Analyzing Evil: Rumi Hidaka From Perfect Blue 

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The scene of Rumis self image of a skipping, floating version of herself in the window contrasted with the panting, sweating, manic real person is terrifying.

Its crazy that a movie from the 90s perfectly encapsulates the dark side of parasocial relationships and social media that is extremely prevalent today.

"Maladaptive daydreaming" is a term used for what you described - when daydreaming becomes unhealthy.

She lost her mind, endangered Mima's life, traumatized her, horribly murdered innocents, and yet, she was the least toxic manager in history. R.I.P. Rumi

We dont have enough to assume but perhaps Rumi herself had been sexually assaulted at some point and that's why she broke when Mima acted in that scene. She couldn't cope with someone she idolized and viewed as a perfect version of herself doing that and reminding her of her trauma and thats what triggered the DID. She tried to assume the version of Mima she always loved

Rumi herself used to be an idol when she was younger, but it didn’t work out. She subconsciously wanted to be an idol again, and Mima is living out her dream. So when Mima changed careers and moved away from the cute, bubbly j-pop singer image more and more, it fueled Rumi’s anger and insanity.

The scariest type of evil is an evil that’s common in everyday life, evil is it’s most terrifying when it’s realistic.

And this whole film took place during a time when the internet was still just blossoming. Social media had not yet gone viral; it wasn’t even a thing yet. RU-vid, TikTok and other idol making sites were not even being dreamed of! It’s 1997 and even before all this happened; Perfect Blue showed us what the tumultuous and even dangerous life of an idol could be if the lines of reality blur beyond recognition. It’s more than just a movie about J-Pop idols! It’s a cautionary tale to anyone regardless of status or appearance of the dangers that can manifest when seeking fame!

Not a lot of people talk of Paranoia Agent. That and Satoshi was a huge step for my field in psychology. The first time i saw the opening at 8 years old, it was a wrap and been a fan since

Excellent movie that shows the darker side of celebrity life. I think the scene with the stalker in the beginning, where he places his hand out to look like Mima's dancing in his palm carries a much more sinister implication of not just how he, but how *everyone* in her life sees her: She's not a human being with feelings and thoughts of her own in their eyes nor does she have a right to be as far as they're concerned, but rather a doll meant only to be however they want her to be, lest she be thrown away. As a result Mima felt the same way of herself and had no one to turn to but Rumi, who betrayed her too when Rumi could not see even if she didn't fulfil her own dream of stardom, she meant the world to one who had. We see Mima saw and trusted Rumi as a mother figure, but ultimately Rumi was a demented stage mom who sought control over her as well.

The sad thing about Rumi too is even if she had been born beautiful psychologically she would have been ill equipped to deal with the rigors of being a pop idol. Point, in fact, she probably had a breakdown, possibly when she discovered she could not make the cut as an idol. This would have left her in a fragile mental state and perhaps could explain why she was already disassociating at the beginning of the movie. Anyway, love Perfect Blue saw it recently on the big screen. Great movie

This movie is so visceral and disturbing. I love how Me-Mania is set up as the villain early on, and his ugliness is on full display. But the truly evil person behind Mima's abuse is not hideous. She's just kinda plain-looking, but she's been made to feel that way. It's a really clever visual trick. Also, speaking of twist villains, do Tighten soon! He's also a more realistic and terrifying evil, for a cartoon supervillain.

Perfect Blue is a window into the horrors of fame and idol worship for Rumi is the personification of obsession and madness when one is consumed by it.

Dude, I've seen the exact thing you talked about at the end happen to someone in real life. My grandmother went into her "other world" a long time ago and never came back out. It hurts everyone around the person this happens to, especially because the person themselves can't see that there is anything wrong - they believe they are living life just like everyone else, so it's quite often they don't get the help they need.

I have yet to encounter anything that makes me feel the same dread I felt when I heard Rumi say "We're going to Mima's room" during the last car ride

18:45 The allegory for neon lights in the lonely city really hits close to home, in an era of connectivity and communication we are often times lost in the shuffle of every day life and find ourselves desperate for company.

I definitely need to watch this film again. Japanese animation has always been a great reminder that animation is not just for kids.

it sucks that a majority of characters with DID only exists as villains or monsters. I think this film is the only horror movie that features DID as somewhat sympathetic and outside a persons control.

This was beautiful. Easily the best episode of Analyzing Evil, and it happened to be about my favorite movie of all time.

People dont nessarly get to choose to dissociate. You cant treat something when you are unaware. You arent even nessarly hiding in comfort. Sometimes the amnesia that occurs is more tramatizing than probably the event you dissociated from.

