Perfect Blue
Encyclopedia
is a 1997 Japanese animated psychological thriller
film directed by Satoshi Kon
and written by Kon and Sadayuki Murai based on the novel
of the same name by Yoshikazu Takeuchi. Junko Iwao
plays Mima Kirigoe, a member of a Japanese pop-idol group called "CHAM!", who decides to pursue her career as an actress. Some of her fans are displeased with her sudden career change, particularly a stalker named Me-Mania, voiced by Masaaki Ōkura
. As her new career proceeds, Mima's world becomes increasingly reminiscent of the works of Alfred Hitchcock
: reality and fantasy spiral out of control, and Mima discovers that Me-Mania is the least of her troubles.
Mima Kirigoe, a pop-idol from the J-pop
group "CHAM!", decides to leave the group to become an actress. Her first project is as in a direct-to-video drama series called Double Bind. Some of her fans are upset by her change in career and persona
, not least the stalker
known as "Me-Mania." Shortly after leaving CHAM!, Mima receives an anonymous fax calling her a traitor. Mima finds a website called "Mima's Room" that has public diary entries which seem to be written by her discussing her life in great detail. She confides in her manager Rumi Hidaka about the site, however, she is advised to just ignore it.
Meanwhile, on the set of Double Bind, Mima succeeds in getting a larger part. The producers have agreed to give her a leading role, however, it is as a rape victim in a strip club. Rumi warns Mima that it will ruin her reputation, but Mima accepts the part voluntarily. Though it is apparent that Mima is indecisive, the atmosphere of the scene traumatizes her so that she increasingly becomes unable to separate reality from fantasy. She can no longer distinguish real life from her work in show business.
Several people who had been involved in the tarnishing of Mima's reputation are murdered. She finds evidence which makes her appear to be the prime suspect, and her increasing mental instability makes her doubt her own innocence. It turns out that the diarist of "Mima's Room" is delusional and very manipulative, and that an intense folie à deux
has been in play. The faux diarist and serial killer, who believes herself to be a Mima who is forever young and graceful, has made a scapegoat of stalker Me-Mania.
Mima knocks Me-Mania unconscious with a hammer in self-defense when he attempts to rape her, and runs to her only support she has left alive, her manager Rumi. Later on, back in "Mima's room", Mima tries to call Mr. Tadakoro but he has also been murdered, along with Mr. Me-Mania who was killed in self-defense. When Mima encounters Rumi, however, her manager is wearing a replica of Mima's CHAM! costume and crazily singing Mima's pop songs. Rumi is in fact the false diarist, who believes she is the "real Mima". Rumi is angry that Mima has been ruining the "real Mima's" reputation, and decides to save "Mima's" pristine pop idol image through the same means she has been using all along: murder. Mima manages to incapacitate Rumi in self-defense after a chase through the city despite being wounded herself. Rumi remains permanently delusional and institutionalized. Mima has grown from her experiences and has moved on with her life with new found independence and confidence.
The actors in the English adaption are listed in the credits without specification to their respective roles. The cast includes Barry Stigler
(as Gil Starberry), Lia Sargent
, Steve Bulen
, Jamieson Price
(as James Lyon), Frank Buck
, Steven Blum
(as David Lucas), Jimmy Theodore
, Elliot Reynolds, Kirk Thornton
(as Sparky Thornton), Bambi Darro, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
(as Melissa Williamson), Michael Lindsay
(as Dylan Tully), Matt K. Miller
(as Kermit Beachwood), Sam Strong, Carol Stanzione, Ty Webb, Bill Timoney
(as Billy Regan), Dari Mackenzie, Paul St. Peter
(as George C. Cole), Syd Fontana, Sven Nosgard, Michael Devon McCarty (as Devon Michaels), Bob Buchholz
(as Robert Wicks) and Mattie Rando.
of 1995 damaged the production studio, the budget for the film was reduced to an original video animation. Katsuhiro Otomo
was credited as "Special Supervisor" to help the film sell abroad and as a result the film was screened in many film festivals around the world. While touring the world it received a fair amount of acclaim, jump-starting Kon's career as a filmmaker.
Kon and Murai did not think that the original novel would make a good film and asked if they could change the contents. This change was approved so long as they kept a few of the original concepts from the novel. A live action film Perfect Blue: Yume Nara Samete was later made (released in 2002) that is much closer to the novel. This version was directed by Toshiki Satō
from a screenplay by Shinji Imaoka
and Masahiro Kobayashi.
