[JDRAMA] KURAGEHIME [JULY 2015]
source: http://asianwiki.com/images/1/1a/Princess_Jellyfish-p2.jpg
Kuragehime (lit. Princess Jellyfish) is a josei manga by Higashimura Akiko telling the story of an 18-year old girl named Kurashita Tsukimi who moved to Tokyo to become an illustrator.
Tsukimi is an avid jellyfish otaku who moved in a women-only apartment called "Amamizukan". She lives with the other tenants who consider fashionistas as their enemies and call themselves "Amars".
One day, while trying to save a spotted jellyfish mistakenly put in a tank together with a dangerous species of jellyfish at a pet shop, she meets a fashionable and beautiful girl, Kuranosuke Koibuchi. But it turns out to Kuranosuke was man with a hobby for cross-dressing in order to avoid inheriting his family's role in politics.
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Kuragehime was the winner of the Kodansha Awad for Best Shoujo Manga in 2010 and was nominated for the Manga Taisho Award the same year.
I first saw the anime back in summer of 2010, and I was totally hooked. I remembered watching the series' episodes, singing to the ending song "Kimi no Kirei ni Kizuite Okure" by Sambomaster (this band also sang one of Naruto's theme "Seishun Kyousoukyoku").
Now fast forward to 2015 and I was able to watch the live-action of this film. T^T
The live-action movie for the manga of the same name was released on December 27, 2014 featuring an ensemble of cast members who really did a good job portraying their characters!
Rena Nounen did a good job portraying Tsukimi's reserved, but determined character. She was really cute, too! Masaki Suda was really cool portraying Kuranosuke. He really looked feminine and stylish in dresses and I really liked how he portrayed his character. I was also really surprised at how good Rina Ohta portrayed Mayaya's actions and tone of voice, I was again washed with nostalgia.
Other cast members were Hiroki Hasegawa as Shu Koibuchi (He's also a cast member for Shingeki no Kyojin's live-action film); Chizuru Ikewaki as Banba; Azusa Babazono as Chieko; Tomoe Shinohara as Jiji; Nana Katase as Shoko Inari; Mokomichi Hayami as Yoshio Hanamori; and Sei Hiraizumi as Keiichiro Koibuchi.
I should also mention that Sekai no Owari's song is featured in this movie! The song is『スターライトパレード』 and I was like "hmm.... wait I think I forgot to write something about.... oh shoot! That's it! I have to write about Sekai no Owari!" and then I updated and added the fact about the song being featured. ^^ These guys are part of a 4-man indie-pop rock band based in Japan consisting of Nakajin, Fukase, DJ Love, and Saori (oh yeah, Fukase's voice is soooooo sweet to listen to, he also did a collab with Owl City on the song "Tokyo"). The band's two new songs will also be featured in the new Attack on Titan and Attack on Titan: End of the World films.
Overall, the film was good given they stayed true to the original plot and the actors really did a good job. Watching Kuragehime (again) was oddly refreshing in a way since nowadays, more shounen and shoujo-centered anime are being released, same is true for those live-action films. Josei or slice of life-centered anime are rare given the focus is often on the stronger key element like romance, action, or comedy.
Having watched the live-action version, I couldn't help but look back to those care-free days. T^T come college year and I haven't had the time to even watch a single episode of new dramas and anime released this year...
Oh, and I really feel old now.
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