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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PerfectBlue2_6119.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350: [[NightmareFuel The nightmare]] [[MindScrew begins.]]]]
3%%
4->''"Excuse me. Who are you?"''
5
6''Perfect Blue'' is a 1997 {{anime}} {{psychological horror}} thriller film, and the directorial debut of anime legend Creator/SatoshiKon. Technically, it's based on Yoshikazu Takeuchi's 1991 novel ''Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis'', but [[InNameOnly very loosely]].
7
8Mima Kirigoe (voiced by Creator/JunkoIwao) is a mildly-popular IdolSinger who decides to leave her group [[ContractualPurity to pursue a serious career as an actress]]. She manages to land a small role on a sexually-charged murder mystery series, but starts to struggle with the increasingly-intense demands of her part.
9
10After her character [[RapeAsDrama is involved in a rape scene]], Mima discovers an internet blog supposedly written by herself, or rather, the "innocent" persona she used as an IdolSinger. Mima has no memory of writing such a thing, but the entries are far too accurate and personal to be a hoax. Is it a StalkerWithACrush? Has Mima developed a SplitPersonality? Or is something far more sinister afoot?
11
12''Perfect Blue'' was originally released in the West in 1999 by Manga Entertainment. Around the film's 20th anniversary, Shout Factory and GKIDS released a remastered edition of the film in March 2019.
13
14For Western viewers interested in stories similar to ''Perfect Blue'', see ''Film/BlackSwan'' and ''Literature/{{Perfume}}''. Kon would also go on to produce other work investigating the boundary between the real and the imaginary such as ''Literature/{{Paprika}}'', ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'' and ''Anime/MillenniumActress''.
15
16----
17!!''Perfect Blue'' provides examples of:
18
19* ActingInTheDark: In-universe, what the director of ''Double Bind'' does to his actors, making the parallels between the real Mima and the character she plays in the show even creepier as both start to suspect that they have been killing people and then blocking out the memories.
20* AdaptationDeviation: [[spoiler:The original novel had a far more straightforward story of an idol being hunted down by a deranged stalker, with the only real twist being that the stalker is MadeOfIron and manages to survive injuries that should be fatal several times over, as an allegory of how pervasive unhealthy obsessions can get. The movie has a far more complex plot that involves {{Gaslighting}} and psychological horror, and the unnamed stalker is changed into being a pawn of the idol's best friend instead.]]
21* AdaptationTitleChange: Downplayed. The movie keeps the novel's name but omits the subtitle "Complete Metamorphosis".
22* AdaptationalVillainy: In the original novel, [[spoiler:Rumi was a genuine friend of Mima's and just as much of a victim of the stalker as Mima herself. In the movie, she's the one pulling his strings]].
23* AffectionateNickname: Mima's fans call her "Mima-rin," with "-rin" being an honorific in Japanese used to describe someone cute or endearing. Not so endearing when Me-Mania decides that the Mima who's left CHAM!, taken up a role in a detective drama, and posed nude for a photoshoot must be an impostor, and therefore he must kill her to protect "his" Mima-rin.
24* AnimatedAdaptation: Adapted from a novel. [[InNameOnly Sort of.]]
25* ApologeticAttacker: Or, at least, apologetic actor. During Mima's rape scene in the drama show, during a pause in the action, one of the actors who was leaning over her quietly apologizes to Mima for the actions during the scene. Thankfully, for both Mima and the unnamed actor, it's all a fake, and she's able to accept the apology since the scene was simply a part of the job (although that doesn't mean she has to like having to shoot it).
26* ArcWords:
27** "Excuse me. Who are you?" This is Mima's first line on ''Double Bind'', the acting job that sends her down this rabbit hole of insanity, and it gradually becomes ''very'' relevant as the theme of LossOfIdentity sinks in. Who ''are'' you, Mima?
28** "The real Mima" and variants thereof come up a lot--specifically, who and what everyone perceives the "real" Mima to be, and if Mima is even sure herself. [[spoiler:It turns out Rumi believes that ''she'' is the real Mima.]]
29* ArtisticLicenseFilmProduction: Pretty much [[AvertedTrope averted.]] The series Mima is in is established to use multiple takes, and is generally presented as a collaborative work involving many people. Notably between takes of a RapeAsDrama scene, the actor playing the rapist apologizes to Mima as they are both clearly uncomfortable with the material.
30* AssholeVictim: Pretty much everybody who gets murdered, though the sheer brutality of their murders [[DisproportionateRetribution far outstrips any of the ways they'd wronged Mima]]. The one exception to this would be the one justifiable homicide committed in self-defense against a would-be rapist and murderer.
31* AttemptedRape: Near the end of the film, the stalker Me-Mania attempts to rape and kill Mima, but she is able to escape his clutches and flee mostly unscathed.
32* AuthorAppeal: In-universe - it's suggested that the seedier aspects of ''Double Bind'' are done largely so Shibuya, the screenwriter, can indulge his own perverted fantasies.