Rumi is less evil and, more sad and pathetic. She is clearly an unwell woman in a mental sense. She cared Mima, in her own sick and twisted way. As you said, she saw herself in Mima and felt protective of her (albeit to a very unhealthy degree). If Mima kept her 'pure' image even as an actor, Rumi probably would not have gone off the deep end. She would be upset and act out, but probably wouldn't go as far as murder. But after filming that, SA scene, something broke and things escalated from there. Mima was no longer pure translated to, Rumi no longer being pure. That SA scene (while it was fake) was VERY traumatic to both women. Rumi might as well have been the one in Mima's shoes at that time. Couple that with the disappointment of her crushed dreams, everything that held Rumi together just broke into a million pieces. She scrambled to hold onto whatever kept her grounded, but what she grasped was tainted by her misery and obsession.

As a 30+ guy still dreaming of being a performing guitarist and inspired by my favorite rock stars I can definitely relate to the struggles at the core of this film

Man, people have some busted up faces in this movie. It goes great with selling the idols as being perfect without having to do too much for their appearances.

Escapism is a hell of a drug

“Her mind chose to help her…by hurting her..” that hit so hard and really brought the tragedy into focus. Love this vid!

Yep, this is a cult classic and many's introduction into more darker toned anime that didn't require demons, laser beams or over the top violence. As in, it could actually tell a story with a underlying message.

I always got the impression that Rumi was SA'd at some point in her youth (perhaps even repeatedly) and this is what led to her developing DID. It's also why, when she saw Mima doing the r*pe scene, her mind fractured due to a couple reasons. One, it reminded her of her own abuse, and two, she was seeing it happen to someone she idolized/identified with, destroying the perfection/innocence image. This caused her to finally snap as both of her identities crashed together in a horrific manner and caused her to descend further into madness. I also imagine there was a lot of anger on her part too because Mima was willingly subjecting herself to this whereas Rumi had no choice. This is all just speculation of course but Perfect Blue is a film that leaves a lot of room for interpretation. One of the best psychological horror films ever made in my opinion.

There is a concept of evil as a consuming force. The idea being that, after pursuing a dark path for a long time, the one who travels that path is no longer in control of their trajectory. They cannot escape, even if they want or feel the need to do so. They are no longer in control - the evil they have so long pursued is. I suppose obsession is the most obvious form of this consuming evil. It's also the most insidious, because the obsessed person believes they actually love the object of their obsession. One mistakes feelings of lust, jealousy, and desire for those of romantic or even fraternal love. This idea twists and skews the obsessed person's view of both the object of their obsession and the world around them. They believe the objective to "belong" to them, desiring to manipulate the objective into a situation where they have no choice but to be in the obsessor's sphere, drawing ever closer to them. If the objective attempts to put any distance between themselves and the obsessor, the obsessor can become agitated, even violent, seeing such attempts as an affront to their ideal reality. In effect, it's not so much a person or object that one obsesses over, but a particular situation, a relationship with the objective that the obsessor cannot or should not have. In the end, the obsessor typically finds themselves with two undesirable options - accept that the relationship was never to be from the start, and let their objective go willingly; or demand absolute power and control over their objective, in a situation that leaves neither party truly happy or satisfied. All too often, the latter option ends in violence.

Didn't Rumi just say she got old? That would suggest her fixation on Mima is her trying to reclaim her glory days. It might also suggest that Rumi, unlike Mima, never tried to branch out into other fields while she was still an idol, and thus never did anything more "adult" like Mima does in her acting or in that photo shoot. So Rumi comes to see Mima as acting "unworthy" of her idol status: she could've had everything she wanted (unlike current Rumi) and she threw it away to be an impure actress? I'd also suggest that, yes, a valid interpretation of Rumi and Mima is that they're sharing a psychosis....but I think it's also worth considering that Rumi basically gaslit Mima into becoming unsure about what she was doing and who she was, which left her vulnerable to her own anxieties, paranoia and eventually to physical and sexual assault.

When you unironically think an idealized persona is literally you

Great analysis, love this episode. Rumi was a perfect choice. I saw Perfect Blue in the theater in Toronto, back in the days where groups of people would go see a film and then hit up a coffee shop and talk about it.

I wouldn't call her evil so much as she is insane. Insanity and evil are not really the same.

Released in 1997. The worst year of my life. A lot of really intense and impactful medias were released that year that I often feel myself drawn towards

You gotta analyze James Sunderland from Silent Hill. With the new remake coming out, it would make sense. And I know he’s intentionally not purely good or evil but he’s still intensely interesting

Rumi’s case is relatable, but her obsession towards Mima, in my opinion, is based on envy. Envy is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, and what Rumi sees everything about herself with someone who looks like they have everything, did led her to commit crimes against society. And later on, herself to death

So many kpop stans need to see this movie, but im afraid most wouldn't get it.

