Perfect Blue: Collector’s Edition (4K UHD Review)
Director
Satoshi KonRelease Date(s)
1997 (December 23, 2025)Studio(s)
Madhouse/Rex Entertainment (GKIDS/Shout! Studios)- Film/Program Grade: A-
- Video Grade: B+
- Audio Grade: B+
- Extras Grade: A-
- Overall Grade: B+
Review
If it’s true that the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, then it was perhaps inevitable that Satoshi Kon would leave us far too early, felled in his prime at the age of 46 after a brief but futile battle with terminal pancreatic cancer. And he had burned so very very brightly, indeed. After spending a few years working as a manga artist, layout artist, designer, animator, and screenwriter, Kon made his feature film directorial debut in 1997 with Perfect Blue. Over the brief 13-year span between that point and his untimely death in 2010, Kon ended up directing just four feature films and one television series: Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika, and Paranoia Agent. They’re all quite different from each other, but each and every one of them is an undisputed masterpiece. Yet with the possible exception of Tokyo Godfathers, regardless of how different that they may appear on the surface, they do share common ground in terms of Kon’s fascination with examining the sometimes blurred lines between fantasy and reality. And all of that began with Perfect Blue in 1997.
Perfect Blue (aka Pāfekuto Burū) was adapted from the 1991 novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis by Yoshikazu Takeuchi. The project had been kicking around for a few years, with Takeuchi trying to generate interest in a live-action adaptation that never came to fruition. When the book fell into the hands of animation studio Madhouse, they offered it to Kon, not as his first feature film, but as an OVA (original video animation) instead. And that’s how it went into production, with Madhouse deciding to make the switch to theatrical distribution at the last minute. On a limited OVA budget and originally designed for the small screen, the animation itself wasn’t necessarily up to feature film standards, but Madhouse clearly recognized that they had something special on their hands and didn’t want to take a chance on it being overlooked by the public at large. Kon was always going to make a splash, one way or the other, but Madhouse made sure that he had the best possible opportunity to do so. Perfect Blue ended up being so well-received that it turned Kon into an instant anime icon, albeit a short-lived one.
Kon and his screenwriter Sadayuki Murai were given free rein to reshape Takeuchi’s book as they saw fit, and one of the most significant ways that they did so was by introducing Kon’s obsession with blurring the lines between reality and dream states. Mima Kirigoe (Junko Iwao) has been a member of the successful J-pop group CHAM!, but over the objections of her manager Rumi (Rica Matsumoto), she leaves the business to launch a career as an actress instead. The shift from pop ingenue to gritty dramatic actor bothers many of her fans, drawing the attention of a stalker dubbed Me-Mania (Masaaki Ōkura). She also discovers a disturbing website called “Mima’s Room” that somehow reveals her inmost thoughts from an insider’s perspective. The stress of all this causes Mima to have difficulty distinguishing between her various personae, and she eventually has to deal with an illusory figure that calls itself “the real Mima.” When a series of brutal murders occurs across the city, and all of the victims turn out to have been involved with her in one capacity or another, she realizes that she may be the prime suspect. The character that Mima is playing in the television series Double Blind suffers from dissociative personality disorder, so has that carried over into her real life? Does she have another personality that’s responsible for the murders, or is something even darker going on?
While that description may make Perfect Blue sound like a murder mystery, and the ending does offer a superficial answer to those questions, it’s not a traditional whodunit in any sense of the term. The murders aren’t really the subject of the film; they’re just another factor that pushes Mima’s fragile mental state farther over the edge. Regardless of whether or not she may be a psycho killer (qu’est-ce que c’est?), she’s undergoing a form of psychosis that’s manifesting as a dissociative break with reality. Initially, her visions of the “real” Mima are seen through windows or reflected in mirrors, but eventually those frames disappear and she loses track of which side of the looking glass that she’s really on. And the lines between her current persona and the character that she’s playing on Double Blind become equally blurred, enough so that the dialogue in the show mirrors what’s happening to her in real life:
“I don’t know anything about myself anymore!”