Like much of Kon's later work, such as Paprika, the film deals with the blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality in contemporary Japan.
In the USA, Perfect Blue aired on the Encore cable television network and was featured by the Sci Fi Channel
on December 10, 2007 as part of its Ani-Monday block. In Australia, Perfect Blue aired by the SBS Television Network on April 12, 2008 and previously sometime in mid 2007 in a similar timeslot.
in Montréal, and Fantasporto
Film Festival in Portugal.
Critical response in the United States upon its theatrical release was mixed. Some critics did not understand why Perfect Blue was done as an animated film, while others associated it with common anime stereotypes of gratuitous sex and violence.
A quote attributed to Roger Corman
describes it as a combination of Alfred Hitchcock
and Walt Disney
.
Madonna
incorporated clips from the film into a remix of her song "What It Feels Like for a Girl
" as a video interlude during her Drowned World Tour
(2001).
In 2010 Darren Aronofsky
acknowledged there being similarities between Perfect Blue and his film Black Swan
, but said that it was not an influence. Kon blogged about meeting Aronofsky in 2001. A recently reissued blog entry mentioned Requiem among Kon's list of movies he viewed for that year.
Time Magazine included the film on its top 5 anime DVD list, and Terry Gilliam
, of whom Kon was a fan included it in his list of the top fifty animated films.
Perfect Blue ranked #25 on Total Film
's all-time animated films.
Psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...
film directed by Satoshi Kon
Satoshi Kon
was a Japanese anime director and manga artist from Kushiro, Hokkaidō and a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association . He was a graduate of the Graphic Design department of the Musashino Art University. He is sometimes credited as in the credits of Paranoia Agent...
and written by Kon and Sadayuki Murai based on the novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
of the same name by Yoshikazu Takeuchi. Junko Iwao
Junko Iwao
is a Japanese voice actress who has also released several CD albums as a J-pop singer. Her most notable role is in Cardcaptor Sakura providing the voice to Sakura's best friend, Tomoyo.-TV Anime:*.hack *.hack//Roots...
plays Mima Kirigoe, a member of a Japanese pop-idol group called "CHAM!", who decides to pursue her career as an actress. Some of her fans are displeased with her sudden career change, particularly a stalker named Me-Mania, voiced by Masaaki Ōkura
Masaaki Ōkura
is a Japanese voice actor from Kumamoto Prefecture attached to 81 Produce. He was formerly attached to Aoni Production and Sigma Seven.-Television animation:*Astro Boy *Battle Fighters: Garō Densetsu 2...
. As her new career proceeds, Mima's world becomes increasingly reminiscent of the works of Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
: reality and fantasy spiral out of control, and Mima discovers that Me-Mania is the least of her troubles.
Plot
Mima Kirigoe, a pop-idol from the J-pop
J-pop
, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...
group "CHAM!", decides to leave the group to become an actress. Her first project is as in a direct-to-video drama series called Double Bind. Some of her fans are upset by her change in career and persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
, not least the stalker
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
known as "Me-Mania." Shortly after leaving CHAM!, Mima receives an anonymous fax calling her a traitor. Mima finds a website called "Mima's Room" that has public diary entries which seem to be written by her discussing her life in great detail. She confides in her manager Rumi Hidaka about the site, however, she is advised to just ignore it.
Meanwhile, on the set of Double Bind, Mima succeeds in getting a larger part. The producers have agreed to give her a leading role, however, it is as a rape victim in a strip club. Rumi warns Mima that it will ruin her reputation, but Mima accepts the part voluntarily. Though it is apparent that Mima is indecisive, the atmosphere of the scene traumatizes her so that she increasingly becomes unable to separate reality from fantasy. She can no longer distinguish real life from her work in show business.
Several people who had been involved in the tarnishing of Mima's reputation are murdered. She finds evidence which makes her appear to be the prime suspect, and her increasing mental instability makes her doubt her own innocence. It turns out that the diarist of "Mima's Room" is delusional and very manipulative, and that an intense folie à deux
Folie à deux
-Further reading:*Halgin, R. & Whitbourne, S. Abnormal Psychology: Clinical Perspectives on Psychological Disorders. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0072817216...
has been in play. The faux diarist and serial killer, who believes herself to be a Mima who is forever young and graceful, has made a scapegoat of stalker Me-Mania.
