Jellyfish Can't Swim In The Night

Mahiru used to dream of becoming an illustrator. However, after her mural was made fun of by her friends, she buried that dream and decided to become a normal person. But she still keeps returning to that mural, unable to shake off the desire to become someone special.

Then one night, a street singer plasters her posters all over Mahiru’s work. Mahiru wants to tell her off, but couldn’t get the words out. She was going to slip away, but then a voice rings out:

“Don’t mess with the art that I like!”

- - - - -

Thus begins Jellyfish Can't Swim In The Night, an original anime airing for Spring 2024, about girls chasing their dreams. I have to applaud the direction, which confidently jumps forward in time with hard transitions, simulating Mahiru’s building, manic excitement. And honestly, it just looks fantastic in general, it makes you feel like you’re personally experiencing the Shibuya nightlife.

We already have Mahiru, a disillusioned illustrator teaming up with Kano, a former idol. And from the RC preview, two more girls will be joining JELEE. Looking forward to how the group will be put together.

Edited by fillerdude on Apr 6th 2024 at 12:21:27 PM

Very well made. Good characters, artsy but still has strong verisimilitude, I want to see our leads kiss...

I'm really liking this so far. Very strong start and the leads have a lot of chemistry, and they both have plenty of places their characters can develop from here on. If they can keep up this energy and this vibe, then we're in for a treat.

This was the right way to do the first episode (ulike certain other shows this and last season). we got intrpoduced to 2 min characters (3 as I presume Kiwi will join thev fray), we got a proper backstory for both without show restricting to much to just characters explaining things. And we got a proper start for the main story. I really hope it will be akin to YoriMoi and won't turn into another genreric CGDCT or idol show.

Episode 2 felt super rushed and unbalanced. I don't necessarily think we needed to spend 10 minutes establishing that they got a job together somewhere, for instance, but you'd think if it's going to be a recurring thing we'd get some introduction of the place and the manager?

Mei/Kimura is A Lot and it remains to be seen how well she's going to integrate in. Yoru and Kano both already feel flatter than in episode 1, and it's hard to really follow along with Mei's feelings of betrayal since 1) her oshi levels are presented somewhat cartoonishly already and 2) it's not like Kano really changed all that much anyway. My enthusiasm is dampened pretty significantly at the moment.

Edit to add: I think I've figured it out. The pacing feels pretty off, but also, Mei's introduction speedruns her (pretty serious) issues with self-worth and projection. Coming off of episode 1's more laid-back pacing and more introspective at how Yoru feels about herself and her art, it feels like the show isn't interested in addressing Mei's problems and presents certain aspects of her character as comedic. It feels like taking a hard turn from, if not a character study, then something that had a good bit of internality, to a more removed CGDCT comedic band ensemble. I don't hate that idea either, but it's not what episode 1 suggested it was going to be and it remains to be seen whether it'll sell this (what I would call) genre shift.

Edited by RedSavant on Apr 14th 2024 at 2:16:38 AM

Fun episode, though I'd be a bit more cautious about letting the parasocial lunatic onto the team

It looks like they're setting up to be the team behind an utaite, which is modern and interesting, but also not how most utaite operate

Definitely agree that the vibes for episode 2 are different from episode 1, and I think you nailed it with saying episode 2 is tuned more like a standard CGDCT, despite its (rushed) attempts to explore Kim's background of bullying and suffocating from expectations. I'm also glad that I'm not the only one who thought Kim feeling she was betrayed by Kano was weird, when Kano's personality is pretty much the same as when she was Nonotan.

That said, I still do like it. The direction remains incredibly strong with clever use of tiny jump cuts and comedic pauses. But I also wish we would shift back to the more dramatic, introspective tone of the first episode. I hope it strives to become special, and not settle for being a very good CGDCT.

EDIT: Side note, it is pretty amusing how GIRLS BAND CRY hit me with the opposite impression, with the second episode doubling down on the lead girl having major issues.

Edited by fillerdude on Apr 14th 2024 at 5:48:02 AM

Yeah, I feel like there's a lot they could have done differently, but I'll wait and see what episode 3 ends up looking like.

Also, no joke, the sense of disconnect I felt from getting a few details mixed up with Girls Band Cry and episode 2 cold-opening at their new job with all their plans already laid out, was pretty intense.

I was also briefly confused about Kano and Mahiru apparently having gotten a part time job already, though overall it's less of an issue than Kim's deal was.

Excuse me, but jellyfish do, in fact, swim in the night. In fact, they're such basic lifeforms that they probably don't even have the concept of night and day.

This show is poisoning children's minds with blatantly false information, 0/10, would not recommend for anyone.

Episode 3 has JELEE acquiring its fourth member, Mahiru’s V-tuber friend, Kiui. Her backstory felt a little rushed, but otherwise I think we got a good glimpse into what led her to stop going to school. Can’t believe no one liked her flipbook art! I’m hoping that we’ll still explore her issues in later episodes, but for now I’m content with what we got. I’d like it a little better if it deviated more from CGDCT template though.