33* AxCrazy: Me-Mania, Mima at one point and [[spoiler:Rumi]].
34* BadBedroomBadLife: The movie starts with Mima living in a tidy and well-decorated room. As her SanitySlippage progresses, it gets dirtier and dirtier and darker and darker.
35* BaitTheDog:
36** Me-Mania after his EstablishingCharacterMoment stops some thugs from rabble-rousing at Mima's last concert, and she even smiles at him. Then [[spoiler:after the "real Mima" asks him to get rid of her "impostor,"]] he zealously obliges.
37** Likewise, [[spoiler:Rumi seems to be]] protecting Mima's best interests and attempts to support her transition from a bubbly pop star to an actress, by not getting exploited. [[spoiler: Then Rumi starts killing people and wants the real Mima to be her last victim]].
38* BalconyEscape: Idol Mima confronts the main Mima in her room [[spoiler: and tries to kill her. Regular Mima escapes out the window and tries to climb to an adjacent balcony, but Idol Mima catches her and they fall to the ground, though they both survive.]]
39* BarbieDollAnatomy: Played with--In the uncut version of the film, Mima poses nude and her pubic hair is shown, but there is still no sign of her actual genitalia.
40* BeCarefulWhatYouSay: Mima's managers tell the ''Double Bind'' producers that they want Mima to have a bigger role and more than one line. [[spoiler:This inspires Shibuya, the screenwriter, to first write a rape scene with Mima's character, then expand the role into a young woman with dissociative personality disorder as well as the murderer behind the cases investigated in the series, since he hit a wall trying to come up with who the murderer was]].
41* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Rumi. The climax reveals that she is behind everything that has happened, especially getting Me-Mania involved. Although she was Mima’s friend and manager, she always wanted to be like Mima. Over the course of the movie, she began slipping into psychosis where she genuinely believed she was the real Mima. When Me-Mania failed to kill Mima, she took it upon herself to take Mima back to Rumi’s place, which bore an exact resemblance to Mima’s room, where she planned to kill Mima without any interference.]]
42* BlandNameProduct: A "Niken" camera appears early on, but a "Nikon F4" camera shows up later. The Niken is actually an in-universe example, and only appears on the set of ''Double Bind''; the Nikon is the photographer's own camera.
43* BreakoutCharacter: InUniverse. Yoko Takakura, Mima's character on ''Double Bind'' is given more lines and a vastly expanded role, [[spoiler:to the point of being the twist villain of the show.]] This is brought about due to her persistent agents, Mima independently raising her profile through adult modeling, and genuinely being a talented actress.
44* BreakTheCutie: Mima's sanity slowly erodes over the course of the movie as her identity is assaulted.
45* {{Bowdlerize}}: The movie had to alter certain violent and sexual scenes in order to obtain the R-rating for its American release.
46* CelebrityIsOverrated: Either as an IdolSinger or as a starting actress. Lampshaded by Mima when in a conversation to her mother she explains that the pop idol image is "suffocating".
47* CentralTheme: Identity. Specifically, the difference between how we identify ourselves, and how others choose to identify us...and what happens when you ''[[LossOfIdentity lose]]'' your identity, be it the one you see for yourself, or the one that others have assigned to you.
48* CharacterDevelopment: Mima for most of the film doesn't own a car. She either takes the subway, rides a bike, or takes rides from her managers. The last part symbolizes how she's letting them change her image, sometimes against her wishes. [[spoiler:Come the end of the film, she's learned to drive. As she puts the car into Drive, she adjusts the mirror in a really nice ride, affirming she is the real Mima]].
49* ChekhovsGun: Mima's reflection first shows up on her computer screen.
50* ColorMotif: Ironically enough, red and pink are featured prominently throughout the movie.
51** Red is the most important color for a few good reasons.
52*** Red is consistently associated with Mima's loosening grip on reality and appears prominently in connection with insanity and murder: a huge swath of red is shown behind Mima in the scene where she discovers the fake blog, the floor of the elevator in which Shibuya dies is bright red, the photographer's killer shows up in a red deliveryman's uniform, and finally [[spoiler:Rumi]] appears in a blood-red version of Mima's idol outfit and chases her through several locations which make prominent use of red.
53*** Red is also the color that signals danger, which is fitting since [[spoiler:Rumi]] wears red when trying to kill Mima. An early warning of [[spoiler:Rumi's true intentions]] is that when [[spoiler:Rumi]] drives Mima home, [[RedFilterOfDoom the background is red]].
54** Pink appears prominently as part of Mima's pop idol image. Pink represents Mima's past since she's trying to move on from her pop idol career, something that constantly haunts her throughout the film.
55** [[spoiler:The "perfect blue" doesn't even appear until the HappyEnding in which Mima returns to her car under a sunny day.]]
56* ContractualPurity: In-universe example, which has some ''horrible'' consequences. Mima's fans don't like it when she leaves the idol world to get mature acting roles, and start harassing her.
