Nobody can deny that Perfect Blue is a disturbing and brutally honest watch with some heavy scenes, but it is guaranteed that after you've seen it, you won't forget it, and it will only continue to thrive as a masterpiece of psychological suspense in years to come. And now, there is no better way to experience the film than with this brand-new 4K restoration, re-releasing in cinemas from Friday 10th October. Don't miss it!
Perfect Blue - A Timeless Anime Thriller
Celebrating Satoshi Kon's debut film as it is re-released in stunning 4k this October.
Perfect Blue is a pioneer of the rise of Western popularity for anime, along with other ground-breaking hits and genre classics such as “Akira” (1988) as well as “Ghost In The Shell” (1995), proving that animation could be just as much for telling stories geared towards adults as it is for children. Whilst it is not as instantly recognisable as these, or other anime works from the likes of studios such as Studio Ghibli which have no doubt cemented themselves in pop culture, this cult classic from 1997 has flown under the radar of mainstream folk but resonates just as strong today as it did back then, maybe even more so with how the internet and social media influencers is such a prominent part of our day-to-day lives. Reading the simple premise, you don’t immediately think it will be anything special: a young pop-idol named Mima transitions into acting, and ends up getting stalked by an obsessed fan. Sounds simple, right? A straight-forward thriller. That's what you’d think, but Perfect Blue offers so much more to chew on, and you can bet you’ll be thinking about it long after the credits roll.
Director Satoshi Kon (who sadly passed away in 2010) sucks you directly into the heart of 90s Japan and the craze of the pop idol world. One where the internet is still relatively new and not quite thriving like it is today, but still threatens to exacerbate an uncomfortable reality of fan obsession and the pressures of upholding a public image, themes which haven't aged a day since the film originally released. With just 81 minutes of runtime which fly by before you've even had time to process what you've just experienced, Kon begs the question throughout that when we see a celebrity on our screens, what is it that we actually see? Are we truly seeing an honest portrayal of that person, or just a version of that person that they want you to see? A persona. A mask to hide the true identity. Or, perhaps even more relevant to our modern times, how much do we allow the media and the industry to alter our perspective of celebrities and people in the public eye? It's the exploration of these timely questions and thought-provoking ideas which provide the heart of the narrative, and yet, that is only a part of what makes Perfect Blue the true masterpiece it is regarded as today.
Kon ingeniously embeds these themes in a film intricately designed to mess with the viewer's perception of reality and fantasy. He directly confronts the audience, challenges them to figure out what is real and what is not, and just when you think you're on the right track, Kon will make sure to switch up the flow of the story again and again until you have no choice but to be swept along for the ride. The editing is meticulously crafted to work in conjunction with the thematic points of the story, pulling you from one scene to the next in ways that oppose the usual rules of filmmaking. You will find yourself believing to be watching Mima being interviewed by a detective, only for Kon to rewind the film and play the same scene again, revealing it to be merely her playing a character in a television show. He keeps the viewers on their toes constantly, never once allowing us to get comfortable with what we're seeing, which is where the psychological terror derives from.
This can be a hard film to talk about, because there are so many layers to take in, both in terms of narrative and the pain-staking attention to detail in every frame. It needs to be experienced to truly appreciate. Although, despite the lack of mainstream attention, it can be confidently said that Kon's influence on modern cinema is undeniable, inspiring the likes of Darren Aronofsky, who has hailed Perfect Blue as a huge inspiration for some of his own work, even going so far as to homage a particular shot from Perfect Blue in his own film Requiem For A Dream. And with time, Perfect Blue has only grown more and more relevant, with popstars like Miley Cyrus making drastic public image shifts just like the main character Mima, and proving how terrifyingly obsessive internet fan culture can be.
Written by John Aldridge - Team Member at Light Sittingbourne
9 October 2025