Perfect Blue – Yume Nara Samete – Live Action (Sato Toshiki 2002)
Genre: Estrogen-Centric Psycho Babble Snooze Fest
review in one breath
First there was the 1997 novel Perfect Blue by author Takeuchi Yoshikazu. Then there was the 1998 anime version of Perfect Blue by director Kon Satoshi whose progressive style of anime caught both audiences and critics by surprise. And then there was this, a 2002 live-action version of the same. The general storyline of all these versions consists of a budding young starlet and a crazed, psychotic stalker. The 1998 anime version really took this general premise to extremes resulting in a mature and rather violent (and sexy) full-length anime feature. When rumor of a possible live-action version of Perfect Blue emerged, it was assumed that it would somehow attempt to mimic or expand upon its very popular anime predecessor. Such assumptions, however, proved utterly mistaken when Sato Toshiki, a director otherwise widely known for rather risque Pink films, unveiled this violence and nudity free rendition of Perfect Blue.

