This should have been the title – “If you watched Chaos;Head, you were deluded (ripped off)!” But whatever.

I am sorry for that supposed ass title. But yes, I watched Chaos;Head, and finished it as well. Admittedly, for the first 8 episodes, I watched them all raw, and had to depend on people who understood (or watched subtitled episodes) the episode raw to comprehend most of it. But after episode 7 of Chaos;Head, it all just went downhill. I know the original VN was touted to be better, and I still have not (and probably never will) play it. Why? Because I just found out that Chaos;Head had a far better predecessor in the realm of psychological delusions in anime – Perfect Blue.

Now let me first be perfectly honest here. I saw Perfect Blue mentioned just once in 4Chan’s /w/ by chance, and they mentioned a “rape scene”, which was the whole reason I picked up the show. I am sorry to all the female readers out there who might rage at this. But in any case, I am now glad I did watch it. Before I go on though, I have to clarify what the “rape scene” meant, and to some extent, the show’s premise, so there will be no further misunderstandings.
 

Our protagonist, Kirigoe Mami.

Sypnosis & The “Rape Scene”

Kirigoe Mima is a pop idol that has just given up on singing to go into acting. She copes with the stress of switching to a new career and destroying her previous pop idol image, and no longer has a good grip on what is real and what is not, thus having delusions. But unlike C;H, these delusions are not to the point of being supernatural, or bordering on absurd stuff like pulling freaking swords out of another dimension; they can be easily related to realistically. Perfect Blue first hit the big screen in 1997 in Japan by the way, so there is no way it is a supposed ripoff of C;H or its VN.

The “rape scene” was what it was, a scene in a drama series that depicted the rape of the character Mima was acting. There was no real rape, the male actor that was supposedly raping the girl even said he was very sorry towards Mima when they had to hold positions during a pause in the shooting. But obviously, for someone who made her fame in her fans as a pop idol, the image of her being raped was very much a huge heartbreak. She also later went into a sort of AV shoot, where she turns nude. Yes this movie is NSFW, adult-tagged, M18, whatever. No sex or anything, lots of gore in certain places. So, now that we have the summary out of the way, I am going to compare this show to C;H.

There will be no real spoilers. I will reference scenes in the show yes, but I will not give away the storyline much, just how the show went on for me as I kept watching it. However, spoilers will exist for Chaos;Head since I will presume you already watched it…or cannot be bothered with it.
 

A cutout from the rape scene for the drama series Mami is filming.

The Delusions

Here, the similarity between both shows really stand out. Nishijou Takumi sees many delusions, making them the premise behind the show. His delusions range from mild to severe, such as living alone with his magical idol, Seira-tan, even bringing her to life in his twisted mind due to his habits. This can be attributed to his lifestyle, habits, and the like. For Mami, she starts having delusions after switching jobs, because of the stress of coping with the new job and a new environment she was not used to (and did not like), as well as being egged on by an obsessive fan. Thus, in both, delusions and the blurred line between what is real and what is not stand out as the most significant point presented to viewers – what is indeed real and what is not?

But beyond that, Chaos;Head fell apart if you compared it to Perfect Blue. In C;H, Takumi actually can bring delusions to life, and as we are later shown, he himself is a delusion. He is not the only one who can materialize illusions – all the six girls who are supposed “Gladior Knights” can do it too, while the machine Noah II assists in helping normal humans who do not have the abilities of a Gigalomaniax in bringing about illusions and thoughts into reality as well. This borders somewhat on the supernatural…and ultimately, unbelievable.
 

For Perfect Blue however, the delusions and illusions seen by Mami are caused by her psychological state of mind as she caves in to the stress. Further, this is even explicitly stated in the show, in a drama series that runs very much parallel in many ways to Mami’s actual life in the show. Thus, we get an explanation of how things might have happened and why Mami is seeing the delusions and she wonders indeed if her “other self” (that is to say, her delusion that she keeps seeing) might act out of its own will and do things that she herself, the real personality of Mami, will not do. The psychological aspect is vividly shown throughout the movie, and what is even better is how Mami breaks down at least twice during the show. In other words, the show is realistically believable to a very large extent. I am sure there are many who have felt at times the need to cry out loud, or come near a nervous breakdown. Mami portrays that part very well indeed.
 

Mami’s delusion.