Mima knocks Me-Mania unconscious with a hammer in self-defense when he attempts to rape her, and runs to her only support she has left alive, her manager Rumi. Later on, back in "Mima's room", Mima tries to call Mr. Tadakoro but he has also been murdered, along with Mr. Me-Mania who was killed in self-defense. When Mima encounters Rumi, however, her manager is wearing a replica of Mima's CHAM! costume and crazily singing Mima's pop songs. Rumi is in fact the false diarist, who believes she is the "real Mima". Rumi is angry that Mima has been ruining the "real Mima's" reputation, and decides to save "Mima's" pristine pop idol image through the same means she has been using all along: murder. Mima manages to incapacitate Rumi in self-defense after a chase through the city despite being wounded herself. Rumi remains permanently delusional and institutionalized. Mima has grown from her experiences and has moved on with her life with new found independence and confidence.
Cast
- Junko IwaoJunko Iwaois a Japanese voice actress who has also released several CD albums as a J-pop singer. Her most notable role is in Cardcaptor Sakura providing the voice to Sakura's best friend, Tomoyo.-TV Anime:*.hack *.hack//Roots...
(Bridget HoffmanBridget HoffmanBridget Hoffman is an American actress best known for her work as an anime voice actress. She also serves as an ADR scriptwriter and ADR director...
(as Ruby Marlowe) in the English adaption) as Mima Kirigoe, the main protagonist of the film. She is a pop idol who plans on converting into acting. However, when she is terrorized by a dissatisfied stalker, she becomes increasingly unsound mentally and emotionally. - Rica MatsumotoRica Matsumotois a Japanese voice actress and J-pop singer who was born in Yokohama, Japan. Her name is also sometimes romanized as Rika Matsumoto. She was one of the original members of the popular vocal group JAM Project. After the way of the stage, she embarked on voice acting and a singing career...
(Wendee LeeWendee LeeWendee Lee is an American voice actress. While she has done voice work for many video games as well as several episodes in the Power Rangers franchise, she is particularly prolific in the dubbing of anime. As of April 2009, with 223 credits to her name, she has more credits in this medium than any...
in the English adaption) as Rumi, Mima's manager. A former idol singer, she is now only a mere shell of her former self. She is opposed to Mima's crossover into acting. - Shinpachi TsujiShinpachi Tsujiis a Japanese voice actor.-Anime:*Arc the Lad *Berserk *Brain Powered *Code Geass *Digimon Tamers *Fairy Tail *Fantastic Children...
as Tadokoro, Mima's office manager. Unlike Rumi, Tadokoro views Mima's crossover into acting in a positive manner, though he can often be overbearing and pushy. - Masaaki ŌkuraMasaaki Ōkurais a Japanese voice actor from Kumamoto Prefecture attached to 81 Produce. He was formerly attached to Aoni Production and Sigma Seven.-Television animation:*Astro Boy *Battle Fighters: Garō Densetsu 2...
(R. Martin KleinR. Martin KleinRobert Martin Klein is a voice actor who is known to play characters in Japanese animation and video games. He is also known as Bob Marx...
(as Bob Marx) in the English adaption) as Uchida, a stalker known in the film by the alias of Me-Mania. - Yōsuke AkimotoYosuke Akimotois a Japanese actor and voice actor from Tokyo. He is currently attached to Mausu Promotion. He is a graduate of the Hosei University business school.-Television animation:*Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple *Angel Heart...
as Tejima - Yoku ShioyaYoku Shioyais a Japanese voice actor debuting in Umi no Triton . Recently he has done some voice directing in such anime as Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls. His real name is Tsubasa Shioya...
as Takao Shibuya, the screenwriter of Double Bind. - Hideyuki HoriHideyuki Horiis a Japanese voice actor and younger brother of fellow voice actor Yukitoshi Hori and works at Aoni Production. He is most known for his roles in Saint Seiya , Sakigake!! Otokojuku , Kinnikuman , Mobile Fighter G Gundam , and the Dead or Alive series and Ninja Gaiden .-Career:Along...
as Sakuragi - Emi ShinoharaEmi Shinoharais a Japanese voice actress employed by 81 Produce. She was born in Fukushima Prefecture and raised in Nagano. She is married to tokusatsu actor Hiroshi Watari...
as Eri Ochiai, an actress who plays a psychiatrist in Double Bind - Masashi EbaraMasashi Ebara, better known as , is a Japanese voice actor, actor, and narrator from Kanagawa Prefecture. He stands at 175 centimeters and is affiliated with 81 Produce....