57* CuckooNest: A particularly confusing example, in which Mima's character Yoko on ''Double Bind'' is apparently deluded into thinking that the horrifying things that happened to her were just a TV show that she played on. What really throws the viewer for a loop is that they don't make clear that this is a scene from ''Double Bind'' until after the scene is over, leading the viewer to briefly mistake the plot of the show for the plot of ''Perfect Blue''.
58* DamselOutOfDistress: Mima when facing Me-Mania and [[spoiler:Rumi]]. Although she's terrified and fleeing for her life, she does manage to escape both times and prove herself more resourceful and resilient than her character on ''Double Bind''.
59* DarkReprise: A far-off, muffled version of "Angel of Love" is heard in the parking garage when [[spoiler:Shibuya, the screenwriter for Double Bind is murdered.]]
60* {{Deconstruction}}: Of IdolSinger (via the stalker angle and the scenes depicting the ins and outs of the business and its consequences) and of {{Fanservice}}, as almost every significant instance of it has decidedly ugly undertones.
61* DefiledForever: After filming the rape scene, Mima imagines her former self in the mirror taunting her about being a "filthy woman" who can never return to the innocence of the pop-idol life.
62* DelusionsOfBeauty: Near the climax of the film, Rumi (who is middle-aged and overweight) falls into a delusion that she is Mima, who is young and beautiful IdolSinger.
63* DetectiveDrama: Mima's first post-singer role is as a rape victim in one of these.
64* {{Determinator}}: Mima has always been this; she wanted to be an idol since she was little, and now that she's succeeded she wants to get out of her comfort zone and become an actress. Even in the middle of SanitySlippage she is giving her best performance, which everyone recognizes.
65* DevilInPlainSight: Me-Mania makes himself visible to Mima at CHAM's last performance, and several times thereafter. [[spoiler:Rumi more than anyone. She's so in plain sight that nobody, not even the audience, suspects her.]]
66* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Me-Mania, to Rumi, although he's convinced he's doing the "real" Mima's will.]]
67* DreamWithinADream: Used multiple times (as well as showing us conversations or scenes that seem like they're really happening, only for a director to yell "cut!" -- the main character was just filming a scene in the television show she's in) to ramp up the suspense and paranoia that the main character feels.
68* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: As Mima loses her grip on reality, she does this more and more often.
69* DyingDream: Sometime after a near-death encounter with a truck, Mima speculates that this trope is in play as she doubts that she's really alive.
70* EarnYourHappyEnding: In the end, when [[spoiler:visiting Rumi in the mental hospital, Mima's not only a famous actress now but also seems to be quite well-adjusted.]]
71* EndsWithASmile: The movie concludes with songstress-turned-actress Mima Kirigoe leaving a sanitarium. One nurse wonders if she has seen the real Mima, but another nurse claims that it must be a lookalike. Once Mima is in her car, she regards the audience in her rearview mirror, smiles cheerily, and states, "Nope, it's the real me." This signals that despite the mindscrew and torment she'd endured, Mima still has her positive outlook.
72* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
73** Me-Mania watches the CHAM performance with his hand outstretched and one eye closed, simulating the illusion that Mima is dancing in the palm of his hand. This sets the tone for his character throughout the film.
74** Likewise, while Mima is performing there are cuts to her shopping in the grocery store in normal clothes, which shows that she's concerned about balancing her public image with who she actually is.
75* EveryoneHasStandards:
76** Even though it's all fake, neither of Mima's managers are happy about her actually filming the rape scene. Rumi smokes a CigaretteOfAnxiety and runs off in tears, [[spoiler:foreshadowing her eventual breakdown]]. Tadokoro pushes for it for pragmatic reasons -- he cites that the scripts are behind schedule and they can't mess up Mima's acting break -- but during the filming itself, he's cringing and visibly horrified. As an apology, he treats her to dinner and drives her home. The actor playing the rapist apologizes verbally to her between takes as well.
77** It's revealed that [[spoiler:Mima didn't want to do the rape scene, but she didn't want to say anything for fear of disappointing everyone]].
78** Despite everything that has happened, Mima can't bear to see [[spoiler:Rumi getting run over by a truck and saving her life]].
79** The truck drivers in the climax [[spoiler:stop after they nearly run over Rumi and Mima and quickly call for an ambulance]].
80* ExtremeDoormat: Mima, at least for a good chunk of the movie. Since she's a newbie to the world of professional acting, she doesn't yet have the clout to object to scenes she feels uncomfortable filming, such as the rape scene in ''Double Bind''.
81* EyeScream: A man gets stabbed in the eye by a supposed pizza delivery guy. Another man is murdered, and later on, his body is shown with the eye sockets all bloody and the eyes missing. There's basically a sample of this in every murder -- in a film about perception and reality, eyes and seeing make for an obvious {{motif}}.
82* FanDisservice:
83** Happens every single time there is nudity in the movie. There are the [[spoiler:rape scenes]], the scenes where Mima is getting photographed naked, etc.
84** [[spoiler:Rumi, a middle aged, slightly overweight woman, in a skimpy, ill-fitting pop singer costume. It's not as appealing as she thinks, unless you're as delusional as she is.]]
