the one thing that bothers me about "perfect blue" is the way the villains are drawn like freakish monster people. kinda undermines how they're supposed to represent everyday people becoming deranged by obsession. the "they're evil because they don't look like most people" trope is reactionary too.

Yeah, I feel the same way, TBH. As much as I love Perfect Blue (and all of Kon's work, for that matter) this was a pretty glaring flaw.

The thing with Perfect Blue is that there is a lot of symbolism which makes it seem less like it’s an on the nose trope. Notice that mirrors play a role a lot in the film, and the ugliness of the villains trying to be like Mima is likely a play on how Mima see’s herself.

Reminds me of how Tokyo Godfathers is often applauded for having a trans woman as one of the main characters when a huge chunk of her screen time is eaten up by jokes about her being ugly

"beauty equals goodness" was always a trope I disliked.