So this week, we watched Perfect Blue and I have to say that it's up there with Akira. Even though it was really confusing at times, it was really enjoyable even with outrageous comments and laughter in the background. I have to say that one of the most interesting characters to me was Me-Mania. First of all, his appearance is just atrocious and if I ever saw someone like that in a dark alley I'd be GONE. His dead-looking eye and his chipped teeth just make him look beyond creepy. In a way he's like the perfect stalker. His obsession with Mima's pop idol image leads him to believe that he is her and he makes the diary webpage where he claims to be her. This, in addition to Rumi's murders and imitations of pop idol Mima, drives Mima crazy and leads her to question what's real and what isn't. He kind of despises Mima's new image as an actress and goes out of his way to destroy it to get "revenge" for pop idol Mima. If that makes any sense. Though we didn't touch on it in class, was I the only one who thought that Me-Mania's voice was also really creepy?
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| SO GROSS!! |
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Another really horrible aspect of the anime was the rape scene. It's hard to watch something like that and keep a straight face, but sometimes the rape scenes, violence, and gore really contribute to the film as a whole because it just shows the seriousness behind what the characters are going through as the plot develops. Especially in this case because right after the rape scene, Mima really starts to lose her sense of self and her innocence. I haven't seen all of Black Swan except for the 20 minutes we saw in class (I really want to finish watching it though), but from what I know about the movie, Nina starts to lose her innocence with her portrayal of the Black Swan right? The similarities between Nina and Mima such as their professions in the arts, names, and loss of innocence are really interesting. Black Swan may be like an updated version of Perfect Blue!
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| Perfect Blue/Black Swan movie poster! |
I have to agree with you upon multiple things. For one, I believe this film is on par with Akira in aspects of the “What the hell just happened” genre. I also thought Me-Mania’s face was just… grotesque… then when I finally heard his voice, I was like “He finally speaks!?” and his voice still made me think he’s such a creeper. If I saw someone like that I would be getting my butt somewhere else, and making sure I have some type of weapon-like object for protection. Or just not travel alone in general. In regards to the rape scene, that is the point in the movie where she is stripped of her innocence and begins her mental breakdown. So I fully agree upon that, and everything after that was just morphing Mima more away from her child-like image to an adult sex icon. I also only watched the portion of Black Swan shown in class and it was so uncanny how similar the two movies are! Though I believe there is an actual live action adaptation to Perfect Blue, but Black Swan is an American modern take on it.
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