A way to show your love for the heroine of Satoshi Kon’s directorial debut without losing your sanity.
There’s a wave of ‘90s anime nostalgia hitting right now, as we can see with things like Clamp Godiva chocolates and Gundam Wing fried chicken buckets. But what if instead of magical adventures or exciting action, you’re looking for a way to reconnect with one of the most psychologically jarring Japanese animated works of the 1990s?
Then you’re in luck, because there’s a new line of Perfect Blue T-shirts.
Originally released in Japanese theaters in 1998, Perfect Blue was the directorial debut of Satoshi Kon, who would go on to helm three more lauded anime films, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika. Perfect Blue’s story is centered on Mima, a recently retired idol singer who’s decided to become a full-time actress, but the transition’s difficulties go beyond professional complications as Mima’s ability to distinguish reality from delusion, and with her sense of self, begin to splinter.
The movie’s visuals, produced by famed anime studio Madhouse, are a mix of pretty, graceful idol singer imagery and frightening horror, and the T-shirts, from Japanese apparel company Atmos, seek to create a similar visual contrast.
To preserve the ‘90s aesthetic, Atmos’ designers selected old-school silkscreen image transfer and inkjet printing processes. The fabric is spun such that the resulting fabric is airy but with a courses to its texture, meant to evoke the blurring of reality and fiction for Mima within Perfect Blue’s narrative.
There are a total of four designs in the lineup, with the three shirts pictured above available on either a black or white base. The final design, shown below, exists only in black.
The shirts are being released ahead of a series of revival screenings for Perfect Blue which will take place at the Human Trust Cinema Shibuya in downtown Tokyo on September 12, 13, and 14. To ensure fans will be able to wear their new shirts to the screenings, they’re being offered for sale through the Atmos online store here, priced at 8,800 yen (US$59), between August 9 and 17, and will also be stocked at a special popup store at the Atmos Urahara shop in the Harajuku neighborhood from September 12 to 21.
Related: Atmos Urahara, Human Trust Cinema Shibuya
Source: PR Times, Atmos
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times, Atmos
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