Princess Jellyfish

Plot

Princess Jellyfish centers on Amamizukan, an apartment building in Tokyo, where the only tenants are otaku women, and where no men are allowed. While each character has her own particular fixation, the protagonist is Tsukimi Kurashita, whose love of jellyfish stems from memories of her deceased mother taking her to an aquarium and linking the lace-like tendrils of jellyfish to the dresses of princesses. Tsukimi hopes to become an illustrator and is an awkward girl terrified of social interaction, attractive people and the prospect of formal work.

The other tenants of Amamizukan are the same, being NEETs who refer to themselves as the "Amars" (nuns). Tsukimi meets the stylish Kuranosuke Koibuchi, the illegitimate son of a politician, who cross-dresses to avoid the obligations of politics and to feel closer to his mother. Tsukimi keeps the secret of his masculinity from her man-hating housemates, even as she is troubled by the intimacy of having a man in her room at times.

Amamizukan's neighborhood is under threat of redevelopment, as opportunists aim to turn the quaint area into a more cosmopolitan region, with many of the buildings being demolished to make room for hotels and shopping centers. Although Amamizukan's tenants fear and loathe attractive people, they are helped by Kuranosuke who does not want to see Amamizukan destroyed.

Characters

Tsukimi Kurashita (倉下 月海, Kurashita Tsukimi)

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese); Maxey Whitehead (English), Rena Nōnen (live-action film)Tsukimi is an 18-year-old otaku girl who lives in Tokyo and wants to be an illustrator. Influenced by her late mother, she has a love for all kinds of jellyfish and is quite knowledgeable about them. She is the only resident of Amamizukan who knows Kuranosuke's true gender. Like the other Amars, she has a fear of stylish people and will usually petrify in their presence. Tsukimi has a pet spotted jellyfish named Clara (クララ, Kurara, Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi (Japanese); Lara Woodhull (English)). Much to her chagrin, she often receives temporary makeovers from Kuranosuke; in these states, she becomes beautiful and Shū falls for her. She reciprocates Shū's feelings but she is led to think that he is in love with Shōko Inari. She grows to be very comfortable around Kuranosuke when he is cross-dressing to the point she nearly forgets his gender, but conversely she gets very nervous whenever he is in his "boy" state in front of her.

Kuranosuke Koibuchi (鯉淵 蔵之介, Koibuchi Kuranosuke)

Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (Japanese); Josh Grelle (English), Masaki Suda (live-action film)Kuranosuke is the son of a rich political family. He uses the alias "Kurako" in front of the other Amars to hide his gender. He enjoys cross-dressing, to the chagrin of his family. Unlike the rest of his family, he does not find politics interesting at all and desires to get into fashion. He is constantly looking for the address of his mother, who gave birth to him after having an affair with his father, hoping to see at least once more the wardrobe she kept with so much passion. After meeting Tsukimi and helping her rescue Clara from a pet store, he starts paying her visits, finding her more interesting than anything else in his life. Throughout his life he has been popular with pretty girls, thus he almost cannot believe it when he starts realizing he may have feelings for Tsukimi.

Chieko (千絵子)

Voiced by: Kimiko Saito (Japanese); Cynthia Cranz (English), Azusa Babazono (live-action film)Chieko is one of the Amars who is the manager of Amamizukan. She is obsessed with dressing in traditional Japanese clothes, such as in a kimono, and collects traditional Japanese dolls. Her mother is the owner of the building, but is rarely present as she is a groupie of Bae Yong-joon. Chieko is the only Amars member who never receives a makeover from Kuranosuke, on the grounds that wearing traditional Japanese clothing in the middle of Tokyo makes her fashionable to begin with. Due to her interests, Chieko is an excellent seamstress.

Mayaya (まやや)

Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (Japanese); Monica Rial (English), Rina Ōta (live-action film)Mayaya is one of the Amars who is obsessed with Records of Three Kingdoms. She makes constant references to events of that time, tends to be overly excited, and shouts when she speaks.

