A pop idol who is a member of a trio that’s on the rise decides to change professions and become an actress. But this will lead her down a dark path, and the question is: will she be alive when it’s all over?
Perfect Blue is a Japanese animated movie that everyone recommends if you want to see an animation aimed at adult viewers.
In the movie, we follow the protagonist as she transitions from music to becoming an actress. But her career doesn’t go as planned, and she also has a creepy and ugly stalker after her, who runs a fan website dedicated to her. And the man is one ugly son of a fish!
The protagonist starts questioning whether she made the right decision after quitting music. The actress she thought she would become turns out to be an illusion, and she starts seeing another version of herself—the pop idol she once was, a cute and clean young woman that everybody liked.
Then things get darker when people close to her start dying one after the other, and you begin to suspect that maybe the protagonist is the murderer since she seems to have a sort of split personality.
I really enjoyed this movie. The first half builds up the story and character, and even though it doesn’t invent a new wheel, it captures your interest. You will love the second half when things get crazy, and the movie also has a big surprise towards the end, which is pretty awesome and unexpected.
What I really appreciated in the second half was the energy and the score. It gets dark, creepy, and disturbing, and the pacing is perfect, combined with the score and the energy that the scenes create. It’s so good and engaging.
Perfect Blue is also a violent movie with some brutal killings, and it features some rough sex scenes. The first turning point is when the protagonist starts losing herself after agreeing to a scene in the TV show she is acting in that involves eating a grape or two. You know what I mean, don’t you? After that scene, she starts losing it, and you don’t know what is real anymore. She has become impure and naughty, and she needs to be punished! Oh yeah!
If you like movies where you don’t know if the protagonist is crazy or not, then this is a movie you should watch. Forget that it’s a Japanese animated movie because you will soon forget you’re watching an animated movie if that bothers you. The storytelling is excellent, and so is the energy in the second half.