An Analysis of Perfect Blue

[@yilyau]

Thanks to @Emma__O for encouraging me to make this video. I wasn’t initially going to make a video on Perfect Blue and probably won’t do it justice, but I wanted to talk about it since it was requested and held personal meaning to me; having been heavily stalked in my early teens, Mima’s feelings of fear and paranoia were all too real and relatable. I wanted to mention that a director by the name of Sam had kindly pointed out that I hadn’t been properly citing things by making them known to viewers where the sources in my descriptions were in-video. I wanted to take the time to apologise to Sam and the people that watch these videos again. I was incredibly careless and uneducated regarding in-video citations and have tried to do so properly in this video. Albeit, there may still be mistakes as I get used to improving my videos as a whole; thank you for your patience. Thanks again to Sam and you can find them on Instagram here: instagram.com/slamgurry/ Sources/Further Reading (non in-video and in-video): The Cyber Sublime and the Virtual Mirror: Information and Media in the Works of Oshii Mamoru and Kon Satoshi by William O. Gardner. Making Sense of Complex Narration in Perfect Blue by Antonio Loriguillo-López, José Antonio Palao-Errando and Javier Marzal-Felici. Reflections on the Translation of Gender in Perfect Blue, an Anime Film by Kon Satoshi by Daniel E. Josephy-Hernández. Digital Depersonalization: Losing Self between Reality and Cyberspace by Elena Bezzubova, PhD. How Perfect Blue Predicted the Disturbing Possibilities of the Internet Daniel Schindel. Angel of Love on AnimeLyrics. No Plot Needed: Perfect Blue by Daved Alessio. A Hint of Paprika - (unreachable site): blog.eternicity.net/2012/05/31/a-hint-of-paprika/ Perfect Blue | The Definitive Explanation by Chris Lambert. Dissecting Perfect Blue (1997) by Echo-From-the-Void. Perfect Blue: the Delusion and the Reality. What’s Real When Everything’s Constructed in Perfect Blue by thefluffyblackbird. Perfect Blue Ending Explained by Vanessa Maki. Red for the Unpresentable; Postmodern Cinematic Sublime in Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue by Sofia Benchafi. The Ending Of Perfect Blue Explained by Leo Noboru Lima. Excuse Me: Who Are You? by J. Curcio. Identity, Image, and the Right to Self-Exploitation: Perfect Blue by Glen. Perfect Blue: The Face in the Mirror Might Not Be You on JokerontheSofa. Feeling Blue: The Deeply Disturbing Perfect Blue by Bianca Garner. Perfect Blue (1997) Retrospective Review and Analysis on LazyBoyPopcorn. Fluidity Between Duality: Perfect Blue and Why it’s Terrifying by Jenny Kheng. Surreal Idol by Meg Sipos. Analysis of ‘Perfect Blue’ by Gabriel García Sánchez. I Am Who I Am! - Identity Fragmentation in ‘Perfect Blue’ on vigouroffilmlines. Broken Mirrors: Perfect Blue 20 Years Later by @Willow_Catelyn on Twitter. The Phenomenology and Cognitivism of Kon’s Perfect Blue by @okcoolros. What’s Real When Everything’s Constructed Perfect Blue by Rachel Bolton. Why Perfect Blue is Futuristic by Frankiesha. Timestamps (because they don’t always show up): 00:00 Content Warning 00:12 Introduction 00:45 Powertrons 01:19 Blue and Red pt. 1 02:15 Pink 02:40 Themes 03:06 Reflections and Mirrors 03:59 Blue and Red pt. 2 05:08 Me-Mania pt. 1 06:22 Blue and Red pt. 3 09:25 Who are You? 10:18 Double-Bind pt. 1 10:57 White pt. 1 11:24 Lights pt. 1 11:58 Letter Bomb 12:18 Mima’s Room 14:14 Lights pt. 2 14:47 SA Scene 18:17 Lights pt. 3 18:58 Aftermath 20:02 Me-Mania pt. 2 21:27 Virtual Mima 22:08 White pt. 2 23:33 The Angel’s White Wings 27:30 Me-Mania pt. 3 28:40 Identity and Performance 30:30 Double-Bind pt. 2 32:30 Take One 32:57 ‘Alright, Take Two!’ 33:38 Photographer 35:16 ‘Alright, Take Three!’ 36:04 Take Four 36:53 Me-Mania pt. 4 38:37 Rumi 41:23 Lights pt. 5 41:45 Hospital 43:13 ‘No, I’m Real.’ 44:17 Influence

