I was on the fence about this one, but ultimately accepted this anime for what it was. Princess Jellyfish deals with characters that are perceived as otaku, and this title isn't the first to do it. Still, the series is young, and somewhat short.
The tenants of Amamizukan are otaku that are all female, with a prohibition against males. Among the group, each with their own fixation, the key figure here is a girl who loves jellyfish, coming from memories of her deceased mother. Tsukimi Kurashita is a socially awkward girl, terrified of attractive people, social interactions and formal work prospects. The other tenants, being a mix of NEETs and Fujoshi (Yaoi Lovers), have the same issues, referring themselves as Amars (or nuns, I would assume.) Things change gradually for Tsukimi, however, when she meets a woman of the glamorous kind. Well, quoting Yusuke Urameshi (YuYu Hakusho): "It turns out our Mrs. is a Mr." Kuranoskue Koibuchi is a stylist that cross-dresses, mainly to avoid the political scene, as he is the illegitimate son of a politician. Call it an awkward chance meeting, but Tsukimi must keep his identity under wraps so that the other tenants don't find out, of course, there are other problems she deals with, and Kuranosuke isn't above helping her out, but for what reason? Being total opposites, any possible bonding between them is unlikely... or is it?
Princess Jellyfish is a romantic comedy that's shorter than your common anime of the same genre, running only 11 episodes to date. The studio Brain's Base created the animation, being licensed for US distribution and dubbing under Funimation. It's actually more than a year old, and they streamed the first 2 episodes last month, though the DVD and Blu-Ray sets were announced recently after approval from a Facebook fan survey. Tsukimi is voiced by Maxey Whitehead (who voices Al Elric for Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Dragon Ball Z Kai's Dende), while Kuranosuke/Kurako is voiced by Josh Grelle (who voiced Itsuki Takeuchi of the Funimation-dubbed Initial D anime, as well as Hammer of Xenosaga: The Animation.)
A romantic comedy without some off-the-wall antics normally seen, Princess Jellyfish counts as a softie-anime, but that's not to ridicule it. I say a 7 of 10 is fine for this title.
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