Perfect Blue (1998)

[mllNY]

3.00 star(s) Rating: 3.00/5 1 Votes

Title: Perfect Blue (1998)

Tagline: "excuse me... who are you?"

Genre: Animation, Thriller

Director: Satoshi Kon

Cast: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shiho Niiyama, Masaaki Okura, Shinpachi Tsuji, Emiko Furukawa, Yosuke Akimoto, Yoku Shioya, Hideyuki Hori, Emi Shinohara, Masashi Ebara, Kiyoyuki Yanada, Toru Furusawa, Teiya Ichiryusai, Shin-ichiro Miki, Megumi Tano, Emi Motoi, Akio Suyama, Osamu Hosoi, Koichi Tochika, Soichiro Hoshi, Kisho Taniyama, Shokkâ Ôno, Rofuto Purasu Wan Burazâzu, Makoto Kitano, Kaori Minami, Jin Yamanoi, Takashi Nagasako

Release: 1998-02-28

Runtime: 82

Plot: Rising pop star Mima quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.

 

[mllNY]

(August 23, 2025) – GKIDS, the acclaimed producer and distributor of award-winning animation from around the world, announced out of their panel at Anime NYC that it is bringing PERFECT BLUE, the legendary first film from the late auteur director Satoshi Kon to cinemas nationwide in a gorgeous new 4K restoration. PERFECT BLUE comes to cinemas nationwide starting October 3, 2025.

PERFECT BLUE is the debut feature from the legendary director Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers). The groundbreaking feature is singular in its impact throughout the film world at large, and its influence can still be felt today. PERFECT BLUE has been hailed as one of the best animated features of all time and is only one of a handful of projects the late Satoshi Kon directed before his passing in 2010. The shocking debut feature remains relevant to this day, with a prescient vision of shattered identities formed by living in the public eye in an online world. Kon’s bold view on how technology and media can mold and distort our own perceptions of ourselves has only grown more haunting with time.

SYNOPSIS:
“Who are...you?”

Mima Kirigoe, a former pop idol, makes a bold transition into acting, taking on a role in a drama that includes a disturbing assault scene, and even releasing a provocative nude photo book. Her dramatic reinvention grabs public attention, but also provokes unease among her fans, her manager, and even herself as she struggles with the rapid shift from her days as a pop idol. As a stalker begins to shadow her, a screenwriter and a photographer are murdered one after another. "Did I kill them?" Mima begins to wonder if a split personality is gradually taking over, just like the character that she plays in the drama. Then "the other Mima" the pop idol who was supposed to have "graduated," appears in front of her...

Perfect Blue marks the directorial debut of Satoshi Kon, who fascinated audiences around the world with Paprika, Millennium Actress, and Tokyo Godfathers. Hailed as the first animated film to feature an authentic psychological suspense story, this film was acclaimed at international film festivals and was released in theaters in Japan in 1998. Blending a play within a play, the story unfolds as fiction and reality, dreams and delusions, and cyberspace intertwine—like an optical illusion.

 

[tha_lunatic]

one of the best anime movies