[@Emma__O]

I've been waiting for this one! I love this movie as I think Satoshi Kon excellently uses the industry as a commentary on misogyny and womanhood. Mima is trapped by the male gaze, first as an innocent girl and then as a hypersexual vixen. Rumi seems to have been broken by it in the past.

[@Emma__O]

I don't fully agree that white is "purity" or at least not in the way you say. I think it's more the ideal, the unreal. The colour of celebrities. While red (danger) becomes more prominent, Mima clothes herself in the white as if to cling to her dreams of being a beloved actress. It's deconstructed of course as Mima is surrounded by white when she takes those risque photos, and when she psyches herself up to take them. Virtual Mima always has a soft white light surrounding her, the ideal of the pure idol. That white is stripped from the pink to become pure red in the climax. You say yourself that Rumi fully embraces the white light of the truck, completing her transition from reality to total delusion.

[@yilyau]

Thanks for your adding dimension with your Emma. It was very insightful! 🤍

[@evancredeur7498]

What freaks me out about Me-mania, other than his face, is the way he was sweating nonstop during his attack on Mima, and the goofy groaning sounds he made before passing out after getting hit.

[@yilyau]

Yes, well I think it shows his desire for Mima; which is quite hypocritical considering he was all about keeping her ‘pure’.

[@evancredeur7498]

@@yilyau What about the sounds he made after he got hit by the hammer?

[@kencarter6481]

By far the best analysis on the movie I have watched out of the ones on youtube currently, the only one I have seen address the full color plate, the bright white lights and hues. I am also very glad you included the meaning of color from the presepective of the japanese culture. THANK YOU FOR POINTING OUT THE DIALACT SHE HAS! The dress she wears during the SA scene reminds me of Miko's.

[@evancredeur7498]

I actually see the ending as a happy ending. Mima recovers from all the mentality vs reality stuff she went through and everything is back to normal.

[@pure.9484]

I think it would be great if you talk about pinku eiga, exploitation of Japanese cinema viewed in woman’s point of view.

[@flamejob4260]

been a silent subscriber for a while but i just had to say i was hoping you'd cover this forever! i really like how you used multiple perspectives of anaylsis because i feel like most of the content I've seen on this film is doing the whole black swan/fame is pain/etc. pov and i loved the notes about digital surveillance in daily life and parasociality

[@yilyau]

Thanks, flamejob. 🔥 Glad you enjoyed the video. ☺️💖

[@fishgoat7050]

You have no idea how long I've been subconsciously waiting for this. I love your analysis❤

[@yilyau]

I had no idea anyone else wanted to see a video on Perfect Blue. 😊💙

[@fishgoat7050]

@@yilyau I can't get enough. Perfect Blue has been one of my favorite anime movies, and thriller movie, for a while and because of how trippy it is you end up with various takes on the plot. I think that's one of the charms of the film, there's always multiple interpretations.

[@willowsnsakura]