The Pace

Truth be told, the pace after episode 7 for C;H really went too fast for my liking. Takumi went from zero to hero in like 2 episodes. I just went LOLWTFBBQ at that. The transition was not only fast, it was stupid. For Perfect Blue however, it was a nice pace, we were shown the scenes in sequence, the unfolding of the drama, both the life of Mami and the drama series she is filming and how it relates to her life by showing us relevant scenes from the series itself. In fact, while she is filming the drama, the scriptwriter has yet to finish the script, and thus he had an open choice as to how to put the ending. Because of this, the movie was able to go in tandem later on with Mami’s real life and the story behind Perfect Blue itself.
 

I know this looks like Idolmaster but this is actually the group CHAM from which Mami quitted. Maybe Idolmaster’ design ripped off them.

The Psychological Side

C;H seemed at first quite the show to look forward to, and episodes 1-6 or so did nothing to break from that…for more than a few peeps, I hope. Indeed, it seemed quite the “mindfuck”, to put it bluntly, but at episode 7 everything unravelled because in a single shot almost everything was explained. So, it did not do a good job of consistently trying to lead the viewer on to think of his/her own conclusions and make guesses at every twist and turn.

Perfect Blue however achieved this. From very near the start till the end, the viewer is immersed in the issues that Mami must face, the questions she asks herself, the new information regarding psychological states that are very much relevant to Mami herself presented at turns during the second half of the show as they go on filming the drama – all of it makes the viewer think for himself/herself and guess who exactly is behind all of it. Is Mami responsible for her own delusions? Was she responsible for certain things that happened in her real life? Or was she dreaming, or awake? She even asks herself at certain points in the show, “Am I alive?” The line between her own reality and illusions gets blurred so hard, we are even shown repeated scenes in which she keeps waking up in the same dream…or is she even awake?
 

The psychological aspect also requires no huge technical explanation, has no science fiction attached to it at all, and can be easily understood with a few lines of explanation for the common person who may have no dealings with the subject. The disorder in question is presented as information to the viewer through a series of scenes in the drama they are filming, with the lead actress (not Mami) providing the specifics. Seriously, you get the feeling that Mami might as well be living her own drama, and the show does nothing to detract from this.

I was also personally led on by the entire show and switched guesses twice from start to end, and boy was I surprised at the end. That would be all I have to say about the ending.
 

Yes we do have quite a bit of gore, even more than the C;H anime. Not sure about the VN though. You were warned. The gore is also part of the reason behind the psychological thrill.

The Largest Differences

It is quite clear from the screenshots that C;H pandered more to the harem, and other contemporary fetishes, as well as the concept of “moe”, than anything else. Look at the artstyle, whether for the VN or the anime – it looks way more “modern” than Perfect Blue. Sure, animation quality might have gotten better in recent years, but IMHO Perfect Blue had way better animation than even what I have managed to see of the VN so far from CG captures. The art style makes all the difference for me.

And, like I mentioned above, C;H went towards the sci-fi side, bringing illusions to reality through the use of powers available only to the few, whereas the delusions are the main point in Perfect Blue for a whole different, and realistic, reason. Realism is why I would prefer Perfect Blue over C;H any day. I know, this is anime, but what the hell, I am not a fan of stuff that borders on truly unbelievable.
 

I sense a harem. Image thanks to Sankaku Complex.

Conclusion

C;H seriously went downhill fast. Further, the psychological thriller it was supposed to be did not truly deliver, especially in the second half of the series. Perfect Blue however was only one “episode”, and from start to end, could hold the viewer’s breath and keep his mind thinking as to what might happen next, or, even if it was to be expected, who exactly was behind the whole thing. The animation style, the plot, the horror aspect, the very large possibility of relating it to our own lives in some way – all of it adds up to make for one very good movie indeed. Perfect Blue is a movie I would recommend at least renting the DVD to watch, even if it is, by now, a rather old movie.
 

And finally, a spoiler below for those who might be interested, highlight to read. Not a very big spoiler, it is regarding the “rape scene”. Also I did not do as well a post I hoped to, because I am doing this on lack of sleep, but I felt the need to get it out to folks.

It was, despite it being a fake one, seriously good. Watch it here.

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1. Chaos;HEAd OP & ED SINGLEs Impressions
2. The Perfect Storm
3. 2008 In Retrospect – Anime Part 2
4. There is no charge for Awesomeness
5. The Power of A Dream