All About Lily Chou Chou (Lily Chou Chou no Subete)

There are movies I think I seem to walk into when I need them most. All About Lily Chou Chou is at once a kind of emotional voyeurism as it is a criticism of emotional voyeurism. Anyone who indulges in media, the reason we watch movies, read books and listen to music, is in it for the emotional value. It's a form of emotional vampirism. It's a brief interlude in our lives. But we don't come out of it different people, even if we'd like to think so. Musicians put up their feelings for show. Records are out there to make money. The face we put up for other people is a lie.

Lily Chou Chou is the deconstruction of Hoshino: middle school student, head bully, small-time pimp and hardcore Lily fan. Offline, he terrorizes his classmates, blackmailing one into prostitution and arranging for the rape of another. Throughout, he is a silent spectator, handing down orders but never dirtying his own hands, watching other people in their worst moments, but never participating in anyone's downfall directly himself. Online, he's Blue Cat, the shy new member of a Lily Chou Chou BBS run by Lilyphillia.

( Something with spoilers, something blue. )