Princess Jellyfish

Princess Jellyfish (海月姫) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura. It was serialized in Kodansha's josei manga magazine Kiss from October 2008 to August 2017. The manga is licensed in North America by Kodansha USA. An 11-episode anime television adaptation directed by Takahiro Omori was produced by Brain's Base and aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block between October and December 2010. The anime has been licensed by Funimation. A live-action film adaptation premiered in Japan on December 27, 2014. A ten-episode live-action drama series aired from January to March 2018.

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

Characters

Tsukimi Kurashita (倉下月海)

Played by: Rena Nōnen[1] (2014 film), Kyoko Yoshine[2] (2018 show)

Tsukimi, age 18-19 years old, is a nerdy 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 Sisters, she has a fear of stylish people and will usually petrify in their presence. Tsukimi has a pet spotted jellyfish named Clara. 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)

Played by: Masaki Suda[1] (2014 film), Koji Seto (2018 show)

Kuranosuke is the son of a rich political family. He uses the alias "Kurako" in front of the other Sisters 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)

Played by: Azusa Babazono[1] (2014 film), Eriko Tomiyama (2018 show)

Chieko is one of the Sisterhood 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 Sisterhood 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)

Played by: Rina Ōta[1] (2014 film), Rio Uchida (2018 show)

Mayaya is one of the Sisterhood who is obsessed with Records of the 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)

Played by: Chizuru Ikewaki[1] (2014 film), Rena Matsui (2018 show)

Banba is one of the Sisterhood 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)

Played by: Tomoe Shinohara[1] (2014 film), Haruka Kinami (2018 show)

Jiji is one of the Sisterhood 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)

Played by: Hiroki Hasegawa (2014 film), Asuka Kudo (2018 show)

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)

Played by: Nana Katase (2014 film), Rika Izumi (2018 show)

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)

Played by: Kenichi Takitō (2018 show)

Mejiro is a popular writer of yaoi manga, treated with great reverence by the other Sisters. Due to her anthropophobia and nocturnal habits she is barricaded in her room and has only been seen a few times by Chieko. Her only communication with the Sisterhood are sheets of paper slipped under her door, and the Sisterhood has developed a ritual of preparing questions for Mejiro and slipping them to her. Sometimes she has the Sisterhood help her out with her manga, especially near deadlines. Unlike the other Sisters who are simply nervous around or have no interest in men, Mejiro has a very strong dislike of men. However, it is revealed at the end of the manga that Mejiro is actually a guy. He has deep affections for Chieko and declares that men should be banned from Amamizukan because he did not want other men to fall for Chieko. Unfortunately, this backfired and he could not leave his room as a result.

Yoshio Hanamori (花森よしお)

Played by: Mokomichi Hayami (2014 film), Jun Kaname (2018 show)

Hanamori is the Koibuchi family's chauffeur and a childhood friend of Shū. He's a Mercedes-Benz enthusiast and easily caves under pressure, bribery, or requests from people with an afro. A smooth-talker who loves to flirt, he's more self-centered than not despite a solid streak of decency. He bears the distinction of being the only male allowed freely in and out of Amamizukan.

Lina (リナ)

Played by: Mayumi Wakamura (2018 show)

Kuranosuke's biological mother. She used to be a stage actress, but became Keiichirō's lover and became pregnant with Kuranosuke. After giving birth, she and Kuranosuke lived together, but Keiichirō separated them. She is currently living with an Italian man in Italy. When she received an email from a friend with a video of Kuranosuke attached, she contacted Shū, but told him not to tell Kuranosuke.

Clara (クララ)

Tsukumi's pet spotted jellyfish. She is kept in a tank on the floor of Amamizukan. She was saved by Tsukimi and Kuranosuke when she was in mortal danger after being carelessly put together with an Aurelia aurita at a pet store, and was the reason for their encounter with each other. Tsukimi seems to have paid a considerable amount of money to keep the jellyfish, including the aquarium and artificial seawater. Since she is a jellyfish, she doesn't do anything special, but she is a source of emotional support for Tsukimi. Tsukimi draws illustrations of anthropomorphic Clara and makes stuffed animals based on her, which is how Tsukimi's sense of style caught the attention of Kuranosuke. The anthropomorphic Clara is the mascot character of the story, providing commentary throughout the chapters, and in the anime adaptation, she is also featured on the eyecatch cards. She usually speaks in a respectful tone, but when dealing with jellyfish, she takes on a friendlier tone.

type	tv series
director	Takahiro Omori
producer	Kazuaki Morijiri Mitsuhiro Matsuo Yoshinori Takeeda
writer	Jukki Hanada
music	Makoto Yoshimori
studio	Brain's Base
network	Fuji TV (Noitamina)
first	October 15, 2010
last	December 31, 2010
episodes	11
episode list	#Episode list

Plot

Characters

Media

Manga

Volume list

Volume list

Anime

Episode list

Live-action

Reception

External links

References

Episode list