as Murano, a pornographer who arouses the ire of Uchida by taking pictures of Mima. - Kiyoyuki YanadaKiyoyuki YanadaKiyoyuki Yanada is a seiyū who was born in Tokyo. He was a member of 81 Produce.-Notable voice roles:*After School in the Teacher's Lounge *Baten Kaitos...
as the director of Double Bind. - Tōru Furusawa as Yatazaki
- Emiko Furukawa and Shiho NiiyamaShiho Niiyamawas a Japanese voice actress who was affiliated with Aoni Production. Niiyama was most known for voicing Kō Seiya, otherwise known as Sailor Star Fighter, in Sailor Stars and Deedlit from Record of Lodoss War among other character roles . She was also involved in one voice actor group, Virgo, who...
as Yukiko and Rei, Mima's co-singers in the idol group "CHAM". - Akio SuyamaAkio Suyamais a Japanese voice actor.-Notable anime and video game voice roles:* Perio/Pete in Dōbutsu no Mori , the film adaptation of the Animal Crossing video game series.* Ichiro Ogami in Sakura Wars* Hokuto's Lackey in Cromartie High School...
as Tadashi Doi, a delinquent who disturbs a live CHAM show at the beginning of the film. He is Uchida's first victim, as revealed in a newspaper clipping posted on an elevator.
The actors in the English adaption are listed in the credits without specification to their respective roles. The cast includes Barry Stigler
Barry Stigler
Barry Stigler was an American voice actor. In his anime voice work, he often used the pseudonym Gil Starberry, which is an anagram of his name. Little is known about his personal life, including his cause of death....
(as Gil Starberry), Lia Sargent
Lia Sargent
Lia Sargent is an American voice actress. She is known for extensive anime and video game voice work and has also done ADR directing and script writing for Animaze.. iNC...
, Steve Bulen
Steve Bulen
James Steven Bulen , better known as Steve Bulen, is an American voice actor. He has been doing voices for many animated films and television shows for Walt Disney Animation Studios and Hanna-Barbera as well several video games and anime titles such as Doomed Megalopolis, Giant Robo, Outlaw Star,...
, Jamieson Price
Jamieson Price
Jamieson Kent Price is an American voice actor.Price was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is most well known for his deep and booming voice and can be heard in numerous anime shows and video games. He is also known as Taylor Henry and James Lyon...
(as James Lyon), Frank Buck
Frank Buck
Frank Buck is the name of:*Frank Buck , Democratic party state legislator in Tennessee*Frank Buck , American hunter and filmmaker...
, Steven Blum
Steven Blum
Steven Jay Blum is an American voice actor known primarily for his work in anime dubs and video games, using his distinctive deep voice. Among his credits include the voice of Spike Spiegel of the anime series Cowboy Bebop and Mugen of the anime series Samurai Champloo...
(as David Lucas), Jimmy Theodore
Jimmy Theodore
Jimmy Theodore is a voice actor who is also known as Rudy Luzion and Stephen Platt.-Anime roles:* Battle Athletes Victory - Satellite Operator* El Hazard: Wanderers - Additional Voices* Macross Plus - Additional Voices...
, Elliot Reynolds, Kirk Thornton
Kirk Thornton
Kirk Thornton is an American voice actor.-Bio:He is known for playing tough or grouchy men in English-dubbed anime and video games. His career includes Hotohori in Fushigi Yūgi and Jin in Samurai Champloo...
(as Sparky Thornton), Bambi Darro, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn is an American voice actress, ADR director, writer, and singer best known for her extensive English-language dubbing of various anime, and her singing in multiple games from the Silent Hill series, as well as the movie adaptation and Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME. She has...
(as Melissa Williamson), Michael Lindsay
Michael Lindsay
Michael Lindsay is a voice actor. Lindsay has also been credited under the name Dylan Tully. Lindsay was born in Washington, D.C. but moved at a young age to New York...
(as Dylan Tully), Matt K. Miller
Matt K. Miller
Matthew Kermit Miller is an American playwright, stage, film, and television actor and voice artist. He is also known as Kermit Miller and Kermit Beachwood.-Career:...
(as Kermit Beachwood), Sam Strong, Carol Stanzione, Ty Webb, Bill Timoney
Bill Timoney
Bill Timoney is an American actor. His best-known role on television is the character of Alfred Vanderpool on All My Children. Bill is also well-known as a voice actor and ADR director, primarily working on English-language dubs of Japanese anime especially TAJ Productions dubs...
