is actually happening, but her own perceptions of what is happening, which sometimes is conflicting to say the least. I can't say much without spoiling, so I'll just say that the ending will surprise you, and you'll encounter a great deal of twists and turns along the way. Something worth mentioning is that there are some fairly extreme scenes in the movie, including an acted-out rape scene (as she's an actress, and all). Regardless of if it was supposed to be fake, as a female, watching any rape in any capacity tends to make me feel uncomfortable and slightly ill. There are several very violent scenes as well, due to the nature of the movie in the first place. AnimationThe animation definitely was not a strong point of the film, though it admittedly isn't very new. Honestly, I don't mind older looking animation, but Perfect Blue had a fairly major flaw -- the character designs. Some of the characters looked totally normal, looking like they are from the 80s, but still normal. Others, such as Rumi or the creepy stalker guy, just looked physically wrong. Remember Sloth from The Goonies? I'm talking wrong like that. The eyes were on extreme opposite sides of the head, giving a fish-like and creepy appearance. Rumi looked simply grotesque most of the time, with her body and head shape just looking... wrong. I can't think of a better word to use than that. The stalker guy looked like he wasn't human, but rather was some form of brain-eating zombie. Yes, this was done for the effect, but it was a little overdone and didn't even seem realistic anymore. One plus to the character designs was Mima, whose appearance did mirror her emotional state at various points in the movie. Colors used were very washed out and boring, but one plus was that the violent scenes and scenes with blood did end up being a bit more vibrant and interesting. Motion and such was not always very fluid. No CG or other special effects were in the movie (that I noticed, at least). SoundThe music was quite good. One of the tracks sounded very much like it belonged in Ghost in the Shell, and the rest were eerie, moody, and fit perfectly. Cham's songs were occasionally played, which helped with the psychotic feeling of some of the scenes (you'll know what I mean when you see it) perfectly. In general, the music really helped out with the suspense. Voices were good for everyone involved, especially Mimi. CharactersIf anything shone in this movie, it was the characters and their development. For most of the secondary characters, we don't see them develop per se, but we do learn things about them throughout the course of the movie that are both shocking and surprising. The star of the show was definitely Mima, and it's her transformation that is the most compelling and chilling. Mima, in the beginning of the movie, is a successful pop idol. She's doing something she loves, has plenty of fans, and is having fun in life. Then she decides to become an actor and things go steadily downhill from there, affecting not only her life and friends, but her mental state as well. It's not so often that I watch something where the main character makes me feel such empathy for her downfall, especially considering how violent and messed up certain scenes are. OverallPerfect Blue is an engaging thriller that will keep you guessing till the very end. The poor animation is complemented by a truly demented story and a wonderful amount of character development. The true test of any anime is if it's original, and Perfect Blue definitely is. Looking for something that will challenge your mind that isn't the usual fantasy tale, fighting fanboy flick or magical girl series? Perfect Blue just might be for you...

thor123 Jan 25, 2016

9.5

Perfect Blue is an anime movie that has been on my “want to watch” list for ages, but now I finally got around to watching it*. And right now, I want to punch my past self in the face and tell him to watch this asap. You should do it too. Story and characters “When popular pop idol Mima decided to retire from her group, Cham, and become an actress, she had no idea that one person's obsession would soon spiral out of control. With death threats, letter bombs and a forged website which details her every move, Mima finds herself slowly becoming trapped in a nightmare she can't seem to escape. With murders piling up and her mental state slowly degrading, can she discover who the culprit is, before she becomes the next victim?” With this pretty simplistic set-up, Perfect Blue delivers a great 80-minute ride. There is suspense throughout the movie, even if the solution to the « mystery » of who the killer is has a seemingly obvious answer. It doesn’t matter if you know or think you know it, because this isn’t some whodunnit. No, this is a psychological thriller, meaning the most important thigs are a suspenseful atmosphere, and an emphasis on the psyche or mental state of the characters. And this movie shines in both parts. As a thriller, it’s great because it manages to create an atmosphere of excitement, suspense, anticipation of coming events. It keeps you on edge, eager to see the next event. This is executed perfectly in this movie: creepy moments are creepy, uncomfortable moments are uncomfortable, and reveals reveal things. I might be stating the obvious here, but bad execution could screw those things up, so  I guess I just want to say: it’s a good thriller. As for the psychological part in “psychological thriller”: this is executed even better. A main character that gets fleshed out well, who has mental problems, and the delusions she gets because of this. Because of how the movie is presented, the line between illusion and reality becomes a blur. Kind of like what happens in movies like Fight Club, Vertigo or Shutter Island, among many others. Reality doesn’t always have to be real, right? Even after the end of the movie, the blur remains in some parts. I watched this movie twice in two days, and there are still parts where I can say that multiple interpretations are possible. It should be noted that this is NOT a bad point, nor are those ambiguous things “plot holes”. These moments are meant to make you think about the characters, about what they were thinking, feeling, and doing at that time. This works for all the important characters, which is why I rate the characters so highly too: they shone throughout the entire movie. Animation and artwork Going by the info I found elsewhere, Perfect Blue was originally meant to become a live-action movie, but because sponsors cancelling that idea was cancelled. It was then decided to make it an OVA series, but ended up becoming a movie. Why do I tell you this? Well, to explain the animation problems which are mainly seen in the first 10 minutes. Clunky movements and bodies that get shaken up and down while talking are some of the main problems in this timeframe, but after a while the animation gets a bit better. It’s still old and not the best even for it’s age though. As for the artwork… overall it’s ok, although not too special. There are, however, some character designs that are off-putting. Why they would put eyes so far apart to get fish-faces is beyond me, but it makes Rumi, Me-mania and the photographer really annoying to look at. Sound Although the soundtrack isn’t the most memorable, it did it’s job of enhancing the tense atmosphere. The contrast between the “suspense” music and the catchy pop-songs also worked well to strengthen the atmosphere. Voice acting was good overall, although I found Me-mania’s voice unfitting for the character. Just my opinion though, and I don’t see anyone else complaining about it. Maybe I’m just weird… Overall Perfect Blue is a great psychological thriller, which you shouldn’t just watch once. Watch it twice, or as many times as you need or want to. I'm giving this an overall score of 9.5/10, because all those small "problems" seem oh so minor when compared to the big picture. Meaning this is my second 5-star rating for anime out of over 200 titles. Definitely a recommended watch! *I finally got around to watching this thanks to the Daily Anime Marathon Club!

ThatAnimeSnob Jul 23, 2012

8

This is the debut work of the now late Satoshi Kon, and straight away he proved how talented he is in making quality anime. Combined with the huge budgets by such as Madhouse, the king of anime studios, the result was more than great. It is a great psychological thriller and shows well how fame makes you marry a role from which you cannot get a divorce without challenging you mental health. What I liked about Satoshi’s style is how he is constantly criticizing the society his characters live in. Instead of going for the easy way out and offering fan catering and escapism (aka what almost every anime does these days) he instead went the other way and went preachy about the modern way of Japan. And he wasn’t too “in your face” while doing that, so it was a great overall. In this movie for example he delves into the dark side of the pop idol industry, which all other anime are presenting to be all fun and games. Ok, perhaps some exceptions include Looking for the Full Moon and Key the Metal Idol but all anime in general present them in the same way Hollywood tries to deify its actors and singers. Yet it is easy to see how most of them are behind the scenes up to the knee in drugs, sex scandals, and death threats, thus you get this movie trying to get into those issues.The protagonist is quite the good girl but because of the pressure of her line of work she leaves her very popular music band to become a solo actress. This is seen very negatively by her fans who do the usual stupid things all fans do. Things get even messier when her new colleagues in the movie industry are killed one after another, while someone pretends to be updating her online blog. Thus it appears that a lunatic stalker turned to a killer and is out to destroy her for betraying her love to him. There are some really disturbing truths and facts in the film, such as showing how an angelic figure of a teen idol is eventually led to do pornography if she needs to keep her line of work and not be kicked out in the streets. There is also the mentality of the audience who expect to see her being sexualized as well as the fanatic followers who refuse to allow their favourite idols to mature or adjust to the passing of time. What makes it so great though is how everything is so blurred and confusing. You have no idea half the time if something is reality, a dream, or perhaps a hallucination. Is the rape scene real, an act, or real that her mind made her believe it was an act? Was she really waking up from her bed or was it all a nightmare? And what the hell what that bizarre chase in the end where she is hunted by a shape shifter? All that can of course be excused as mind tricks caused by her stress or even flashy cinematics for the sake of making a blunt story to look more interesting. It still looks gorgeous, has amazing production values for its time, professional directing, and leaves food for the mind without directly bombarding you with morality speeches.Now, I have heard lots of people who didn’t like the movie at all, saying it was slow, the stalker was a magician, the ending was rushed, or that its themes are commonplace in all psychological thrillers. Although all that stand true up to a point, the truth is not many films have managed to combine said elements in order to create this surreal result. Some can say live action movies such as Citizen Kane or Black Swan did a much better job but when it comes to the anime medium it just stands out from the lot. There aren’t many titles that manage to be really creepy and unsettling as Perfect Blue, and this alone is what makes it a worthy addition to anyone’s collection.