85* FinalGirl: The end of the movie sees Mima, an entertainer with no combat training whatsoever, having to struggle against a murderer who's been brutally killing people throughout the film. [[spoiler: She also has to face his handler, who's also out for blood. In true final girl fashion, she manages to defy the odds and make it through both incidents by the skin of her teeth.]]
86* {{Foreshadowing}}:
87** The fan letter [[FreezeFrameBonus briefly shown]] at the beginning of the film is actually an angry letter, complaining about the declining quality of Mima’s performances, and saying that Tadokoro "[[ThisIsUnforgivable will not be forgiven]]" for what he's doing to her.
88** Speaking of letters, [[spoiler:Rumi]]'s reaction to the exploding "fan" letter and the fact that Tadokoro got injured by it is strangely blasé.
89** The name of the website "Mima's Room," and how Mima knows she didn't write it, although the details are pinpoint accurate. [[spoiler:The climax starts in a replica of Mima's actual room, right down to the fish.]]
90** Likewise, Mima doesn't even know how to use a computer; Rumi has to teach her. Mima types into her new one slowly to look up the Mima's Room site. [[spoiler:It's hinted Rumi was writing all of the entries since she is tech-savvy, has heard Mima's thoughts and musings aloud, and says she asked Me-Mania to kill the "impostor" Mima]].
91** The running visual of glass breaking. [[spoiler:Guess what nearly kills Rumi.]]
92** Tadokoro mentions that [[spoiler:Rumi used to be a pop idol]].
93** Rumi starts crying and leaves the studio during the filming of the rape scene.
94* FreakOut: Mima, coming home at the end of a particularly traumatic day after filming a rape scene, finds her beloved pet fish dead and loses control for a moment, trashing her apartment. She [[spoiler:(as well as Rumi)]] has numerous moments where she freaks out throughout the rest of the movie.
95* FriendsRentControl: Averted, and somewhat justified. Although Mima's apartment is lavishly furnished, there isn't much space and she has to squeeze through to get around. The justification is that Japanese cities focus on conserving space and Tadokoro mentions offhand that CHAM hasn't been doing as well as he would have liked.
96* {{Gaslighting}}: A small example. After both of them have started to go crazy, [[spoiler:Rumi manipulates objects in Mima's room to make her think Idol Mima has been around. For example, she borrows Mima's new clothes, wears them while murdering people, and then hides the bloodstained clothes in Mima's room, causing her to think she was responsible for the murders.]]
97* GlamourFailure: When [[spoiler:Rumi is chasing after Mima]], we see [[spoiler:the fake Mima elegantly prancing after Mima]] while the reflection on the store windows in the background shows [[spoiler:Rumi running and looking quite grotesque and noticeably out of breath]].
98* AGlassInTheHand: Mima does this with a teacup at one point.
99* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler:Rumi]], as a result of [[spoiler:her delusion coming crashing down and failing to kill Mima]], is subsequently seen permanently delusional and institutionalized at a mental hospital.
100* {{Gonk}}: Arguably a few characters due to the art style, but most definitely Me-Mania (see NightmareFace below) and even Rumi to an extent.
101* GroinAttack: One of the murder victims is repeatedly stabbed in the crotch with a screwdriver.
102* HarassingPhoneCall: After Mima converts to acting from her pop-idol career, she receives at least one threatening message and phone call [[spoiler:(each from her stalker Me-Mania)]].
103* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: InUniverse, everyone is surprised by how good Mima's performance on ''Double Bind'' is -- even those that had doubts about having a former pop idol on the show wind up praising her. The fact that Mima herself is [[EnforcedMethodActing gradually losing her mind]] probably doesn't hurt.
104* HeroStageShow: The movie begins with a short excerpt of a hero stage show, [[LawyerFriendlyCameo blatantly inspired]] by ''Super Sentai'' (our protagonist is to perform on the same stage immediately after); some kids watching remark that the special effects aren't nearly as impressive live as they are on TV.
105* HorribleHollywood: A big theme of the movie is the way the entertainment industry treats people as products, especially young women, pushing them into exploitative positions, with or without their consent. The TV industry puts Mima through ''hell'', and a lot of her comments imply that her life as a pop idol wasn't great for her mental health, either. Interestingly, it's not just the higher-ups calling the shots that make it this way -- the film goes out of its way to show how even the stars' so-called ''fans'' can make the experience awful. Yeah, studios may push their idols into ContractualPurity and create {{Fanservice}}y scenes that exploit actresses -- but who creates a backlash when the idols fail to uphold that standard, and who consumes the content with those exploitative scenes again?\
106Oddly, the director didn't intend any particular criticism of the industry. He wanted to tell a story about [[spoiler:a young woman going through an identity crisis and coming out the other side with more agency and maturity]], but since his main character was a former idol he just stumbled into talking about the downside of that world.
