Perfect Blue

For the live-action film and television series, respectively, see Perfect Blue: Yume Nara Samete and Perfect Blue (TV series).

Perfect Blue
Japanese theatrical release poster
Directed bySatoshi Kon
Screenplay bySadayuki Murai
Based onPerfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis
by Yoshikazu Takeuchi
Produced by
  • Masao Maruyama
  • Hitomi Nakagaki
  • Yoshihisa Ishihara
  • Yutaka Tōgō
  • Hiroaki Inoue
Starring
CinematographyHisao Shirai
Edited byHarutoshi Ogata
Music byMasahiro Ikumi
Production
company
Distributed byRex Entertainment
Release dates
  • 5 August 1997 (1997-08-05) (Fantasia)
  • 28 February 1998 (1998-02-28) (Japan)
Running time
81 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Budget¥90 million[1] (US$830,442)[2]
Box office$768,050 (US & UK only)[3] $572,669 (IT only)[4]

Perfect Blue (Japanese: パーフェクトブルー, Hepburn: Pāfekuto Burū) is a 1997 Japanese anime psychological thriller film[5][6] directed by Satoshi Kon.[7] It is loosely based on the novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis (パーフェクトブルー：完全変態, Pāfekuto Burū: Kanzen Hentai) by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, with a screenplay by Sadayuki Murai. Featuring the voices of Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shiho Niiyama, Masaaki Okura, Shinpachi Tsuji and Emiko Furukawa, the plot follows a member of a Japanese idol group who retires from music to pursue an acting career. As she becomes a victim of stalking by her obsessive fan, gruesome murders take place, and she begins losing her grip on reality.[8] The film deals with the blurring of the line between fantasy and reality, a commonly found theme in Kon's other works, such as Millennium Actress (2001) and Paprika (2006).[9]

  1. ^ "パーフェクトブルー戦記1 発端". Archived from the original on January 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  2. ^ "Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average)". World Bank. 1998. Archived from the original on January 27, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
  3. ^ "Pâfekuto burû (1999) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on November 28, 2018. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  4. ^ "Il regno del pianeta delle scimmie parte al primo posto - Il box office di mercoledì 8 maggio". May 9, 2024.
  5. ^ Harvey, Dennis (October 31, 1999). "Film Review: "Perfect Blue"". Variety. Archived from the original on February 15, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  6. ^ Chapman, Paul (August 9, 2018). "Satoshi Kon's Psychological Thriller "Perfect Blue" Heads to U.S. Theaters". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on April 6, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  7. ^ Crow, Jonathan. "Perfect Blue". AllMovie. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  8. ^ Extreme Cinema: The 40 Most Disturbing Horror Movies Ever Made – PHASR
  9. ^ "Satoshi Kon, Anime's Dream Weaver". Washington Post. June 15, 2007. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved October 27, 2017.