Perfect Blue

Infobox Film
name = Perfect Blue


image_size =
caption =
director = Satoshi Kon
producer = Hiroaki Inoue
writer = Original Novel: Yoshikazu Takeuchi Screenplay: Sadayuki Murai
narrator =
starring = Junko Iwao
Rica Matsumoto
(Japan)
Bridget Hoffman
Wendee Lee
(US)
music = Masahiro Ikumi (Office 193)
cinematography = Hisao Shirai
editing = Harutoshi Ogata
distributor = flagicon|Japan Rex Entertainment
flagicon|United States Palm Pictures
flagicon|United States flagicon|Canada flagicon|UK Manga Entertainment
flagicon|Australia flagicon|New Zealand Manga Entertainment
released = 1997
runtime = 80 min.
country = Japan
language = Japanese
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:181843
imdb_id = 0156887

"Perfect Blue" is a 1997 feature-length anime film, directed by Satoshi Kon (loosely based on the novel of the same name by Yoshikazu Takeuchi). The film is a psychological thriller about Mima Kirigoe, a member of a Japanese pop-idol group called "CHAM!", who decides to pursue her career as an actress. Some of her fans are displeased with her sudden career change, particularly the stalker named Me-Mania. As her new career proceeds, Mima's world becomes increasingly reminiscent of the works of Alfred Hitchcock and Philip K. Dick: reality and fantasy spiral out of control, and Mima discovers that Me-Mania is the least of her troubles.

Plot

Mima Kirigoe, a pop-idol from the J-pop group "CHAM!", decides to leave the group to become an actress. Her first project is as in a direct-to-video drama series called "Double Bind". Some of her fans are upset by her change in career and persona, not least the stalker known as "Me-Mania". Shortly after leaving CHAM!, Mima receives an anonymous fax calling her a traitor.

Mima finds a website called "Mima's Room" that has public diary entries which seem to be written by her discussing her life in great detail. She confides in her manager Rumi about the site, however, she is advised to just ignore it.

Meanwhile, on the set of Double Bind, Mima succeeds in getting a larger part. The producers have agreed to give her a leading role, however, it is as a rape victim in a strip club. Rumi warns Mima that it will ruin her reputation, but Mima accepts the part voluntarily. Though it is apparent that Mima is indecisive, the atmosphere of the scene traumatizes her so much that she increasingly becomes unable to separate reality from fantasy. She can no longer distinguish real life from her work in show business.

Matters take a dramatic turn when several of those who had forced unsavory work on her are gruesomely murdered. She finds evidence which makes her appear to be the prime suspect, and in addition she can't in fact recall if she had committed any of the killings or not.

It turns out that the diarist of "Mima's Room" is herself totally delusional and very manipulative, and that an intense folie à deux has been in play. The faux diarist, who believes herself to be a Mima who is forever young and graceful, has made a cat's-paw and serial killer of the stalker Me-Mania.

Mima smashes Me-Mania with a hammer in self-defense when he attempts to rape her, and runs to her only support she has left alive, her manager Rumi - only to find that Rumi is the false diarist, who believes she is the "real" Mima. She manages to incapacitate Rumi in self-defense after a chilling chase through the city despite being wounded herself.

In the anime's denouement Rumi remains permanently delusional and institutionalized, whereas Mima has moved on with her life.

Cast

Japanese

*Mima Kirigoe - Junko Iwao
*Mr. Me-Mania -
*Rumi - Rica Matsumoto
*Yukiko - Emiko Furukawa
*Tadokoro - Shinpachi Tsuji
*Mureno - Masashi Ebara
*Shibuya - Tsubasa Shioya
*Eri Ochiai - Emi Shinohara
*Yamashiro -
*Tejima - Yousuke Akimoto
*Rei - Shiho Niiyama

English

*Mima Kirigoe - Bridget Hoffman (credited as "Ruby Marlowe")
*Mr. Me-Mania - R. Martin Klein (credited as "Bob Marx")
*Rumi - Wendee Lee
*Yukiko - Bambi Darro
*Tadokoro - Barry Stigler (credited as "Gil Starberry")
*Mureno - Jamieson Price (credited as "James Lyon")
*Shibuya - Jimmy Theodore
*Eri Ochiai - Lia Sargent
*Yamashiro - Kirk Thornton (credited as "Sparky Thornton")
*Tejima - Steve Bulen
*Rei - Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (credited as "Melissa Williamson")

Background

Originally the film was supposed to be a live action direct to video series, but after the Kobe earthquake of 1995 damaged the production studio, the budget for the film was reduced to an original video animation (OVA). Katsuhiro Otomo was credited as "Special Supervisor" to help the film sell abroad and as a result the film was screened in many film festivals around the world. While touring the world it received a fair amount of acclaim, jump-starting Kon's career as a filmmaker.

A live action film was later made that is much closer to the novel called "" (2002) and was directed by Toshiki Sato. Kon and Murai didn't think that the original novel would make a good film and asked if they could change the contents. This change was approved so long as they kept a few of the original concepts from the novel.

Like much of Kon's later work, such as "Paprika" the film deals with the blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality in contemporary Japan. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061500492.html Satoshi Kon, Anime's Dream Weaver - washingtonpost.com ] ]

US Broadcast History

Perfect Blue aired on the Encore tv network and was featured by the SciFi Channel on December 10, 2007 as part of its Ani-Monday block.

Australian Broadcast History

Perfect Blue was aired by the SBS Television Network on April 12, 2008 and previously sometime in mid 2007 in a similar timeslot.

Certification

Reception

The film was critically well received in the festival circuit, winning awards at the 1997 Fantasia Festival in Montréal, and Fantasporto Film Festival in Portugal.

Critical response in the United States upon its theatrical release was mixed. Critics were baffled as to why Perfect Blue was done as an animated film, while others associated it with common anime stereotypes of gratuitous sex and violence [http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Perfect-Blue] . Others, however, including prominent film critic Roger EbertFact|date=April 2008, praised Kon's direction and the film's manipulation of psychological elements to achieve a level of intensity that many likened to the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Despite its unorthodox nature, the film is well known in Western anime circles, as it is even better well known in Western fandom.

Madonna incorporated clips from the film into a remix of her song "What It Feels Like for a Girl" as a video interlude during her "Drowned World Tour" (2001).

UMD Video Release

For the Region 1 UMD video release of Perfect Blue, Manga Entertainment featured the movie in cinema widescreen, leaving the movie kept within black bars on the PSP's 16:9 screen. This release also contains no special features and a single audio track (English).

References

External links

* [http://www.animesongs.net/db0057.htm "Pefect Blue CD database"] : Fan Site
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