AaaaAAHH. man.... I finally watched this for my birthday this year, and it was SO worth the wait. It was super interesting watching this as one of those people with extreme hyper fixations, but who also loves cosplay and feels constant outside pressure to look and perform a certain way. On the one hand, holy shit did watching Me-mania feel uncomfortably familiar, both in the way that I can plummet into fandom and as the exact personification of my fears as a woman who exists online and has had a vaguely obsessed guy try to impersonate me to get my attention. Stalkers as a whole make me want to crawl out of my skin, so I didn't expect to feel that level of kinship with him, and then all the awful feelings that came from that. Luckily what I'm into is exclusively fictional series and characters (it's hard for me to see real people as anything but somewhat uninteresting, other humans with their own bullshit going on), but it was DEEPLY unsettling having it illustrated just how lucky I might be with that. The intense devotion I've had to different series over the years would feel a lot different if it was directed at real, live people. It makes the way that I've heard some fans talk about their faves make a bit more sense--both with the ones who acknowledge those celebrities are putting on a front and it's that front that they engage with more in fandom spaces, AND the ones who can't make that distinction. It also like.... Gosh the amount of fear it struck in me otherwise. Of her manager, desperately trying to cling to who she used to be because she'll never be happier than she was then, and then needing to face the fact that I was judging her for trying to be part of a "young" woman's field EVEN THOUGH I know that's such a huge problem (and the worry that "oh no, is that how people see ME sometimes??"). The delusions creeping into her daily life because she poured so much of herself into her art and work, to the point where she was fully fractured. The people around her not acknowledging what was going on, even if it was just that she was visually struggling. That deep, deep, DEEP dread that you've messed something up irreparably and lost a chance that you will never ever be able to seize on again. The thought that other people know you just as well as you do, or that when they say they know what's best for you, that sometimes they might be right--and the extreme loss of control that comes with that. The whole movie was so violating in such a particular way, especially because it very slowly breaks your own perception until it's not even a matter of an unreliable narrator--YOU'RE no longer a reliable watcher, 'cause you've been projecting your own thoughts and ideas this whole time. All it takes is one person saying "yeah this meant so-and-so" for you to realize how intensely your own perspective colored what was going on, to the point of completely missing or misinterpreting things that happened, and then you doubt everything else that's happened. At the end of it i just sat open-mouthed for a good half-hour, just going "what--WHAT--wait--no but, but--wait NO WAIT WHAT?!!!" On the end...... Gosh, I can't even fully explain WHAT I thought happened, because to me it seemed like the red dress Mima took over and became successful. I'm just gonna copy-paste what I was telling friends after I watched it: if you're accepting a supernatural element, I don't think that's Mima at the very end?? It felt like another daydream or movie recording, and the way she smiles at the camera in the end felt very much like the stinger at the end of a horror movie where you find out the killer isn't dead. And I'm having trouble even figuring out who the actual storyteller/narrator is. Yeah, Mima is the main character, but it could be Rumi thinking it all up, it could be the stalker, it could be tabloids or even a script. I know it's symbolic for how fame like that consumes you from every angle, so really it's probably better to focus on how it makes you feel than what literally happens, but STILL. to go that long and have no idea who's even telling the story...... Man...... This movie 20000% deserves all the analysis and discussions it brings up. I'd LOVE to be able to see how people were talking about it when it first came out, because otaku culture I don't think was really accepted back then the way it is now, and then idea of a creepy obsessed male stalker really WAS the standard, instead of *just* a superfan who runs a blog

[@KittyKatt_Luna80s]

Regarding the shopping bag, I believe that Rumi stole her key from her bag and got it copied. She could then let herself into Mima's flat at will, so she could plant the bag.

[@eyeromnium]

i love the aesthetic of your channel ❤💗❤💗

[@123.45-d]

So the whole black swan movie is biting off this anime

[@KittyKatt_Luna80s]

And Requiem for a Dream had Marion in the bath. Instead of yelling, "(You) Bastards!" Marion simply screams.

[@docsaico]

Omfg I am SO EXCITED to watch this video!

[@c4rdb04rd4]

speaking of the digital world, u should really do an analysis of serial experiments lain, its great and theres so much to unpack

[@chuucake]

love your video essays so much

[@keip4568]

In Japanese red is usually a good sign especially with a circle usually blue with an X is negative or wrong.

[@dixie7909]

I love this film and your thoughts of it

[@aishonline]

this is amazing!!!!

[@ananya1721]

Thanks!

[@yilyau]

Thanks for all your comments, Ananya. I appreciate them. ❤️

[@ananya1721]

@@yilyau I look forward to your videos.💛

[@evancredeur7498]

Ooh! Thank you so much! Next one, can it be Ringing Bell? Please?

