Perfect Blue Complete Metamorphosis

Kirigoe Mima is in the third year of her career as a pure and innocent pop idol. Feeling like something big needs to change, she plans to give her image a major update. When the new Mima is revealed--complete with a sexy outfit and a risqué photo book–one of her most obsessive fans refuses to accept her transformation. To restore Mima to the innocent girl of her debut, he puts a terrifying plan to action that throws her life into chaos and mortal peril.

Brilliant anime director Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Paranoia Agent, Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, Perfect Blue) died tragically young in 2010 at the age of forty-six. But before he became a director, he was a manga artist, and Dark Horse is honored to remember Kon with the release of Satoshi Kon’s OPUS, an omnibus collection of a two-volume manga from 1996, created by Kon on the eve of his first film. OPUS contains the mastery of both realism and surrealism that would make Kon famous in Perfect Blue, as a manga artist planning a shocking surprise ending to his story gets literally pulled into his own work—to face for himself what he had planned for his characters! * Satoshi Kon was a Time magazine 2010 Person of the Year. * Kon was eulogized by director Darren Aronofsky. * Kon was a chief assistant to Katsuhiro Otomo on the Akiramanga.

Widely acknowledged as Yasutaka Tsutsui's masterpiece, Paprika unites his surreal, quirky imagination with a mind-bending narrative about a psychiatric institute that has developed the technology to invade people's dreams. When prototype models of a dream-invading device go missing at the Institute for Psychiatric Research, it transpires that someone is using them to drive people insane. Threatened both personally and professionally, brilliant psychotherapist Atsuko Chiba has to journey into the world of fantasy to fight her mysterious opponents. As she delves ever deeper into the imagination, the borderline between dream and reality becomes increasingly blurred, and nightmares begin to leak into the everyday realm. The scene is set for a final showdown between the dream detective and her enemies, with the subconscious as their battleground, and the future of the waking world at stake.

"Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka is a haunting and surreal exploration of existentialism and the human condition. This novella introduces readers to Gregor Samsa, a diligent traveling salesman who wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a gigantic insect. Kafka's narrative delves into the isolation, alienation, and absurdity that Gregor experiences as he grapples with his new identity. The novella is a profound examination of the individual's struggle to maintain a sense of self and belonging in a world that often feels incomprehensible. Kafka's writing is characterized by its dreamlike quality and a sense of impending doom. As Gregor's physical and emotional transformation unfolds, readers are drawn into a nightmarish world that blurs the lines between reality and illusion. "Metamorphosis" is a timeless work that continues to captivate readers with its exploration of themes such as identity, family, and the dehumanizing effects of modern society. Kafka's unique style and ability to evoke a sense of existential unease make this novella a literary classic. Step into the surreal and unsettling world of "Metamorphosis" and embark on a journey of self-discovery and existential reflection. Kafka's masterpiece challenges readers to confront the complexities of the human psyche and the enigmatic nature of existence. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a Czech-born German-speaking novelist and short story writer whose works have had a profound influence on modern literature. Born in Prague, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kafka's writing is characterized by its exploration of existentialism, alienation, and the absurdity of human existence. Kafka's most famous works include "Metamorphosis," where the protagonist wakes up one morning transformed into a giant insect, and "The Trial," a nightmarish tale of a man arrested and tried by an inscrutable and oppressive bureaucracy. His writing often delves into the themes of isolation and the struggle to find meaning in an indifferent world. Despite his relatively small body of work, Kafka's impact on literature and philosophy has been immense. His writings have been interpreted in various ways, and the term "Kafkaesque" is often used to describe situations characterized by surreal complexity and absurdity. Kafka's legacy as a literary innovator and his exploration of the human psyche continue to captivate readers and scholars alike, making him a central figure in the world of modern literature.

