A ’90s psychological thriller like Satoshi Kon’s Excellent Blue and a modern-day comedy like Spy x Household didn’t appear to be they’d a lot in widespread, till J-pop star LiSA linked the dots for us.

In a second of serendipity, I wore a Excellent Blue T-shirt to my interview with J-pop rock icon LiSA, a powerhouse Japanese singer celebrated for her dynamic vocals and greater than 30 anime opening/closing themes, together with the worldwide hit “Gurenge” from Demon Slayer. The shirt organically triggered a dialog about Satoshi Kon — Excellent Blue is considered one of her favourite films. LiSA informed me she finds Kon’s films “merciless and darkish,” however thinks he’s glorious at depicting “one thing you realize [I have] deep inside.”

Satoshi Kon was a visionary Japanese director, screenwriter, and animator identified for mixing actuality and phantasm in psychologically complicated narratives. His main works — Excellent Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika — every discover id, reminiscence, and notion by way of putting visible storytelling and layered characters. Kon continuously blurred the boundaries between desires and actuality, typically critiquing media, fame, and the fragility of self. Although his profession was minimize brief — he died in 2010 from pancreatic most cancers, at age 46 — his affect on international cinema stays profound, with a number of scenes and themes from his films recreated in Hollywood movies by Darren Aronofsky and Christopher Nolan.

“[Kon’s films] resonate a lot demon-like emotions, and in addition the wrestle between, like, ‘I need to be human. You need to be good, but additionally I may very well be darkish,’ LiSA stated. “And that type of wrestle, it resonates with me a lot.”

Excellent Blue is a psychological thriller following former girl-group pop idol Mima Kirigoe, who quits music to develop into an actress, however faces a terrifying id disaster as she’s stalked by a fan and haunted by a model of her previous self. As the road between her actual life, her roles, and her on-line persona blurs, Mima begins to lose grip on who she really is. The movie explores how media, fame, and obsession distort notion — not simply how others see us, however how we see ourselves.

LiSA admits that being a public determine performs an element in why she enjoys Excellent Blue. “It’s a narrative about how a lot she desires to be liked,” she defined. “Or how a lot she desires to be acknowledged. These are true emotions inside which are actualized within the characters. And typically I really feel I can determine myself in these characters.”

We additionally wound up chatting about what she’s at present watching on TV. In fact, a star who’s efficiently crafted so many anime songs enjoys watching anime, however she says she usually reads manga extra. When her favourite manga will get animated, although, she “pays respect to the animators who do a tremendous job.” One of many exhibits she’s most blown away by is Spy x Household, particularly as a result of she adores Anya, a playfully mischievous 5-year-old telepath.

And truthfully, Anya is the guts of the present. Spy x Household follows a grasp spy named Twilight who should construct a pretend household to infiltrate an elite college. He adopts Anya with out realizing she’s telepathic, and marries an murderer (Yor) with out realizing she’s a contract killer. Because the trio navigates their secret lives, they type an actual bond, regardless of all the things they’re hiding from one another.

A pop idol spiraling into an id disaster and a spy faking her function in an ideal residence appear to be radically completely different tales, however each revolve across the common fact that individuals lengthy to be seen, accepted, and liked. For somebody like LiSA, who lives between the highlight and the self, the connection between Excellent Blue and Spy x Household is crystal clear.