The Normanic Vault: Unboxing [UK]: Perfect Blue - Film: Collector's Edition UK (BD/DVD)

For this overview/unboxing, I managed to pick up the latest All the Anime release of Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue on Blu-ray, for the first time in English territory.

Perfect Blue is a cult classic but because of how I only recently started to collect anime a year ago I missed out on this film. I did however watch one of the director's works Paprika (which is one of my favourite films in anime) and are aware of Paranoia Agent (waiting for Blu-ray elsewhere since UK release is cut), Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers. Sadly the director passed away a few years ago so his newest work is in limbo at this point. Back to the film's content, this is a psychological thriller and as you can tell the cover art helps this out.

This version is a Collector's Edition format where it includes a nice artbox, a DVD version with the Blu-ray using a digipack and some artcards. The release is an 18 for its mature content but surprisingly enough it sold very well in the UK, something that Manga UK seems to deny.

BD Language: English, Japanese

BD Video: 1080p HD Native 16:9 ratio

BD Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese DTS-MA 5.1, Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0

BD Subtitles: English (Japanese Dub with S.T. & L.), English (Sign Translations and Lyrics)

BD Region: B

BD Discs: 1

BD Defects: Japanese audio are the other way round (2.0 is 5.1 and vice versa), and the old Manga subtitle defects are present here.

DVD Language: English, Japanese

DVD Video: SD PAL Colour 16:9 ratio

DVD Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese Stereo 2.0

DVD Subtitles: English (Japanese Dub with S.T. & L.), English (Sign Translations and Lyrics)

DVD Region: 2

DVD Discs: 1

DVD Defects: Japanese audio are the other way round (2.0 is 5.1 and vice versa), and the old Manga subtitle defects are present here.

The sound defect issue will be fixed for the standard releases.

Plot:

Mima Kingoe is one third of chart topping girl-pop group, CHAM! But she is keen to put the childish career of the pop singer behind her and pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Her fans are sceptical however, and she quickly discovers that the transition is nowhere near as easy or enjoyable as she'd hoped...

After getting a part in a very adult murder mystery drama, her life takes a turn for the sinister. She uncovers a blog detailing her life in intimate detail, and as a real life killer begins to attack the people around her, delusion and reality blend into one and she begins to question her own identity...