The concept of the Idol reminds me of the statue that Pygmalion made in Greek Mythology. He carved the perfect woman for himself, and Venus brought her to life. I can't help but think that story had a sad ending since there's no way a living person could ever live up to an image of perfection.

I'm glad you focused on the most interesting antagonist of the movie instead of Me-Mania. I think he takes a lot of thunder as a villain of the movie, but he was just an unnerving pawn to the real disturbing person behind everything.

Satoshi kon had so much potential... So sad he passed away early

I feel like a major part of Rumi 's fall was the internet. I'll take Mima's ignorance of the web as evidence of how recent an addition it was. Rumi I think may not have ever evolved past day dreaming.

As someone else mentioned here, I’d love to see you do an analysis of AKU from Samurai Jack. He’s basically like emperor Palpatine from SW in that he basically wins for years and years into the future and pushes the hero to his absolute limits.

I know this is a reach, knowing you only do patreon picks, but I think you’d be interested in analyzing the character Kyung-Chul from the South Korean film “I Saw The Devil”. I believe he is, without a doubt, the most vile fictional character ever.

That thumbnail is ABSOLUTE nightmare! The movie terrified me after I finished watching it the first time and thought about it and how creepy it is REALLY lingers onto you!

So weird lol I just found this channel yesterday and watched the movie for the first time last night! Love your work and have been working my way thru your catalog all day!

I have been suggesting this for a while and I am so glad you did it Vile Eye thank you thank you thank you

I love how varying your subject choices are! Such quality content. We appreciate you.

Just watched this film a couple of weeks ago and I must say, not only did I not see her coming as the villain but it also made perfect sense that she would be the villain. I love endings like that. When there is a twist that is both unexpected AND makes perfect sense, that is masterful writing!

Great video! I loved every part of this deep dive!

OMG I'm so glad you did Perfect Blue! I loved this movie since a child. I love the score, whenever Mima is having a "pschotic break" it's crying chorus is so eerie. It's one of the most memorable parts of the movie.

Perfect Blue is probably my favourite movie of all time. Surprised to see you cover it!

I’d love to see a video on Makima from Chainsaw Man. She’s definitely one of the best written and scariest villains in recent media.

I LOVE this channel, from Griffith to Tywin, i like that you choose from all sorts of franchices and medias. Hit me up man ! Huge fan!

Satoshi Kon is one of those creative talents who showcases the scariest aspects of humanity. What's scary about his work is how relevant they are. One more thing, can do a video on Tomie? She is one of Junji Ito’s most frightening creations and one of the most cruel and malicious monsters in pop culture.

Wow I'm stunned. Your channel had my attention with Tywin, but this... GOATED

Being famous is actually a bad thing. You don't know who's watching or stalking you.

Considering the mental health crisis in Japan and the pressures that come with professional 'work culture' there, it wouldn't be surprising if something like this actually happened or could one day happen. If anything, smaller scale and less outwardly destructive versions of Rumi's downfall probably happen all the time. It's highly likely that, even if Rumi knew what was happening to her and sought help for it, she would've been subtley forced out of her job regardless if she got treatment. The tragedy of Rumi to me is us seeing a woman who has clearly had something tormenting her for _years_ and only seeing her in treatment after she's done so much damage makes the whole film feel so much scarier; who knows if any of the events of the film would've happened at all if she'd gotten the support she needed.

The research that went into this is so so cool but I feel like it would benefit a lot from footage relevant to each conversation topic rather than just perfect blue clips. Still really awesome work!!!

I’m so happy you did this cause I never understood what the movie was about. This makes so much sense now and I def feel better for this lady now

Well done you’ve done it again😎😎😎 You did such a great job with the whole analyzing evil. A lot of this character I mean yeah, this character clearly is what you can describe as worth analyzing.

Thanks for uploading this analysis man! I watched Perfect Blue in high school but now I'm in college and I'm gonna have to say I relate to Rumi a lot sometimes, especially with the whole escapism thing since I used drawing way too much for escapism which affected my college grades and I remember back in high school I used to be a better student and would actually study compared to now in college. I knew I was losing myself from drawing too much because whenever I would post my art, I would also seek too much validation from people and refresh the page a lot to see the number of likes I would get, this analysis definitely helped with my escapism addiction lol.

been a subscriber for quite while! just wanted to say, im happy you keep making videos that literally make me say: Ooo thats gonna be a good one 😁 cheers! 🍻🍻

Media management involving people is a developing hell, that's for sure, there's so much pressure for perfection, people crack very easily. Great insight, wasn't expecting this and the algorythm gods were benevolent. As a suggestion please consider The Major from Hellsing Ultimate or Mrs. Carmody from The Mist (2007)

What a timeless, classic film and i'm glad you've made an analysis of it!!!👌👌👌👍👍👍

You just explained Perfect Blue in a comprehensible way, to the point that I want to rewatch it to catch what you had described. Thank you.

