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The 1997 psychological thriller “Perfect Blue” is ranked as one of the scariest animated movies ever<\/a>\u00a0and remains one of the greatest works of its director, the late Satoshi Kon<\/a>, too. If you’ve never seen “Perfect Blue,” now is a perfect time, because it has been remastered in 4K and is currently playing in theaters (distributed by GKIDS<\/a>).<\/p>\n “Perfect Blue” follows a pop singer, Mima Kirigoe (Junko Iwao), who pivots to acting in new thriller TV series, “Double Bind.” As she begins this career shift, Mima tries to balance her fans and agents’ expectations with her own doubts about what kind of woman she wants to be. This all makes Mima suffer an identity crisis … and it only gets creepier from there.<\/p>\n A stalker and obsessed Mima-fan wants his<\/em> Mima, the innocent pop singer, back and reviles the new Mima for “replacing” her. People close to Mima’s new career, like the screenwriter of her big break crime drama or a racy photographer, start showing up dead. Mima also learns that someone is posting as her on an internet fan site, “Mima’s Room,” someone who knows things only Mima herself should know.<\/p>\n “Perfect Blue” wasn’t the first anime movie I ever loved, but it gave me such a high I finally dove into the medium. I’ve spent the last five years learning to love anime and “Perfect Blue” first showed me why I should try to. As \/Film’s BJ Colangelo put it, “Perfect Blue” is the type of movie that shows you how good animation can be.<\/a><\/p>\n The first time you see “Perfect Blue”, it’s meant to leave you bewildered; like Mima, you lose track of what’s real and what isn’t. Even when you rewatch and fit the pieces together, it’s still terrifying<\/em> to watch it all play out. I wince at every stabbing or burst of violence, which is all the more horrible and beautiful in the new remaster. While “Perfect Blue” rivals the best giallo<\/a>, its scariest part is how it weaves that violence together with social commentary.<\/p>\n