This was a highly anticipated movie for me. I have only heard great things and I loved Satoshi Kon's other piece "Tokyo Godfathers," but unfortunately the movie did not live up to the expectations. In short, I found the twist to be stereotypical and distasteful and the supposed satirical nature of celebrity to be navel gazing at best and objectifying at worst. The art style was absolutely stunning and there were many shots that I adored, but the plot did not hold up for me.

I’ll start with the things that I did enjoy about the film. The use of color was perfect. Satoshi Kon does not use simplistic color metaphors like red means sexuality or danger. Instead he plays with blue and red in the context of real life and fantasy, inner and outer worlds, expectations from others and how easily we fail them. The costuming choice also was fantastic.

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I love how Mima’s rape scene outfit was so visually similiar to her idol outfit, showing how both versions of her were ultimately costumes.

I really enjoyed how each character was not a big eyed fantastical version of a person that works well in some anime, but the lack of made Perfect Blue feel more grounded, especially how unattractive the stalker was.

Spoiler, click to view

I did enjoy the scenes where Mimi was unsure if she was performing in Double Bind or performing her actual life. I particularly enjoyed how the victims were murdered by being stabbed in the eye and I think that was the only good commentary on the male gaze in the movie.

The directorial decisions were overall good ones.

The two biggest issues for me were the harmful twist and the “satirical” sexualization.

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Many real people struggle with dissociative identity disorder and I am so fed up with the trite trope of a killer having DID to explain away their actions. Rumi would make a great villain and I can understand her motivations in being jealous of Mima and distraught that Mima’s choices are not the ones Rumi would have made if she hadn’t failed being an idol. I think they could have easily just had that instead of throwing a misidentified diagnosis at her. DID is something that occurs in childhood from repeated acts of trauma. It is not something someone like Rumi would develop as an adult to justify her obsession with Mima. People with DID are not inherently psychopathic killers and are more likely to face abuse themselves.

Perhaps it wasn’t a stereotype when Perfect Blue was created, but it is harmful nonetheless.

In terms of the commentary on celebrity sexualization, I found it to be voyeuristic rather than satirical.

Spoiler, click to view

The rape scene in particular was obviously meant to be uncomfortable, but why the choice to showcase her breasts? With the way she flails around desirably instead of actually fighting her attackers, it makes sense as she’s on a TV show, but why does the same thing then happen with her stalker versus how she acts when she fights with Rumi? The photography scene especially just felt objectifying to me. She didn’t fight or even converse with the photographer and we don’t see behind the scenes, but just a pile of her sexy photos.

I just don’t think the film did a good job with this tough topic.

Smaller bits of criticism are that I didn’t feel like the movie was as horrific as many have led me to believe. It was a psychological horror without much bite. There were some violent scenes and the audience got a whirlwind of confusion from the dream versus reality motif, but I never felt frightened, just confused and then annoyed.

Spoiler, click to view

Secondly, when the original killer explanation for Double Bind was a man who wore women’s skin to feel like a woman, I was so disappointed. Tokyo Godfathers was incredibly good trans representation and I felt let down by Kon at this small decision.

Overall, it was far from the worst movie I’ve watched, but it did not rise to the level I expected with how popular it is. The two themes everyone says Perfect Blue does so well, commentary on celebrity and a biting thriller, were so lackluster for me. I will watch Satoshi Kon’s other works with a skeptical hat from now on.