Kuragehime
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese josei manga
series written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura
. It began serialization
in the Kodansha
manga magazine Kiss
on November 10, 2008. An 11-episode anime
television series based on the manga was produced by Brain's Base
and aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina
programming block between October and December 2010. The anime has been licensed by Funimation Entertainment
.
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 dead mother taking her to an aquarium and linking the lace-like tendrils of jellyfish to the dresses of princesses. Tsukimi hopes to becomes 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 mainly fujoshi
, NEET
s and refer to themselves as the "Amars" (nuns). 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 surrounding 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.
written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura
. It began serialization in Kodansha
's Kiss
manga magazine on November 10, 2008. The first tankōbon
volume was released on March 13, 2009; as of September 13, 2011, eight volumes have been published. The manga is licensed by Star Comics
in Italy.
TV series adaptation produced by Brain's Base
and directed by Takahiro Omori
aired in Japan between October 15 and December 30, 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. Two pieces of theme music are used for the anime: one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is by Chatmonchy
and the ending theme is by Sambomaster
. Music in the anime was composed by Makoto Yoshimori. Funimation Entertainment
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 acquired the series for a BD/DVD release in 2012 in response to positive feedback from a fan survey posted on their Facebook
page.
for best shōjo manga. Kuragehime was nominated for the 2010 Manga Taishō
award. It was reported in August 2010 that over 1 million copies of the manga have been sold. During their first week of sales, volume four of the manga sold about 27,000 copies, and the fifth volume sold about 55,000 copies. Volume six sold over 60,000 copies in its first week, and exceeded 100,000 copies sold in total the week after.
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura
Akiko Higashimura
is a Japanese manga artist from Miyazaki, Japan. Higashimura debuted in the Japanese seinen manga magazine Weekly Morning. Higashimura later became more notable for her work on Kisekae Yuka-chan which debuted in YOU magazine...
. It began serialization
Serial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
in the Kodansha
Kodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...
manga magazine Kiss
Kiss (magazine)
is a Japanese josei manga magazine published by Kodansha, with a circulation of over 140,000. It was first published in 1992 as a monthly magazine Monthly Kiss....
on November 10, 2008. An 11-episode anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
television series based on the manga was produced by Brain's Base
Brain's Base
is a Japanese animation studio.-TV series:2002*Daigunder2003*Pluster World2005*Kamichu!*Gunparade Orchestra2006*Innocent Venus2007*Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula*Baccano!2008*Kure-nai*Natsume's Book of Friends...
and aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina
Noitamina
– "Animation" written backwards – is a Fuji Television programming block, devoted to anime, originally broadcast each Thursday night from 24:45 to 25:15 . It was launched with the intention of expanding the target audience beyond the typical young male demographic...
programming block between October and December 2010. The anime has been licensed by Funimation Entertainment
Funimation Entertainment
Funimation is an American entertainment company. Originally founded in 1994 by Gen Fukunaga, the company became a subsidiary of Navarre Corporation on May 11, 2005...
.
Plot
Princess Jellyfish centers around Amamizukan, an apartment building in Tokyo where the only tenants are otakuOtaku
is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...
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 dead mother taking her to an aquarium and linking the lace-like tendrils of jellyfish to the dresses of princesses. Tsukimi hopes to becomes 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 mainly fujoshi
Fujoshi
Yaoi fandom refers to readers of yaoi , a genre of male-male romance narratives aimed at a female audience, and more specifically those who participate in communal activities organized around yaoi, such as attending conventions, maintaining or posting to fansites, creating fanfiction or fanart,...
, NEET
NEET
NEET is a government acronym for people currently "not in education, employment, or training". It was first used in the United Kingdom but its use has spread to other countries, including Japan, China, and South Korea...
s and refer to themselves as the "Amars" (nuns). 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 surrounding 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.
