THIS REVIEW SPOILS THE ENTIRE MOVIE 0. Instructions 500https://i.ur.com/13raqzC.png In the 56th minute of the movie theres a scene that takes place in the TV show Mima is starring in theyre talking about the murderer played by Mima herself they say that the murderer is an illusion she created but illusions dont kill except if they find someone to possess. I believe this scene to be the key to deciphering the movie even though it takes place in a TV show inside the film. I dont think a scene this suggestive was just thrown in as a red herring so try to keep it in mind as I try to piece together what the story of Perfect Blue actually is. I will provide reasons and clues to back up my theory later on in the analysis but for now just accept the following statement as true. Kirigoe Mima has the power to possess and mind control people turning them into her own alternative personas she also suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder DID meaning that sometimes she is possessed by those personas herself and on top of that she hallucinates these personas and at times sees them in her dreams. Said personas include: The Creep The hideous guy who stalks Mima and tuns the website Mimas Room and The Idol The Mima whos always in a skirt and shows up in mirrors and stuff. So to be clear whenever I say The Idol Im talking about 220https://i.ur.com/vVT7sdS.jpg whenever I say Mima Im talking about 220https://i.ur.com/CdeAU81.jpg and whenever I say The Creep Im talking about 220https://i.ur.com/MmjkLXP.jpg. 1. Groundwork In this analysis I will not be discussing the hidden messages of Perfect Blue or its psychological aspects as many people before me have delved into those topics far better than I ever could. In this analysis Ill try to understand what the story is literally. 500https://i.ur.com/FjBokB9.jpg Mima Kirigoe is a pop idol that quits singing and starts an acting career. In the opening scene we see her singing next to her two partners wearing pink skirts remember that color pink as it will come up again and again throughout the film. Right from this point The Idol tries to get in Mimas way to discourage her from acting and get her to go back to singing. The Idol is represented by shades of red and Mima is represented by shades of blue. 330https://i.ur.com/3MM8Oms.jpg 330https://i.ur.com/YJs7G1C.jpg The letter Mima receives that says I like looking into Mimas Room the letter that explodes in her agents hand both colored pink. 330https://i.ur.com/J2WbybM.jpg 330https://i.ur.com/4W5cRQb.jpg 330https://i.ur.com/lEQMn9S.jpg 330https://i.ur.com/XOfYxfr.jpg Mimas room is the reddest thing in the whole movie perhaps to imply that she was in The Idols deathly grip right from the beginning. 2. The Creep A guy is possessed by The Creep persona and does perhaps the most amount of work to mess with her he runs the website he takes pictures of Mima and he murders both the writer and the photographer I know we see Mima kill the photographer but trust me well get to that. But lets get to why I think this person isnt an actual selfthinking individual and is possessed by one of Mimas illusory personas The Creep. 330https://i.ur.com/HfWQ4YO.png 330https://i.ur.com/I2MzeCT.png First of all he has way too much information about Mima he even knows what superstitions she believes stepping out of the train left foot first and he knows how Mima felt about Eri Ochiais performance. 500https://i.ur.com/kTIgZXa.png Second of all he says what The Idol would say and in this specific scene when he moves his mouth we hear Mimas voice. Third of all his internet alias is MEMANIA mania is a suffix used to describe an obsession with something this guys is a person whos obsessed with The Idol but his alias says hes obsessed with himself? The only way for this to make sense is if ME and The Idol shared the same consciousness. And the final and most important piece of evidence is the almost rape scene with Mima and The Creep when he mentions the writer and the photographer Mima says You killed them? and he replies And youll die soon too. he doesnt deny it its implied he killed both of them. 500https://i.ur.com/s2SngQM.jpg But we see Mima as the killer this could only mean that The Creep and The Idol share the same consciousness and he is a puppet being controlled by The Creep a persona that was manifested by the same brain that manifested The Idol Mimas. 3. The Idol Now that weve established what is whose doing lets talk about The Idol and the role she plays in the story. 