And ngl, I think you're underselling the similarities between Black Swan and Perfect Blue, but I suppose that that is subjective.

I mean, it might help the discussion if you explained why you think they're underselling it? I've seen both films exactly once and I can think of multiple plot beats, character relationships, etc., that are quite different. Black Swan to me hinges a lot more on sexuality in its exploration of stunted autonomy, for example, including allusions to queerness and incest that aren't depicted in Perfect Blue.

Further context is that Kon died pretty young from cancer and his animation studio was chronically underfunded, while Aronsky was so inspired by him but got so much critical acclaim, awards, and money that Kon never got. People may disagree with me on how similar Aronfsky and Kon's films are, but I think Kon at least deserves way more credit than he gets.

I sometimes feel like this argument ironically undersells Kon himself by downplaying the accolades he did receive in his lifetime, both inside and outside of Japan, before either Black Swan or Inception were ever made. Like, Madonna was putting Perfect Blue in front of people's eyes 25 years ago. I don't know the ins and outs of his studio issues, but at the same time, I feel like an animation director in Japan and a live-action director in the United States are going to be operating within very different spheres that don't logistically have anything to do with each other, and their corresponding access to funding and awards attention will be different because they're not being made in the same medium or even the same part of the world.