1st: Animation: Now, don't assume that I just only like anime for the animation, that is not true. I can appreciate older anime, but this anime in particular is really bad. Most of the characters are really ugly, a lot of the movement is bad and stale. Even the setting of the anime is pretty dull. I've heard the excuse that the characters external beauty is supposed to imitate their inner beauty, but it seems to me that this is just a clever excuse to animate the characters and setting poorly.
2nd: Story: When I watch anime, for the most part, the story is so appealing that I get sucked into it. Sometimes I just have to binge it because I'm dying to know the rest of the story and it feels uncomfortable to not know. I generally like most anime and rate relatively high, so this score might seem weird for some. But I just couldn't get pulled into it. I felt like the story didn't have the power to be able to communicate to the audience well. Like it's supposed to have the hold on you and be able to feel like the audience is in the story themselves; it's supposed to pull them in. This story didn't do that for me.
*major spoilers* The "certain" scene also was really distasteful and it was way too long. Like, I get it, it's supposed to show the terrible "behind the scenes" life of an Idol/Actress, but still, it could have been more impactful and shorter. I think that because that scene was so long, it just made, or SHOULD HAVE, made the viewer feel uncomfortable and even not care as much of the MC.
*major spoilers* Also, the ending wasn't that deep either. You find out that the MC's manager has a severe case of Multiple Personality Disorder and that she has been imitating the MC. Which was the better part of the show admittedly, but if you have watched how Paranoia Agent showed MPD; it seemed that Perfect Blue's execution of it wasn't the best.
Final thoughts: I really just felt gross after I watched it. It wasn't worth it. The story didn't pull me in and nothing other than somewhat of the ending was noticeable about it. I really can't imagine how someone could enjoy it to it's fullest extent without feeling dirty or anything. I can't even understand how someone would even like it for it's story. It just feels overrated, especially for an older anime. But hey, that's just mine and my friends' opinion.
