Significantly, even though Perfect Blue was Kon’s first directing opportunity, he took it on his own terms. He read Takeuchi’s script (he never read the book) and found nothing to stimulate him. According to Kon, “I said, If you want to stick with this screenplay, I don’t want to direct this film. But if you accept that I will make changes to it, I will do it. They [Madhouse] were okay with that, so I accepted. They wanted to keep three elements of the story: ‘idol’ [meaning an idol singer, the name for a manufactured Japanese pop star], ‘horror’ and ‘stalker.’ Aside from that, I could make any changes I wanted.