(as Billy Regan), Dari Mackenzie, Paul St. Peter
Paul St. Peter
Paul Schmidl Peter , better known as Paul St. Peter, is an American voice actor. He also uses the names George C. Cole, George Z. Cole and Francis C. Cole...
(as George C. Cole), Syd Fontana, Sven Nosgard, Michael Devon McCarty (as Devon Michaels), Bob Buchholz
Bob Buchholz
Bob Buchholz is a voice actor, writer, story editor, and voice director. He is also known as Robert Wicks, Robert Buchholz, Bob Bucholz, Robert Bucholz, and Robert Wickes.- Anime roles :* Akira - Ryu...
(as Robert Wicks) and Mattie Rando.
Background
Originally the film was supposed to be a live action direct to video series, but after the Kobe earthquakeGreat Hanshin earthquake
The Great Hanshin earthquake, or Kobe earthquake, was an earthquake that occurred on Tuesday, January 17, 1995, at 05:46 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It measured 6.8 on the moment magnitude scale , and Mj7.3 on JMA magnitude scale. The tremors lasted for approximately 20...
of 1995 damaged the production studio, the budget for the film was reduced to an original video animation. Katsuhiro Otomo
Katsuhiro Otomo
is a Japanese comic book creator, screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the creator of the manga Akira and its animated film adaptation. Otomo has also directed several live-action films, such as the 2006 feature film adaptation of the manga Mushishi.-Biography:Katsuhiro Otomo was...
was credited as "Special Supervisor" to help the film sell abroad and as a result the film was screened in many film festivals around the world. While touring the world it received a fair amount of acclaim, jump-starting Kon's career as a filmmaker.
Kon and Murai did not think that the original novel would make a good film and asked if they could change the contents. This change was approved so long as they kept a few of the original concepts from the novel. A live action film Perfect Blue: Yume Nara Samete was later made (released in 2002) that is much closer to the novel. This version was directed by Toshiki Satō
Toshiki Sato
aka , , and is a Japanese film director and screenwriter best known for his pink films of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Takahisa Zeze, Kazuhiro Sano and Hisayasu Satō, he is known as one of the .-Life and career:...
from a screenplay by Shinji Imaoka
Shinji Imaoka
aka is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of a group of pink film directors of the 2000s known collectively as the .-Life and career:...
and Masahiro Kobayashi.
Like much of Kon's later work, such as Paprika, the film deals with the blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality in contemporary Japan.
In the USA, Perfect Blue aired on the Encore cable television network and was featured by the Sci Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
on December 10, 2007 as part of its Ani-Monday block. In Australia, Perfect Blue aired by the SBS Television Network on April 12, 2008 and previously sometime in mid 2007 in a similar timeslot.
Reception
The film was critically well received in the festival circuit, winning awards at the 1997 Fantasia FestivalFantasia Festival
Fantasia International Film Festival is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996...
in Montréal, and Fantasporto
Fantasporto
Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental projects from all over the world, Fantasporto has created enthusiastic audiences, ranging from...
Film Festival in Portugal.
Critical response in the United States upon its theatrical release was mixed. Some critics did not understand why Perfect Blue was done as an animated film, while others associated it with common anime stereotypes of gratuitous sex and violence.
A quote attributed to Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
describes it as a combination of Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
and Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
.
Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
incorporated clips from the film into a remix of her song "What It Feels Like for a Girl
What It Feels Like for a Girl
"What It Feels Like for a Girl" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was the third and final single released from her eighth studio album Music on April 17, 2001 by Maverick Records. The video mix of the song is a trance song, while the album version is a more demure pop and...
" as a video interlude during her Drowned World Tour
Drowned World Tour
The Drowned World Tour was the fifth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna in support of her seventh and eighth studio albums Ray of Light and Music. It was also her first tour in eight years, following The Girlie Show World Tour in 1993...
(2001).
In 2010 Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
acknowledged there being similarities between Perfect Blue and his film Black Swan
Black Swan (film)
Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis. Its plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. The production requires a ballerina to...
, but said that it was not an influence. Kon blogged about meeting Aronofsky in 2001. A recently reissued blog entry mentioned Requiem among Kon's list of movies he viewed for that year.
Time Magazine included the film on its top 5 anime DVD list, and Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
, of whom Kon was a fan included it in his list of the top fifty animated films.
Perfect Blue ranked #25 on Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
's all-time animated films.