Hi! My name is K.D., although most online know me as misachan83. I'm 32, and am an author and anime lover. Welcome to the shadows of my creative and sometimes odd mind

Review - Princess Jellyfish

To tell the truth, I've never done a review before, but considering that this manga is coming to its conclusion and I've seen the anime series, I couldn't resist writing one. Hopefully after this I'll be doing more reviews soon, but please bear with me on my first little attempt here. Also, just a warning, there may be some spoliers ahead. If you plan on checking out this series (which I do recommend), just be aware of that.

The Amars and Kuranosuke (Kurako)

So to start off, Princess Jellyfish started as a manga written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura back in 2008, and it was turned into an eleven episode anime in 2010. The story centers around an eighteen year old girl named Tsukimi Kurashita, who has come to live in Tokyo in an apartment building called Amamizukan. The only tenants of said building are otaku women, and no men are allowed there. The girls are social misfits basically, referring to themselves as Amars (Nuns), and are terrified of social interaction, attractive people and formal work, hence also being referred to as NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training). Each girl has a particular fixation that they are obsessed with as well. Tsukimi is Jellyfish, Chieko (the daughter of the owner and acting manager of the building) with traditional Japanese clothing and dolls, Mayaya with Records of Three Kingdoms, Banba is trains, and Jiji with mature old men.

At the beginning of the story, we meet Tsukimi and these other girls, and learn of Tsukimi's loss of her mother and her incredible love of jellyfish. She likes going out and visiting with one in particular that's been at a pet store, whom she names Clara. One night, when she visits with her, she realizes that another jellyfish has been put in with Clara, and ends up trying to beg the shop boy to remove it because it could kill her precious jellyfish. It's during this confrontation that she meets a mysterious, beautiful woman who ends up helping her by getting the man to give her Clara. The woman comes back to Amamizukan with her, and ends up crashing on her floor for the night despite Tsukimi's protests. But the next morning, Tsukimi comes to a startling realization about her. This woman is actually a boy.

Kuranosuke Koibuchi is the illegetimate son of a politican, and has falling into a strange cross dressing hobby since he entered college. He takes an immediate interest in Tsukimi and the other Amars, and continues to masquerade as a woman in order to keep coming back to Amamizukan. He even adopts the name "Kurako" in order to fool them, although Tsukimi struggles to keep his secret from getting out because he still likes to talk like a boy. But when they learn that Amamizukan is about to be sold and torn down for a redevelopment project, Kuranosuke decides that they will come up with a plan to buy and save it, thus leading to an incredible talent that Tsukimi has that could turn the whole fashion world upside down.

That's the basics of the story in a nutshell. For the feel of it, I'll admit that it gave me the same fun and dramatic vibes in the way of Ouran High School Host Club, although the story is quite different. I actually followed the manga before seeing the anime, but I can say that the anime follows it fairly well, say for the end. Of course, that's kind of a given considering that the manga is still ongoing at this time. Both versions are well written, and it's easy to identify with the characters, not to mention the feeling of some very real world situations that they face.

As for the art style, I really found it to be quite beautiful. The characters are pretty unique in design compared to one another. Like OHSHC, the gender bender certainly works well for one of the main characters, although in the manga it's yet to be seen if Kuranosuke will be figured out by the other Amars.

The relationships in Princess Jellyfish are a bit more complex as it goes on as well, which I found to be very interesting. At the start of the series, Tsukimi is very shy of boys, and has a hard time relating to Kuranosuke when he's not in "girl mode". However, she develops a huge crush on his older half brother, Shuu, who unfortunately has his own women problems as the story goes on. At the same time though, Kuranosuke seems to be developing feelings for Tsukimi, which troubles him greatly considering that he's always been popular with girls and admits that she's an all out nerd. The entire thing feels like it's evolving into quite a love triangle in the manga, although I digress that the anime didn't resolve too much of it.

As for the comedic aspect, well, it's kind of a given considering all of the characters involved. Not only is there the oddness of the Amar girls and Kuranosuke's cross dressing habits, but there's also other characters that are or become part of their lives. Kuranosuke and Shuu's uncle is a top politician, yet completely crazy behind the scenes, and their driver Hanamori is obsessed with Benzs to the point where he'll confess or do anything for one. Also added in is the beautiful man-eater Ms. Inari, who's goal is to get the renovation project done for her company and use Shuu to do so (this also includes trying to buy and tear down Amamizukan). However, it turns out much more complicated then she'd imagined in dealing with him, and puts her in some odd circumstances, especially in the anime. Add in the strange, reclusive mangaka that also lives in the building and give advice to the girls via paper under the door and you've got some crazy world they live in.

To finish off, I find this series to be a hidden gem, and I for one was very happy that I stumbled across the manga. It's really a breath of fresh air and a lot of fun. I hope that others will check it out more too. It's kind of an underrated series on the O, but definitely worth a look if you like fun animes and mangas.

Here's a link to the trailer too