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Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $23.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Creepy
Review: Perfect Blue has got to be the most thrilling and disturbing anime out there. It tells a story of celebrity obsession gone wrong. The story is twisted, the animation is dark and the voice acting fits the characters perfectly. Perfect Blue is a must have in any anime fan's collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best anime I've ever seen
Review: Forget all anime movies you can have see, this is diferent, better than any other anime and, yeah, better than any real actors film. The Story is so amazing... You will understand, not understand... then U can't understand again and your mind will be crazy as the girl of this film. It's impossible to describe the sensations that i felt when i saw this film... so then I recommend that U will see it and discover for you...may be the best anime I have ever seen!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: definatly perfect
Review: Perfect is the word for this Anime, if you enjoy a mind bending and a mind blowing story, then this will definatly be eye candy.If you are going to watch this movie for the first time the secret is to just watch it(only because it is very fast paced) and then try to put the story together after it has finished, then simply watch it again and again. a must have for all Anime and Thriller fans.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: MASTERPIECE!!!
Review: I saw this film directly after my first (and pray not, my last) trip to Japan. And the first thing I have to say is that, unlike most Anime that makes it over to America, this film actually shows you a true depiction of Tokyo (and most of Japan). I know this isn't the most pressing thing on your mind, but I believe I should say it.

Now on to the meat: This move is extremely well written and a complete joy to watch. Yes, it is fairly "adult" for most Anime we see in America, but as another reviewer said, it is necessary to convey a point. Basically, 'Perfect Blue' is about a J-pop singer that decides to quit and move to acting (and eventually, modelling), yet still misses her singing roots. Once that explanation is done with, this movie plunges into an awesome plot that leaves you guessing up until the very end (at which, it's still VERY SHOCKING). This is definately better then most regular American suspense thrillers. For the first time in awhile, I LITERALLY found myself on the edge of my seat staring intently at a glimpse of what was going to happen next.

Anyone that searches for great psychological thrillers (ala Fight Club) should definately see this movie.

5 of 5!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Perfect Blue is a near perfect DVD.
Review: Don't watch the commentaries or other extras before the film as it will give away key plot points - namely the ending. Go to the official dotcom website of the same name for information about the making of the film. The official site says that this was meant to be a live action film but production was interrupted by the Kobi earthquake and it was decided to change it to an anime. There is a mention of an earthquake in the background of a scene on a television set.

I'm reviewing the version I saw, the Australian DVD release by Madman Entertainment as the licensee for Manga Entertainment. It is unusually Region Coded 1,2 and 4 (the zones of USA and Canada, Europe and Japan and South America as well). However, it is recorded in PAL format and except for Europe, these countries use NTSC, a different playback format. As a general point, make sure your DVD player has PAL playback before buying any PAL disc even if the disc is your region code or region zero (no region code) otherwise it won't play back properly or at all. There might also be differences between this disc and other region versions so check what extras you get.

I don't like watching dubbed live action films but I'm perfectly happy with the English dubbed version on this disc which is well done. The Japanese language track with or without subtitles is also available. It's worth watching the watching the Japanese subtitled version. It gives a different feel to the movie. Some dialogue gets a different emphasis. It also shows up one error in the English dub at 1 hour 1 minute and 32 seconds. Mima should have said "Rika Takakura" not "Mima Kirigoe". This is confirmed by the Japanese language track and accompanying subtitles. This is important as it clears up some confusion that might be created in that scene as a result.

Mima Kirigoe is a pop singer who is quitting her group "Cham" to take up acting. We quickly learn that longevity in the music business can be short in Japan. Starting at ground level in the acting business means she has no choice but to do scenes which are worlds apart from her wholesome pop image. Someone starts stalking her and sending threatening letters. One explodes injuring her manager. Even more disturbingly, she finds a website (called "Mima's Room) that has details of her life that only she could know. Things get really scary when she starts using it herself to find out what she's been up to as her emotional state deteriorates.

Murders of people involved with her acting career start happening. She might be being haunted and terrorised by her former pop persona that objects to the indecent things she has to act out. Mima may actually be hallucinating the threats and that she's being stalked. She may also be hallucinating the murders. She might actually be committing the murders. In fact, she might even be hallucinating her entire career but committing the murders - or not. Or she may be simply be going mad. Believe me when I say anything is possible in this film.

The last 30 minutes continually keep you guessing as the filmmakers keep shifting the ground beneath the viewer's feet. You have to repeatedly question what is real and what it not, a difficult but enjoyable task and you have to especially be on your toes to keep up. What has been going on seems to be conclusively settled, if for no more reason that there is nothing following the end to contradict the final scene. The theme music is quite eerie and totally appropriate for the tone of key scenes in the film as Mima starts her spiral downwards. There is also a frenetic score that perfectly fits the intensity of the murders (or is it 'murders'?).

