If Perfect Blue’s ending left you confused, you’re not alone.
Released in 1997, Perfect Blue is a movie that continues to terrify, fascinate, and perplex audiences to this day. If, by the end of it, you aren’t feeling slightly insane yourself, you weren’t paying attention. So, what exactly happens in the final scenes of the movie? There are as many interpretations as there are interpreters. Here are the most popular theories about the ending.
Theory #1: Playing It Straight
The most straightforward explanation of the story is that Rumi has a Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and fully deludes herself into believing she’s the “real” Mima. She works together with Mima’s stalker, a creepy basement-dweller named Me-Mania, to create Mima's Room. Rumi is also the one responsible for the series of killings that transpire throughout the movie.
Mima’s gradual descent into madness and loss of her sense of self is explained by a stress-induced nervous breakdown. After she survives Rumi’s attack, Mima develops renewed confidence in her identity.
Theory #2: Yoko Is The Real Mima
In the movie, Double Bind is a detective drama where Mima has one of the leading roles. Some fans think that the events of the TV show hit too close to home, paralleling Mima’s life to an uncanny degree. What if Yoko’s life is real, and Mima is the product of her delusions?
This theory was born because many viewers found the fake sexual assault scene that took place in the fictional universe of Double Bind as a bit too real. In contrast, what is supposed to be a moment depicting an actual attempted rape looks staged. In this framework, the events that take place in the second half of the movie are entirely imagined by Yoko as a way to cope with the severe trauma that she’s endured. Therefore, in a bone-chilling twist, when we see Yoko look at her car's rear view mirror and declare herself as “real,” we actually see the exact moment her psyche is completely overtaken by her fantasy that she’s Mima.
Many fans consider the final scenes of the movie surprisingly hopeful, which simply doesn’t fit the tone of the rest of the picture. Re-watching the movie with the new interpretation in mind might change that.
Theory #3: Rumi Is The Real Mima
Another fan theory puts Rumi at the center of the story and questions whether Mima exists at all. The plot then goes: Rumi is a failed idol who, in order to make ends meet, turns to stripping and gets assaulted. The trauma that results from the sexual violence causes her to have a severe breakdown, and she is placed into a mental institution. According to this theory, Mima is nothing more than a product of Rumi’s imagination and a ghost of her past.
Whatever you think is going on in this mind-bending masterpiece of a movie, the confusing narrative is intentionally created to mess with the viewer’s mind and blur the lines between different realities. Satoshi Kon, the movie’s director, never meant for the film to have one “correct” interpretation. In the end, Mima is who you want her to be, whether you believe she’s real or not.
If Perfect Blue’s ending left you confused, you’re not alone.
Released in 1997, Perfect Blue is a movie that continues to terrify, fascinate, and perplex audiences to this day. If, by the end of it, you aren’t feeling slightly insane yourself, you weren’t paying attention. So, what exactly happens in the final scenes of the movie? There are as many interpretations as there are interpreters. Here are the most popular theories about the ending.
Theory #1: Playing It Straight
The most straightforward explanation of the story is that Rumi has a Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and fully deludes herself into believing she’s the “real” Mima. She works together with Mima’s stalker, a creepy basement-dweller named Me-Mania, to create Mima's Room. Rumi is also the one responsible for the series of killings that transpire throughout the movie.
Mima’s gradual descent into madness and loss of her sense of self is explained by a stress-induced nervous breakdown. After she survives Rumi’s attack, Mima develops renewed confidence in her identity.
Theory #2: Yoko Is The Real Mima
In the movie, Double Bind is a detective drama where Mima has one of the leading roles. Some fans think that the events of the TV show hit too close to home, paralleling Mima’s life to an uncanny degree. What if Yoko’s life is real, and Mima is the product of her delusions?
This theory was born because many viewers found the fake sexual assault scene that took place in the fictional universe of Double Bind as a bit too real. In contrast, what is supposed to be a moment depicting an actual attempted rape looks staged. In this framework, the events that take place in the second half of the movie are entirely imagined by Yoko as a way to cope with the severe trauma that she’s endured. Therefore, in a bone-chilling twist, when we see Yoko look at her car's rear view mirror and declare herself as “real,” we actually see the exact moment her psyche is completely overtaken by her fantasy that she’s Mima.
Many fans consider the final scenes of the movie surprisingly hopeful, which simply doesn’t fit the tone of the rest of the picture. Re-watching the movie with the new interpretation in mind might change that.
Theory #3: Rumi Is The Real Mima
Another fan theory puts Rumi at the center of the story and questions whether Mima exists at all. The plot then goes: Rumi is a failed idol who, in order to make ends meet, turns to stripping and gets assaulted. The trauma that results from the sexual violence causes her to have a severe breakdown, and she is placed into a mental institution. According to this theory, Mima is nothing more than a product of Rumi’s imagination and a ghost of her past.
Whatever you think is going on in this mind-bending masterpiece of a movie, the confusing narrative is intentionally created to mess with the viewer’s mind and blur the lines between different realities. Satoshi Kon, the movie’s director, never meant for the film to have one “correct” interpretation. In the end, Mima is who you want her to be, whether you believe she’s real or not.
