Kuragehime
Princess Jellyfish

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This manga started out beautifully. The plot? Amazing. The characters? Funny and soooo unique. I was hooked in the beginning. This was one of those mangas that just kept you reading to see what happens next.

It was a long run, but alas, in the end the mangaka seemed to have given up on the story in its final chapters.

I feel like there was SO much more room for story development, as well as for the development of our characters and their relationships.

The manga was shot to a new level of interesting in the second half. Things became intense. The story was really ... going somewhere... and then it was abandoned. I cannot put into words how much the ending was rushed. An entire conclusion to a story that was more than 80 chapters long, was squeezed into a mere 2 chapters and it pissed me the hell off. The logic of the story and characters was thrown right into the trash.

This was a really good manga, but the story and the characters deserved better. The ending sank my love for this manga halfway to the bottom.

The peaceful life of a group called the "Amars" (nun) suddenly gets disturbed by a stylish person! Wow. There's already so much contrast in that one sentence alone you know that the story is going to be good. :D

Story: 9
Art: 7
Character: 9
Enjoyment: 10

Kuragehime was first introduced to me in its anime form; I got really interested in the anime so I decided to check out the manga afterwards. For me who was also obsessed with various things like boy bands, games, movies, TV shows, and novels I can relate to the characters feelings. I wasn't an eccentric fangirl like the main characters but the emotional ... experience are basically the same.

I'm honestly enjoying this manga a lot more than I expected. The anatomy of the characters bodies aren't as detailed as I would like but it's different and I got use to it after a while. The main characters emotional struggles of understanding their feelings is relatable in a very humorous way. I only read up to Chapter 24, but the story now seems to be progressing a lot more than the anime did and I can't say anything anymore because that might just spoil it. ;p

If you've ever been obsessed (could be extremely obsessed, moderate or mild) of anything or anyone in your life you just might enjoy reading this manga. :)

Princess Jellyfish is a wonderful manga. I went in with no idea what to expect really, having not even read the tagline summary but merely a screencap of a funny panel, and absolutely fell in love with its fun, extremely goofy cast of characters. It wonderfully balanced a plot that got way more intense than I ever expected (and gave me a lot of anxiety while reading...) with a group of friends that had me laughing nonstop almost entirely from just their personal interactions. (Especially Hanamori, who had me laughing pretty much every time he appeared.)

There's a review on here that insisted that the author ... lost interest in her work near the end, but aside from a conflict wrapping up a little too neatly, I felt like Higashimura's love for her work shone brightly through both the entire story and through her very consistent bonus chapters in each volume as well.

The art is really impressive (and cute!), and perfectly silly when it needs to be. I never once got the sense that she was taking cheap shortcuts. Princess Jellyfish is clean and consistent all throughout.

I enjoyed this manga intensely from start to finish, and while the Amars probably deserved more backstory outside of bonus chapters, they never wore on me. Although their antics are a bit exaggerated, the whole group all felt pretty true to a bunch of shut-ins that just want to pursue their interests and don't care to share details of their lives, honestly. (speaking as one of those people)

I wouldn't call it flawless, but it's definitely landed a spot in my favorites.

'Kuragehime' is a gem. Granted, it's a gem that still needs to be cut, polished, and set into a ring, but it's still very well worth the read. Higashimura does so much right with this story, with her characters, and with the world that she built. Unfortunately, she doesn't quite nail the landing.

This isn't even a problem with the writing, as much as it is a problem with Higashimura stretching herself too thin with multiple projects, as well as herself and her editorial team not planning the spacing of the last arc of the manga. There was definitely room for two more volumes in ... order to properly flesh out the climax of the story, as well tie up everybody's loose ends.

But enough of the negative already. What did 'Kuragehime' do to deserve a 9?

I started reading this manga when I was 17 years old (I'm 21 now) and it opened up a whole new world of manga to me. I expected a silly story, one ridden with tropes and shalloweness, but what I got was a story that takes so many shoujo-manga tropes and flips them on their heads. Or flips them off altogether. This manga is hilarious, it's sometimes even preposterous, but never at any one point do any of the characters seem like cartoons. Despite all of their eccentricities, the Amars and Kuranosuke are very much real people, with real problems, and beautiful personal growth.

'Kuragehime' is probably the manga that kick-started my disdain towards vanilla shoujo manga. After I became so deeply invested in the world of these characters, and the stories that they had to offer, I could no longer look upon most vanilla high-school shoujo the same way. Why? Well, because it was refreshing to see characters - especially so many characters who are women - be concerned with something other than a shallow, silly romance or looks.

Sure, there's romance in here (I'll get that onto that later), and Tsukimi does have a complex about her looks. OK, a lot of 'Kuragehime' IS about looks and fashion. But it isn't about going through a drastic makeover and then suddenly making friends and winning the guy. It's about expressing yourself through art - no matter what your interests are - being yourself, learning to love yourself on the inside and then letting that love show on the outside. One of the most beautiful things this manga does is turn Tsukimi from an insecure, shrinking violet, who doubts are artistic ability and loathes her lack of femininity and appearance, into a creative genius who is capable of making beautiful items of clothing for the people she loves. Whilst growing to love herself. Without even realising that she now loves herself. And it isn't conveyed in a change of wardrobe. Yes, from time-to-time she'll get dolled up, but her appearance changes because her confidence changes. She's no longer hunched over, or sweaty, or timid. She walks with an air of confidence, and she looks happy, all the while still wearing her braids and funny glasses.