Banba (ばんば)

Voiced by: Motoko Kumai (Japanese); Mariela Ortiz (English), Chizuru Ikewaki (live-action film)Banba is one of the Amars who is obsessed with all kinds of trains. Her large 'afro' hair is natural. She can accurately judge the quality of food just by looking at it, an ability referred to in the anime as the "Banba scope". She claims to be eight years old, due to her being born on a leap year, putting her chronological age between 32 and 35.

Jiji (ジジ)

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (Japanese); Leah Clark (English), Tomoe Shinohara (live-action film)Jiji is one of the Amars who is obsessed with mature, old men. She tends to blend into the background and is constantly afraid of falling ill.

Shū Koibuchi (鯉淵 修, Koibuchi Shū)

Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (Japanese); Ian Sinclair (English), Hiroki Hasegawa (live-action film)Shū is Kuranosuke's 30-year-old half-brother and a personal assistant to their father. Due to catching his father cheating with Kuranosuke's mother at a young age, he has a phobia of women. However, after first seeing Tsukimi all dressed up, he starts becoming attracted to her, though he initially cannot recognize her when she wears her regular clothes.

Shōko Inari (稲荷 翔子, Inari Shōko)

Voiced by: Junko Kitanishi (Japanese); Jamie Marchi (English), Nana Katase (live-action film)A real estate developer who plans to turn the Amamizukan into a high-rise hotel. She manipulates Shū, spiking his drink with sedatives at a bar and makes him believe they had sex so she can blackmail him into getting in good relations with his father.

Juon Mejiro (目白 樹音, Mejiro Juon)

Mejiro is a popular writer of yaoi manga, treated with great reverence by the other Amars. Due to her social anxiety disorder (hikikomori) she is barricaded in her room and has only been seen a few times by Chieko. Her only communication with the Amars are sheets of paper slipped under her door, and the Amars have developed a ritual of preparing questions for Mejiro and slipping them to her. Sometimes she has the Amars help her out with her manga, especially near deadlines. Unlike the other Amars who are simply nervous around or have no interest in men, Mejiro has a very strong dislike of men.

Manga

Kuragehime began as a manga written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura. It was serialized in Kodansha's Kiss manga magazine from October 25, 2008 in the 21st issue of that year to August 25, 2017 in the October issue of that year. The first tankōbon volume was released on March 13, 2009; as of May 13, 2016, 16 volumes have been published. Kodansha Comics USA licensed the manga for release in North America, which are being released in omnibus editions containing two volumes each starting in March 2016. Crunchyroll has also added the manga to its web distribution service. The manga is also licensed by Star Comics in Italy, and Akata in France.

Anime

An 11-episode anime television series adaptation produced by Brain's Base and directed by Takahiro Omori aired in Japan between October 15 and December 31, 2010 on Fuji Television's Noitamina programming block. Four BD/DVD compilation volumes were released from January to April 2011, and each volume contained a bonus anime short. The opening theme is "Koko Dake no Hanashi" (ここだけの話, "Just Between Us") by Chatmonchy and the ending theme is "Kimi no Kirei ni Kizuite Okure" (きみのきれいに気づいておくれ, "Realize You Are Beautiful") by Sambomaster. Music in the anime was composed by Makoto Yoshimori.

Funimation simulcasted the series on its video streaming website as part of their deal with Fuji TV; the first two episodes premiered on October 28, 2010. Funimation later licensed the series in North America in response to positive feedback from a fan survey posted on their Facebook page and released the series on BD/DVD on February 28, 2012. The series made its North American television debut on September 11, 2012 on the Funimation Channel..

Live-action film

A live-action film adaptation produced by Asmik Ace Entertainment was premiered in Japanese theaters on December 27, 2014. The film is directed by Taisuke Kawamura and the script is written by Toshiya Ono.

Reception

In 2010, Kuragehime won the Kodansha Manga Award for best shōjo manga. Kuragehime was nominated for the 2010 Manga Taishō award. It was nominated for the 2017 Eisner Award in the "Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia" category, for its first three volumes.

It was reported in August 2010 that over 1 million copies of the manga have been sold. During their first week of sales, volume four of the manga sold about 27,000 copies, and the fifth volume sold about 55,000 copies. Volume six sold over 60,000 copies in its first week, and exceeded 100,000 copies sold in total the week after.