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Kuragehime is an anime about an otaku girl, Tsukimi, who lost her mother, trying to deal with the hardships of life, men, expectations and her own worries. It's a story about antisocial women, one about a young man exploring his own world and his gender identity and also one about love - be it romantic or platonic love and the struggles of such.

I have only watched the anime and I know that there is more to the story inside the manga, however I believe an anime series should be able to stand alone. Maybe I will read the manga, but this review will only talk ... about the anime and I will continue to see this anime as its own separate work. With that out of the way let me begin to rate each aspect of the show.

STORY:
The story follows our main character Tsukimi. She's an otaku who lives together with other otaku women. Tsukimi herself has lost her mother, whom she shared an interest in jellfish with, sorta. Due to her mother inspiring her, it has always been Tsukimi's dream to become a beautiful princess or a bride akin to a pretty jellyfish. Now however, she has moved into the big, scary city of tokyo into a house where other women live together with her. Her fascination with jellyfish is revealed to rather be a fixation. And that is her own unique interest and each of the women in their little commune called "The Sisterhood" have their own, as I will get into in the character section of this review. Anyway, one evening Tsukimi meets a young man by the name of Kuranosuke, who is a hobby cross-dresser and sort of a stylish fashion enjoyer. While Tsukimi dresses mostly in plain grey sweaters and doesn't do much for her own physical appearance, this young man looks fashionable in every way. Not just this but also their genders contrast in this way, since usually the female is "supposed" to be the pretty one. Tsukimi and Kuranosuke don't seem to get along that well at first, but Kuranosuke and the girls soon learn how to help each other and make connections. It's really nice to see each character grow more fond of each other. I'm gonna leave the rest of the story up for the viewers to experience. It's nothing ground-breaking since it is a Slice of Life anime, but in my opinion it is really sweet and the conclusions in the last episode are satisfying.

ART:
The animation is nothing out of the ordinary. However, the strongest part of the looks of this series is the character design. The fashion comes from a true place of fascination and love for it but even more imporant, the otaku women have extremely diverse and interesting designs. A good example would be the tomboy-ish Mayaya who's got a thin and almost masculine or rather androgynous build. Each of the women are nice to look at in their own way in my opinion. I also really enjoy the colours used in the show. they pop out when needed and the scenes are overall pleasing to look at.

SOUND:
I rarely know what to comment in this section if it's not a super unique soundtrack and I feel like few anime do have an exceptional one. However I don't have anything to complain here. The music fits the anime very well and I also really enjoy the opening and ending songs.

CHARACTERS:
Tsukimi: I enjoy her a lot as a main character and I just think she is a very relatable protagonist. She accurately gives the viewer the view point of a secluded girl who doesn't know how to handle life. But she does thrive in her community and that's just wholesome.
She can be whiny and overreact a lot and there are just a few too many flashbacks for me but overall I like Tsukimi a lot. But maybe that's just because i can identify with her so much. She does make progress though, and while it's sometimes not easy to spot, her development becomes very noticeable when you look back on the first few episodes. The same goes for the other girls of the sisterhood to be honest.
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Kuranosuke: He can be a bit pushy and annoying but that's just extroverts trying to handle introverts for you. His heart is in the right place and I love seeing him push Tsukimi and the girls in the right direction. I wish we wouldv'e gotten to see more of his own problems get solved in the anime.
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Mayaya: She's honestly very fun as a character and I always love seeing people be so immersed in their own fantasy world that it's contageous
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Banba: Adorable train girl. She's got some really funny moments and I just think she deserves all the candy.
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Jiji: She reminds me too much of my internet friends and their weird lust for old men. But hey, that's her character, beside being quiet and a little creepy. She'd make a good friend and fanfic beta reader.
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Chieko: She's my favourite out of the sisterhood after Tsukimi. I love her sisterly attitude and love for her dolls and japanese tradition. A good mom friend like we all need.
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Shuu: Holy shit he deserved better.
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Yoshio: Just mentioning him because I thought he was really funny.

OVERALL: me likey:)

If anyone says the name "Otani" just once more, I am going to explode.

This is my first proper review, note that my first language is German and that I can be salty but that's it.

~MILD SPOILER WARNING~ this review won't make much sense if you haven't watched the anime anyway.

STORY:
Well, I don't even know what the story is. I figured I could read the manga to get a better understanding, but I shouldn't have to read the manga to get a grip on what the anime is supposed to tell me.
I thought I wasn't paying enough attention, maybe. But I think I can ... clearly say that I simply wasn't given any information on the plot or lore of this OVA. You just sorta get thrown into it.
I do not know where these aliens come from, what they want, what their purpose is, or how they function. Not explaining them would be alright to point out the defenselessness of human characters, BUT we do have characters who appear to know about these aliens and yet they STILL aren't explained to us.
I also do not care for the characters but that's for later.

ART:
The reason I started this series mainly. I personally really enjoy the character design, by that I mean the outfits the main 3 girls wear while fighting. I think the whole hat and rollerblades thing is very creative and appealing in it's own way.
The reason I'm giving a 6 here is because of the bleak atmosphere the visuals have and how little goes on on the screen some of the time.
'Bleak', not in a Silent Hill way, but in a liminal space way. Because the entire environment seems to be rather uninspired and empty. A school, the girl's houses, a vacation house, hallways, the train and nothing inbetween. This is a VERY personal nitpick though. I was jut negatively affected by how empty the environment felt.
Also the animation is nothing special by any means.

SOUND:
Usually I can talk a lot about this aspect of an anime, but all I can say here that some songs are really creative and nice. Overall it's just a fine OST.
Sadly the opening is not too memorable either besides the cool beat at the beginning.

CHARACTER:
Yuki Otani is one of the most ANNOYING main characters I ever had to deal with. Maybeee this is a personal nitpick again, but the amount of crying already made my blood boil after one episode. She is a very young girl so her emotions are absolutely understandable, but there's no need for a protagonist to cry so much that it's basically everything you remember from the entire series. Her friends seem to love her as well and help her out in the end, which I really cannot understand because I don't recall any on-screen moments of Yuki being a helpful or good friend. You will do anything nice for her and she'll just cry anyway.
The blonde girl, I forgot her name, does the h1tler salute while saying nya for some reason. Sorry I thought it was kinda funny.
Well boohoo she misses her brother, we don't know why she loves him so much but I GUESS he must've been an awesome brother?!
At the end it's really wannabe-deep with her, trying to explain how she has a "tragic" life and how high the expectations are for her. Except we aren't given any sort of explanation really, It just feels forced.
IDK in the end this character is just typically anime-psychotic. NYAAAA
Kumi, I think is the 3rd girl's name, is easily the best character. She shows actual progress in becoming accepting of her own fright and emotions and does a good job of leading the team. She has all reason to be looked up to and I loved her scenes in the last episode. Also her mom is hot.
I literally do not have any opinions on the other characters.

ENJOYMENT/OVERALL:
I REALLY wanted to like this anime, but as you see above, I'm frustrated. I don't know what to say here. Welp.
Do not in any way tell me what you think about this review I am kind of embarassed about this.