As someone who has both an eating disorder and depression, the message this manga sent was truly beautiful. It embraced the diversity, eccentricity, and unconventional beauty of its characters and said: you are worth it. You deserve to be loved. You don't need to look like everybody else, or behave like everybody else, or conform, whatever you do is the right thing.

I think that's why it handles the concept of Kuranosuke's fluid gender identity very well. Their gender fluidity is never portrayed in a cheap manner. It's not used for laughs; Kuranosuke's not the butt of the joke - they're a hero. A beautiful hero in a dress and a wig. Kuranosuke may ID as a man, but he rejects the societal pressures and expectations placed upon him because of his gender and decides to be his own person. Dressing up in clothing that are traditionally seen as being "feminine" is just part of his way of expressing himself. I won't get into too much detail about the reasoning behind Kuranosuke's decision to start wearing "women's" clothing since it gets into spoiler-y territory, but it's definitely worth the read in order to find out.

Now, onto the romance. I love romance. A story is never usually complete to me if it doesn't have some sort of element of romance in it. However, I'm also incredibly jaded, and rather cynical, for someone who likes romance as much as I do. It's probably why I can no longer stand the horrible excuse for a "romance" story that we are so often presented with in crappy high-school shoujo manga. That shallow, superficial, love-at-first-sight-even-though-the-guy-is-an-asshole-and-we-have-nothing-in-common romance played out in the corridors of a school when the students should be more busy studying. I can't stand it. It infuriates me. It's so pathetic, and woefully unrealistic.

Do teenagers even talk like that? When I was a teenager, my peers were more concerned about getting hammered on the weekend and having lots of sex. Not writing love letters of Shakespearean proportion to the boy in the next class that they only laid eyes on one. But, I digress. My point is, 'Kuragehime' lets you think that it's going to fall down that superficial love-at-first-sight romantic route by giving us a romance based on exactly that. However, it unravels that trope, showing you just how shaky a relationship based on such superficial qualities is. How it that flame of 'love' dies as quickly as it sparked to life. And you know what else it does? It shows us that it's not a bad thing that our crush didn't work. It's not the end of the world like shoujo manga tells us. It's actually a really good thing, because it allows us to understand what exactly we want from our significant other, it allows us to realise what it means to really fall in love.

Though I do think it's completely unfair that Akiko Higashimura has created a completely unrealistic precedent for men in the form of Koibuchi Kuranosuke. I mean, where can I find a man like that?! He's a bit vain, but honestly, the pros greatly outweigh the cons. lol

It's quite sad that through all of that 'Kuragehime' didn't deliver on the ending -- not that the ending was bad. Actually, it gave us a lot of what I was already expecting through foreshadowing. However, it was just so rushed. It gave us glimpses to things that deserved chapters. To be honest, Higashimura did her characters a disservice by rushing the ending like a J-dorama. I don't entirely blame her, because she did have a lot on her plate at the time, and it had been announced a while ago that 'Kuragehime''s final volume was going to be its 17th. But she should have planned herself a lot better. If only she had shelved 'Tokyo Tarereba Girls' (also a must-read) until after 'Kuragehime's conclusion, we might not have had to go through such a messily executed ending.

Nevertheless, 'Kuragehime' is still most definitely worth the read. You will come out of it with a sense of joy, and with characters that stay close to your heart for a very long time.

Don't bother with the half finished anime- start your love for the Jellyfish Princess where it all began. This manga is fantastic, and is one of the few I salivate a little when I see an update. This is soon to be a classic in the Josei genre and is rightfully so. With it's wonderful characters, humor, art, and beautiful story, this needs to be a read next.

Story: For those who have seen the anime and want to know what happens next, read on. This takes place much later than the anime, and gets better with every turn. The story isn't so outlandish that it ... could never happen. In fact, I want it to happen. I wish I had a beautiful transformation like Tsukimi. But- I don't have to. Inner beauty and all that jazz.

Art: It's okay. I'm not a fan of all the tones, but the art is pleasant and there are some scenes that are downright breathtaking.

Character: Tsukimi is me. There are so many times where I have had to put the book down to think 'me too'. She is so much like every girl, it's scary. Although there is a bit of transformation (physically) in the story, she still stays rooted to who she is. Also- can I be frank and say the love between her and Shuu is the cutest thing I have yet to read?

Overall- There is a reason this has won so many awards. There is a reason it is one of the highest rated Josei's out there. Find out for yourself. Read this one.

Warning: spoilers ahead and could be kind of clunky to read.

Rarely do I find a shoujo manga so enjoyable and without any annoyance. Why? Well it's for the simplicity and how the humor is shown.

Normally, the mangas we find for shoujo manga are pretty predictable. Girl meets guy, they fall in love through some events and the girl is pretty dumb-- always unconscious of her feelings.

