This review is currently undergoing revision.

Perfect Blue
by: Red Raven

Format: Movie
Type: Dubbed
Length: 76 minutes
Rating: PG-13

Plot: 3
Characters: 3
Art: 3
Music: 4
Tilt: 4


Overal: 3

In short: On the surface a slightly interesting anime about a woman being stalked, Perfect Blue in actuality conveys the unseen dangers of obession.


Perfect Blue is an interesting stand-alone anime movie. On the one hand it has a very bland (i.e. realistic) art style, musical score, and action elements. On the other hand though, it is this realism that gives a sort of air of possibility and weight to the story. In effect, it is as if you are watching an animated soap opera. While most people will not attempt to watch Perfect Blue to its somewhat surprising conlcusion, for those that are able to, they will discover how even a lackluster anime facade can give way to a intruiging experience.

Perfect Blue focuses on a singer named while she goes through a very troubling series of events. As the anime opens, is the lead singer in the highly popular band . has always wanted to be an actor though, so she decides to quite the band and start trying to get roles in various TV shows. What comes to discover as the movie progresses is that there is a certain obessed fan that does not like the fact that their favorite bird has quit singing.

Yes, the songs are pretty good. As already mentioned, the character and setting designs in Perfect Blue are very proportional and realistic. Even the trademark "large eyes" of anime are missing. This could turn off a lot of potential viewers as this seems like less of an anime movie and more of an animated American-style soap opera, even more so considering the version I watched was dubbed. This is off-set in some ways by the relatively decent music that plays throughout the movie. What was especially interesting where the short clips of the 's band singing; it's nice to know that the directors took the time and energy to make the English version of the original Japanese songs catchy. Indeed, the voice actors in Perfect Blue were some of the best ones I have heard in my admitably limited experience with dubbed anime.

Despite the misgivings in artistic style and perhaps plot, you could do a lot worse when it comes to stand-alone anime movies. While dwarfed by epics like Princess Monokoe or anything by for that matter, Perfect Blue still is worth the scant 76 minutes needed to reach its conclusion if for no other reason to experience its unique theme of obession. If this sort of anime is not your thing however, there's no reason to punish yourself; Perfect Blue is not for everyone.

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