Horror movies are one thing that I've always liked, ever since I can remember I've gone out of my way to add another cheesy title to my collection. This particular collection is starting to get quite large, in fact, I'm actually running out of interesting looking horror movies to watch, and so last Summer I decided that it was time to get into something else besides scary films. I never particularly liked anime, but after getting into a few series I was hooked, and it seemed as if this filled a certain void within me that needed some thing to collect and spend my money on. The first anime movie that I purchased (besides Princess Mononoke, but I bought that long before getting into anime) was a curious sounding movie called Perfect Blue that combines both horror (some call this movie a thriller, but I don't consider that a seperate genre from horror) and anime into one package. Since I already am a fan of horror, this movie was right up my alley, and I was really surprised that I had never heard of it before because the concept behind it sounded interesting enough as a horror movie. My biggest worry was that the horror movie atmosphere would be lost away in the animation, but in the end, Perfect Blue proved me very wrong.
Title: Perfect Blue Director: Satoshi Kon Genre: Horror / Animated Year: 1997
The initial idea may not sound incredibly interesting, I mean what is anime without throwing fireballs and big swords? One thing a lot of people don't realize with anime is that the medium itself is not a genre alone; it's simply the format used for creating the movie, or the animation style. So all those out there that think all anime is the same with flashing lights and different worlds can rest assured. Perfect Blue is completely different from the more mainstream anime that people often think of when they hear the word. In trying to convert someone to an anime fan, this is one of top three movies that I would show to them, with the others being Oh My Goddess! and Grave of Fireflies.
Despite being animated and having been made in Japan, there is something extremely classic feeling with this movie. In fact, I was getting a familiar feeling throughout the movie, like the kind of itch that I get while watching something from such horror icons as Dario Argento or Alfred Hitchcock; it was quite difficult to explain at first, but now I think I've figured it out. The end product of this movie feels like something the master himself, Hitchcock would have done, only with an animated gloss coating on the top. The way the movie plays out has Hitchcock written all over it, and needless to say, I'm sure the old guy would enjoy Perfect Blue.
Keeping my comments about Hitchcock in mind, I would have to say that fans of vintage horror will probably find something to like in this movie. It's really strange when I watch Perfect Blue because I'm torn between two of my favorite entertainment sources, and I really can't decide which of the two I like best in the movie. I've grown up watching the various psychological thrillers in this world, and even though anime was a bit of a foreign concept to me the first time I watched this movie, I felt right at home in the world of Mima. The mystery aspect was one of the major elements that kept me glued to the television.
Storyline
CHAM is the latest craze in the Japanese pop scene. This singing group is composed of three young women, with the lead singer being Mima Kirigoe who is your typical female pop singer in Japan. The movie begins right before one of CHAM's concerts, but this is no ordinary concert. This is Mima's final singing performance as a member of CHAM, and also the time when she is to announce her career change, it seems that she has a future in acting. Of course this doesn't settle well with Mima's agents who made her who she is and groomed her to fit the pop image that everyone wants. The former pop singer's agents aren't the only people who are mad though, as Mima will eventually find out.
The concert doesn't exactly go off without a hitch. Besides the disappointing groans from her various fans after the announcement, a fight breaks out amongst the audience, and one of the involved people (one that looks particularly crazy) seems to like Mima, maybe a little too much. Later on after the little shindig Mima begins having doubts about her decision, but it's too late now. Things aren't helped when Mima's first acting role has only a single line of dialogue. What's worse is that Mima soon gets a role in a movie where she plays the role of a stripper. Now this wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact that she has to be in a rape scene, and her character is the victim. It's pretty disturbing to watch, even though it's a fake scene on a fake movie.
Things get worse for Mima once she notices a website dedicated to her called Mima's Room. Surprising to her, the site actually speaks the unspoken truth on her feelings about everything, and it's more than a little haunting for the aspiring actress. Mima begins consistently checking back to the website and becomes more and more afraid as the daily additions become more and more revealing while at the same time, telling the truth about her feelings. Considering the fact that Mima never speaks any of these feelings aloud, and she doesn't even write them, it's a little creepy to her that someone knows exactly what she's thinking.
So with all this stuff going on you'd think that CHAM would be lost without Mima, right? Well it turns out that the pop duo is doing better than ever, and is actually celebrating increased sales of their newest album. It's actually a little sad to see Mima as she watches her former colleagues celebrate the victory, this is because of all Mima's self doubt with her new job. Things just really don't work out for the pop singer turned actress, but she has nobody that she can really talk to about it, and with all the hallucinations and angry fans, Mima really has nowhere to turn to.
Animation is done wonderfully in this film; it's not quite up to par with most Disney movies but it works very nicely and looks great. As far as anime goes, there is quite a bit of it that isn't too good looking, but Perfect Blue looks very nicely as far as I'm concerned. The color scheme is slightly on the dark side, but this was most likely used for effect in the movie. Everything looks as it should in this film; the character designs are pleasant to look at, and the backgrounds (including the scrolling ones) are integrated nicely, and also look perfect. I've always liked the look of big cities in Japan, and so this is one of the reasons that I was more visually stimulated than most people while watching this film.
When it comes to anime it's almost always much more enjoyable to keep the original Japanese dialogue turned on while watching, but with subtitles to go along with it of course. Perfect Blue however is almost as good to listen to when you listen to the English dub of the movie. The English voice actors did a very good job of conveying emotions through the spoken dialogue. Keep in mind though, to be completely appreciated you should watch the movie in Japanese, but for those who don't like reading subtitles, you won't miss too much by watching the movie in English.
Perfect Blue is definitely not a movie you should feel comfortable with letting your children watch. Many adult themes are explored, including sex and nudity. Couple this with all the violence, gore, and language this movie is definitely only for adults, or older teens. I'm the type of guy who's indifferent towards movies using these various elements, and so I had very little problems watching this movie because I'm used to violence and blood in cinema. The fake rape scene however, was a little hard to sit through.
Final Recommendation
There are so many different types of people that I would recommend this movie to that it's not even funny. Anime fans will likely appreciate this movie greatly, but I would give a higher recommendation for this movie to fans of horror/thriller type cinema. Perfect Blue also makes for a good introduction to anime, just to show people how versatile the medium really is.