OVERALL (10), I mean, fuck... Where do I start with this. This is a character driven story, and the characters are flawless in the sense that they drive the story perfectly. The characters themselves are kind of underfed. Not to the point where they become incomprehensible but just enough to notice that you don't really know them very well. But this god damn story is so well executed that it doesn't even matter. This is absolutely a movie for someone who enjoys anything about the human psyche, any mindfuckery, or anyone that can stand gruesome animated scenes for the sake of a story well told. In terms of animation, there is not much to say. For 1997, this is fucking fluid. Yeah, its not perfect and pales in comparison to more modern animation but it has held up incredibly well to the test of time. The soundtrack varies only in genre and certainly not in quality. To nutshell I'll quote a friend of mine who saw it. "Fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff-" *leaves room*
STORY AND ENJOYMENT (10) are at the heart of this review. Since I'm giving this review my absolute full recommendation, and I definitely hate reviews that talk about what happens in what I'm about to watch, I'm only going to say that this story is definitely something you want to sit down and pay attention to because there are a lot of little details that you can miss along the way. This goes the same for CHARACTERS (7) as they are central to the plot and describing them, analyzing them, or critiquing them would get in the way of an initial viewing of the movie. Good stories are good the first time. Amazing stories are better the second time. Perfect Blue is certainly the latter.
ANIMATION (6) like I said is stunning for when it was made. Even if this is a movie with a significant budget, the animation only really falters in the very sparse talking head scene or when the camera zooms out on a crowd, which is as much as you can really expect from something that was made prior to the digital era we're in now. The art style and color scheme are really similar to that of Bebop but polished quite a bit in comparison (which is saying something considering Bebop's high quality). All the parts that need to be animated well are and none of the animation takes away from the all important story.
SOUND (8) is something that really adds a certain je ne se quoi when the movie really start to fuck with your head. Some of these tracks wouldn't be out of place in an audiobook reading of Alice in Wonderland. Others are more catchy, which serve to take you out the intensity of some of the scenes but are actually still used in some of the more intense scenes which too lends a certain horrible charm to them. In terms of the voice acting, I'd have to say top notch for the Japanese dub. I have not yet seen the English dub but the show is steeped sort of heavily in Japanese culture that I'd imagine some of the dialogue wouldn't make the translation unscathed.
SUMMARY
God damn watch this movie. If you're underage put it on your to do list for when you turn 18. If you cant stand X-rated graphic animation, get over it and WATCH THIS MOVIE. The best comparison to something more mainstream I can make is to Inception.
Except actually good.
