I've struggled writing a review for this for some quite time due to having mixed feelings about it. Its gotten such big raps and I'm starting to wonder for what reasons. This isn't an anime for the lighthearted - its disturbingly shocking and violent. Its in your face and explores the extreme outcome of fan obsession. When I first watched it I liked it - when it came to writing a review I re-watched to get a fresh perspective on it again. To my shock I found it quit poor, so I left it and went back to it again a few months down the track - but again with little joy for it.

There are certain criteria that I use to rate an anime - one of them being animation, as its the very basic's of the media that we are endeared to, I rate this very highly. I agree that story line, character development etc etc all play pivotal roles themselves, but in a feature film I expect top notch animation. Now what’s top notch animation to me might not necessarily be top notch to you - and visa versa. Therefore these views are highly based on personal taste in the end. I found the animation to be sub standard - backgrounds were nicely done but nothing out of the ordinary for a feature film. Character designs were very bad in my opinion and very lazily drawn - one might call them art house, but I call them crap. This attitude I have towards animation perplexes me somewhat in that I wonder how I'll view Studio Ghibli's My Neighbors the Yamadas, with its unique and basic animation? I think I need to open my mind more maybe?

I think its worth a least one viewing - the story line does hold up, even though its something you could also find on a Hollywood produced film. It does have some suspense that will keep you guessing as to who's who and what’s what. There are some shocking visuals, such as rape scenes and violence - although the violence is nothing out of the ordinary for anime.

So if you happen to be able to get your hands on it - I think its worth a viewing - I would love to hear other people's opinions. But its something that will not grace my DVD rack.

Written by hastey.

I thought I'd post this here since some people were asking about Perfect Blue.