An Iconic Horror Anime Is Finally Getting The Upgrade It Deserves
There’s never been a better time to experience Perfect Blue.
When Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) breathlessly whispers, “It was perfect,” in the final moments of Black Swan, it feels as much like a comment on her performance in Swan Lake as it does about the film itself. So much ink has been spilled about this film (especially by yours truly), lauding Daren Aronofsky for this shockingly flawless horror story. Such perfection came at a cost, of course, but Aronofsky wasn’t the one who paid for it. On the contrary, he stole it, lifting themes and imagery from director Satoshi Kon and his animated fever dream Perfect Blue. The premises of these two films are subtly different: Perfect Blue follows Mima — a B-list J-pop idol striving to shed her “good girl” image with a serious transition to film, whose psyche and self-image are fractured after encounters with a stalker-fan — not an obsessed ballerina. But Kon’s influence is all over Black Swan, and before that, the psychological horror stories that dominated the 2000s.
Regarded by many as the most undersung anime filmmaker in history, Kon is nevertheless an essential voice in both animation and horror. His four films are all the rage in an “if you know, you know” sort of way, even decades after their release. That cult status was hard won, and remains a point of contention for fans of his work. Perfect Blue has steadily crept out of obscurity in the years since its initial release — but with a new 4K remaster of the film on the way, it finally has the chance to stand on its own as an essential entry in animated horror.
How was Perfect Blue received upon release?
Satoshi Kon, the director of Perfect Blue, cut his teeth on beloved anime like Akira and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, a point that distributors at Rex Entertainment used to draw eyes to the film. Still, Perfect Blue was his debut film — and though it garnered plenty of acclaim at the 1997 Fantasia International Film Festival, where it first premiered, and dozens of festivals all over the world, it never quite earned the commercial acclaim to go with it. It debuted in the U.S. a whole two years after its initial premiere, grossing a little over $100,000 with a brief theatrical run in 1999. Critics lauded Kon’s elevated, mature horror story: Empire’s Kim Novak praised Kon’s subtlety, challenging the impression of “repetitive, noisy” anime that Legend of the Overfiend and Akira presented stateside.
Critics everywhere seemed to love Perfect Blue, but that buzz never grew into the word of mouth that spread like wildfire for other transgressive horror films. For the past two decades, it’s been seen as a cult hit. Entertainment Weekly named it one of “the best films you haven’t seen” in 2019, and even now, it retains a bit of that underground status.
A chilling exploration of parasocial fandom and fracturing psyches, Perfect Blue is a classic for a reaosn.
Why is Perfect Blue important to see now?
The legacy of Perfect Blue might have been overshadowed by the imitators, however well-meaning, that came after, but nothing beats the original film. To say nothing of its prescience — Kon effectively predicted the rise of parasocial fandom and the shared madness of social media — Perfect Blue is also a flawless portrait of feminine paranoia. While Kon loosely based the film on the Perfect Blue novels by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, he captures a unique kind of mania, making this project a singular exercise in psychological horror. That Perfect Blue is also Kon’s first film is a reason to watch in itself: its plot skews a tad unwieldier than the stories Kon would go on to direct, but he delivers shocking, stunning imagery with an assured, masterful hand.
There’s a reason why directors like Darren Aronofsky ripped off entire shots from Perfect Blue wholesale in Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan (later, he’ll insist he was “paying homage”). Kon’s images, painstakingly planned out in storyboards, are so specific and stirring. They create a sympathetic tether to his characters, all while implicating us as voyeurs. The same terror and anguish that grips Mima reaches through the screen to grip us, too. Then there’s Mima’s licentious stalker, whose leer and toothy grin feel as directed to the audience as they do to Kon’s spiraling heroine.
It makes perfect sense that Kon’s work would influence other filmmakers so clearly — though it stings to know that those recreations ultimately catapulted Aronofsky and his contemporaries into the stratosphere. Kon’s career, meanwhile, was shockingly short-lived, defined by struggles for financing and recognition. Time has been much kinder to Perfect Blue and the films that followed, but it’s a shame that, even now, it’s known more as the underseen gem that inspired Requiem or Black Swan than the incredible debut it’s always been.
Perfect Blue remains an underseen masterpiece — but its new remaster could give it the spotlight it deserves.
What new features does the Perfect Blue Blu-Ray have?
With Perfect Blue remastered in 4K, there’s never been a better time to check out the film for the first time. But GKIDS’ rerelease will also be a treat for fans of Kon’s debut. The three-disc set contains a 4K remaster along with a presentation of the film in its original definition. Its special features include lectures from Kon himself, subtitled in English for the first time; a featurette for the recording sessions of “Angel of Your Heart,” alongside an English language version of the song; interviews with the cast and crew; and the original trailers and TV spots for Perfect Blue.
The rerelease also comes complete with a 128-page booklet, 10 art cards, and a poster featuring stunning — sometimes creepy — art of the Perfect Blue cast. GKIDS understood the assignment, given the film’s J-pop adjacent theming. All told, it’s a perfect (pun intended) investment across the board, ideal for those curious about Kon’s oeuvre or those who’ve long sung his praises.
