Honorary Villain: Me-Mania

Film: Perfect Blue (English)
Pāfekuto Burū (Japanese)

Voices: Bob Marx (English)
Masaaki Ōkura (Japanese)


The Character

The weird thing about this character is he is the character that we the viewer can rely on to be what he is. I'm telling you, Perfect Blue is literally the most complex anime I have ever seen. What starts off as a simple thriller delves into a psychological nightmare, mainly thanks to the director's heavy of jump cuts, fantastical elements and the foreshadow or revisiting of numerous plot points. In fact, this is my favourite non-Ghibli anime and I have seen it so many times I know it off by heart. And yet, I still get confused and the two main characters, Mima and Rumi are so unpredictable because due to the heavy theme of Dissociative Identity Disorder, it is hard to tell who is doing what when it comes to them two.

In comparison, Me-Mania is a pretty straightforward character and somewhat typical. Basically, he is a stalker. Not just any stalker; he is a hardcore fan of Mima (the main protagonist and singer of the J-Pop band Cham). He is the typical stalker. When he is not watching her at places where she is filming Double Bind or filming/attending Cham gigs, following her whenever she is going out, he is at his computer, looking at the website, "Mima's Room" which he believes was created by the real Mima.

His first shot shows him not to be necessarily a bad guy. From the start at Mima's final gig with Cham, he is watching intently and when some delinquents disturb the show, he gets in there and takes a small beating simply because they disturbed Mima's performance. And despite gaining a bloody nose from the experience, he smiles at Mima, perhaps in an attempt to gain her attention. This shows him to be a loving if slightly obsessive fan but not dangerous.

This is how we see him through the most of the film, just a simple obsessive fan. In the film, we do see him and the way that he lives. His floor is cluttered with numerous magazines featuring Mima and he has pictures of her all over his wall, especially pictures of her posing nude.

This scene is very significant as we learn just how delusional, naive and how easily he can be manipulated. He receives emails from who he believes is from Mima, stating that the Mima who is now a TV star is not the real Mima but rather an imposter and should be rid of. The fact that Me-Mania vows to protect Mima by getting rid of who he is led to believe is the "imposter" Mima (who is in fact the real Mima) shows that he has a caring side and is being manipulated. In that respect, you got to feel sorry for him. However, the fact that he imagines Mima beside him, even hugging him shows just how delusional he is.

Of course, we do not know how far he goes to protect his Mima until his final scene where he attacks the real Mima (on the same set where she filmed her rape for Double Bind). It is therefore ironic that while he tries to kill her, he also tries to rape her. This is significant for him for this is the only scene where we actually hear him speak. He confesses to killing the screewriter and photographer who he was led to believe tarnished Mima's good name and he is about to kill the real Mima believing her to be the fake Mima who tarnished Mima's good clean image. It is here we learn that he has been a scapegoat for a higher power as it were and he was willing to go along with it for the love of Mima. Sadly it is his devotion that would lead to his downfall.

The voice behind the character

I'm sorry but Masaaki Ōkura is way more superior to the role than Bob Marx. Ōkura sounds determined as if he knows what he's doing which adds to his delusional state. He sounds as if he is angry with Mima in his final scene. Marx sounds like he is not taking the role seriously. He is exaggerating his crazy tone to make Me-Mania sounds like more like a crazy cartoon character and you really cannot take him seriously. The scary thing about Me-Mania is that he truly believes everything he is told and like he believes that the real Mima is an imposter. That's all I can say: Ōkura rocks!!! As for Bob Marx, he could have done better. With the way he makes Me-Mania, why didn't they just get Bobcat Goldwaithe to play him?