“Well... how do you think you know that the person you were a second ago is the same person you are now? A continuous stream of memories. Given only that, we all create illusions within ourselves, saying that we each have only one fixed persona.”
Yet Mima can’t trust her own memories anymore, and the illusions within herself have become externalized. Is she the killer? Is it Me-Mania? Or perhaps someone else? Only by confronting her illusions and uncovering the reality that lies beneath them can she find the answers to those questions. But does she really know who she is anymore, or after peeling back all the layers of the onion, will she find nothing but an empty core? Minus the continuous stream of memories that established her persona(s), is there anything left? Perfect Blue ends with Mima appearing to have overcome her internal conflicts, but when a couple of bystanders see her and wonder if she could possibly be the real Mima Kirigoe, or maybe just a lookalike, she gets into her car and confidently asserts, “No, I’m real.”
Only... she’s not responding directly to them, but rather speaking to her own reflection in the rearview mirror. This ambiguous finale is entirely in keeping with the unsettling nature of Satoshi Kon’s approach to storytelling. Perfect Blue isn’t willing to let Mima off the hook quite so easily, and it doesn’t let viewers off the hook, either. Like all of Kon’s work, it’s an unforgettable experience that lingers in the mind’s eye long after it’s over. The intensity of Kon’s light may have meant that it was always going to burn half as long, but it still remains preserved forever on film, burning bright in order to illuminate the lives of fans the world over.
Perfect Blue was animated via traditional cel animation and photographed on film by Hisao Shirai, but details about the actual animation process are scarce. The same thing is true of this 4K version, which utilizes the same 4K master as the Japanese release, which is SDR only (although it is 10-bit Rec.709). Perfect Blue was originally intended to be an OVA (original video animation), and it definitely doesn’t look like animation that was intended for the big screen, so adjust your expectations accordingly. Whatever cleanup work that was performed was handled judiciously, so the cel dirt and other animation artifacts are still visible, and the grain has been tempered but is still present. (If automated tools were used, they were used with a delicate touch.) Some of the instability that was inherent to the original animation seems to have been smoothed out a bit, but there’s still plenty of instability and jerkiness left. But again, that was always a part of Perfect Blue.
That said, there are a few minor errors in the Japanese 4K master that are still present here, like a couple of the flashing “subliminal” images that appear during the murder of the photographer (the screen simply goes black instead) and some tiny visual glitches. The latter probably won’t be noticeable unless you freeze-frame on them, but whether or not you notice the missing shots from the murder will depend on just how familiar that you are with Perfect Blue. Casual fans might not know the difference, but die-hards may spot the omissions. Still, missing shots or not, this is indeed the uncut version of the film, with additional moments of graphic violence, nudity, and sexuality compared to the censored R-rated version.
Audio is offered in Japanese and English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, with optional English subtitles. While it appears that Perfect Blue was originally released in 2.0, this has always been a very good 5.1 remix for an anime from that era, especially one that was originally intended as an OVA. While the dialogue and music are naturally focused on the front channels, there’s plenty of directionality for the sound effects that extends into the surrounds (and it makes full use of split surrounds, too). Yet there’s no escaping the fact that Masahiro Ikumi’s extraordinarily disturbing score is the driving force in the mix, and it’s always been a key reason why Perfect Blue is such an effective film. It ends up dominating the entire mix not due to any imbalance between the dialogue, music, and effects tracks, but simply because it’s so powerful.
