I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I am not a huge anime fan, as a matter of fact I have barely seen more than five of them, but this psychological thriller is as good as any film in the genre. It concerns a pop star who wishes to be an actor, but she also becomes a victim of stalking which leads to some serious consequences. The thin line between reality and hallucination are crossed and soon we are question what is real and what isn't. The material is strictly for adults and the artwork, as expected from the multimillion dollar anime business is stupendous. If you wish to get into anime watch this film.

First a manga comics illustrator, Satoshi Kon graduated to filmed anime with "Perfect Blue" (1997) about a pop singer stalked by a fan. 'Perfect Blue' takes its cues from the 'Giallo' of Dario Argento, whilst exploring 'otaku' (obsessive fan culture) and the condition of celebrity itself.Mima is a squeaky-clean, desexualised innocent, inhabiting a world that is ready to swallow her up. A singer in the marginally popular bubblegum pop teen trio 'CHAM!,' as the film opens Mima and her partners are performing a free concert in a Tokyo park. During the course of the set, Mima announces that she's leaving the group to pursue an acting career. Some fans are displeased with her sudden career change, particularly a stalker named Me Mania. Mima's life quickly begins to spiral when someone starts trying to drive her out of her mind; or is she just cracking up all on her own? Me-Mania, who has a mask like face reminiscent of Reggie Nalder from Argento's 'Bird With The Crystal Plumage,' is revealed to have been impersonating her on a web site / blog he created, called 'Mima's Room.' When Mima's friend and manager hooks her up to the Internet, she discovers the fanatical 'Mima's Room' site, and learns that someone knows her every waking move, leaving her paranoid and unsure of how to proceed. Things go from bad to worse when Mima's associates start dying in brutal ways. The plot of 'Double Blind' (the TV soap she gets a small role in), begins to parallel Mima's troubles and her tenuous grip on reality, as the soap has her playing a girl who believes she is a pop idol. 'Perfect Blue' like 'Double Blind' has a narrative that cuts between reality and nightmares, as Mima becomes haunted by a figmentary alter-ego who starts to elbow into her identity. The delusional states of fan and idol are shown to be complementary as well as interdependent. A notorious acted out rape scene for the TV show 'Double Bind,' results in the narrative becoming particularly fragmented just like Mima. She is disorientated and on the edge of madness.As an aside, Darren Aronofsky purchased the American rights to 'Perfect Blue' for $59,000, so he could film the brief "bath scene" with Jennifer Connelly in his own film 'Requiem for a Dream' (2000). The staged rape scene in 'Perfect Blue' also inspired a scene toward the end of Aronofsky's film in which a group of men circle around and cheer on two women using a double ended dildo.

Anime is often seen in a stereotype that I find a bit unpleasant.Usually, anime is seen as something as not to be taken seriously or at least not too seriously. Most content is full of unnecessary sex and violence. One could argue that sex and violence is not necessary anyways. Well, the whole thing about sex and violence can be used as a benefit to telling a visually compelling story. Now I'm not the type of person to care if nudity is involved or not in a movie. I really could hardly care because if I wanted porn, I have the internet for that. The thing to take away from anime is usually robots fighting or having five large breasted woman going after some poor young man that we as men dream about being in the situation. But it's a problem. It's because of these tropes that now we don't give knowledge to a wider audience that can accept necessary sex and violence to a story that makes sense and is well done. Especially taking that concept, and placing it into the visually exciting realm of animation. That point goes to this film, 'Perfect Blue.' 'Perfect Blue' is about a pop singer named 'Mima Kirigoe,' who decides to leave to world of being a pop singer to become a acclaimed actress. This leads to a series of bizarre and creepy fan notes, a stalker making a website with eerily creepy posts, and murder. All with the addition of psychological thriller of our female lead questioning if the real her was her 'Pop Singer' self.Let this be the first thing I say about it, this film was brilliant for it's amazing atmosphere and directing. Usually with animated films, they were not often directed very cinematically, adult or children films. Usually with older Disney films they would have this constant use of long shots and medium shots. There weren't that many that focused on their lighting and cinematography. I think it really started to change when you saw 'Anastasia' for the first time how much of a movie it felt. It felt compelling with it's characters feeling less like cartoon mascots and more like real actors. It's impressive. One could argue that if you want an animated film to be more like a live action film, why not film it like that then? That was the big complaint from a lot of critics that saw 'Perfect Blue.' The purpose of animation, that people see as, is this stereotype that because it's animated, it has to be crazy, wild, bodies have to stretch, or at the very least, there has to be some form of fantasy or science fiction. But with this film, there's nothing like that in it. Other than Mima's ghostly figure she creates in her mind, there isn't a lot of visual elements that would almost force into the direction of having it be animated. So the question being, why not just film it instead? Why did it have to be animated? My answer, "Why not?" I mean, there is so much of untapped potential in this world of animation it's baffling. This movie reflects that great atmosphere I've found in most Hitchcock thrillers, but it just happens to be a cartoon. I mean, yes, it's Japanese animation so it looks a bit cheaply done. The big critique I have of this movie is when you finally meet the stalker in the film, the English dub voice actor, I think was a bad choice. His voice almost seemed comical looking back at it. Which sucks because otherwise I was totally compelled into the film, and even after he's gone from the film, you do get immediately sucked back into it. It was just the only thing to put me out of the film, other wise, the writing was interesting and the editing was pitch perfect. But the real show stealer that really makes the film, is that cinematography. The uses of lighting and shading as if you were directing a live action drama, being applied to a animated film. It's astounding to look at visually.Overall, it's amazing to see how much seriousness and suspenseful tones were added to a film of animation. My hope is to see more films like it in the future. Again, the stalker's voice chosen in the English dub kind of put me out of the tone, but otherwise, it's damn near perfect. What's best is, again, after the stalker's gone, it puts you back into it. That's great considering there's so many movies out there who have a third act curse where after the third act hits suddenly it ruins the rest of the film, but in this case, after he's gone, it picks you back up and into the feature, so I got to give it props for that. The ending was complete, and it felt overall a satisfying film. It's an animated treat that is best not to be shown to children. It's an adult feature. A mature one. One that I feel should be the one used as a frontier to having cartoonists see that they don't have to be comical to tell a story in art. That what really matters is a good story with strong visualization that can hold audiences attention, without it be obnoxious. If anything, this film, highly underrated.

I am a bit late to the party with this review, its been over a decade since this movie came out... scratch that, 17 years! but after seeing it, I couldn't help but not review it. The story is about a pop idol, Mima Kirigoe, who leaves the singing bushiness to pursue acting. This move to acting and the scenes she takes part it gets her attention from her stalker. The film centers around her paranoia. Perfect Blue is a fascinating movie. You never really know what is going on nor whether or not yo can believe what you are seeing. It has this tension surrounding it that can make even the most mundane scenes seem terrifying. The violence is brutal but effective, and I can honestly say I was glued to the screen the whole time. It has almost a Hitchcock feel to it. On the technical aspects, its pretty good. The animation gets its job done, but it's nothing spectacular. The sound and music do a good job of creating tension. The dub... well, if that's the way you want to go, it's not bad. Aside from a couple awkward voice actors, most do a good job, especially the lead. This is a film that I would recommend to anyone, assuming they are OK with the more graphic scenes. It's and excellent physiological thriller that must be seen.