220https://i.ur.com/2QyHEYU.jpg 220https://i.ur.com/BBle4gx.jpg 220https://i.ur.com/07ho3OZ.jpg Her first appearance happens after Mima agrees to do the rape scene saying she absolutely wont do it but we know Mima does the scene anyway and afterwards she appears in her room for the first time. 220https://i.ur.com/0XkmZNf.jpg 220https://i.ur.com/QOy0il8.jpg 220https://i.ur.com/D8H3nRG.jpg The fish are dead in the first image but theyre alive in the second one The Idol manipulated Mimas vision to make the fish seem dead to push her off the edge so her humiliations would cut deeper. She says Mima is tarnished for doing a rape scene. 330https://i.ur.com/BCEmO7X.png 330https://i.ur.com/0SYj94c.png 330https://i.ur.com/iYKf26Y.png 330https://i.ur.com/fCMWQ1a.jpg Next time she appears in the bathroom of the studio where Mima is taking nude pictures she says everyones waiting for her and then leaves to perform with her old partners yes the last picture isnt an illusion or a dream or a metaphor she actually goes to perform there and I know that because of the look on the other two girls face thats not a still frame I specifically picked out because they looked weird in it they look like that during the entire sequence in contrast to the cheerful expression they usually have during a show confirming that the way theyre drawn is completely intentional also The Creep writes about this performance on Mimas Room. After that things keep escalating she tells The Creep to get rid of Mima and she starts taking control over her body more and more everyday Mima starts having gaps in her memory because she doesnt experience what The Idol experiences to her it feels like she was having tea with Rumi and suddenly she was on the set of Double Bind. 500https://i.ur.com/EguuM52.jpg The Idol threatens to kill her in her sleep she uses her body to murder the photographer the memories start to overlap and Mima starts going insane until the finale which I will get to. The last thing I have to say about The Idol is that every single one of her scenes has the color red in it you can confirm that for yourselves if you think the first scene she appears in doesnt look closer at the second still frame I used at the beginning of this section. And as the story progresses the shades get redder and redder at the beginning it was usually pink and by the end even the dress The Idol was wearing had changed to a completely red one. 4. Mima Remember when I said blue represents Mima at the beginning? 220https://i.ur.com/H62doIe.jpg 220https://i.ur.com/0vONtXE.jpg 220https://i.ur.com/5RUErPC.jpg 220https://ur.com/O8gMnJj.jpg 220https://ur.com/RlMX4DW.jpg 220https://ur.com/pvCIEzs.jpg 220https://ur.com/5oDKmls.jpg 220https://ur.com/DuijxfF.jpg 220https://ur.com/OrC4hQ8.jpg This is Mimas way of rebelling against The Idol though that doesnt mean shes doing it consciously and/or on purpose wherever she goes redness follows she doesnt even get to escape it when shes at home everywhere she looks she sees red. So its only natural for her to gravitate towards colder colors when shes choosing clothes to wear. All of the still frames you see above happen before minute 46 what happens at minute 46? Its when The Idol takes control over Mimas body for the first time and performs with her old partners. 500https://ur.com/cyITcS4.jpg 250https://ur.com/iITK9mZ.jpg 250https://ur.com/Trk5fJu.jpg Feeling defeated she goes back home takes off her blue shirt and never wears it for the rest of the film. She gets in the tub surrounded by shades of red and screams. The acting industry isnt a kind place as the movie progresses she is expected to do more and more sketchy scenes and nude photo shoots and that is precisely where and why The Idol and The Creep were manifested. The more Mima is forced to sell herself the more she acts out as The Idol and The Creep as a means of stopping herself Ive been talking about those two like they were different people for so long I forgot they were actually one with Mima. Mima resents this career this industry and this new life shes afraid of the public eye afraid of getting harrased and selfconscious about being famous and all of that is symbolized in this movie by The Creep. She longs for her old life and her innocent self she misses singing and being with her group she needs a device to satisfy these wants and desires a symbol which is The Idol. She gets assaulted by The Creep and almost gets raped before she kills him but when she and Rumi come back hes nowhere to be found you can say he just got up and ran away but... 330https://ur.com/hEcfH1a.jpg 330https://ur.com/mDcPEb5.jpg 660https://ur.com/JVVwQsp.jpg ... all the signs of their fight is nowhere to be found either. On the other hand her clothes are actually torn up which leaves us with the explanation: Mima had a Tyler Durden episode where she fought a figment of her own imagination conjured by The Idol. At first she was just controlling people way out of Mimas life then she became a recurring hallucination then she started appearing in her dreams and taking over her body and now she was making her hallucinate not just images but physical touches as well. And with that we are off to the finale and will finally talk about Rumi 5. Rumi 220https://ur.com/wT4sOYE.jpg 220https://ur.com/lP7qBpe.jpg 220https://ur.com/hwRV223.jpg She soon notices that where Rumi brought her is not her own place her fish were dead she no longer had that poster up and the view from her apartments window is different. This is Rumis place and Rumi is living in a replica of Mimas apartment. 