This one could be the same in some ways, but you can't really blame the girl this time! Tsukimi, she's a big time otaku of jellyfish and she lives with other otakus of other things. The only kind of ... otaku I knew before I came across this manga was just anime otakus. If you're interested in knowing what other kinds there are, I highly encourage you to check this manga out as I did learn some things from it. Slowly but surely all kinds of love is developing in this manga. It isn't the oh-my-gosh-I-just-met-you-let's-get-together. They are all super cute; there is denial and it's not for unjustified reasons. Who would expect a guy who's gorgeous, has the money and done it with many girls to fall for a girl into jelly-fishes? Who would expect a younger girl to be into old men and NOT for the money? Who would expect a woman who always uses men to fall for such a pure boy and thirty years at that who hasn't touched a woman before? Okay, two out of three I somewhat expected, but it's the way that the author approached this that made me enjoy it so much. Again, read this manga to find out!

At first I expected this to be a predictable cross-dressing manga too. But no, I was wrong, thankfully. The reason why Kuranosuke dresses as a girl is revealed if you read the manga. Oh and no he isn't dressed as a girl all the time which I see in most cross-dressing mangas. He dresses frequently as a boy and even dares to reveal it to people where most go "oh no! no one can find out about my identity!"

The communication with the characters is where most of the humor is conveyed. From blushes to old men appearing as school girls and asking their nephew or sons if they've gone to third base bluntly puts me into giant fits of laughter (okay... exaggeration). Still, I like it and the characters are growing more and more onto me and I'm sure it'll do the same for you too. Everyone that is introduced in this manga, you will find at least one trait that you like about them.

Overall, the art is amazing and the story isn't the most intriguing, however, I'm sure if you're into shoujo you won't help but like this manga. Also, I'm not surprised Kuragehime got an award. So get to it.... check this manga out!

One of the aspects of Princess Jellyfish that I found wholly alluring was the concept. It’s very original, doesn’t have the unnecessary splatter of fan service, and the characters are so much like normal people, that you could genuinely (and sometimes sadly) understand their quirks. The idea of a young lady’s obsession with jellyfish combined with a cross-dressing man’s fashion prowess is quite brilliant and delightfully different.

Before I jump into story facets, I want to take a minute to say how much I loved the art!!! It is one of the most beautiful manga serials I have ever read. The pages are so crisp and ... clean, even when there is chaos going on. The details are refined and drawn with such care that it took my breath away. Higashimura’s ability to draw is astounding and exceedingly adroit. There is sophistication and elegance in her artwork, even if it’s a comedy of this calibre. Okay, moving onwards…

Tsukimi is not your average josei protagonist. While she’s not in high-school, she’s still only 18 years old. She isn’t a tiny little thing with perfect shimmering hair, and a smile to make all the men flaunt to her thighs. She’s a chubby gal, with freckles, frizzy hair (LOTS of hair), glasses, and a severely lacking sense of style. I look at her and I can see the average person, which is a nice feeling to have. Even her “nunnery” flatmates are all misshapen with physical “flaws.” I honestly cannot remember the last manga series that I have read where this has been the case. You may not think that something as minor as this could be construed as a “big deal,” but it truly is one. I feel like by having characters who are imperfect, the author is saying that it’s okay to be imperfect, which is a concept that seems to be lost entirely on society today.

Princess Jellyfish was gut-achingly hilarious. It really is very funny…but only for about the first ten volumes. The mediocre things that can make the women of Amamizukan (the name of the residence) bust out into random bits of stagecraft is laughable. These particular moments are spread throughout the series, more so in the beginning than later on, and usually refer to a lot of Japanese pop culture (but there are some clever Western ones too!). I really enjoyed how the author unapologetically makes fun of the social-awkwardness of the characters. She does it in a way that says, “Yes, I am ridiculous in my nature, but it’s okay for me to be this way because it makes me comfortable in my own skin.” This goes back to the whole “it’s okay to be imperfect” thing I was talking about earlier.

What I didn’t like about Princess Jellyfish, is how predictable and repetitive it became. Every single time that the crew of women had a glimmer of hope for achieving their overall goal, or a positive path towards it, they get crushed down. I know that stuff like this can be necessary for the development of a good story, but when it happens every goddamn time, and in progressively predictable (or outrageous) ways, it can get exhausting. The manga is still ongoing, mind you, but it’s current point is just so dumb that I don’t even plan on continuing with it. That’s how bad it has gotten! I feel as if the author is stretching out the series just so she can make Kuranosuke realise some hefty emotions that he’s in denial about, maybe even buy him some time to act out on said emotions. The same could be said about Tsukimi as well. The obstacle that she chose to make all of this happen just doesn’t seem to fit with the story at all. I found it to be so terribly out of left field and completely unnecessary for the series. There were so many other ways she could have created the conflict needed to help with their emotion-finding progress. I enjoyed the fact that Princess Jellyfish didn’t rely on sex for storytelling. But Higashimura is going down that atypical josei route and it’s ridiculous. It all comes off as being the result of excruciatingly poor planning.

This is around the time the humour also begins to diminish. The nuns at Amamizukan and their melodramatics also become very stale and foreseeable. They make an idiotic choice (for plot progression), which they finally start to feel guilty about, yet the way they do so is very uncharacteristic, giving it a vibe of irrelevancy. There are other things that also began to irk me. Kuranosuke’s brother has contact with someone who is very important to our male star, but it never explains why, at least not well-enough for it make any sort of sense. It may come up later in the story, but at this point it would be completely out of nowhere for that to happen.

