PERFECT BLUE

Year: 1997
Rated R
Genre: Animated, (Psychological) Thriller, Mystery
Language: Japanese
​Runtime: 1:21:00
Director: 今 敏 (Satoshi Kon)
Main Cast: 岩男潤子 (Junko Iwao), 松本梨香 (Rica Matsumoto), 大倉正章 (Masaaki Okura)

​Notable Mentions: Satoshi Kon's Direction

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Is this the best psychological thriller, the best anime film ever?

I had my doubts. I doubted a psychological thriller can be effective in the form of anime. When I think of anime, I think of shows for children. Perfect Blue proved anime is not just for children. 

I saw this YouTube video comparing Perfect Blue to Black Swan. According to Wikipedia, Darren Aronofsky denies Black Swan is inspired by Perfect Blue. Darren Aronofsky does admit the bathtub scene in Requiem for a Dream is a recreation of the bathtub scene from Perfect Blue. Requiem for a Dream came out before Black Swan. So we know Darren Aronofsky had seen Perfect Blue before Black Swan was made. YouTube and judge for yourself. The similarities are evident. Perfect Blue was so good, it elevated Black Swan. I liked Black Swan more after watching Perfect Blue.


I can't stop thinking about this film. It's been a month. It still lingers. I'm still haunted. I'm looking up clips to watch. I'm searching for similar films. But there aren't any like Perfect Blue. Perfect came out in 1997, the same year as Titanic. Who knew 1997 was such a strong year. If you like anime and psychological thriller, this master piece is for you.