Customer Reviews

Perfect Blue (Widescreen) [Import]

5 star:		(86)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Perfect Blue is a movie that will keep you guessing the whole time, always wondering what the significance of events will turn out to be in the end, what sort of people the characters are (good or bad?) and what the fate of the main character will be.
Perfect Blue has elements of murder mystery, psychological thriller, drama, action, and perhaps even horror. Be warned: there are some fairly graphic scenes of violence, and a challenging-to-watch but nonexplicit rape scene which is part of a movie set script and which we see filmed for a movie, as the main character is trying hard to become a successful actress, taking on roles she is uncomfortable with to establish a successful career. This is only appropriate for adult audiences, and I watched this first without realizing this fact, so some of what I saw surface in the film surprised me a little bit.
If you like suspenseful and complicated plots and mind games, surprises, action, and horrific suspense, then you just might enjoy this. If this description interests you, then definitely go for it.

Peace Out

Perfect Blue is one of my all time favorite anime's by Manga. This movie is twisted with a damn good plot, it has some of the best animation and character design's you will find in an anime. It took me about two or three times watching this movie to fully understand what was going on but in time i finaly did, this movie is the s**t. I've loved it ever sence the first time i watched it and hopefully you will come to love it to (it is a masterpeace). I recomend it to fans of Manga Entertainment and to anime lovers, get into anime's for they will change your life.

Hope you don't have a virgin mind because it's gonna get raped. This is one of the most brilliantly put together movies ever. Perfect Blue is quite a mind trip and will have you guessing the whole way through. And what's better, since you're getting the DVD, you get to see the Director's Cut which features footage never shown in theatres. But every DVD has it's ups and downs.

Good
You get a nice set of extras here including interviews with the dub cast, a "making of" documentary, and recording sessions.

Bad
The animation in this movie is pretty choppy and dry. It'll make you want to put lotion on it. Plus in the tradition of Manga Entertainment, you get a load of trailers for a lot of animes you probably don't care about, and a non-animorphic transfer. Is it so much to ask for an animorphic transfer, huh Manga?! Also it would have been nice if they included the original 2 channel mix for the Japanese version.(this really isn't a problem though)
I would have also like to see the original Japanese credits instead of these horrible looking iMovie looking credits some of these American companies love to throw in instead.

Reguardless of all of this, it's still worth getting just for the movie.

Imagine if Walt Disney were alive today, he then worked with master directors Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick on an adult animated film. The result of this partnership would be Perfect Blue. This is the most interestingly thought provocative and graphic animes that I have ever seen and I have seen my share of graphic animes. But the story which centers around an aspiring singer turned aspiring actress Mima as she leaves her cutsy teen pop group for a hopeful chance at real stardom as an actress. For me this film was unsettlingly ingrossing from the opening to the ending. The characters are so thurougly thought out and the script is good in either langauge. You can easily take a side on the characters considering there are some sterotypical characters, mainly her managers, one who doesn't like the actress idea and one who is happy about it, but it's better if you just sit back, brain turned on and enjoy the drama, the horror, and the thrill of this suberb creation from Director Satoshi Kon and Screenwriter Sadayuki Murai, based on the original story by Yoshikazu Takeuchi.

Warning: Mature audiences only. Anyone younger won't understand the masterpiece of this work.

NOTE: This is a review on the Director's Cut / NR version that I own.
I saw this first by myself because my brother handed it to me. I watched it, and ended up being creeped out for several hours, always glancing at myself in the mirror and expecting it to wink and hop away. Okay, maybe not that extreme, but it sounded good! @_o
To sum up the story, Mima is a young adult, barely on her own, who decides to leave her bubblegum-pop trio to become an actress, but soon finds it's harder than she ever could have thought. Beginning as a one-liner, she soon finds herself the main attraction of the show due to the perverted whims of the middle aged directors. After a series of humiliating things she's forced to do, her sanity slips and she spirals into self doubt and hallucinations. (I won't go any further because it'll ruin the story.)
Cons: In the NR version, an extensive rape scene took a good 2 or 3 minutes, and it really didn't have that much meaning. Slightly hard to decipher storyline, but I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing. Lots of violence but it kind of works in, and maybe the tuned down version isn't so bloody. Ending wasn't too fantastic.
Pros: Psychological thriller that's a lot of fun to watch; very scary. Beautiful animation. Fairly good voice acting. Fairly good dubbing. 100% unique storyline. Funny pop music. Twisty and turny plotline that keeps you guessing.
Analysis: Worth buying, but don't let your little cousin or relation borrow it as it will probably scare them...or amuse them. =P

Not long after i got married my husband turned me on to Anime (Inuyasha,Ranma,Berserk,Lain,Nadesico,Fruits Basket). Perfect Blue got such good reviews, I bought it for my husband for Christmas. We watched as soon as he opened it! The beginning was really lagging and i was getting really bored and easily distracted, that's why i gave it only 4 stars. Once the movie picked up the pace and got more interesting i was totally into it! It's a great movie and the characters are more life like than most Anime i'm used to watching! This wouldn't be my first choice, but i would recommend it!

