NoaIzumiAnime Review: Perfect Blue
July 9th 2009 00:50
We're back! With one of the best anime movies ever made.
Mima is an established singer in the pop group CHAM, but has decided to make the leap into acting. A transition like that is never easy, but it gets worse when she realizes someone is watching her. Then she discovers a website that chronicles her every move and is apparently auto-biographical, even though she has no memory of writing it. When she starts hallucinating and people she works with start dying, Mima starts to have trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality, and begins to wonder who is behind it all. Is it really a stalker, or is it Mima herself?
Perfect Blue starts off with what must be the creepiest introduction to a stalker ever. It’s Mima’s last concert with CHAM, and Mr. Stalker (Me-mania) is there, dressed as a member of the staff. Instead of keeping an eye on the audience or the equipment, like the other staff workers are doing, he’s watching Mima. He has his hand out-stretched on front of himself, and he’s holding it palm-up, so that when the camera shows his POV, Mima looks like she’s dancing and singing right in the palm of his hand. And that’s just the beginning.
The story follows Mima’s struggle to become established as an actress. Perfect Blue does a great job of showing her natural insecurities about such a career change. She lands a bit part in a mystery series, playing the sister of a murder victim, and just before her big debut, she’s waiting, nervously going over her line while everyone else is going on about their business getting ready for the shot. She’s surrounded by people, yet completely alone.
In spite of a rocky start, Mima lands a more meaty role, one that takes her further and further away from her clean pop-idol image. After doing a controversial rape scene, she starts hallucinating, seeing her pop idol twin everywhere. Her (perfectly natural) doubts about her career choice play into her fear that she may be subconsciously reverting to her former self. Did she make the right decision to switch? Should she have stayed a pop idol after all? The movie isn’t just about Mima’s search for the killer’s identity, it’s also about her search for her own.
The creators manage to keep the viewer as off balance as Mima is. What’s real, what’s not? Did that actually happen, or did she dream it? It’s hard to tell. Perfect Blue is one of those movies that requires a couple of viewings to understand, but it is worth it.
As for the suspense level, my latest viewing was the third time I’ve seen it, and the reveal of the murderer, even though I knew who it was from the beginning, still totally creeped me out.
Perfect Blue has often been described as “Alfred Hitchcock meets Walt Disney” (mostly by people who still think of anime as cartoons). I say that Alfred Hitchcock, on his best day, would be truly fortunate to write something as suspenseful and thought-provoking as Perfect Blue.
Geeking out: The serial killer in the TV show that Mima is acting in sounds a lot like the serial killer Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs. And there is a reference to Jodie Foster in The Accused.
Great Moments: Mima is non-chalent about doing the rape scene for the show in front of other people, but afterwards in the privacy of her apartment, she bursts out crying.
Extras: Voice actor interviews, CHAM songs
Summary: Wonderful, dramatic mystery and character study. Grade: A
Age Rating: 17 and up. Frontal nudity, brutal murder, two rape scenes (one attempted and one fake), along with more traditional fan service (somewhat racy outfits at a pop idol concert). Good, but definitely not for the kids.
http://www.perfectblue.com/
Mima is an established singer in the pop group CHAM, but has decided to make the leap into acting. A transition like that is never easy, but it gets worse when she realizes someone is watching her. Then she discovers a website that chronicles her every move and is apparently auto-biographical, even though she has no memory of writing it. When she starts hallucinating and people she works with start dying, Mima starts to have trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality, and begins to wonder who is behind it all. Is it really a stalker, or is it Mima herself?
Perfect Blue starts off with what must be the creepiest introduction to a stalker ever. It’s Mima’s last concert with CHAM, and Mr. Stalker (Me-mania) is there, dressed as a member of the staff. Instead of keeping an eye on the audience or the equipment, like the other staff workers are doing, he’s watching Mima. He has his hand out-stretched on front of himself, and he’s holding it palm-up, so that when the camera shows his POV, Mima looks like she’s dancing and singing right in the palm of his hand. And that’s just the beginning.
The story follows Mima’s struggle to become established as an actress. Perfect Blue does a great job of showing her natural insecurities about such a career change. She lands a bit part in a mystery series, playing the sister of a murder victim, and just before her big debut, she’s waiting, nervously going over her line while everyone else is going on about their business getting ready for the shot. She’s surrounded by people, yet completely alone.
In spite of a rocky start, Mima lands a more meaty role, one that takes her further and further away from her clean pop-idol image. After doing a controversial rape scene, she starts hallucinating, seeing her pop idol twin everywhere. Her (perfectly natural) doubts about her career choice play into her fear that she may be subconsciously reverting to her former self. Did she make the right decision to switch? Should she have stayed a pop idol after all? The movie isn’t just about Mima’s search for the killer’s identity, it’s also about her search for her own.
CHAM
The creators manage to keep the viewer as off balance as Mima is. What’s real, what’s not? Did that actually happen, or did she dream it? It’s hard to tell. Perfect Blue is one of those movies that requires a couple of viewings to understand, but it is worth it.
As for the suspense level, my latest viewing was the third time I’ve seen it, and the reveal of the murderer, even though I knew who it was from the beginning, still totally creeped me out.
Perfect Blue has often been described as “Alfred Hitchcock meets Walt Disney” (mostly by people who still think of anime as cartoons). I say that Alfred Hitchcock, on his best day, would be truly fortunate to write something as suspenseful and thought-provoking as Perfect Blue.
Geeking out: The serial killer in the TV show that Mima is acting in sounds a lot like the serial killer Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs. And there is a reference to Jodie Foster in The Accused.
Great Moments: Mima is non-chalent about doing the rape scene for the show in front of other people, but afterwards in the privacy of her apartment, she bursts out crying.
Extras: Voice actor interviews, CHAM songs
Summary: Wonderful, dramatic mystery and character study. Grade: A
Age Rating: 17 and up. Frontal nudity, brutal murder, two rape scenes (one attempted and one fake), along with more traditional fan service (somewhat racy outfits at a pop idol concert). Good, but definitely not for the kids.
http://www.perfectblue.com/
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Comment by Natalina
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Comment by NoaIzumi
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Anime Bottle
I gained a whole new respect for Mima after this. She may not pilot a giant robot or beat men to a pulp, but she's one of the toughest women in anime.