Long story coming to its end, when you hit volume ten or so, all of the elements that made Princess Jellyfish so enjoyable become a hot mess of regurgitation, only it’s attired differently for appeal. Everything from volume one unto ten is really fun, worthy of time and effort. But afterwards, it provides you with the exhausted essence that a chore would. I really wanted to give this series a full ten out of ten. I mean, come on, the expectations were so grand and marvellous!! However, I am inclined to give it six jellies outta ten.

I saw the anime in 2011 on Noitamina, I remember that I looked forward to the animes from that block because they were always different from the standard that everyone saw. Kuragehime is no different, a romantic comedy between a jellyfish otaku and a young crossdresser boy.

The beginning of the manga is very interesting, as it is a moment full of surprises, such as the bond that emerges between Tsukimi and Kuranosuke, which ends up being a modern version of Cinderella or Ugly Betty, considering that Tsukimi is clumsy and Kuranosuke It's always stylish.

Then the romance turns into a love triangle, when they include ... Kuranosuke's brother in the story, although I don't really like it, because it makes the story confusing, I hate when they do that. So at a certain point, the story leaves the romance aside and becomes a manga about the world of fashion, entrepreneurship and the economic situation in Japan.
It was an interesting class, but it completely changed the manga.

And that part made me have a terrible hatred for the fujoshis in the Amamizukan dormitory, where Tsukimi lives. They are about to be evicted and are still lazy in fixing the problem. Mayaya is the worst of all.
Then the story ends in Singapore and it is one of the lowest points in history, too boring, made just to mess around. So much so that after the story returns to Japan, it is rushed and ends, smelling of cancellation or tiredness on the part of the author. I say this because while reading the end of the volume, she showed a oneshot of her next work after the final chapters.

In fact, speaking of which, it's the first time I've seen such a beautiful mangaka. Akiko higashimura is gorgeous.

Overall, the manga has a fascinating start, but declines a lot throughout the chapters. The ending was expected, but it was very rushed, which gives a feeling of incompleteness.

I started out giving it a 9, but I ended up with a 7.

This is one of the more unique manga I have read. And also it's so funny!

It's about Tsukimi, a female otaku (they also refer to themselves as fujuoshi), who initially came to Japan to be a illustrator but now she just lives in Amamizukan with other female otakus, spending her time drawing jellyfish and also sometimes helping the mangaka also living in the building draw stuff. All the other occupants of the building are delightfully weird and really cute, like Mayaya who always holds her hands in a kungfu pose and Banba who has an afro and Jiji who loves old ... men hahahahaha.

Anyway Tsukimi's life is turned upside down when Kuranosuke, the very pretty straight boy who loves to crossdress (and KNOWS he is good at it), shows up as a beautiful and fashionable girl that helps her save a jellyfish one day. But he's actually a GUY! I actually love Kuranosuke, he's such a fun character. He's definitely a playboy, likes to toy around with girls, and he knows he's handsome but he also knows he's pretty, hence he crossdresses. He also wants to avoid getting pulled into his political family. But despite being this gorgeous person who has it all, Kuranosuke, for a reason he can't understand, starts to fall for Tsukimi!! Watching him try and snap himself out of his trance is just too funny hahahahahaha. Also, all the side characters are so interesting, especially the Kuranosuke's brother and the other inhabitants of Amamizukan.

Really cute and interesting so far, plus the art is gorgeous! All of Kuranosuke's outfits have been AWESOME so far.

I really loved tha anime and I've been meaning to pick up the manga for years now but the sad truth is I can see why the anime stopped where it did. It was fun at first but slowly it just started to feel like the author was tired of the stories and the characters. So many plot points are left in the air, and for a manga that somehow becomes about fashinon? All the dresses designed are lacking in any taste. It was hard to force myself to watch, especially when we are intorduced to so many new, meaningless characters just before the ending ... for a conveneint save. Stick with the anime.

So i finally finished Princess Jellyfish. This 17 volume series was too long with alot of downhill moments. The series is essentially a fashion, Ugly Duckling and a love triangle story. All 3 which i feel were poorly executed. The series just took too long to deal with anything in the series. This is a 17 volumes series yet it felt 11 volumes too long. Its way too slow to the point that the last chapter... didn;t feel rushed hillariously enough. Despite wrapping up like a buncha plotlines. I enjoyed the comedy when it involved the Vixen and the driver. However the comedy elements ... involving the main and supporting cast just didn't work. It was golden in the anime but failed in the manga. I liked the idea of becoming fashion designers but it was executed pretty poorly. there was some good moments but there were far too inbetween. Also the MMC's reason for crossdressing takes way too long to be explained. For majority of the series you supposed to believe he's just a horrible person that takes advantage of his father while simultaneously trying to make him mad. I don't think the father is a great person either. But for me the worst person in this series was the MMC he was selfish more majority of the series. The romance was also good fun in the earlier parts but at the end as expected it fell apart. I think the ugly ducking story as well was done poorly. Besides the FMC none of them have legitimate developments. Except maybe the tall chick

I didn't think this was a bad series but it was incredibly mundane. It had few good moments but was barely passable overall. The funniest moments in the manga were the bonus omakes about the author's personal life. so thats not something you should be the case in your comedy manga.