The GKIDS Collector’s Edition 4K Ultra HD release of Perfect Blue is a three-disc set that includes the feature film on UHD and Blu-ray, as well as a second Blu-ray with additional extras. It also includes a 130-page booklet offering a variety of artwork and the structure plan for one of the Satoshi Kon lectures, plus 10 art cards and a full-sized foldout poster (and by “full-sized,” we do mean full-sized, not a mini poster). The following extras are included:
DISC ONE: UHD
- Promotional Video Edited by Satashi Kon (UHD – 11:35)
- Rex Logo Trailer (UHD – 1:57)
- Madhouse Logo Trailer (UHD – 1:55)
- GKIDS Trailer (UHD – 2:27)
- Shudder Trailer (UHD – 1:01)
DISC TWO: BD
- Original SD Version (SD – 81:19)
- Satoshi Kon Lecture (HD – 41:10)
- English Credits (SD – 3:47)
- Angel of Your Heart Recording Session (SD – 4:22)
- Angel of Your Heart Full English Version (HD – 4:15)
- Original US/UK Trailer (SD – 1:39)
- UK Re-Release Trailer (HD – 1:11)
- Japanese Trailer (HD – 1:56)
- Interviews:
- Satashi Kon (SD – 10:45)
- Junko Iwao (SD – 5:41)
- Ruby Marlowe (SD – 2:40)
- Wendee Lee (SD – 2:21)
- Bob Marx (SD – 2:00)
DISC THREE: BD
- Satoshi Kon Lecture 1 (HD – 36:11)
- Satoshi Kon Lecture 2 (HD – 34:31)
- Satoshi Kon Lecture 3 (HD – 46:38)
The extras on the UHD are limited to trailers and a promotional video, with the meaty extras being confined to the two Blu-rays. They kick off with the Original SD Version of the film (presented here letterboxed at 1.78:1 within a windowboxed 1.33:1 frame), with Japanese & English Dolby 5.1 Dolby Digital, Japanese 2.0 Dolby Digital, and optional English subtitles. (Note that it does have the missing shots during the murder of the photographer.) There’s also another set of trailers, footage from the recording session for the song Angel of Your Heart, the full music video, and a collection of archival interviews with the cast and crew.
The interview with Satoshi Kon provides an overview of the production and addresses the reality vs. fantasy nature of the story. He always wanted audiences to use their imaginations and draw their own conclusions, although he says that he didn’t go out of his way to make things deliberately confusing. Voice actor Junko Iwao discusses her preparation for the role of Mima, her concerns about performing the violent scenes, and her thoughts about the character. The rest of the interviews are with English language voice actors Ruby Marlowe, Wendee Lee, and Bob Marx, and they’ll probably only be of interest to anyone who prefers the dubbed version of the film.
Yet the real meat and potatoes of all the extras is a set of lectures given by Satoshi Kon with Runa Nagai serving as a moderator. It’s essentially a live commentary where they discuss scenes from the film while Kon steps through it. He’s careful to note that everything that he says is his own personal interpretation, not necessarily the “right” way to interpret the film. He breaks down the themes of the film (such as how it uses masks to represent the personas that people wear) and the various visual devices that he used, while providing some technical information along the way. The first lecture details how Mima reaches the crossroads between being a pop star and a serious actor; the second explains how she’s pushed to her limits when the virtual Mima appears; and the third covers the way that she ends up drifting between dreams and reality. (Note that the lecture on disc two is a condensed version, while they’re all presented in full on disc three.)
There are a few things that haven’t been included here from previous releases of Perfect Blue, the most notable of which are the Japanese-language commentary by Kon and the featurette Into the Blue, both of which were on the Japanese Blu-ray from Geneon Entertainment. But there doesn’t appear to be anything noteworthy missing from previous English-language releases.
Regardless of the value of any of the swag that GKIDS has included with this Collector’s Edition release, the presence of the full set of Satoshi Kon lectures makes it hard to beat. Given that they’re on a separate disc and there’s a condensed version of them on one of the film discs, it seems likely that they’ll drop the third disc from any future standard versions and just include the two film discs instead. So, while it’s not exactly cheap (and your mileage may vary over the missing shots during the photographer’s murder), this set is still highly recommended for fans of Kon who want to learn as much as they can about his intentions for Perfect Blue. He may not offer the only “right way” to interpret the film, but his thoughts are still invaluable. For a visionary artist who burned twice as bright but half as long, any moments spent listening to him are precious ones indeed.
-Stephen Bjork
(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd).