Animation

Thriller

PERFECT BLUE

Madhouse

Rex Entertainment

Kotobuki Seihan Printing

Asahi Broadcasting Corporation

Fangs

ONIRO

Japan

日本語

Perfect Blue

Junko Iwao

Rica Matsumoto

Shiho Niiyama

Masaaki Okura

Shinpachi Tsuji

Emiko Furukawa

Yosuke Akimoto

Yoku Shioya

Hideyuki Hori

Emi Shinohara

Masashi Ebara

Kiyoyuki Yanada

Toru Furusawa

Teiya Ichiryusai

Shin-ichiro Miki

Megumi Tano

Emi Motoi

Akio Suyama

Osamu Hosoi

Koichi Tochika

Soichiro Hoshi

Kisho Taniyama

Shokkâ Ôno

Rofuto Purasu Wan Burazâzu

Makoto Kitano

Kaori Minami

Jin Yamanoi

Takashi Nagasako

Satoshi Kon

Sadayuki Murai

Harutoshi Ogata

Hisao Shirai

Hiroaki Inoue

Hideki Futamura

Hisashi Eguchi

Mamoru Kurosawa

Hidenori Matsubara

Hiroshi Hamasaki

Kouichi Arai

Makoto Koga

Masaharu Tada

Morifumi Naka

Kumiko Kawana

Yoshihiro Kitano

Hiroyuki Morita

Katsuichi Nakayama

Michiyo Suzuki

Mitsuo Iso

Nobumasa Shinkawa

Hikaru Takanashi

Makoto Yamada

Shinji Hashimoto

Kunio Takahide

Masahiro Kurio

Shinya Takahashi

Takaaki Yamashita

Takeshi Honda

Shigeru Fujita

Takuo Noda

Hideki Hamasu

Toshiya Niidome

Hitoshi Haga

Masaaki Hori

Sachiko Kato

Hitomi Nakagaki

Masafumi Mima

Masao Maruyama

Yoshihisa Ishihara

Yuichi Tsurumi

Koshiro Kanda

Yutaka Togo

Ken Washiya

Nobutaka Ike

Nizou Yamamoto

Kei Wakakusa

Shizuo Kurahashi

Satoshi Hashimoto

Shinichi Uehara

Kaoru Inoda

Hisashi Ikeda

Ryo Kono

Masayoshi Banno

Masaru Oota

Park Yong-Il

Kim Chul-kyu

Hiroshi Washizaki

Junichi Taniguchi

Kazusuke Yoshihara

Yuji Ikeda

Sachiko Sanada

Tetsuo Ofuji

Motoaki Ikegami

Katsunori Maebara

Youichi Kuroda

Hiroshi Noguchi

Shinji Ikegami

Naohisa Haishima

Takashi Shimada

Toshikazu Hisano

Koichi Furusawa

Shoji Yazawa

Kanae Hirano

Kazumi Miyata

Masafumi Awakura

Tomohiro Nishiyama

Norikazu Yamaguchi

Yuki Katsuta

Kumiko Idei

Masahiro Ikumi

Yoshikazu Takeuchi

Fujio Yamada

Marr 🇳🇱

Just seen this on All Hallows' Eve. It's a bit old, but gold! I definitely have to rewatch this, because you just got to pay attention to 'know' what is happening and follow the story. I think you'd better understand/follow the story and that it will make more sense when you watch it a second time.

The whole movie experience was pretty much like every time you think you got it all figured out, you learn something new and turn out to be all wrong. I loved all those twists and turns and the is-it-real-or-not feeling like, is it really REALLY happening? Is it really acting for her job as a actress, or is it all just a trick of the mind...

The Movie Diorama

Perfect Blue perfectly blends psychologically disturbed fantasy with grounded reality. Mima Kirigoe. A pop-idol. An actress. An X-rated model. Public image and its personifying echoes circulate around the world, adhering to the desires of endearing fans alike. But when their inspirational idol haphazardly shifts career, from pop sensation to dramatic actress, the psychosis of the modern consumer society ultimately changes with her. Saddened, angered and crazed. Mima’s abrupt persona altering career move may have developed maddened stalkers, including her fantastically imagined past self haunting the newly suppressed version.

The late Satoshi Kon was known for seamlessly blending fantasy with reality. Depicting an opaque blurred line between delusions and actualities. None more so, than in his exaggerated psychologically disturbed work in Perfect Blue. For many the art form of Japanese animation, commonly titled as “anime”, is cited as “childish”. “Anime is for losers” tweeted kickboxer Andrew Tate. Well, if like Mr. Tate you believe anime to be childish, I implore you to watch Perfect Blue. Without illustrating the voyeuristic nature of Murai’s narrative, it is the most accessibly invigorating piece of psychological stimulation, that is strictly aimed towards adults, to ever be constructed from this art form.

The complete metamorphosis of a character that questions her own perceived identity through inquisitional explicit acts of graphic nature. Exploring the psychosis of shared delusional disorder and the acute harassment of an obsessive stalker. Kon establishes a murder mystery whilst inciting the emasculation of a vulnerable female’s world. Male controllers, likened to manipulative deities of authoritative powers, are gradually weakened by a mysterious individual. Culminating into a twistingly fragmented climax that grants Mima the independence that she was repressed from.

Kon’s intelligence in foreshadowing, the drama series ‘Double Bind’ essentially replicating Mima’s regressive state of mind, allows the audience to question several aspects. He smartly manages to maintain the central mystery without deterring from Mima’s mental instability. He doesn’t stop there though. Kon refuses to relinquish thematic presence in every frame. Exploring the fragility of a rape victim and the traumatisation of such an explicitly heightened ordeal. The dangers of online anonymity and the tarnishing of existing careers. Challenging the extremities of art in all its mediums. The realism of Perfect Blue is what forces its story to be so utterly terrifying. It’s not just a psychological thriller. It’s horror.

Kon’s signature animation style is gloriously vibrant as always, with attentive detail towards realistic environments. The grotesque facial features of “Me-Mania”, only possible in this art form, heighten the natural malformed detest we have for him. Ikumi’s audacious score enables the heart to palpitate more frequently with its sharp tones and ethereal voices. And, as rare as this is, the English dub is surprisingly decent.

The reality is that Perfect Blue transcends the medium that it is presented in. It stimulates through Kon’s trademark visceral style, allowing the dangers of early Internet culture to produce a thrilling psychologically adept feature that blurs fantasy with reality. I mean, for a film to make me stand up, clap my hands and utter the words “perfection”, it has to be something special right?. Well, Perfect Blue is special, because it is perfect. And yes, with that said it does indeed garner the perfect rating. Quite possibly the best anime feature to ever be released.

I caught this in High School and it instantly took me as an eerie Alfred Hitchcock show that did an outstanding job of feeding on pure paranoia.

It was unsettling, it was scary, and at the time it seemed as realistic as it could be for an anime movie.

As I rode through it, I started doubting what was real and what wasn't and that is a hallmark of a great movie, that ability to keep the viewer on their toes.

CinemaSerf

The young "Mima" has a successful, if limited, career singing with a girl band, but she is restless. Her manager insists he can get her an acting job on a popular soap - and that's the way to fame and fortune. Like so many other impressionable young folks, she tries to follow her dream - but is really only following his, and is soon being photographed (intimately), denigrated and her grasp on reality is soon compromised. When things start to take an altogether more sinister turn, though, we start to wonder just who is responsible for a series of murders amongst those known to hold disparaging views on the young woman. Might she be developing some form of lethal schizophrenia or is she (and are they) really the victims of an over-zealous fan. At times this is actually quite harrowing. The plundering of her innocence by those both venal and neglectful of this young woman is writ large and is really quite depressing to watch. The story itself deals frankly with the unsavoury nature of not just exploitation, but of the pressures the constant search for success can put on a developing mind. This packs quite a lot to think about in in eighty minutes, and 25 years on is still a potent watch.

Perfect Blue, a cult anime film that remains as relevant today as it was when it was first released, follows the story of a teenage girl on the brink of insanity. Its exploration of unsettling themes such as consent and exploitation may make for uncomfortable viewing, but it's a stark reminder of the issues we still face. Despite some parts feeling dated, its prediction of the Internet as a tool for stalking and the rise of social media for harassment is particularly noteworthy.

Best Movies

Perfect Blue

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Junko Iwao

Rica Matsumoto

Shiho Niiyama

Masaaki Okura

Shinpachi Tsuji

Emiko Furukawa

Yosuke Akimoto

Yoku Shioya

Hideyuki Hori

Emi Shinohara

Box office

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