Princess Jellyfish

Last week I found/binge watched an anime called "Princess Jellyfish" ("Kuragehime"). It popped up on Netflix and my curiosity was piqued. Although the summary sounded strange, it didn't sound so strange I wouldn't give it a try (I kinda grade "strange" in anime storylines on a curve, hahaha!!).

And I'm glad I gave it a chance. I ended up with another new favorite series!

It's the hilarious story of a shy artist who lives in a house full of homely, unemployed, socially awkward female nerds. Each housemate has their own obsession - one is obsessed with trains, one with old men (?!), one with a TV show, and one with traditional Japanese dolls and clothing. They're all single and anti-men (they joke they're nuns, since they're too shy to interact with members of the opposite sex).

The main artist character has an obsession herself - jellyfish. She used to visit aquariums and discuss the beauty of jellyfish with her mother, who has now passed away.

One evening our artist happens to meet an assertive, beautiful, stylish girl - a girl who embodies being a princess, everything the artist's mother used to talk about her becoming. This beautiful girl meets our artist by helping her out in a situation, and subsequently ends up following her home and staying the night in her room. The next morning, the artist realizes that who she's let stay the night isn't a beautiful girl - it's a boy who dresses as a girl!

Shy, homely girl + outgoing, attractive cross dressing boy + a house full of nerdy girls = absolutely hilarious storytelling with some interesting character development (and an odd love triangle) thrown in.

So, I had to draw a tribute piece (note:  this has been updated from its original version):

The boy (Kuranosuke Koibuchi) is dressed as a girl wearing the "jellyfish" dress (although I've modified the dress that the anime and manga show slightly to match my own vision for a jellyfish dress) and the shy artist character (Tsukimi Kurashita) is the kneeling girl. Later in the series these two characters end up collaborating on creative projects - including dress design inspired by jellyfish.

The drawing itself was done in pencil and then colored in Photoshop with a texture applied for visual interest.

Now that this drawing is done, I should be able to focus on the art on my to-do list for the upcoming Con. . .unless I get distracted by another new show. . .

~ m.d.

Princess Jellyfish, Kuranosuke, Tsukimi © Funimation