I don't watch NEARLY as much anime as I used to when I was growing up (there's an understatement, lol)--but when a friend introduced me to "Kuragehime" (aka "Princess Jellyfish"), I gave it a shot. And boy, am I glad I did!
Meet Tsukimi. She loves to draw...and specifically, she likes to draw jellyfish. Make that LOVES to. Why? Because she is a jellyfish otaku (fanatic). If you think that's weird, she lives in a house with roommates that have similar crazy obsessions: one is in love with anything that has to do with "Records of Three Kingdoms" (and turns EVERYthing into a reference to Ancient China and/or war strategy), one is fanatical about any and all trains, one wears nothing but traditional Japanese kimono & has a small army of dolls in her room, and another is an anti-social shut-in who does nothing but draw manga night and day.
And what do they all have in common? 1. They're all scared of "trendy", beautiful people (since they are all far from being social and fashionable), 2. They're all NEETS (not in education, employment, or training--aka, jobless) and 3. They're all afraid of men. In fact, they've gone so far as to call themselves "The Amars", which basically translates into "The Nuns".
All of the Amars are geeky loners, basically, and don't really like having to talk to anyone who might not understand their respective loves & hobbies. In their little group, they feel safe and secure, knowing that they all have each other and don't have to be bothered with things that might upset them; like social gatherings, talking to people, or being forced to doing things they don't like.
But Tsukimi's life (as well as the other Amars) starts changing drastically once she meets Kuranosuke Koibuchi.
Not only is Kuranosuke a fashionable social butterfly with a wardrobe some would kill for...Kuranosuke's also a DUDE.
But when Kuranosuke helps Tsukimi save a jellyfish from an ignorant pet shop worker, little does she know that soon it will lead to haute couture make-overs and designing incredibly detailed, jellyfish-inspired dressed to the very same fashionable women that Tsukimi & the rest of the Amars have spent most of their lives trying to avoid!
While the show is a romantic sit-com sort of series, it also deals with some issues that are surprisingly heavy--dealing with things like social anxiety, for example. The Amars have had their fair share of being called names or being made fun of for their strange hobbies & fanatical behavior, and the only way they can think of dealing with it is to hold onto each other for support while shutting out the rest of the world. While this starts out as a "funny annoyance" for Kuranosuke, as the series progresses, he learns that there's no quick fix to this problem, and the only thing he can really do is to try to help Tsukimi and her friends deal with their problems as best as he can....without actually revealing to the rest of the Amars that he's actually a man, because they'd probably freak the hell out.
Funimation streamed the entire series subtitled on Hulu as well as it's own Youtube Channel. It was so popular that they recently released the entire series in a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack domestically (which I will hopefully be picking up myself whenever I get the extra cash XD)...but if you want to try it out before you buy it, I definitely recommend giving one of the streaming channels a go! Only the first 2 eps seem to be available as dubbed, but the whole thing is free to watch subtitled!
The series does sort of have an open-ending, though--probably because the manga is still ongoing. There have been rumors of a second season once more of the manga is completed, though! (I'm hoping someone will pick up the manga eventually...it's so cute!) Until then, though, this series is a sweet, fun one and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone. ;D
Until next time!
♥Usamimi
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