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 "Sisterhood". 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.
Princess Jellyfish 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. Kodansha released the series in 17 tankōbon volumes from March 13, 2009 to November 13, 2017. Kodansha USA licensed and released the manga in North America in nine omnibus editions from March 22, 2016 to June 5, 2018. Crunchyroll also added the manga to its web distribution service. The manga is licensed by Star Comics in Italy, and Akata in France.
Volume list
Anime
An 11-episode anime television series adaptation produced by Brain's Base, directed by Takahiro Omori, and written by Jukki Hanada 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" by Chatmonchy and the ending theme is "Kimi no Kirei ni Kizuite Okure" by Sambomaster. Character designs were provided by Kenji Hayama and the music 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.
Episode list
Live-action
A live-action film adaptation produced by Asmik Ace Entertainment premiered in Japanese theaters on December 27, 2014. The film is directed by Taisuke Kawamura and the script is written by Toshiya Ono. A 10-episode live-action drama series adaptation aired on Fuji TV from January 15 to March 19, 2018. The drama is directed by Junichi Ishikawa and the script is written by Yuuichi Tokunaga.
Reception
In 2010, Princess Jellyfish won the Kodansha Manga Award for best shōjo manga. It was also nominated for the Manga Taishō Award that year. In 2017, it was nominated for the 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, the fourth volume of the manga sold about 27,000 copies, and the fifth volume sold about 55,000 copies. The sixth volume sold over 60,000 copies in its first week, and exceeded 100,000 copies sold in total the week after. Princess Jellyfish has been considered one of the best anime of the 2010s by Polygon. Julia Lee highlighted its message of "Everyone is beautiful and interesting and it should be a crime to not see yourself that way". Writing for Forbes, Lauren Orsini considered it to be one of the five best anime of 2010; she wrote, "Part coming-of-age story, part Project Runway design challenge, this sweet romantic comedy explores gender identity in a way that still feels observant and fresh". Crunchyroll staff also included it in such a list; reviewer Kara Dennison praised "its charming art to its heartfelt story" and said, "Princess Jellyfish is one of those rare precious gems that doesn't depict female otaku-dom as unicorn-rare, but digs into what it really feels like to be a young woman in that walk of life".