107-->'''Satoshi Kon:''' If the audience gets the impression from watching the film that the idol system in Japan is like that, I'm embarrassed. Of course, I did research before making the film and I visited a number of these idol events, but I didn't see the kind of example that is used in the film.
108* IAmNotSpock: Inverted in-universe. When Me-Mania pins Mima to the ground and says he's protecting "his Mima-rin," Mima says that she is Mima-rin.
109* IdentityBreakdown: Mima's already struggling with the [[ReluctantFanServiceGirl intense demands]] that come with her new role and how it fits with her previous image as an idol. Then she begins to [[LossOfIdentity lose her sense of self]] and [[SanitySlippage her grasp on reality]] after she stumbles across a hate message online ridiculing her new persona change that is supposedly posted ''by her.'' "Who are you?" and "I'm the real Mima" become ArcWords over the course of the film as Mima becomes more and more unsure of herself and she naturally [[FreakOut freaks out]] several times in the film because of this.
110* IdolSinger:
111** Mima, Yukiko, and Rei, make up the idol group CHAM.
112** Rumi was one when she was younger.
113* IJustWantToBeYou: [[spoiler:Rumi]] is like this toward [[spoiler:Mima]] by the end. She has taken on her behavior and mannerisms, designed her room in an eerily similar fashion, and dresses up like the person she wants to be in the climax.
114* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Mima tries this with [[spoiler:Rumi]] at several points in the climax. It doesn't work.
115* ImprovisedWeapon: At various points in the film a screwdriver, an umbrella, and a hammer are used as weapons.
116* InNameOnly: The movie contains some elements of the original book but is a very loose adaptation. Even the main antagonist of the movie turns out to be [[spoiler: the person who was nothing but a supportive friend in the book]].
117* InternetMimic: [[spoiler:Rumi]] posing as [[spoiler:Mima]], with the help of [[spoiler:Me-Mania, who also thinks he's in contact with the real Mima]].
118* {{Jerkass}}: The punks at the beginning of the film making a scene at CHAM's final performance with Mima.
119* JerkassHasAPoint: Mima's other self in her reflection points out that Mima didn't want to do the rape scene, and asks her why she made a compromise for a job she didn't enjoy. The real Mima's response is to toss a pillow at her, showing that she has no retort.
120* JumpCut: Faster and faster as [[spoiler:Mima loses her grip on reality]].
121* KillAndReplace: [[spoiler:Rumi, believing that Mima is unworthy of being Mima for wanting to do more risqué movies and retire from her idol work, wants to kill Mima so she can "become the real Mima," as in, the one who is still an idol. It doesn't help that she used to be an idol herself and still yearns for her glory days.]]
122* KillTheCutie: The goal of both [[spoiler:Me-Mania and Rumi]].
123* {{Leitmotif}}: Mima, Me-Mania, and the Other Mima all have themes in the score.
124* LoonyFan: Me-Mania [[spoiler:and Rumi]] are obsessed stalkers of Mima.
125* LossOfIdentity: This is ''the'' central theme of the film. For most of the story, Mima is caught between the horns of a dilemma -- on one hand is the idol life she's trying to escape, with the fixed persona demanded by ContractualPurity; on the other is the world of acting, where one's identity is uncertain by nature. Not only does she have to conquer her fears and doubts about this new, more fluid self (as a psychiatrist points out), but certain people are very interested in forcing her back into the chains of her old self -- or ''stealing'' her old identity from her since she no longer wants it. [[spoiler:The climax of the film boils down to her rejection of Me-Mania's and Rumi/Idol-Mima's assertion that abandoning her old image makes her a fraud.]]
126* LovingAShadow: Me-Mania for Mima, wanting to protect "his" Mima-rin from the "impostor" that is acting.
127* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Me-Mania, [[spoiler: Rumi]], and society as a whole seem to have this issue. Once Mima does some sex scenes in a film, she is DefiledForever to them, and the whore Mima [[spoiler: must be destroyed to protect the virginal idol Mima. This is likely why Me-Mania tries to rape Mima.]]
128* MaleGaze: Ties into the LossOfIdentity themes above. Mima has no control over her image or how other people ''see'' her, and Tadokoro is cynically guiding her career in directions he thinks will appeal to a male audience -- as a contractually-pure IdolSinger or a sexually self-aware actress.
129* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Me-Mania]] turns out to be working for [[spoiler:Rumi]].
130* TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack: The CHAM-costumed version of Mima that harasses and berates her.
131* MeanCharacterNiceActor: When Mima's ''Double Bind'' character is manhandled and raped by a member of a rowdy crowd, the actor playing said rapist quietly stammers, "I'm so sorry," between takes. He also apologizes to the director for messing up the first take.
132* MeaningfulName: Mima's name contains the kanji for "fog" and "paralysis," relating to her losing herself in the roles she plays and her helplessness to return to what she was before.
133* MindScrew: Until the climax, which partially serves as a MindScrewdriver.
134* TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf:
135** In the final confrontation between [[spoiler:Mima and her alter ego, both Mima and the audience see the alter ego as the phantom IdolSinger Mima that has been haunting Mima. Only the mirror reflection shows the truth — that it's really Rumi dressed up as Mima.]]
