News

Princess Jellyfish/Kuragehime Manga Gets 2 Prequel Chapters

The December issue of Kodansha's Kiss magazine announced on Saturday that Akiko Higashimura's Princess Jellyfish (Kuragehime) manga will receive two special spinoff chapters in the magazine's January and February issues, which are slated for release on November 25 and December 25, respectively. The two chapters titled "Kuragehime: episode.0 Amamizu Zenya" (Princess Jellyfish: episode 0 The Night Before Amamizu) will follow the youths of the Amamizu residents.

The chapters will commemorate the upcoming live-action film, which will open in Japan on December 27.

The cast for the film will star:

• Rena Nōnen (Amachan, Hot Road) as jellyfish-obssesed otaku Tsukimi Kurashita (leftmost)
• Masaki Suda (Kamen Rider W, High School Debut) as cross-dressing Kuranosuke Koibuchi (top center)
• Hiroki Hasegawa (Second Virgin, Why Don't You Play in Hell?) as Shū Koibuchi, who is scared of women (top right)
• Chizuru Ikewaki (The Cat Returns, The Piano Forest) as railroad otaku Banba (bottom, fourth from the right)
• Rina Ōta (The Next Generation -Patlabor-) as Three Kingdoms otaku Mayaya (bottom, third from the right)
• Singer Tomoe Shinohara (Ghiblies, on-chan Yume Power Daibōken) as Jiji, who is into old men (bottom, second from the right)
• Azusa Babazono (of the comedy duo "Asian") as Japanophile Chieko (bottom, rightmost)

Taisuke Kawamura (Himitsu no Akko-chan, Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score Part II) is directing the film off a script by Toshiya Ono (Watashi no Yasashikunai Sempai, Gatchaman Crowds, tsuritama, Suite Precure). Kumiko Iijima worked on the costumes for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu before designing the costumes for this movie. Hyadain is composing the film's music and SEKAI NO OWARI is performing the theme song "Mermaid Rhapsody."

The manga inspired the 2010 Princess Jellyfish television anime series which Funimation released in North America. Funimation describes the story:

Plain, timid and obsessed with jellyfish, Tsukimi is a far cry from her idea of a princess. Her tepid life as a jobless illustrator comes complete with roommates who harbor diehard hobbies that solidify their status as hopeless social rejects. These wallflowers run a tight, nun-like ship, but their no-men-allowed-not-no-one-not-no-how bubble is unwittingly burst after Tsukimi brings home a rescued sea jelly and a beauty queen... who's actually a guy. When the threat of losing their cozy convent inspires this glamour boy to turn the neurotic entourage into a portrait of success, will Tsukimi take her chance to bloom, or will she end up a hot mess?

Higashimura launched the manga in Kiss, Kodansha's manga magazine for female readers, in 2008, and Kodansha published 2.7 million copies as of the 13th compiled book volume last December.

Image © Akiko Higashimura/Kodansha