×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Perfect Blue...???




Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Anime
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Yukinari



Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 2:26 pm Reply with quote
I just watched Perfect Blue for the second time and I still don't understand what is going on in the movie. Its a good anime, but its really confusing. Can somebody tell me what is going on in the movie?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 2:38 pm Reply with quote
Using the [spoiler] mode, what are you confused about?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Cloe
Moderator


Joined: 18 Feb 2004
Posts: 2728
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 2:46 pm Reply with quote
Yukinari wrote:
I just watched Perfect Blue for the second time and I still don't understand what is going on in the movie. Its a good anime, but its really confusing. Can somebody tell me what is going on in the movie?


Well, to be honest, a lot of the plot is open-ended, so many of the conclusions you take away from it can be purely subjective. This, however, is my take on it.

spoiler[All of the threats which face Mima in the entire film come from Rumi, with the exception of Mima's hallucinations, which are a result of a combination of stress and guilt. Rumi, blinded by her own greif at Mima's continually shifting image from the innocent pop idol (and feeling overshadowed by her own past as a failed pop idol) becomes unstable and takes on the alternate Mima persona. I believe the letter bomb, the "traitor" fax, and the multiple murders were all carried out by Rumi, who, in her alter ego, did not realize what she was doing. If you pay attention to the plot in the drama Mima is acting in, it actually provides really subtle hints as to what's going on. As for the crazy fan, he's the only part of the whole puzzle I'm not entirely sure how to piece together. I think, for the most part, he was just an obsessive fan and the one responsible for the website "Mima's Room," which added to Mima's paranoia, but he was mostly harmless. I believe Mima's constant visions of him are a representation of the guilt she feels about the life she left behind, even though she didn't entirely want to. The film is deliberately edited together in a rather complex and confusing fashion, to reflect the bewilderment and anxiety of Mima.]

Any specific scenes you wanted clarification on?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website AIM Address My Anime My Manga
Yukinari



Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 2:57 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
Using the [spoiler] mode, what are you confused about?


The whole movie started to get confusing after Mima's life and the
Double Bind movie started to blur together. But just tell me who was doing the killing and I'll be satisfied. Confused
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 3:12 pm Reply with quote
Yukinari wrote:
Mohawk52 wrote:
Using the [spoiler] mode, what are you confused about?


The whole movie started to get confusing after Mima's life and the
Double Bind movie started to blur together. But just tell me who was doing the killing and I'll be satisfied. Confused
spoiler[Her agent.]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
David Silva



Joined: 19 Feb 2005
Posts: 35
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 4:25 pm Reply with quote
*points to mohawk52's reply

I thought that was obvious, even if you didn't get the rest of the movie. Well, I don't mean to offend or anything but said person showing up in the end saying all that stuff ... made me believe, right away, that it was the killer.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website AIM Address
beelzebozo



Joined: 11 Jun 2004
Posts: 308
Location: Aurora, Colorado
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 4:31 pm Reply with quote
Yukinari wrote:

The whole movie started to get confusing after Mima's life and the
Double Bind movie started to blur together. But just tell me who was doing the killing and I'll be satisfied. Confused


spoiler[Her agent and the Mima-otaku, who was probably goaded by the agent into some of the murders]

Satoshi Kon rarely hands out most of his plots easily. You end up having to draw your own conclusions. Millenium Actress is the same, except not in such a disturbing fashion. Unfortunately, if you are going off the English dub of PB, you missed the punchline at the end.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Glory Questor



Joined: 28 Sep 2004
Posts: 456
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 5:58 pm Reply with quote
On a similar note:

spoiler[Could Rumi have some sort of psychic ability -- one that probably made everyone see her as Mimarin and give her supernatural abilities? (I'm referring to the scene where Rumi / Mimarin visits her, then "floats" away on top of light poles. Either that was all in Mima's mind [ which could be true... ] or Rumi has some sort of supernatural power.)

What led me to ask this was the fact that you have Me-Mania thinking that Mimarin is talking to him (when it could be a psychic image of Mima by Rumi) and that Mimarin only acknowledges it's Rumi once Rumi's reflection becomes visible in the mirror. (Mima actually looks at Rumi in the mirror before she knows it's her.)]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address My Anime My Manga
Cloe
Moderator


Joined: 18 Feb 2004
Posts: 2728
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 6:20 pm Reply with quote
Glory Questor wrote:
spoiler[Could Rumi have some sort of psychic ability -- one that probably made everyone see her as Mimarin and give her supernatural abilities? (I'm referring to the scene where Rumi / Mimarin visits her, then "floats" away on top of light poles. Either that was all in Mima's mind [ which could be true... ] or Rumi has some sort of supernatural power.)

What led me to ask this was the fact that you have Me-Mania thinking that Mimarin is talking to him (when it could be a psychic image of Mima by Rumi) and that Mimarin only acknowledges it's Rumi once Rumi's reflection becomes visible in the mirror. (Mima actually looks at Rumi in the mirror before she knows it's her.)]


I think this is a result of spoiler[extreme paranoia and mental sickness in all parties involved more than supernatural abilities. Mima is in the middle of a nervous breakdown, which leads to her hallucinations. Since she spends the entire film dealing wih her loss of identity, it is not surprising that she imagines another "self" when Rumi confronts her. I believe the previous encounters she had with this other self were illusions she created out of fear and, of course, she imagines the same image when she discovers she is not in her real room, but a perfect duplicate. Rumi, wrapped up in her own delusions, can only see herself as the idol from of Mima. And Me-Mania considers himself a knight protecting the chastity of the "real" Mima (ie the idol). He's so obsessed with idol Mima, I wouldn't be surprised if he simply imagined those conversations himself. There are no supernatural occurences going on here; just the crazed imaginations of mentally unstable people.

Also keep in mind that near the end of the film, when Mima is being chased my Rumi, she has a short moment of clarity where she asserts that she is the one and only Mima. It is at this point, when Mima is finally able to conquer her fear of losing her identity, that her mind clears and she sees Rumi as she really appears.]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website AIM Address My Anime My Manga
Glory Questor



Joined: 28 Sep 2004
Posts: 456
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 6:38 pm Reply with quote
Seen in that light, I understand it better now.

Thanks, Cloe. Smile
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address My Anime My Manga
ShellBullet



Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 1051
Location: I hit things, with my fist.
PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 7:31 pm Reply with quote
spoiler[It's not fair to say that mi-mania was "harmless." Considering what he tried to do when he met the actual Mimi shows that he was anything but harmless. Clearly the agent was in contact with him all along (through e-mail no doubt) , explaining why he uncanilly knew almost every aspect of her life. As to who actually killed who, I think I'd have to watch the movie again to be sure.

Also, I never thought that Mimi was insane, or delusional at all. The "hullicinations" that she sees are not happening at all, in fact many of the scenes throughout the movie never occured. The movie takes place on a whole nother level, Kon showing us what is going on in Mimi's head. It is best to consider all the freaky stuff that goes on to be allegories that explain what Mimi is going through, without taking anything too literal.]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail My Anime
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Anime All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group