A movie like this makes us question the limits of our own consciousness. It allows us to explore in a space not our own, the endless possibilities and the demons lurking within the human psyche - and alerts us to the reality of what it is we do not know. We should be scared of what we are capable of, not to mention to celebrate our potential. One of the good things about anime is that the simulation seems less real, since it is in this "invented" space. I'm not trying to downplay the effect - as I feel that the impact on the viewer is no less real - just merely stating an observation. Let this not fool you, I am not that naïve - anything in cinema is a simulation, sometimes a simulacra, of reality. However, despite the impact being as real, the images - no matter how explicitly sexual or graphically violent - are not as "real" as in motion pictures. I most certainly don't expect too much of a buy-in on that last comment. However, images seem more sanitized and we don't need to spend so much of the budget on scenes and the potential for good is astronomical. I guess that is why I endorse this genre. I'm as confused about the sexuality and violence as anyone. The Jody Fosteresque traumatic rape scene (ala The Accused) borders on the exploitive. Perfect blue flirts beyond anime at times bordering on hentai.

The story is a simple one but the execution is not. Mima Kigiroe is a struggling entertainer with a bevy of loyal fans. She starts her career as a singer and transitions into a career in acting. Her entrée into this world is a series called Double Bind - of which the subtlety was not missed on me. As yes, the seemingly disjointed story evolves, Mima (as well as the viewers) reality begins to collapse. I have to admit, I was lost several times while watching the movie, about what was reality and what was fantasy, as if the writer purposefully wanted me, the viewer to emulate the sense of utter confusion that Mima was going through. Was it successful? Absolutely! Anyway, coupled with the ever present updates on a website called Mima's Room - we are presented with (as Mima is) with several apparitions. Mima is forced to utter (in a moment of epiphany) that someone sure knows her. For the resolution (or lack thereof) you will need to watch the movie yourself.

What is really "cool" about Perfect Blue particular anime is that it does not fit into one of the many popular categories of anime already out there. It neither fits into the post-apocalyptic strata of an Akira or Ghost in the Shell nor is it romantic (in the Byronian sense) as say something coming out of Hayao Miyazaki. Perfect Blue cuts new ground. Japanese have, for a long time, been interested in psycho-thrillers and the good detective story. What with the popularity of writers like Matsumoto Seicho (Points and Lines - also available on Amazon.com) as well as Sogo Ishii (Angel Dust - also available on Amazon.com) is proof positive of the popularity of mystery and suspense. Make no mistake it is an adult psycho thriller. Having said all that, I am hopeful that this movie is not representative of modern Japan. As a critique of the excesses of voyeurism as well as the sadistic and misogynistic excesses of some manga, Perfect Blue stands head and shoulders above all the other anime features. Is it reflective of Japanese pop culture? On what ground and under what context, that still has to be further explored. Not to belabor the point, for the resolution (or lack thereof) you will need to watch the movie yourself.

Miguel Llora

Perfect Blue, I came into this anime with very low expectations. By thirty minutes in, I wished for it to end not in a negative way in that it was a bad movie, but for the sake of Mima. The movie quickly draws you into the prontagonist, puts you in her shoes and takes you on a depressing skeptical. My type of anime is action but this sucked me in with a disturbing watch. This anime seemed so vivid in it's graphic and most often realistic journey of Mima from innocent pop girl to a world of suffering and confusion, I couldn't sit through another viewing of this. The music is dead-on amazing. I would recommend this to anyone, action fan or not. My idea of anime has changed ever since Perfect Blue.

this movie is great. the only thing is it has graphic situations in it thats not suited for younger audiences. the plot is great and twisted and if your comfused when you watch it dont worry your suppose to but it all ties in at the end. the ending (which im no going to give away) is really crazy and twisetd. not something i would expect. i would defintly reccomend this movie if graphic situations (such as violence, nudity) dont bother you then its great. i have not heard the english version im not even sure if there is one. but the voices sound great in japanese and im pretty sure it has subtitles.

This movie is probably the best Physchological-Thriller ever. Every scene gives the viewer a very vivid and realistic part of the character that makes you want to know more and more and just when you think that you know what the reality of the movie is you are on to a big surprise. It was very well done and the characters were very well composed by Satoshi Kon (the director).