5/10 Rare case the anime being superior

it's my first time reviewing anything here .. but kuragehime deserves more and more attention and recognition

I won't tell you the story it's already written in the description and in many reviews
instead I will talk briefly about why anyone should read this gorgeous one

first we could summery that this manga is a Genuine work of art ..
the hidden concept .. how to be your true self and facing all the labeling and fashion trends that haunting us

in kuragehime all of them didn't transform .. they change from inside .. they find there place in world .. not by ... avoiding it or living inside their world (which is not a very bad thing so) .. but with interacting with world with their terms and perspectives

not anyone of them lose their true genuine self to a label in their journey of finding and improving their self

second from technical point of view .. the development in the story is so smooth and real .. the development of all characters was so awesome

and what I like the most that each character had its space .. each one and all of them had developed ,not only the main characters (which you can't tell who are they from just reading)

I'm really in love with all the characters and their personalities .. of course I'm in deep love with Kuranosuke ,, he is so perfect .. I don't know how to describe it really .. so he is only so perfect

I hope anyone will read or reading it to enjoy their journey

Kuragehime is great for young teen/adolescent girls who feel a bit out of place from the mainstream, but have no less passion for what they love. Kuragehime's main focus is on female friendship and having passion for doing what you love.

The Set-Up: Tsukimi is a member of the 'amars', an all-women's living quarters full of socially-awkward young women. One day, Tsukimi is trying to rescue a jellyfish from poor living conditions in a pet store, and a stylish young woman comes to her rescue. This cool girl turns out to be a fashion-obsessed young boy by the name of Kuranosuke, who is the ... rebellious son of a Japanese politician. Most of the series follows Tsukimi and Kuranosuke designing and creating their own fashion line of clothes based off of jellyfish.

Review:
Story: 6, This manga is character-driven, rather than story-driven, but its still got some decent plot points along the way.

Art: 8, Higashimura-sensei has a pretty unique drawing style, which I think fits the series perfectly. Its kinda quirky, but really beautiful at the same time. Higashimura-sensei does a great job of rendering different body-types, faces, and even races, so no two characters are the same. However, it seems like she can only draw a limited number of face and body angles, which can get quiet stale.

Character: 9, Nearly everyone in the main cast is passionate about their own, sometimes quite niche, interest. And even if you can't relate to the character's likes on a surface level, you the characters for their passion for doing what they love, especially the main character, Tsukimi.

Enjoyment: 7, though the series does end a bit abruptly, with few lose plot ends left dangling, I found the ride there to be enjoyable nonetheless. You really fall in love with the cast of characters, and the story wasn't really plot-driven in the first place.

Overall: 7

HI! Barbie here <3!!!♥*♡∞:｡.｡

This manga right here is really good until finish, the mangaka really put her creativity and bombs you with a japan that is not what every fan of manga or anime thinks it is, there is fatphobic situations, economic crisis, exploitaition scenarios and all this on a "SHOUJO" manga, idk if this is shoujo fr this should be some josei but anyways the identity of the manga is well wrapped for you to think this is just a tipycal story of love, so intellectuals like us can find out that is not like that, it treats serious issues for girls mind, how ... society expects you to be as a woman and makes you think what you really want in life and what you don't need to be for the outside world.
The story is well written but the final is so rushed that s the sad thing, the mangaka could explote their characters more and the story but maybe she wasn't feeling good with this, the art is so cute the desings are so pretty i wished this had better animated series, 'cause this is beautiful. This have my approval for a SAFE MANGA for girls! <3 reach me out and lets be friends!

This manga found me when I needed it most. I'm not really big into slice of life, but this manga left such a lasting impression on me.

The main character and the other characters that surrounded her weren't typical which made the story especially interesting. Each character was really special to me and even years later, I think about them a lot.

I admit that I dropped this, like I said I'm not really into to slice of life stories but I can still appreciate it it when it good. There are still scenes I think about when I'm at an aquarium.... aaah now ... I want to read it again.

I watched the anime first then read the manga since the 11 episodes was not enough and I wanted more. After finishing the manga, I can confirm the manga version is the superior version. I was really surprised seeing how much the anime diverted from the manga which is a complete shame. The story made a lot more sense in the manga than what the anime did.

The first half of the manga was done well, Really love the relationships and dynamic of Tsukimi, the amars, and Kurapyon. The second half was ok but the story and pacing got a strange. It seemed like the author ... did not know what to do with the story so she focused a bit on the new characters that were introduced. It's probably just me but I didn't care at all for these new characters they were just padding and used for conflict. It didn't help that the author utilize these characters at all for the last couple chapters since they appeared and somehow everything is ok.

The ending was pretty rushed since everything concluded in the two chapters. I personally enjoyed it since the story felt like itself again at the end but it would have been nice if the author gave it a couple more chapters since the pacing was really strange near the end.

I also wished the author focused a bit more on the side characters that were already there like the amars and the landmark developer lady, maybe add Tsukimi's dad into the picture or one of the other Amars' parents. It would have been interesting to see how the parents think of their daughters in this situation since they are the ones providing the allowance for their kid. It would have been interesting if the author explored more on the backstories of the characters and why they became otakus like the afro amars or the kimono amars.

