Perfect Anime | PERFECT BLUE (1997)

Will the real Mima please stand up?

dir. Kon Satoshi

This psychological thriller anime from Kon Satoshi delves groundhog-day-style into the nature of reality, plumbing the depths of the mind of protagonist Kirigoe Mima aka Mima-Rin, a pop starlet trying to make the difficult transition towards being taken seriously as an actress.  As she and her management navigate the perilous waters of her exploitation-filled debut on a drama flick, Mima becomes the target of a psycho killer triggered by her change in career and the subsequent besmirching of her formerly innocent image. 

Utilizing the gorgeous trappings of the anime medium, graphically gory scenes (icepick stabbings, say) are interspersed with rounds of depressing beauty (the commuter train making its way through the dreary, night skyline of impersonal, overcrowded Tokyo).  There are also moments of shocking sexual violence (an enacted rape scene filmed for the movie foreshadowing an almost "real" rape) and demoralizing nudity (the skin-shots Mima poses for then later regrets).  Also the motif of reflections, most realistically executed, brings added dimensions to the exploration of dissociative disorder and the pliable nature to perception and reality.        

Kon masterfully weaves the tale of mental breakdown, causing viewers to question the nature of the events being depicted.  What part is reality, What is the film, and What is merely a figment of Mima's imagination?  All elements build towards deliberate confusion that works to unsettling effect with the reveal of the killer's identity.

A haunting, J-Pop drenched odyssey, PERFECT BLUE presages Kon's 2006 release PAPRIKA in terms of theme and in the use of mesmerizingly creepy musical compositions, specifically "Virtua Mima" written by Ikumi Masahiro. 

Super cute is the novelty that the World Wide Web presents to the reality of the anime's characters, with websites and browsers being a relatively recent arrival revolutionizing the world of Gopher and Unix protocols.            

Get it while it's up: PERFECT BLUE