Characters
- Tsukimi is an 18-year-old otaku girl who lives in Tokyo and wants to be an illustrator. Influenced by her late mother, she has a love for all kinds of jellyfish and is quite knowledgeable about them. She is the only resident of Amamizukan who knows Kuranosuke's true gender. Like the other Amars, she has a fear of stylish people and will usually petrify in their presence. Tsukimi has a pet spotted jellySpotted jellyThe Spotted Jelly or Lagoon Jelly is a species of jellyfish. It lives mainly in the southern Pacific Ocean. Instead of one single mouth, they appear to have several smaller mouth openings in their oral arms. These feed on zooplankton...
fish named . Whenever she gets a makeover from Kuranosuke she becomes beautiful and Shū falls for her. She reciprocates Shū's feelings but she is led to think that he is in love with Shōko Inari. She grows to be very comfortable around Kuranosuke when he is cross-dressing to the point she nearly forgets his actual gender, but conversely she gets very nervous whenever he is in his normal "boy" state in front of her.
- Kuranosuke is the son of a rich political family. He uses the alias "Kurako" in front of the other Amars to hide his gender. He enjoys cross-dressing, to the chagrin of his family. Unlike the rest of his family, he does not find politics interesting at all and desires to get into fashion. He is constantly looking for the address of his mother, who gave birth to him after having an affair with his father, hoping to see at least once more the wardrobe she kept with so much passion. After meeting Tsukimi and helping her rescue Clara from a pet store, he starts paying her visits, finding her more interesting than anything else in his life. Throughout his life he has always been popular with pretty girls and thus he almost cannot believe it when he starts realizing he may have feelings for Tsukimi.
- Chieko is one of the Amars who is the manager of Amamizukan. She is obsessed with dressing in traditional Japanese clothes, such as in a kimonoKimonoThe is a Japanese traditional garment worn by men, women and children. The word "kimono", which literally means a "thing to wear" , has come to denote these full-length robes...
, and collects traditional Japanese dolls. Her mother is the owner of the building, but is rarely present as she is a groupie of Bae Yong JoonBae Yong JoonBae Yong-joon , is a South Korean actor best known for his roles in numerous television dramas and one of the first kkonminam icons. He is known as Yon-sama to his Japanese fans.- Early and private life :...
.
- Mayaya is one of the Amars who is obsessed with Records of Three KingdomsRecords of Three KingdomsRecords of Three Kingdoms , is regarded as the official and authoritative historical text on the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history covering the years 184-280 CE. Written by Chen Shou in the 3rd century, the work combines the smaller histories of the rival states of Cao Wei , Shu Han and...
. She makes constant references to events of that time period and tends to be overly excited and shouts when she speaks.
- Banba is one of the Amars who is obsessed with all kinds of trains. Her 'afro' hair is actually a natural perm.
- Jiji is one of the Amars who is obsessed with mature, old men. She tends to blend into the background and is constantly afraid of falling ill.
- Shū is Kuranosuke's 30-year-old half-brother and a personal assistant to their father. Due to catching his father cheating with Kuranosuke's mother at a young age, he has a phobia of women. However, after first seeing Tsukimi all dressed up, he starts becoming attracted to her, though he initially cannot recognize her whenever she wears her regular clothes.
- A real estate developer who plans to turn the Amamizukan into a high rise hotel. She manipulates Shū, spiking his drink with sedatives at a bar and and makes him believe they had sex so she can blackmail him into getting in good relations with his father.
- Mejiro is a popular writer of yaoiYaoiIn careful Japanese enunciation, all three vowels are pronounced separately, for a three-mora word, . The English equivalent is . also known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by...
manga. Due to her social anxiety disorderSocial anxiety disorderSocial anxiety disorder , also known as social phobia, is an anxiety disorder characterized by intense fear in social situations causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some parts of daily life...
she is barricaded in her room, and has only being seen a few selected times by Chieko. Her only communication with the Amars are sheets of paper slipped under her door. Sometimes she has the Amars help her out with her manga, especially near deadlines. She has a strong dislike of men.
Manga
Kuragehime began as a mangaManga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura
Akiko Higashimura
is a Japanese manga artist from Miyazaki, Japan. Higashimura debuted in the Japanese seinen manga magazine Weekly Morning. Higashimura later became more notable for her work on Kisekae Yuka-chan which debuted in YOU magazine...
. It began serialization in Kodansha
Kodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...