Overall, I give Kuragehime a 7.5/10. Manga is pretty solid for the most part. I enjoyed reading it except for the second half and really love most of the characters especially Kurapyon's brother. I'm so proud of my 30 year old boy. It was also pretty nice to see a female neet as a protagonist since there's barely any stories with female neets

Story: This is an entertaining, heart-warming, and unique story. A Cinderella story centered around a cross-dressing male and a quiet, nerdy girl could easily become cheesy, cliche, or overdramatic, but Kuragehime avoids these pitfalls and delivers a genuine, well-rounded story. I appreciated how deeply the author explored the fashion industry - that was really integral to the story and characters, and not just a backdrop for the story. For the most part, I felt like the pacing was good. There were a few chapters towards the middle/end that were a little dull to me (for example, when Tsukimi went overseas), but those parts still ended ... up being important for the plot and character development, and the story picked back up again afterwards.

Art: I really liked the art style. It had a distinct style, the characters had interesting, non-generic designs, and the fashion of the characters was nicely fleshed out. It was really fun to see all of the different outfits that Kuranosuke and how they reflected his mood/intentions at the time. The jellyfish sketches were also beautiful to look at.

Characters: The main characters were excellent. They were likeable but not too perfect, quirky, well-rounded, and their personal history and motivation were thoroughly explored. The secondary characters (in particular the other Amar girls) did leave some room to improvement. There were many times (especially at the beginning) when I felt like they were being reduced to their quirks instead of being presented as well-rounded characters. That being said, they did improve and develop over time, although not to the same extent as the main characters. I especially appreciated that the "Cinderella" aspect of the story did not entail some drastic makeover or change in the characters' appearance/actions. Instead, it was about Kuranosuke working with the Amar girls to help them gain confidence to put down their masks and become a functional, healthy, and happy part of society while still maintaining their interests and personality.

Outstanding start and finish but touch and go in between.
Speaking of touch and go- think of this review more like a jumble of thoughts I'm trying to stop disappearing from my brain. It's not complete, it's no concise, and it's not well organised. But hopefully it might be insightful.
Especially for what I'd consider faults. I feel like I can talk more at length what I'd consider it's big flaws than the grip it had over me making me come back anyway.
Spoiler-free at the top, spoiler zone below the dashed line. Some points are spoilerific enough to be dropped entirely into the spoiler zone, ... others are examples to illustrate spoiler-free points at the top (asterisked). There's a lot of positives in the spoilers, I don't secretly hate it (which you might think, looking at the paragraph thickness of 'good/great' vs 'not so good').

The Good and the Great

- Fascinating premise. Sets itself up to explore a wealth of unique and largely untrodden thematic territory in the medium: social anxieties, hikikomori/NEETs and reintegrating with society, mental health, gender dysphoria and queer/trans identity, the ethics of corporate capitalism, sexuality, politics, notions of femininity, love, marriage, fashion and family (ones chosen and ones born into). It may pull its punches or outright avoid certain choices but I think it deserves applause for finding such an interesting niche
- Well-written and lovable main characters keep you invested despite its issues. Tsukimi, Shuu and Kuranosuke are all personal favourites- it’s always great when the characters with the most page-time (?) are strongly written, endearing and human, not overrun by their comedic register and with vices, virtues, and changing perspectives on the core themes as the manga progresses. It also helps that the relationships between the three are all unique and have amusing or thought-provoking dynamics, though I’ll come back to this later because I do have some issues.
- The dialogue has its moments of real, profound beauty.*
- Hanamori is hilarious
- Great comedy… while it lasts.

The Not so Good

- The series has an identity crisis. It wants to be a drama, a comedy and a romance all at once. Rather than enriching and balancing and helping to pace the other strands, they all seem to be in conflict and interrupt each other, with goofy oddball comedy ruining dramatic atmospheres and otherwise interesting character dialogue situations alike.
- Higashimura builds characters that run off from her intentions- developed to convince a reader they'll take one action and then writes them into taking another. This is exaggerated by the clashing genre styles I mentioned earlier.
- The comedy starts hilarious then grows formulaic. Suddenly, somewhere in the middle of the series, Higashimura learns a bevy of new comedic tricks all at once and injects them into the show seemingly all at once, which is great but puts the reader a little offbalance with the random sudden tonal shift as the manga sort of drowns in skits, and then rather the same repetitive dullness strikes again.
- Dumbass characters break suspension of disbelief because it’s terrified of moving the plot forward. The series works on the assumption that the vast majority of its characters are painfully ignorant and unobservant and/or uncaring about their flatmates/workmates and close friends in exchange for Higashimura’s terror in progressing key threads of the plot and character relationships. In fact, Higashimura repeatedly backs characters into corners where a certain piece of information SHOULD be teased out of them, due to a character’s terrible denial and/or another character’s insightful line of questioning or thought process being right on the money and then the scene inexplicably will end with the interrogating character none the wiser or that thought will be just abandoned because of a timely comedy sketch to save the day. It’s forced stagnation, and it not only indicates weak planning and predictive plotting of information reveals but a sense of cowardice, prolonging a series longer than an author feels it should go on for (if I was to guess, I’d say it’s a problem of serialisation). It helps ruin the pacing and makes a reader want to rush through a series to the finish- because Higashimura intentionally yanks the carrot away to chew on what’s effectively fragranced filler instead- but it also makes characters less believable, particularly in the sense of communal, chosen family that it simultaneously wants you to emotionally invest in there being. Something that struck me in the final few chapters and the torrent of reveals they drop on you is how well paced and satisfying is, because situations were actually treated honestly by Higashimura and reacted to as such. If you want to make a drama or a romance, you imagine a sort of sandbox simulation of your fictional world, and then you develop your plot and characters by asking yourself ‘if I flip this switch, this character as it is right now (and I have communicated them to be right now) would react in this way’, and then you need to be honest to that outcome. It becomes a problem if 1) you flip no switches (not so much a problem here) or 2) you flip the switches then act like nothing happens when the lights don’t turn on. It injures the worldbuilding, your suspension of disbelief and the pacing, and it shackles otherwise outstanding and beautiful character work on display here.
- As a sort of follow-up to the previous few points, they all converge to make the Amars in general really frustrating. This isn’t to say I don’t like them- that’s not fair to say at all. I think they’re a really well balanced lot that and I think Chieko, Jiji and Mayaya have spurts of great character development and shining personality. They’re also ALL (with the exception of Nomu) really funny and a balanced collection of personalities, with the asterisk of the ‘repetitive gags’ point. They don’t seem to care about how Tsukimi feels. Ever. Even when she’s dejected and depressed. Moments when they do are far too late after an awful lot has happened and is pretty quickly ruined by comedic moments demonstrating they don’t within the same scene. They also don’t really care about eachothers obsessive otaku hobbies at all, to a point of finding frustration in them. Surely there are moments of overlap that could have been used to make the Amamizukan feel like the ‘family’ and ‘castle’ Higashimura is intent on telling you it is but doesn’t really feel like?** Could we not get any moments of Jiji and Mayaya bonding over Three Kingdoms history, with the obvious overlap of ‘cool old men’? How about Bamba agreeing to go to, say, the aquarium with Tsukimi because they’d be taking the train there and back?
- In fact, developing any of the supporting characters to a notable degree seems to be a concept exclusive to the ‘Kuragehime Heroes’ bonus chapters. This should be a backstory bonus to fill the gaps and add to existing detail, not the basis of their depth in the first place. If less time was spent repeatedly teasing and copping out of big plot reveals and character developments then there would be more than enough space to actually include this in the existing chapter count.