You covered this not even a week after I saw the film, this is perfect timing

OMG Yes!!! Thank you!!! I LOVE this movie!! Also love Paranoia Agent, Paprika, etc!

I thought perhaps Rumi suffered some sort of previous sexual trauma based on how she reacted to Mima’s acted out SA scene and that may have affected her psyche before the events of the movie…

RIP Satoshi Kon. We lost such an incredible visionary far too soon.

I have never seen Perfect Blue but always felt it was likely a masterpiece anime thriller. I am glad it made the list.

Amazing work once again.

Whooooa! I now remember having watched this some 8-10 years ago now. I remember being super disturbed by it, but had forgotten what it was called, or by now what it was even about. Thanks for the memory jolt! What a trip this movie is.

Maybe it was just because i watched this movie first when i was relatively young, but i never ever saw rumi as the villain coming.

Still one of my favorite movies of all time. Fantastic breakdown!

That shared hallucination thing I experienced a couple times most notably I when I was a senior in highschool me and like 5 of my friends took LSD at one of our houses, and we were listening to ASAP Forever by ASAP Rocky and towards the end we all just in sync felt the need to look up at the ceiling and it was our faces in the form of a rainbow each one of us representing a different color and the colors all melted together. That was still one of the most beautiful and amazing experiences I had. We were all soooo geeked when we saw that like literally amazed and laughing at how crazy it was

Thank you very much for this and everything you do. 🙏🏾

I absolutely loved this movie, certainly a rollercoaster of emotions ❤

Among the many things this movie has taught me, is that you shouldn't trust people with eyes that are too far apart!

When I first saw “Perfect Blue”, I saw the similarities between the American world of popular entertainment and he Japanese world of popular entertainment. If this film took place in America then one could say some of the same things about an American celebrity then one could say about a Japanese celebrity. I wonder if a film analysis could be done on the film “Oppenheimer” or on “Barbie?”

Thank you very much for this video. It would be interesting to see an analyzing evil episode about Aku from Samurai Jack. He will be quite interesting in my opinion as one of the most evil characters ever created as well as with a sick sense of humor.

The start of this video just proves the eye has the best taste ever! ❤ Paranoia agent is just amazing and I do love its music too. And Satoshi Kon is such an amazing director. I'll be looking forward to more of his movies featured here 💜

Rumi’s face just makes me uncomfortable, her eyes being so far apart feels so uncanny and creepy 💀

Great video: it is interesting thinking about people that are not evil because they decide it to be, but because that evil is out of your control or decision. It is tragic.

Had bought the movie in youtube at least 12 months ago but didn't finish it seen you upload this and it instantly reminded me lol

The shot where Rumi (as Mima) is presenting herself with her arms raised to the truck headlights, as if they are cameras, reminds me every time of Norma Desmond in 'Sunset Boulevard', believing the tabloid flashes are cameras ready to shoot her big scene ("Mr, DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup"). Fame is fickle and often very icky. Loved the video, love 'Perfect Blue'.

Great pitch for fum and awesome videos as always

That thumbnail is gonna haunt my dreams like The Crossed does.

Your video really helped me better understand this movie thank you

Thanks for the video!

Phenomenal work as always. Might I suggest as a future villain, Frank Gallagher, from the TV show Shameless

Just watched the movie last night after reading the title of this video before I watched it. Thank you for helping to break it all down

Wasn't expecting this episode. Perfect Blue is one of my favorite animated films but sooooooo many people sleep on it, or haven't even heard of it.

Cant wait for the eventual shonen bat video! Glad to see someone else likes Satoshi Kon a lot as well!

Been waiting for this! Immediately clicked off of the other video I was watching :’)

Awesome movie. Awesome video. Thanks

i watched this movie very recently and god damn not only is this is a masterpiece, this movie is one of the most terrifying i’ve ever seen

I couldn't help but draw parallels between Perfect Blue and what happened to Selena.

Great explanation!

I'd like to see Jerry Lundegaard, Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud from "Fargo" in a future episode. I'm actually surprised you haven't covered it yet, but eh...there's a lot of evil out there.

Fantastic episode. 10/10.