Anime legend LiSA, who has recorded theme songs for Sword Art Online, NieR:Automata, and Demon Slayer, watches anime in her spare time. Especially Satoshi Kon’s.
A ’90s psychological thriller like Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue and a modern-day comedy like Spy x Family didn’t seem like they had much in common, until J-pop star LiSA connected the dots for us.
In a moment of serendipity, I wore a Perfect Blue T-shirt to my interview with J-pop rock icon LiSA, a powerhouse Japanese singer celebrated for her dynamic vocals and more than 30 anime opening/closing themes, including the global hit “Gurenge” from Demon Slayer. The shirt organically triggered a conversation about Satoshi Kon — Perfect Blue is one of her favorite movies. LiSA told me she finds Kon’s movies “cruel and dark,” but thinks he’s excellent at depicting “something you know [I have] deep inside.”
Satoshi Kon was a visionary Japanese director, screenwriter, and animator known for blending reality and illusion in psychologically complex narratives. His major works — Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika — each explore identity, memory, and perception through striking visual storytelling and layered characters. Kon frequently blurred the boundaries between dreams and reality, often critiquing media, fame, and the fragility of self.