SPOILERY BITS BELOW:
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*”If you meet that girl, tell her… to love Kuranosuke lots and lots. Just as much as I do”, Rina tells Shuu as the train doors close, tears brimming in her eyes. That moment is coming to mind when I think of dialogue that echoes around your head for a little while after you read it. Succinct, emotional stuff.
**Nomu and Chieko are an exception, since they’re both technically the same- ‘clothes otaku’, and they were already friends before Nomu was introduced as an effective member of the Amars.
- For what little coverage they do get, there’s a lot of substance to Kuranosuke’s mother, the Prime Minister and Kuranosuke/Shuu’s father, and all of them are wrapped snugly into the core themes of the series.
- Fish and Hwayoung have a lot of personality and deceptive depth.
- Fish:
- Fish’s warm face and laugh, despite being a ruthless corporate ‘whale’- even bigger than the ‘shark’ Inari- and the sexual manipulation he uses on his models and designers
- The way he carries himself. He doesn’t have to throw his weight around. He’s very measured and succinct with his words. He knows he is powerful, and so does everyone else in the room, and no one wants to face his anger. That anger doesn’t manifest as fury, because it doesn’t need to- even at his company’s death’s door he’s collected, calm, clinical, and cut-throat.
- Parallels to Mayaya. Hiding his eyes because it shows him to be duplicitous, shifty, and power-hungry, rather than out of personal anxieties. Whether intentional or not, it helps foreshadow that there’s more than meets the eye with this man.
- His manipulative powermongering even leads his childhood friend, ex-lover, and loyal, steadfast admirer Hwayoung to betray him. And the development leads a long way back too- using her feelings for him to make her into his loyal subordinate, seeing him use other models up in the same way, Fish not letting her go to their childhood friend’s wedding at the church orphanage because business was too important (but not for him)
- The irony of Fish happening upon Jellyfish’s exhibition of their casual dress line, and the concept being ‘pretty yet poisonous’ – fantastic foreshadowing, as that’s the basis of his whole character

- Hwayoung:
- Her repressive nature and the minute expressional changes on her face telling the story all by itself
- Gazing out the window, a furrowed brow, is sometimes all you need. Show don’t tell. Subtlety is hard to pull off, but it works.
- You can tell Hwayoung would betray Fish and strike the deal with Kuranosuke before she does it. This is a problem in communicating character development/intention VS creation that I mention for other characters and plot developments, but it’s not the case here.
- Her arc’s end. Returning home, full circle. Moving away from an industry and a hero she had grown to be repulsed by. Not throwing anything away, or burning the waste, but helping those who had nothing rather than extending the profits of a filthy rich billionaire. And in the end, she’s happy. Fish gets fucked over. It’s poetic.