The Two Truths: Of Dario Argento's Opera and Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue is a wide-ranging exploration of the remarkable connections between the film-works of two seemingly disparate directors through discussions of psychology, philosophy East (from which this book takes its title) and West (including integral theory), physics, film theory and other systems related to reality, thought and consciousness. Art-horror director Dario Argento and animated fantasy film director Satoshi Kon receive treatment of comprehensive scale and astounding breadth and depth in this whirlwind analysis of their filmographies (and many other directors' works including Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch).Fans of Dario Argento will enjoy the meticulous investigation of Opera and its connections to other Argento films, including Tenebrae, Phenomena and The Stendhal Syndrome. The book starts out with an elucidation of some of the major themes in Argento's often-overlooked Trauma to set the stage for drawing out further connections to the films of other directors, starting with Magnetic Rose written by Satoshi Kon.For fans of Satoshi Kon, The Two Truths marks a first, including not only analyses of Kon's films at the high level of resolution they warrant but also in-depth summaries of both the Japanese source novel, Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis, and the Japanese-only companion audio drama Double Bind -The Looking Glass of Perfect Blue-.Author Gino C. Mongelli brings together diverse concepts and systems to present an important work in terms of both analysis of Argento's and Kon's filmographies and attending to our human abilities to think, self-reflect and grow.Themes specific to The Two Truths were heavily researched over three years, including poring over academic, filmic and other sources in five languages (especially English and Japanese). There are over 200 references cited including, among many others, Joseph Campbell, Freeman Dyson, Mircea Eliade, Richard P. Feynman, Sigmund Freud, Douglas Hofstadter, William James, Carl Jung, Hayao Kawai, R.D. Laing, Marshall McLuhan, Friedrich Nietzsche, P.D. Ouspensky, Jordan B. Peterson, Chögyam Trungpa, Ken Wilber and Slavoj Zizek.The Two Truths is an augmented spin-off of the previously released The Delicate War: Knowing in oneself the angel from the beast through the films of Dario Argento. In that volume, discussion of Argento's Opera received one chapter. Here, that chapter and many other elements are remixed and expanded by over five times in length to bring out the similarly fractal qualities of Kon's Perfect Blue and to use those two films as a foundational hologram through which to explore most of the other films in these two directors' brilliant oeuvres.

Franz Kafka, the author has very nicely narrated the story of Gregou Samsa who wakes up one day to discover that he has metamorphosed into a bug. The book concerns itself with the themes of alienation and existentialism. The author has written many important stories, including ‘The Judgement’, and much of his novels ‘Amerika’, ‘The Castle’, ‘The Hunger Artist’. Many of his stories were published during his lifetime but many were not. Over the course of the 1920s and 30s Kafka’s works were published and translated instantly becoming landmarks of twentieth-century literature. Ironically, the story ends on an optimistic note, as the family puts itself back together. The style of the book epitomizes Kafka’s writing. Kafka very interestingly, used to present an impossible situation, such as a man’s transformation into an insect, and develop the story from there with perfect realism and intense attention to detail. The Metamorphosis is an autobiographical piece of writing, and we find that parts of the story reflect Kafka’s own life.

If he had been with me everything would have been different... I wasn't with Finn on that August night. But I should've been. It was raining, of course. And he and Sylvie were arguing as he drove down the slick road. No one ever says what they were arguing about. Other people think it's not important. They do not know there is another story. The story that lurks between the facts. What they do not know—the cause of the argument—is crucial. So let me tell you...

A poetic, gifty offering that combines first love, friendship, and persistent courage in this lyrical immigration story told in verse. Carrying just a suitcase and an old laundry bag filled with clothes, Kasienka and her mother are immigrating to England from Poland. Kasienka isn't the happiest girl in the world. At home, her mother is suffering from a broken heart as she searches for Kasienka's father. And at school, Kasienka is having trouble being the new girl and making friends. The only time she feels comforted is when she's swimming at the pool. But she can't quite shake the feeling that she's sinking. Until a new boy swims into her life, and she learns that there might be more than one way to stay afloat. The Weight of Water is a coming-of-age story that deftly handles issues of immigration, alienation, and first love. Moving and poetically rendered, this novel-in-verse is the story of a young girl whose determination to find out who she is prevails.