136** Inverted in the mental hospital. [[spoiler:Mima (and the audience) see Rumi in real life, and her reflection in the window is IdolSinger Mima, demonstrating that Mima has moved past the movie's events while Rumi is still stuck in her delusion.]]
137* ModelScam: Happens to Mima's character in ''[[ShowWithinAShow Double Bind]]''.
138* MsFanservice: In-Universe, Mima is propelled into this following the end of her singing career and moving on to acting. Of course, she's very [[ReluctantFanserviceGirl reluctant]] to do it, but she can't say it out loud, because she'd look ungrateful to the director and everyone else on the set if she said no. With this, it quickly turns to FanDisservice with the rape scene and photoshoot later on.
139* {{Mukokuseki}}: One shot of a highly-stylized drawing of an anime girl with enormous eyes and pink hair on the sliding-glass front door of a store in one scene is intended to mock this trope as said door immediately slides aside to reveal three minor characters who look ''nothing'' like her at all.
140* {{Mundanger}}: In the middle of all the violent drama and MindScrew moments is a surprisingly realistic tale of people taking issue with a grown woman deciding to change her career and public image, and resorting to violence when she ignores their chaste expectations. Mima's mother calls her to express worry about changing careers in such a fashion, and Mima herself becomes worried when [[spoiler:her stalker, Me-Mania, appears wherever she goes]].
141* NapoleonDelusion: Non-Napoleon example. [[spoiler:Rumi, Mima's manager,]] increasingly comes to believe that [[spoiler:she is Mima.]]
142* NeverFoundTheBody: Seems to be the case with [[spoiler:Me-Mania]] at first, then subverted pretty hard.
143* NiceGirl: Mima is a really sweet person who doesn't want to let down the people that got her to where she is.
144* NightmareFace:
145** Me-Mania's face is visibly deformed.
146** There is a more subtle case with [[spoiler:Rumi]], whose eyes are just a little ''too'' far apart from each other.
147* NoNameGiven: Me-Mania's real name is never spoken in the film, and you'll have a hard time finding it [[AllThereInTheManual unless you own the soundtrack]], in which the {{Leitmotif}} associated with him is called "Uchida's Theme".
148* NoYou: [[spoiler:When Mima begs Rumi, who has broken down into a blown psychosis, to [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight "wake up" and come to her senses]], Rumi merely replies "''You're'' the one who needs to wake up!"]]
149* NonIndicativeName: The title "Perfect Blue" is never mentioned or explained.
150* NotAllowedToGrowUp: While not as extreme as many examples, Mima's persona in CHAM! seems very deliberately girlish and childlike. Her attempts to overcome this trope are what set the plot in motion.
151* NotHimself: [[spoiler:Both Mima and Rumi.]]
152* OhCrap: Mima gets one at the film's climax when [[spoiler:she starts SpottingTheThread and realizes she's not actually in her own apartment]]. What follows is an ever-increasing ''series'' of {{Oh Crap}}s.
153* OneWomanWail: Used in the song 'Virtua Mima'.
154* OrWasItADream: A repeated narrative device in the movie.
155* {{Otaku}}: In this case, there's an otaku for Mima.
156* ParasolOfPain: Umbrellas are not meant to be used that way, [[spoiler:Rumi]].
157* ParkingGarage: [[spoiler:Shibuya, the screenwriter of ''Double Bind'']] is murdered in the elevator of a spooky parking garage.
158* PersonalHorror: Along with a healthy dose of PsychologicalHorror and SurrealHorror. Yay, loss of identity and emotional insecurity!
159* PleaseDontLeaveMe: At the beginning of the movie, when Mima announces that this is her final performance with CHAM!, her fans in the crowd can be heard pleading, "Please don't leave us, Mima-rin!"
160* PoliceAreUseless:
161** Justified because they are never ''called''. Mima mentions several times that the cops should be notified about the letter bomb and [[spoiler:the murdered scriptwriter]], but Tadokoro overrides her. He says that if they make a big deal about the attacks, it will derail their campaign to turn her into an actress. [[spoiler:Considering Rumi kills him in the climax, he should have listened to Mima]].
162** In the show ''Double Bind'', the cops are typical TV psychologists that profile the killer and thus fail to find them before they murder several people. Obviously, it's meant to be a TakeThat towards those kinds of cop shows.
163* ProsceniumReveal: In one scene, a talent scout asks Mima if she wants to be a model. It is then revealed that this was just footage from ''[[ShowWithinAShow Double Bind]]''.
164* PsychologicalHorror: A particularly horrifying one, at that.
165* PsychoSupporter: [[spoiler:Me-Mania and Rumi.]]
166* PunnyName: "Me-Mania" is "Mimania" is "[[StalkerWithACrush Mima mania]]".
167* RealitySubtext: An InUniverse example, when they finish shooting ''Double Bind'', everyone congratulates Mima on her performance as a mentally disturbed woman [[spoiler:with a split personality]]. She may have been that good because she herself is having an identity crisis.