- I like that the moral compass of the series points to Inari’s character development favourably. I also like the intention to extend this portrayal of a cutthroat political/business world that Higashimura wanted to (and in my opinion successfully did) portray, and would help set up parallels to the fashion world that would be largely explored in the middle/late chapters of the manga. But the fact that Jellyfish makes comedy out of spiking drinks leaves a very sour taste in my mouth, and the fact that Inari is effectively a main character pretty early on and the joke was repeated to death, just like many other jokes Princess Jellyfish makes, just made it even more frustrating to me. It minimises sexually predatory action against innocent people, and this can have real world consequences especially when it’s wrapped up in this bubbly and generally wholesome package. Episodes 5 to 11 being packed with this shite is a big reason I have the Jellyfish anime at a 7/10, even though I think otherwise it can be excellent, especially in the OP/ED and in Kana Hanazawa’s interpretation of Tsukimi.
Didn’t Tsukimi herself say something like ‘even the prettiest jellyfish can be poisonous’?
- The ‘fashion world’ twist was a really well-planned and hidden surprise. Mayaya being perfect for a model? Tsukimi being a designer for dresses? Kuranosuke’s high profile political family/ upbringing being perfect training and publicity for running the Amars’ clothing brand? The quiet ‘forgettable’ Jiji becoming the accountant? Chieko’s sewing abilities? Difficult to predict, yet a comical perfect storm when the pieces all come together.


This is one of those 'What I liked deserved much more than what it's packaged with', 'wish I could rate it higher' series that leave a bigger imprint on your heart than the number can really communicate. I've had a few of these recently, and it's making me go cold on numbered ratings.
I have to give it a 7, and send it to the purgatory for the not quite great- for anything from goodish shows without that 'classic' gleam to these ones- ones you love but are gripped and pulled down by the ankles when trying to leap up into the sky. I fucking hate 7/10s.

Kuragehime is a journey of Kuranosuke and neets who start a clothing brand in order to earn money to buy a residence building where the neets live, otherwise they will be evicted. The manga is romcom with drama moments, the theme varies from fashion to politics or even one of the obsessions each neet possesses. The plot is generic: a group tries to save their place because the landlord wants to sell it, so they try various things and interact with other characters to be in better position and continue living in their building. There are plenty of subplots which are okay, though some feel ... little too fast, which comes to the pacing issue. The story flows slowly most of the manga, yet at one moment it shifts to rapid mode. Usually the story gets flooded with lots of gags and slow build up of the upcoming events, in much further parts the story feels much more serious and the build up is done very quickly.

Characters are done very well, each one of them has depth, background, obsessions and things they hate. They make the atmosphere lively and there is always something going on, even it's something usual like eating potatoes, they would make it look dramatic as possible. The chemistry is done well, the author did a great job to make very complicated relations and reactions to set up events which would turn into a comedy because the characters stick to their traits or show new things they are passionate about. Even though they evolve to the end and get more known to each other, romantic element looked like it was out of place, more like it was forced. The art is nice, each character has a signature and Kuranosuke is drawn in so many outfits, he changes often and each his appearance is amazing. I must also point out that the composition is terrific most of the time, I've seen some mangas which focus on detail or text to tell a story or emotion, yet composition in this one tells everything. Few images are enough tell how someone feels, what happened, the location or good transition to the next subplot.

Despite some flaws, this is a very good manga. It starts with lots of excitement and jokes, the quality lasts very long, even though it switches to drama much later, it's still enjoyable. I'm not sure to give it 7 or 8, the first half surely deserves 9, but later it becomes more about drama and romance, which felt out of place and some scenes looked like the characters wouldn't do that. That's the only somewhat major issue, everything else would be nitpicking. Even though I'm not a fan of romcom, I enjoyed it a lot and I'm sure the manga provides enjoyment for any reader with open mind, so it's definitely worth to give a try.

I'd been following the Kuragehime manga since I finished the anime in 2011. I was always so excited to read new updates because I really fell in love with the story and the characters from the beginning.

I felt like the story was really cute and wholesome. Even though the premise of a character finding a diamond in the rough and a character budding into something completely new is nothing too unusual, the mangaka did a great job at making it feel refreshing. After all, it is quite strange to find a manga about a jellyfish-obsessed otaku girl who has her world turned upside down ... by a more than unusual male lead who leads her into a fashion industry. It had a few plot twists here and there that I did not expect and kept me in the edge of my seat.

The art style might not be a masterpiece but it is quite good, adorable, and works beautifully with the story. I think the mangaka really put time and effort into drawing fashion as well, which I really appreciated.

I really liked Tsukimi as a main character. She was plenty fleshed out throughout the story and from start to finish I felt connected to the things she felt and experienced. She had a lot of good points to her and I really appreciated that she was more open than most of Amamizukan, especially compared to Mayaya or Banba, who sometimes felt like they were only comic relief characters to the point that it was overbearing. However, despite all that I still greatly enjoyed Amars as they kept quite true to the type of characters they were supposed to be. My only complaint about them would be that they could've had a little more development but they are great as they are anyway. I loved Kuranosuke as the male lead. He was confident, beautiful, and he was easily my favorite character in the whole story. I liked that his gender fluidity was not used as a gimmick and the butt of the joke at any part of the story. The one character I really did not like from this whole manga was Shu. I thought he was naive and frankly quite superficial, and did not really develop dramatically enough for me to like him.

Overall, I was a loyal fan to this manga up until the last chapter where it really fell flat. There was a lot of buildup throughout the story for it to just end abruptly in one or two chapters and it really disappointed me. It wasn't a terrible ending but I know the mangaka could've done much better and at that point it just felt like they were fed up with this story and added whatever epilogue just to call it done.

However, despite how bitter I sound with my last statement I did greatly enjoy reading this manga and I highly recommend it, especially for the loveable characters and if you enjoy shoujo/josei stories.