Princess Jellyfish is one of my favorite animes to rewatch when Ineed a mood boost. Although, like most of my favorite animes, it is unfinished. Luckily for me, I spotted a majority of the volumes at my library, and I can’t wait to see where the story goes after the anime ended.
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Princess Jellyfish is an extremely cute 17 volume manga, in it’s original serialization (the English translations is only 9 volumes), starring Tsukimi Kurashita, an 18 year old obsessed with jellyfish. Tsukimi moved to Tokyo with dreams of becoming an illustrator but not the courage to push herself to do something about it. She lives at Amamizukan a vintage-looking apartment complex in a quaint Tokyo neighborhood. A small group of 30 something women live in Amamizukan, and they all have their own obsessions there’s Chieko, the building owner’s daughter who loves dolls; Mayaya loves everything to do with the three kings, a comic all about Chinese rulers; Banaba, who admires trains; Jiji, loves old men; and the last resident is Juon, a Boys Love manga writer and the wisest of the group. The women of Amamizukan call themselves Amars, nuns, because they don’t associate with guys as they’re much more preoccupied with their obsessions.
However, everything changes when Tsukimi goes on a late night stroll to visit her favorite moon jellyfish, Clara, at the local pet store. Tsukimi immediately notices that Clara is dying, and with the help of a stylish woman, she ends up taking Clara home that night. The next morning, Tsukimi remembers she allowed the stylish woman to crash in her room, and she begins to play with the stylish’s wig. However, once the woman awakens Tsukimi discovers she is no woman, but a boy named Kuranosuke Koibuchi who enjoys dressing in women’s clothing, because it keeps him out of the family business.
Kuranosuke and Tsukimi form a fast friendship, but Tsukimi must keep his true identity a secret from the other nuns because they aren’t accepting of men and stylish women. After Kuranosuke buys expensive meat for the Amars’ weekly hotpot, they quickly accept him believing him to be a stylish female.
When Kuranosuke discovers that Amamizukan is being sold in order to redevelop the neighborhood, he assists the Amars by giving them makeovers so they can go against the redevelopment team. However, the Amars hate stylish women because they don’t understand the need for fashion or style but Kuranosuke convinces them by dropping a truth bomb on them; no one will take them seriously if they’re not dressed up nicely.
Tsukimi grows a crush on Kuranosuke’s older half-brother Shū, but Shū only seems to recognize her when she’s dressed up. Kuranosuke is all for his big brother dating Tsukimi, but of course, he soon develops feelings for the jellyfish obsessed otaku.
Volume one ends with Kuranosuke confronting a crying Tsukimi who believes that Shū is dating Inari, the real estate developer who wants to tear down Amamizukan.
The anime pretty much follows the same arcs and situations as the manga, which is great because it’s like binging the series all over again. However, I can’t wait to read about all the scenes that happen beyond the anime.
While watching the anime I, of course, rooted for Tsukimi and Kuranosuke. They share the same pain of having lost a mother, plus Kuranosuke finds Tsukimi’s obsession with jellyfish endearing. They’d be the cutest couple!
Like Kuranosuke, I also find Tsukimi’s obsession with jellyfish to be super cute. For Tsukimi’s, jellyfish resemble princesses because of their resemblance to a bouncy dress skirt. When Tsukimi first meets Kuranosuke, this is what she considers him as. However, she quickly amends that.
Mom there’s a male princess in Tokyo
Princess jellyfish volume 1 Akiko Higashimura
I really love Kuranosuke not only because he’s so secure in himself but because he is simply adorable. Kuranosuke is the illegitimated son of a famous politician. His father pays for him to attend university but we never see him there. Kuranosuke’s memories of his mother are both cute and heartbreaking, the reason he loves dressing in women’s clothing is because as a child he was in awe of his mother’s big closet full of silky dresses. And now that his mother is no longer in his life he continues to dress like her as a way to remember her.
Although Shū isn’t my favorite because he does not accept Tsukimi without makeup, he is a great older brother to Kuranosuke, and although he doesn’t agree with his younger brother’s crossdressing hobby, he also warns him when their father is home so that Kurano can avoid a lecture.
However, before you jump into this manga, I’d like to put a warning out there that there is a scene in which Inari drugs Shū and makes him believe that they had sex. They didn’t, but Inari’s actions are still horrible, and I understand if you’d skip this manga over this.
Princess Jellyfish is full of amazing characters, especially the women at Amamizukan, and I can’t wait to see how they’re going to save their apartment complex. I also can’t wait to see how things play out between Tsukimi, Shū, and Kuranosuke.
If you would like to purchase the first volume of Princess Jellyfish click here*
Until next time friends continue living in libros,
Gaby
For more Princess Jellyfish reviews find them down below
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