's Kiss
Kiss (magazine)
is a Japanese josei manga magazine published by Kodansha, with a circulation of over 140,000. It was first published in 1992 as a monthly magazine Monthly Kiss....
manga magazine on November 10, 2008. The first tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
volume was released on March 13, 2009; as of September 13, 2011, eight volumes have been published. The manga is licensed by Star Comics
Star Comics (Italy)
Star Comics is an Italian comic book publisher born in December 1985 that publishes Italian edition of manga and Italian comics in Italy. Until the birth of Marvel Italia in 1994 it also published Italian editions of many Marvel Comics's comic books...
in Italy.
Anime
An 11-episode animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
TV series adaptation produced by Brain's Base
Brain's Base
is a Japanese animation studio.-TV series:2002*Daigunder2003*Pluster World2005*Kamichu!*Gunparade Orchestra2006*Innocent Venus2007*Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula*Baccano!2008*Kure-nai*Natsume's Book of Friends...
and directed by Takahiro Omori
Takahiro Omori
is a Japanese animation director and storyboard writer. He has directed many anime series, including Fancy Lala, Koi Kaze, Gakuen Alice, Hell Girl, Natsume's Book of Friends, Baccano!, and Durarara!!.- Filmography :1988...
aired in Japan between October 15 and December 30, 2010 on Fuji Television
Fuji Television
is a Japanese television station based in Daiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, also known as or CX, based on the station's callsign "JOCX-DTV". It is the flagship station of the Fuji News Network and the ....
's Noitamina
Noitamina
– "Animation" written backwards – is a Fuji Television programming block, devoted to anime, originally broadcast each Thursday night from 24:45 to 25:15 . It was launched with the intention of expanding the target audience beyond the typical young male demographic...
programming block
Block programming
Block programming or television block is a strategy of broadcast programming and radio programmers. Block programming occurs when the television network schedules similar television programs back-to-back. The concept is to provide similar programming to keep the viewers. Radio stations use it...
. Four BD
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
/DVD compilation volumes were released from January to April 2011, and each volume contained a bonus
Omake
means extra in Japanese. Its primary meaning is general and widespread. It is used as an anime and manga fandom term to mean "extra or bonus". In USA, the term is most often used in a narrow sense by anime fans to describe special features on DVD releases: deleted scenes, interviews with the...
anime short. Two pieces of theme music are used for the anime: one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is by Chatmonchy
Chatmonchy
' is a two-piece all-female rock band which consists of Eriko Hashimoto , Akiko Fukuoka , and formerly Kumiko Takahashi who are from Tokushima Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, Japan....
and the ending theme is by Sambomaster
Sambomaster
is a Japanese rock band signed by Sony Music Japan. The band's name, Sambomaster, refers to the Russian martial art called Sambo.-History:Lead vocalist and guitarist Takashi Yamaguchi first met drummer Yasufumi Kiuchi a few years back, at a university music club they were both members of...
. Music in the anime was composed by Makoto Yoshimori. Funimation Entertainment
Funimation Entertainment
Funimation is an American entertainment company. Originally founded in 1994 by Gen Fukunaga, the company became a subsidiary of Navarre Corporation on May 11, 2005...
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 acquired the series for a BD/DVD release in 2012 in response to positive feedback from a fan survey posted on their Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page.
Episode list
| No. | Title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
Reception
In 2010, Kuragehime won the Kodansha Manga AwardKodansha Manga Award
is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in four categories: children's, shōnen, shōjo, and general. The awards began in 1977, initially with categories for shōnen and shōjo. The first award for the...
for best shōjo manga. Kuragehime was nominated for the 2010 Manga Taishō
Manga Taishō
The is an annual Japanese manga award.-First iteration:In the inaugural edition of the award in 2008, twelve manga were nominated and the winner was Gaku, by Shinichi Ishizuka.*Winner: Gaku, by Shinichi Ishizuka*Nominees:...
award. It was reported in August 2010 that over 1 million copies of the manga have been sold. During their first week of sales, volume four of the manga sold about 27,000 copies, and the fifth volume sold about 55,000 copies. Volume six sold over 60,000 copies in its first week, and exceeded 100,000 copies sold in total the week after.