[@yilyau]

Thanks for the comment, Evan. Nice to know you’ve seen this one too. 😄 I’m still working through a list, but I’ll keep it in mind. ✨Apologies if I don’t reply much anymore. To be honest, my mental health is taking a turn for the worse; not sure if I’m cut out for this KZbin stuff. The comments are becoming a bit overwhelming to handle, so sorry if I don’t reply much anymore. 🙏🏻🌼

[@evancredeur7498]

@@yilyau Oh, sorry to hear about the mental health. Maybe you should see someone.

[@lolipop123-o6p]

Can u do a video on Audrey Hepburn? If you can, I love your videos

[@vokkagirl]

you should totally read helter skelter: fashion unfriendly by kyoko okazaki if you haven't already. i find new things with every reread

[@yilyau]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have already read Helter Skelter. It used to be one of the mangas I’d re-read sometimes.

[@vokkagirl]

@@yilyauwould love to see your analysis of it ❤

[@Mari-zr1vl]

I really really like your content, however it is nearly impossible to focus on the content with the “baby voice”. I’m sorry if you don’t make it on purpose but my neurons find it somehow disturbing and I noticed I’m more and more prone to skipping your channel’s videos. Again, I’m sorry if you don’t make it on purpose; thought it was worth to share my feedback

[@yilyau]

Hi, Mari. Thanks for the comment, and I understand. 😅🌼 It is my normal voice, which is strange because I don’t think it sounds that overly high in person (no one’s ever commented on it in person, but I get lots on KZbin). 🙌🏻 Hope you find some other good channels to watch. 🩵

[@willowsnsakura]

You might have meant this honestly, but it's not in good form to comment on things people can't control, especially when you're framing it as fake, infantile, and disturbing on the deepest possible level. That's just plain rude, regardless of how you meant it. If someone's audio is poorly balanced, if a camera is unfocused, if the lighting is poor, if edits make it hard to follow--those are all things that you could can call constructive criticism if you point it out. You can easily work on those by spending longer editing, looking up better lighting rigs and set-ups, or testing settings before you begin recording. They're things a person can almost fully control. On the other hand, "I personally find an inherent part of you disturbing and you need to fix it just for me so that I like it better" is *extremely* rude and a bit conceited. That can't be fixed, and changing it would require an extreme level of effort and discomfort on the part of the person who's trying to change. (And not for nothing, given that this video is about the story of a singer/performer and how people misuse parasocial relationships as a gateway that will allow them to control the image of public figures, the irony of this comment is so painfully on-point I can't help but wonder if it's an attempt at trolling.) Don't watch a video if you don't like someone's voice, or put on captions and watch it silently. I do that a lot on many different platforms, for many different reasons. But don't leave rude comments about other people's body (a voice IS a part of someone's body) because you don't want to tailor your own online experience--which is *your* responsibility and no one else's.

[@ananya1721]

That is rude & unkind. If it bothers you so much you shouldn't watch. Instead of trolling someone's natural voice.

[@synschoolinyounoobsakathemaske]

There's no such thing as too much analysis on this movie, I love hearing people's opinions and thoughts on the movie. I remember watching as a kid, and it was terrifying but memorizing. My mom loved this movie as well as a kid, I can see why she loves understanding and studying the mind and body of people. 💙💙💙🩵🩵🩵 Also, I noticed it may not be important but how she's shopping and on the train that no one bothers her, not even asking for autographed. It could be the way the culture is, of respecting each others, she's no different than them she's a person that's most definitely tired from work.

[@ananya1721]

First of all I am sorry for the stalker harassment you had to go through and I hope you are doing better now. 🫂❤‍🩹 I am so happy you did an analysis on a Satoshi Kon film as he is one of my favorites. I like your take of multiple interpretations more as this story was told with too much ambiguity, although a dissociative identity disorder suffering Rumi being the puppeteer seemed most plausible to me during a watch in my younger years. Need to re-watch it through a newer lens. The chase sequence between Rumi & Mima is etched on my mind indefinitely & the film encapsulates anxiety quite well. It was ahead of it's time. Great analysis as always. Keep up love. 💟💙🖤