168* RedRightHand: Rumi looks pretty normal, except for the fact that her eyes are just a little ''too'' far apart...
169* ReluctantFanserviceGirl: Mima's willing to take nude photos or participate in sexually graphic scenes because it's just "part of the job," but she does ''not'' enjoy it, nor does she enjoy the way the public's perception of her shifts because of this.
170* RoomFullOfCrazy:
171** Me-Mania's room is full of pictures of Mima.
172** [[spoiler:Rumi's room]] looks like an exact copy of [[spoiler:Mima's room.]]
173* SanitySlippage: Due to a combination of the stress she suffers from filming ''Double Bind'', her paranoia about being stalked, and lingering doubts about living the idol life behind her, Mima's grasp on reality and own identity starts slipping.
174* SaveTheVillain: [[spoiler:Mima dives in front of a truck to save Rumi]] at the end.
175* ShoutOut:
176** In Mima's first acting role, two characters in the scene discuss a serial killer who removes his victims' skin because he wants to be a woman. That plot sounds [[Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs a little familiar]].
177** Tadokoro also mentions "[[Creator/JodieFoster Jodie whatshername]]" in a later conversation about Mima's career. He was specifically referring to ''Film/TheAccused'', in which Foster plays a rape victim.
178* ShowerOfAngst: Mima takes a bath in the middle of the movie after all the shit she goes through.
179* SleazyPhotoshoot: As a way to promote her solo career, Mima is set up for a shoot with a photographer who, as her former bandmates note in a private conversation, has a reputation for getting girls out of their clothes. Sure enough, the shoot starts innocently enough, but the photographer plays on Mima's naivete and gradually talks her into increasingly racy photos; by the time it's over, [[PublicExposure she's completely nude]] and the photos that are shown border on softcore porn. Already distressed from a rape scene she'd filmed days beforehand, the experience wounds her even more, especially when the photos end up in a magazine and lead to public anger over the damage to her image. In a flashback to the sequence, the photographer is visibly getting off despite having both hands on the camera.
180* SlutShaming: Mima gets this from the public and Reflection Mima after she makes career moves that give her a less-than-squeaky-clean image, such as filming a rape scene and doing a nude photoshoot.
181* ShowWithinAShow:
182** Extreme type 4 example, such that at times it's unclear whether what you're watching is happening to Mima or her TV character (or maybe both).
183** The police detective series ''Double Bind'' is a very straightforward type 1 example. It's the acting debut of Mima Kirigoe, who plays a rape victim.
184* SoftGlass:
185** Averted: [[spoiler:Rumi]] gets a serious cut from leaning through a broken window.
186** Played straight when that window (one in a storefront, no less) was completely shattered in the first place by being ''hit by an umbrella.''
187** Also averted when [[spoiler:the photographer is murdered]].
188* SoundtrackDissonance:
189** How the hell can they play something as upbeat as "Season" over the end credits of a movie this horrific? Well, that's because the ending is actually very positive. It may not fit the film overall, but it fits the ending quite well.
190** The light, happy bubblegum J-pop tune "Ai no Tenshi" (lit. "Angel of Love") underscores the gruesome carnage throughout the movie. It's even heard when [[spoiler:Double Bind's writer, Shibuya, gets killed]].
191* SplitPersonality:
192** [[spoiler:Rumi]], at least.
193** Another disorder related to schizophrenia, called ''[[http://www.health.am/psy/shared-psychotic-disorder/ Folie à deux]]''. The subjective nature of a person's image and how it may differ from that actual person, possibly even taking on a life of its own, is one of the major points of the film.
194* SpottingTheThread: Mima realizes that [[spoiler:she's not in her own apartment]] when she notices that [[spoiler:none of the fish in the tank are dead and the CHAM poster is still on the wall.]]
195* StalkerShrine:
196** Me-Mania's room, which is covered wall-to-wall in posters of Mima.
197** [[spoiler:Rumi's room]] is an exact replica of [[spoiler:Mima's room]].
198* StalkerWithACrush: Me-Mania is obsessed with Mima.
199* StepfordSmiler: Both Mima (Depressed) and [[spoiler:Rumi]] (Unstable).
200* StylisticSuck:
201** ''Double Bind'' features abundant sex and violence and [[FollowTheLeader borrows rather heavily]] from other well-known psychological thrillers.
202** CHAM's "Ai no Tenshi", which recurs throughout the movie, is filled with musical and lyrical cliches from mid-nineties J-pop.
203* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: [[spoiler:After all the horror, the last scene shows a fully recovered Mima, now a successful actress.]]
204* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: In the climax, [[spoiler:Mima is physically healthier than Rumi and thus can keep outpacing her when the latter is chasing her, due to Rumi being out of shape. Even so, Mima is staggering due to the stab wound in her shoulder, some nasty falls, and the earlier fight with Me-Mania]].
