What actually happens
Quitting a girl group is a mistake in this movie
Mima Kirigoe leaves the J-pop idol group CHAM! to work as an actress. Many fans do not like seeing her drop her clean-cut image, and one in particular, Me-Mania, starts stalking her. A fan letter sends Mima to a website called Mima's Room, which publishes detailed diary entries written as if by her, covering her daily life and private thoughts. She tells her manager, Rumi Hidaka, who used to be a pop idol herself, and Rumi advises her to ignore the site.
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The scene the show asked for
Mima gets a small part in the detective series Double Bind, then a bigger one after her agent Tadokoro lobbies the producers. The bigger role means shooting a rape scene at a strip club. Rumi objects, but Mima accepts, and the filming goes badly. Rumi leaves the set in tears, Tadokoro regrets pushing for it, and Mima slips into a delirious state while it is shot. This is the scene viewers dread, so here is what it is: a staged rape at a strip club, filmed for a TV show before the murders begin, with a lot of distress on set. When Mima gets home, she finds her pet fish have died after irregular feeding and trashes her apartment, then says she had no choice but to take the part. Between the filming, her regret over leaving CHAM!, news that her old group has a hit without her, and being stalked, she starts to suffer from psychosis and is visited by her old idol self, who says she is the real Mima.
Everyone in her career keeps turning up dead
A series of murders hits people connected to Mima's acting career. She finds evidence in her closet that points to her, and as her mind slips she begins to doubt her memories and her innocence. She vaguely remembers brutally killing the photographer Murano after he asked her to let him take nude photos. Mima finishes shooting Double Bind, and in the last scene her character turns out to have killed her sister and taken her identity as a result of trauma and dissociative identity disorder. After the crew leaves the studio, Me-Mania gets an email from the real Mima telling him to eliminate the impostor. He corners Mima and tries to rape and kill her, but she bludgeons him with a hammer and gets away. Rumi finds her beaten and takes her to her own home. The real Mima later kills Me-Mania for failing.
Rumi's bedroom has a familiar floor plan
Mima wakes up thinking Rumi has taken her back to her own apartment, and she notices her fish are alive and well. Then she finds that Rumi's bedroom is a copy of hers and understands that Rumi runs Mima's Room, committed the murders, and manipulated Me-Mania as the second Mima. Rumi was upset that Mima left the idol business, and her schizophrenia produced an alternate personality, the real Mima, who wants to destroy and replace her so the idol image can be restored. Rumi chases Mima through the city. Mima pulls off Rumi's wig, and in the struggle Rumi falls on a piece of glass. She staggers into the street in front of a truck, takes its headlights for stage lights and poses, and Mima tackles her out of the way. Rumi is apprehended. Later Mima, now an established actress, visits Rumi in a mental institution, where the doctor says Rumi mostly believes she is still a pop idol. As Mima leaves, two nurses decide she must be a look-alike, because Mima Kirigoe herself would have no business visiting a place like that. In her car she smiles into the mirror and says she is the real thing.
The ending, explained
Rumi, Mima's manager, turns out to be the one running Mima's Room and committing the murders as the second Mima. Rumi is injured in the fight, nearly gets hit by a truck, and Mima saves her. Rumi ends up in a mental institution, still thinking she is a pop idol. Mima is now an established actress. She visits Rumi, says she learned a lot from the experience, and after two nurses decide she must be a look-alike, she smiles at her reflection and declares that she is the real thing. Murano and Me-Mania were killed along the way.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: There is no dog, though some pet fish die offscreen.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Perfect Blue scary?
Perfect Blue is a 6 out of 10 with high dread. It is a psychological thriller with a few jump scares and several violent moments, and the main fear comes from not knowing what is real.
How does Perfect Blue end?
Mima learns that her manager Rumi is behind the website and the murders, and Rumi ends up in a mental institution. Mima becomes an established actress and visits her, then gets in her car and says she is the real thing.
Does the dog die in Perfect Blue?
There is no dog in Perfect Blue. Several of Mima's pet fish die offscreen after irregular feeding, and the film shows only their floating bodies.
Is there a post-credits scene in Perfect Blue?
No. Perfect Blue has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is the real Mima in Perfect Blue?
In Perfect Blue the real Mima is an alternate personality that Rumi develops, who wants to destroy and replace Mima. Rumi is the person behind the website, the murders and the manipulation of the obsessed fan.