Now the question is, what comes next for our group? Is there gonna be some MV competition or something?

The design for JELEE’s mascot is indeed excellent. Love the bio-lights in her tentacle-hair. Watch out, Splatoon.

Edited by fillerdude on Apr 20th 2024 at 11:50:21 AM

Apparently, the high school Kiui enrolled to is some typical establ,ishment for girls who only think about getting in prestigeous uni after and get well in life. With typical strict rules to boot. The worst enviorment someone like her. And from the glimpse of it, her parents (or does she have only one) are busy with wiork and do not care much.

But let's see where the whole thibng goes after the whole gang is introduced7 in general, the showc is good so far, though, Yori Moi vibes I had after episode one are fading now. The storytelling is just not as exellent.

I like how the in-universe music video becomes the end credits.

Yeah, I'm definitely feeling like episode 1 was a fluke... this was also a good episode, paced less badly than Mei's, but it's definitely not carrying the same kind of storytelling chops as Yorimoi.

Kiui's a fun character too. Lightly transmasc in reading, which is probably unintended but interesting to see.

Has no one on staff actually seen a vtuber stream? Because it sure looks like they reinvented the concept based on a vague description

Is there a page for this show yet?

Now that you mention it… I don’t really watch V-tubers but Nox didn’t look like the usual, uhh, V-tubing.

Also curious that a couple of you got A Place Further Than The Universe vibes from the pilot. I didn’t get that at all.

Now that you mention it… I don’t really watch V-tubers but Nox didn’t look like the usual, uhh, V-tubing.

Normal vtubers look like (lemme grab a random clip) this

Nox, by comparison is... honestly an argument for the show taking place in a divergent timeline? Like, if people hadn't figured out how to use Live2D with face tracking, I could see the 3D tech advancing to the point where a small indie vtuber would only have their face tracked and have buttons to do gestures. But that isn't the world we live in

Also curious that a couple of you got A Place Further Than The Universe vibes from the pilot. I didn’t get that at all.

I think it's just the go-to comparison for high-end schoolgirl series?

There is a page but it is pretty barebones at the moment.

Vibes are pretty subjective thing. For me it was a general storytelling style combined with good visuals. But they switched to more standard storytelling starting ep. 2.

Edited by Nachtwandler on Apr 21st 2024 at 9:18:25 AM

Yeah, the first episode felt like it had a somewhat, how to put it... a more introspective feel to it. I don't know if the first episode of Kurage felt "like Yorimoi" so much as, they both felt different from the usual CGDCT in a similar way? That feeling has faded from Kurage now, but if this is where it'll settle in then I don't mind.

Edited by RedSavant on Apr 21st 2024 at 8:51:52 PM

Ah, I see what you both mean now.

Personally while I did feel episode 2 and 3 felt a little different from episode 1, I'm still definitely enjoying it a lot. Love the characters and especially the visuals.

Episode 4: We get a good look into Kano’s past as an idol. It seems that she got the job primarily to get closer to her mother, who is Sunflower Dolls’ producer. We didn’t get the whole story yet, but the breadcrumbs are there. There’s a lot of use of shadows in this episode too, so you know the mood’s gonna be a little down.

I rather liked how her fight with the rest of JELEE went— Kiui realized Kano was getting a little desperate, and Kano did realize she messed up and tried to make amends with tiramisu. Of course the others already heard her sad backstory and got pumped to release their MV the very next day. Ah, youth. And fortune has favored the bold, because their (awesome) MV went viral. Let’s go!

Edited by fillerdude on Apr 28th 2024 at 1:36:37 AM

The numbers here are weirdly low. Like, 100k subs isn't especially high for an utaite. People have little reservation about subbing to channels that just put out music. IRL, aiming for a million subs with this sort of content would be a difficult but plausible goal

While I agree that episode 2 was a bit weaker, mostly because I wish Mei's fangirl tendencies were more subdued (which they mostly become in the later eps), episode 3 was my favorite.

I really loved how the narration expanded on Kiui's actual life little by little to explain why she would be lying, and how she would react to being found out. Also, it's one of the rare instances of a lying character being handled well in fiction - most of the time I feel like it would be milked for excessive drama, but here, while it was not ignored and inconsequential, it lasted just the right amount of time because the character explained herself.

This is a show in part about the struggles of going from childhood to the teenage years (for all characters), and I felt it was exceedingly relatable to have one character who did not make the jump like the others and felt excluded as a result. I think it was a very compelling story to tell. Overall, the main cast has a great dynamic.

Overall it really reminds me of a mix between Bocchi the Rock! - albeit less comedic and more grounded - and Ya Boy Kongming. Since both (and especially the latter) were shows I greatly enjoyed, I am very much satisfied.

Edited by Bexlerfu on Apr 28th 2024 at 11:45:13 AM