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Princess Jellyfish Live-Action Film Sampled in TV Spots

Two new TV spots for the live-action film adaptation of the Princess Jellyfish (Kuragehime) manga began airing in Japan last week. Both are narrated by voice actor Takehito Koyasu, who voiced the limousine driver Hanamori in the 2010 television anime. The commercials also feature the film's theme song, "Mermaid Rhapsody" by SEKAI NO OWARI.

Story Version

Tsukimi: This is the biggest danger in my otaku life yet!
Writing on letter: A life that needs no men
Text: Rena Nōnen as jellyfish otaku
Text: Railroad otaku, Three Kingdoms otaku
Text: Japanophile, old men otaku Narrator: In a dorm forbidden to boys, a group of geeks live together. With the appearance of two brothers who are a bit strange...
Text: Cross-dressing beauty
Text: Late-blooming elite
Writing on letter: Death
Narrator: Oh no, what a spectacle!
Narrator: Kuragehime. Text: In theaters December 27.

Cinderella Version

Writing on letter: A life that needs no men
Text: Rena Nōnen as jellyfish otaku
Tsukimi: Putting our otaku lives on the line, we are deployed! Tsukimi: I feel like I can do something even more amazing if I have everyone's help!
Narrator: A Cinderella who is just too geeky is born.
Narrator: Kuragehime.
Tsukimi: In theaters December 27!

The film opened in theaters on December 27, 2014. The film stars:

• 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)

In addition, Kuragehime author Akiko Higashimura is also appearing as a cameo in the film.

Taisuke Kawamura (Himitsu no Akko-chan, Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score Part II) directed 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.

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 14th compiled book volume in September. The manga also received two prequel chapters in Kodansha's Kiss magazine.

[Via animeanime.jp]