I don’t want this story to end! However, I am excited for the conclusion of this series.
After Kuranosuke wraps up a photo shoot at Mr. Fish’s building, he flirts his way to the top floor and meets Fayong, Fish’s secretary and childhood friend, instead of snitching to her boss that Kuranosuke has come for Tsukimi, she takes Kuranosuke to the basement and leaks key company secrets before letting him know where Tsukimi is.
Just as Kuranosuke attempts to wake Tsukimi, he receives a call from Hana Mori san, asking to him bring cash to the casino he is currently playing at. Kuranosuke and Tsukimi race to Hana Mori’s side, and with Kuranosuke’s quick thinking, they end up winning enough money to return home to japan plus some for a night of partying. However, since Hana Mori san is gullible, he ends up wasting the rest of the money they have on a 50,000-dollar buddha statue. With an angry Kuranosuke in tow, all three make it back home safely.
The trio stop by Amamizukan for dinner with the Amars and a welcome home party, Kuranosuke confesses to them that he’s ready to give Jellyfish another shot, after all he promised Fayong to take down Fish, and he intends to do so without his father’s money. Most of the Amars aren’t happy about returning to making clothing but Kuranosuke reminds them that Mr. Fish is the building’s owner and since he took Tsukimi back their days at Amamizukan are numbered.
“You clowns got that memorized?”
akiko Higashimura
Kuranosuke brainstorms ideas for Jellyfish but struggles to come up with a theme so he asks the Amars what kind of clothes they’d like to wear to which they all respond with comfortable, but versatile enough to wear out to a wedding.
Meanwhile, Shu asks Tsukimi out to lunch and proposes to her on the spot. Although Tsukimi loves the jellyfish ring she is at a loss for words and asks Shu for time to think things over which he agrees too.
Back at Amamizukan Kuranosuke is busy feeding Clara and wonders about Clara’s gender which is unknown to the Amars. Kuranosuke then ask Jiji to look up how Jellyfish are born and learns that their embryo sinks to the bottom of the sea and takes on the appearance of algae until they mature and develop their unique shape as jellyfish. The jellyfish metamorphosis leaves Kuranosuke pensive until he realizes that the Amars are a lot like Jellyfish, they’re in love with their hobbies but can also dress to impress with his help, thus the theme of Jelly fish should take inspiration from them. As we learned in previous volumes, Kuranosuke and Tsukimi are in sync so it isn’t long before Tsukimi proposes the same theme to Kuranosuke.
Before going back to designing more clothes, Tsukimi heads off to speak to Shu, to finally give him her answer. Although Tsukimi like Shu, she is ultimately not ready to marry him because she feels as if she hasn’t accomplished anything in her life.
“You want to do them with Kuranosuke?”
Akiko Higashimura
Shu is very understanding about Tsukimi wanting to build a company with Kuranosuke but is still hurt that she chose his younger brother over him.
This volume of Princess Jellyfish has a lot filler. We get the Amar’s backstory, Kuranosuke’s backstory, and a snippet of Jiji fighting with Mayaya on whose gets to record the favorite shows on tv. Although, I love reading about how all the Amars came to live together at Amamizukan and how Kuranosuke discovered his love for cross-dressing, they felt out of place. This is the penultimate volume of Princess Jellyfish and these backstories should have been revealed in earlier volumes when readers were still figuring out character motivations. I don’t want happened or if the author needed to buy some time in order to complete the story but all the filler annoyed me.
That being said I thoroughly enjoyed the plot points that were covered in this volume. Most of all, seeing Shu and Tsukimi’s relationship come to an end. Although I wished Tsukimi would have realized that Shu does not truly known her, I’m going to accept their breakups because I feel like it’s real growth from Tsukimi choosing herself rather than pleasing others as she has previously done in other volumes.
My biggest wish for this series is for Tsukimi and Kuranosuke get a clue for the conclusion of this story and realize they have feelings for each other.
Moreover, Metamorphosis is a brilliant theme, and I can’t think of anything better to tie this story together. Although Kuranosuke and Tsukimi have conceptualized the theme for their clothing brand, I think the theme can connect to all the characters we have seen thus far in this novel.
Both Kuranosuke and Tsukimi have grown since the beginning of this novel. Tsukimi has become more confident and comfortable within herself while Kuranosuke has gone from being a clubbing king, to model/ producer of a clothing brand and has made genuine friendships with the Amars.
Although the Amars are still reserved and clueless when it comes to social settings, I am proud of them for pushing themselves out of their comfort zones. I can’t wait to see more of them in the final volume.
Even Shu has a small metamorphous moment through this series. Shu goes from being bullied by Inari and anxious around women to wanting to push himself into a relationship with Tsukimi. Although Shu has a romanticized version of Tsukimi, I think that he will no longer be so anxious around women, moving forward.
Lastly, I want to touch on Kai, Tsukimi’s boss for a month, although Kai emerged as the antagonist of this series late in the game, I think his metamorphosis is the most interesting to see. Kai went from an orphan in Singapore reselling clothes that were thrown out, to becoming the most influential fashion influencer in Asia. However, Kai’s transformation is also dark because he knows what it’s like to live below your means and has watched the way the rich toss out their clothes to make room for the next season’s, has even detested them for that at one point. And now as the head of his own company, he burns his overstock rather than selling it in outlets or even donating it. In doing so, he has become the level of privilege he once hated. Kai has lost himself in his brand, and I think Fayoung could no longer watch him self destruct, thus why she talks to Kuranosuke and quits her job. The real question is if Kai will continue as he has been or will he stop and re-evaluate himself.
I’m knocking some star points off this volume because of all the fillers so my rating is a 3.5.
I’m excited to finish this series next week and I hope you have enjoyed the journey thus far. Until the final Jellyfish Friday continue living in libros,
Gaby
livinginlibros.com 