Art of Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue is an animation movie produced by Madhouse and directed by Satoshi Kon in 1997. It is based on the novel 'Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis' written by Yoshikazu Takeuchi. The film follows Mima Kirigoe, a member of a Japanese idol group, who retires from music to pursue an acting career. As she becomes a victim of stalking, gruesome murders begin to occur, and Mima starts to lose her grip on reality. 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.

Originally, the film was supposed to be a live action direct-to-video series, but after the Kobe earthquake 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.

The pictures on this page are a collection of artworks created for this movie.

THE STORY

A young singer, Mima Kirigoe, decides to leave her pop-music band and become an actress. But it seems as not everyone is pleased about it. Threatening phone calls, explosive letters and faxes... Besides that there's a web-page - "Mima's Diary", where each her step and thought are described to tiny details. But in spite of threats and even murders of her, Mima holds her ground and is ready to endure the hard way to desirable fame, even if it makes her go mad...


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