220https://ur.com/eGKMax9.jpg 220https://ur.com/cn0g303.jpg 220https://ur.com/hQQmLRX.jpg Mima looks horrified as the realization hits her her best friend was being controlled by The Idol too she was possessed by her all along and this is the last blow she deals to Mima taking away her best friend and trying to kill her using her. 220https://ur.com/OxN2YPu.jpg 220https://ur.com/uI2YIPF.jpg 220https://ur.com/qPvE7J1.jpg 220https://ur.com/6sLgIJr.jpg 220https://ur.com/E7vQz0f.jpg 220https://ur.com/Sd1HcWF.jpg 220https://ur.com/G7b0bzN.jpg 220https://ur.com/yJ3zyVZ.jpg 220https://ur.com/DP4CBAB.jpg 220https://ur.com/ovbXemG.jpg 220https://ur.com/20hcosS.jpg 220https://ur.com/CmHczn2.jpg Every location they stumble upon during their fight has red in it which I thought was a nice touch. All throughout the film Rumi has been a great friend to Mima she stood up for her when she was too afraid to do it herself she checked up on her and she cried when Mima was doing the rape scene. I know that another explanation for the entire movie would be that Rumi also had developed Dissociative Identity Disorder and started seeing herself as Mima and emailing The Creep and putting him up to everything in order to eliminate Mima and take her place. I also know that she used to be an idol and her history with the career doesnt help. But I still think my theory of her being manipulated by The Idol all along makes more sense to give you a quick idea of what exactly my theory is short and to the point heres a recap of everything: The Idol wants everything to go back to normal she can possess and control people so far she was using that power to get in Mimas way and get her to go back to singing but she controlled Rumi and manipulated her as a back up plan and surely enough when things didnt pan out with Mima she resorted to killing her and just letting Rumi take her place. So that way she could live as The Idol Mimarin forever. This is my interpretation. 6. The Ending 220https://i.ur.com/D6CnSmS.jpg 220https://i.ur.com/WQzcUQ0.jpg 220https://i.ur.com/0Z56NQb.jpg 220https://i.ur.com/Gswej6t.jpg 220https://i.ur.com/XgifTHj.jpg 220https://i.ur.com/VXr1PKC.jpg This isnt from the ending. In one of the scenes Mima feels overwhelmed and runs out of a subway station looks at the clear blue sky takes a deep breath and calms down. 500https://ur.com/gikJymw.jpg This is from the ending. The last scene opens with a shot of the clear blue sky Mimas at a mental hospital bringing flowers to Rumi. The incident and having her brain toyed with has left Rumi in shambles now she actually does have Dissociative Identity Disorder. This scene doesnt have a lot of dialogue but it does have two very important lines. Thanks to her I am what I am today. On her way to her car two nurses seem to recognize her but they say she must have been a lookalike. Wen she gets in the car she says: No Im real Who is saying that? And what happened to her career? Is Mima in full control now? Or did the Idol win? 330https://ur.com/sCucjn3.jpg 330https://ur.com/enyimK9.jpg Her car is red does that mean The Idol won and Mima went back to being a pop idol again? Is that what she meant when she said Thanks to her I am what I am today.? What about when she said No Im real? Was that The Idol declaring her existence and full power over a body? Come to think of it the blue sky that can be seen in the last frame of the movie and the first frame of this scene must represent Mima right? Do you trust the blueness of the sky or the redness of the car? Can you even count the blueness of the sky as a hidden message? You can draw shirts in different colors you can draw cars in different colors but you cant draw the sky in any other color than blue but then again this scene could have very well taken place inside a parking lot or in cloudy weather so I guess you can count the blueness of the sky as a message. But that still doesnt answer the question who won? Whats the ending? As far as Im concerned the answer is up to you to decide...