Perfect Blue (1997) is an exploitation movie. It is about a sweet mixture of reality and reverie. However, some scenes in the movie are still deeply disturbing and unsettling.

This pulp thriller movie is a blend of good and bad, private and public. It also includes crime and cyberspace. All this is tied together with explicit assault and violence, soft core nudity and explicit assault.

Satoshi Kon’s movie can be called a masterpiece. However, the movie will leave you with a lasting impression thanks to its pop culture references and psychological themes. You can read our Perfect Blue anime review to learn more.

Perfect Blue

After being encouraged by her agent, Mima Kirigoe, a former member of a Japanese girl-pop group, decides to leave her lucrative musical career and pursue acting as her new career. She ditches her tutus and gets a small part in one of the TV shows.

Her freedom is short-lived when her ex-band scores a smash hit in Japan’s music industry without her, while she still struggles with a trivial role in the psycho series. Mima’s life takes an unexpected turn when she comes across a well-detailed diary on the internet that informs about her in an exceedingly creepy way. When she meets a stalker, her days become even more frightening.

Another problem that pops up in Mima’s life not very long later is the version of her former pop idol self, who now wants to persecute her because she would rather not be shelved. Mima begins to have flashes of her alter ego, who is dead set on wreaking havoc on the ‘real’ her.

Mima makes matters worse by participating in the photoshoot where she is required to perform a sex scene and strip for her series. Consequently, Mima’s life falls apart to a disorienting blend of the events of her life and the plot of the series. Mima is forced to confront the terrifying ghost of her past after a couple of murders.

Mima is delusional, fantasizing and dreaming.

Viewer’s First Impression

Perfect Blue is a classic women-in-peril thriller film that explores the life of a Japanese media queen. It also touches on pedophilia within Japanese pop culture, where a childlike girl becomes the next fantasy object for sexual indulgence.

This movie is a haunting, scary, gripping, thoughtful psychological thriller that makes Satoshi Kon an iconic director. It’s ranked with Argento or De Palma as one of the greatest.

Production, Crew and Background

Perfect Blue, a Palm Pictures release, is a Manga Entertainment production by Rex Entertainment Co. Hiroaki Maruyama and Masao Maruyama produced this movie. Satoshi Kon’s directorial debut.

Sadayuki Murai’s screenplay was inspired by the 1991 novel Perfect Blue: Kanzen Hentai. Seven Seas Entertainment released it in English as Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis.

Fant-Asia Film Awards, Montreal 1997. The film won the Best Asian Film Award and Best American Film. Before it was released in Japan in 1998, the film was critically acclaimed in many film festivals around the world.

Characters, Arcs, Development

• Mima Kirigoe: Mima, the film’s protagonist, is a complexly-designed character. She quit Cham, her girl-pop group, to pursue acting as her career.

• Mamoru Uchida: Uchida, also known as Me-Mania, is an obsessive fan of Mima.

• Rei: Rei is a singer in Mima’s ex-girl pop band Cham. After Mima’s exit, Rei and the remainder of the band members of Cham released a song to hit the great music charts. She seems to care about the protagonist, even though she changed her career.

• Rumi Hidaka: As the manager of Mima and a former Japanese pop idol, Rumi is opposed to Mima’s career switch to acting.

• Tejima: Tejima has been a significant figure in the Japanese Entertainment Industry. It is clear that Tejima’s word has an impact on the stardom of many debut actors.

• Murano: A famous photographer who takes photos of naked Mima and enjoys stripping them, exhibitionist style, is killed shortly after taking the pictures.

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