205* TearsOfFear: [[spoiler:Mima during the rape scene, during her FreakOut moment after returning to her apartment, and as she's running for her life from Rumi.]]
206* ThisIsReality: Tadokoro tells Rumi that while Mima makes the final decision, acting requires making compromises for certain parts. If Mima pushes back too many times or they do, she'll get the label of a diva. It's for this reason that Mima keeps agreeing to do things like the rape scene and nude photoshoot, despite being uncomfortable with them.
207* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness:
208** Creator/SatoshiKon ''loves'' this one. It's hard to say ''what'' in the film is real -- we're seeing it through Mima's perspective, and she doesn't have a damn clue herself.
209** [[spoiler:Near the end, as Rumi is staring into the headlights of an oncoming truck, from her perspective she sees them as a pair of spotlights shining down on her as idol-Mima. She spreads her arms wide to embrace them while a crowd of fans cheers in the background.]]
210* TroubledFetalPosition: Mima does this while having a bath, underwater.
211* UnbuiltTrope: It is a deconstruction of an idol anime... except it came out in 1997, way before other idol anime without such deconstruction would come.
212* UnreliableNarrator: Due to her SanitySlippage, Mima starts suffering from increasingly vivid delusions, though they are obvious to the audience at first, they become subtle [[spoiler:and at a couple of points, they come in the form of Daydream {{Surprise}}s and bouts of MissingTime]].
213* UnwittingPawn: Me-Mania for [[spoiler:Rumi.]]
214* TheVoiceless: Me-Mania for most of the movie.
215* WalkingSpoiler: Everything about [[spoiler:Rumi]] aside from being Mima's manager spoils the entire movie.
216* WhamLine: [[spoiler:A completely snapped Rumi tells Mima that she's the one who asked Me-Mania to take care of the "impostor". It puts all of Rumi's previous actions in another light]].
217* WhamShot:
218** After her encounter with [[spoiler:Me-Mania]] near the end, Mima calls up her agent to let him know she’s alright. Cut back to the studio where we see [[spoiler:his face covered in blood and his body lying next to the dead Me-mania.]]
219** The reflection idol Mima appears in the climax...and [[spoiler:Rumi walks into the room, dressed in an idol outfit and wearing a wig]]. Mima asks, in dawning horror, [[spoiler:if Rumi was the one who orchestrated those murders]].
220* WhiteDwarfStarlet: [[spoiler:Mima's overweight, middle-aged female manager Rumi]] was a former pop idol who didn't last [[spoiler:and now thinks she's the real Mima]].
221* WithinArmsReach: Mima Kirigoe is getting choked on the soundstage by her StalkerWithACrush, Me-Mania. Unable to cry for help, Mima scrambles desperately for something to get this monster off her. Her fingers close around a claw hammer, and she swings this at Me-Mania's {{gonk}} head.
222* WordSaladTitle: The title of the film doesn't refer to anything in particular within the film's universe, nor really have anything to do with its contents.
223* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: InUniverse. Eri, the co-star of ''Double Bind'', praises the screenwriter, Shibuya, for his clever dialogue and story and asks him who the murderer is. Shibuya playfully replies that he won't say; it would be more fun for for her to find out herself. As Shibuya then walks out of earshot of the actors with the producer, Tejima, the latter tells Shibuya that he really needs to make up his mind on who the killer is. In fact, the character he settles on -- [[spoiler:Yoko Takakura, Mima's character]] -- underwent drastic rewrites due to their agents badgering the crew to get them more scenes.
224* {{Yandere}}: Me-Mania for Mima. He starts off harmless enough, if a bit ''too'' into his CelebrityCrush -- starting a fight to defend her at a concert, having a room that is ''covered'' in her merchandise, and obsessively reading a blog allegedly written by her. But by the end, [[spoiler:he's willing to rape and kill Mima, since he doesn't believe she's the "real" Mima -- after all, ''his'' precious, pure Mima-rin would ''never'' do such horrible things as film a sexually graphic scene or take nude photographs! Therefore, it's ''obviously'' his job to humiliate and destroy this impostor. Rumi didn't help matters there...]]
225* YouGotMurder: While Mima is trying out an acting bit on a crime procedural series, her two managers are discussing her part with the writer and producer when they receive a letter. Tadokoro opens it, only for it to blow up in his face, and he is later seen with bandaged hands. It was sent by Me-Mania, a StalkerWithACrush.
226* YouHaveFailedMe: Mentioned in passing and briefly shown. [[spoiler:While giving her little ReasonYouSuckSpeech to Mima, Rumi mentions how the "real" Mima's fans will do any favor she asks of them, and notes that "Of course, Me-Mania screwed that last one up ever so slightly..." Just a bit earlier, when Mima is trying to call Tadokoro, we see him lying dead with his eyes gouged out -- next to Me-Mania, who's also lying there dead from being stabbed in the eye. Apparently, neither Rumi nor the "real" Mima approved of Me-Mania's failed rape-and-murder attempt.]]
227----
228->''[[spoiler:I'm the real thing!]]''

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