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Kuragehime
Princess Jellyfish
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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Kuragehime Heroes, Eiyuu Restuden

Japanese: 海月姫

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 17

Chapters: 93

Status: Finished

Published: Oct 25, 2008 to Aug 25, 2017

Genres: Award Winning, Comedy

Themes: Crossdressing, Visual Arts

Demographic: Josei

Serialization: Kiss

Authors: Higashimura, Akiko (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.25¹ (scored by 13,175 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #386²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #403

Members: 41,807

Favorites: 2,067

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 20 / 21

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Filter Preliminary Spoiler

Dec 30, 2017

marblegirl

Recommended

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 ...

Apr 7, 2011

PinkGin

Recommended

Preliminary (24/93 chp)

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 ...

Jan 11, 2018

pichidee

Recommended

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 ...

Dec 17, 2018

jepifish

Recommended

'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.

Oct 20, 2014

Lehcara

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/93 chp)

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 ...

Jan 7, 2012

Aina-Chan

Recommended

Preliminary (44/93 chp)

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!

Jun 30, 2017

Yon_Nyan

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (81/93 chp)

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.

Apr 26, 2012

rokkugoh

Recommended

Preliminary (45/93 chp)

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 ...

Apr 10, 2018

chihaya_non

Recommended

Preliminary (85/93 chp)

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 ...

Jan 18, 2018

applesaucekun

Recommended

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 ...

Jun 13, 2021

tsundereputa

Recommended

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 ...

Jul 18, 2019

MimiHamburger

Recommended

Preliminary (8/93 chp)

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 ...

Apr 9, 2023

dyapaya

Mixed Feelings

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 ...

Mar 25, 2021

Casserollette

Mixed Feelings

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 ...

Aug 3, 2023

Valjean24601

Recommended

At the start Kuragehime set a lot of things I would call red flags, per see. Normally, when a manga includes a character that is a crossdresser, and women characters that are considered ugly I've come to expect the maturity of fourth grader and the finesse of a rhino in a glass shop. However, despite some harsh words against our dear protagonist and the amar girls here and there, the manga works along pretty well amongst those characteristics, using that to create characters that are both funny and endearing.
The characters in this manga were the backbone that kept my interest throught the story(looking ...

Oct 14, 2020

slimeydeux

Recommended

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.

May 27, 2020

Shellshock123

Mixed Feelings

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 ...

Nov 10, 2019

valtiel01

Recommended

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.

Jul 22, 2019

pocketcroc

Recommended

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, ...

Apr 12, 2019

-Lupa-

Recommended

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 ...