This is an excellent film and a first class thriller. Within the first few minutes, I had even forgotten that I was watching an animated film. This film has a great twist ending, a killer final half hour and a streamlined plot in a compact running time. 3 things a recent and totally unrelated release "Minority Report" didn't have and needed desperately.

The DVD extras are very good. A screen says you are being connecting you "Mima's Room" and uses a reverse of the pull away shot from Mima's apartment window in the film by zooming into her apartment, past Mima and then displaying a menu for the extras. Commentary from three of the main English voice actors is very informative and thought provoking about how they interpreted the film and decided to play their roles as a result. It is also interesting to compare Mima's English voice actor to her Japanese equivalent's take on the role. This is the director Satoshi Kon's first animated feature and he does a great job.

There is a photo montage using frames from the film and text that details the key events of the film. Also, some studio footage of the Japanese voice actors singing a Cham song and the separate English equivalent (sound only) is an option. There is also some footage of the animators working on the film in the opening menu screen, it would have been nice if a small feature had been added showing the making of the film as well.

Surprisingly (and fortunately) this film has not yet been optioned by Hollywood for a remake. This would not be a popular suggestion but IF amongst the current lot of Britney Spears, Mandy Moore et al, one of them did appear in a remake of this film and IF they stuck as closely as possible to this film and IF they did a good job, it would definitely add a dimension to their acting careers. There are obvious parallels as they also are all shifting their focus from their music to acting, which is the theme of this film, especially the downside of that transition and that of fame in general. However, that is a lot of 'if's and probably far too many to give great odds of success. All things considered it's probably good we have fortunately been spared the threat of a remake.

A great movie and a great disc. Go see it, buy it if you can't rent it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Nice Piece of Recursive Story Telling
Review: A surprisingly good story -- and I'm not a manga fan (although I'd like to be one). It's not a classic like Castle of Cagliostro -- now there's a movie! And it's certainly more hard edged. But, it works, even if the narrative device that is used gets perhaps a little overused, and is one of the few compelling dramas in manga I've found. Good stuff.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What if Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney met?
Review: If Walt Disney and Hitchcock would've made a movie, it would be this.
Mima is a pop idol that wants to go into acting. But, she is soon haunted by her pop idol self, who thinks she is the real Mima. This movie is one of the best anime titles I ever saw!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Eye of the beholder...
Review: Perfect Blue. You'll either love it, or hate it. I loved it. I bought the DVD after seeing a trailer on some other disc. After watching the movie for the first time, I didn't quite gettit. It took me 2 more sessions to get the picture together. I realised there is more to this movie then meets the eye: the story which is discribed in the other reviews here is basicaly telling the story, but perhaps not quite. There is also another possible vantage point. It tells the story of a young girl who gets raped while working as a waitress in some club. In order to repress this horrid memory, she starts pretending she is an actress, the rape was notthing more than a role she played for a TV show. Reality and fantasy get mixed up, as does the sequence of events ( the rape event occurs somewhere halfway through the movie) This makes the movie really interresting, 'cause even in the end, you still can't tell what the real story is... And that is what makes this such a great movie ! It might be a little farfetched, but the director's comments in the Extra's department seem to confirm it... Keep an open mind while watching this...

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not really an typical anime..more like a Lifetime cartoon
Review: The ads for this film always stuck in the word "Hitchcockian"; I disagree. Yes, it is somewhat suspensful, and yes there were a few thrills, but moreover, the emotional state of the main character is shoved in the viewer's face in such a whiney way that it's annoying. There's an creepy stalker, mental breakdown, and a walkthrough of the main gal's life. But honestly, in the end, this movie turns out to be nothing more than a Lifetime Orginial in cartoon form.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 'Perfect' from Beginning to End
Review: As you watch Mima, the main character, make a move from her dream career as a pop-idol with all her spotlights and fans to an actor in a new murder-mystery drama series beause her agent persuaded her that she'll make more money. Her family, friends, and fans are against this change but support her and yet, as she gets more scenes in the murder-drama series, the people around her are being killed mysteriously as well -- almost as an onminous warning to her.

You are carried along with her throughout this change to its climatic resolution in which the final twist of plot is reminiscent of the classic Hitcock. You will want to watch this film several times over to see how each element will add up to its final value and see how they affect Mima's career, life, and mental sanity.

I've shown this piece to all of my friends (Anime-fan or not) and they have all agreed that it was awesome and exciting. If more movies were released of this calibur, there would be many, Many more Anime fans born.


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