Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4106 |
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This is what I find so infuriation about this show. We all agree is not subtle: we don't agree on what it is being not subtle about and I can't figure out why that is. "Why would Yukine hire the artist of her rival? It can't be as simple as using up Yura's time and work means she can't do the same for the daughter... that would be petty." And here I thought Being Petty was Sunflower Dolls' fourth member. And the point of Koharu won't become "obviously" clear until Kiui 2.0 talks to her. And I use "her" temporally. |
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funkfoot
Posts: 51 |
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People interpret media differently at the end of the day. We've seen people argue with the actual creators of a work about what they actually meant when creating something. No amount of plaintext is really going to stop that, let alone things open to interpretation. Case in point I'm surprised seeing people here thinking Kiui is transgender when they had a character explicitly ask her that and she said no. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15519 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Well, what they actually asked was if Kiui/Nox is a girl that wants to be a boy, and the answer to avoid confrontation was that they haven't changed from who they were. To be frank, trans people are not people of one gender that want to become another, that stance is pretty outdated. Most trans will say that they were likely never cis. So the actual thing they were angry about was people assuming they were acting a way to look for attention, and Kiui/Nox explained that they did try to be happy in their assigned gender, but just could not love themself. That is pretty transgender. |
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1393 |
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Episode 12
Okay, where is the rest of the story? This is not to complain that they didn’t wrap up the plot, complete with bow, but …. a finishing montage is no substitute for filling us in with how the characters got there. Hell, the whole show is a montage, forcing us to piece together the story from what bits we see, but they left out half the critical bits! They didn’t ruin the show, by any means. Its ending is consistent with the rest of the show —- tantalyzing bits of story plus weak direction. It’s still one of my favorite series this season (faint praise, really, I’m only watching about eight series at the moment). My favorite part was spoiler[the phone-camera-eye view as they redo the mural. As a story-telling mechanism, it was visually quite appealing (and reminds me a lot of the work of Chris Marker). I’d happily watch an anime that tried to tell its story that way — well, maybe only movie-length] The bit with the credits for the production was nice, too, even if I don’t think the series earned some of the emotional beats. I picked up a copy of the first volumes of the manga and the novel — because I think there’s more to the story, and I’m hoping they’ll be there. Maybe I missed it in the first episode of the anime, but the first page of the manga does a great job of setting out the meaning of the title and the series. spoiler[Six years ago, Mahiru is at the aquarium before the jelly tank. She muses that jellies don’t really swim, they don’t have much will of their own — they’re mostly carried along by the current. They’re mostly transparent so they disappear in the darkness of the deep sea. The series tries hard to tell the story of Mahiru, Kano, Kiui (and, to a lesser degree) Mei and their struggle to be seen for who and what they are. To have wills, and a direction of their own.] On the other hand, I guess that’s what Mahiru says as part of her monologue at the end. I’ve only read a few pages, and already I think there’s more to the source (or at least other media) material than the anime is able to bring to the screen, even though the anime looks very good while doing so. Last edited by dm on Sat Jun 22, 2024 8:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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thecowardlyantoine
Posts: 19 |
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The ending with everyone waving got to me.
Though it's kinda sus Koharu wants to meet up with Kiui in person. What's going on there I wonder 
I feel old because the Tiktok style part just made me realize how little screen is used and people actually watch content like that now. Also not sure why Mei decided to flash the camera but.. ok. Last minute fanservice bit I guess. |
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Thesarum
Posts: 426 |
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Kinda conflicted on this last episode. There's lots of good stuff (spoiler[plus a very "plausible deniability" sorta confession from Yoru/Mahiru to Kano which I guess is a predictable but cowardly option]) but a lot of the resolutions feel really un-earned and disjointed. We get (for better or worse) most of the emotional beats we were expecting, but they mostly just abruptly pop out of sorta nowhere, especially some of the stuff in the closing montages. It's a shame, because I've enjoyed the show and I mostly like the state it's in as the final credits role, but it's just not satisfying in the way it should be.
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dm
Subscriber Posts: 1393 |
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With the bandage on her nose, my first thought was a motorcycle accident. Then I thought: wait, this is body-modification Koharu we’re talking about here: she got a nose job? (On second viewing, that's obvious from Kiui’s dialog.)
Kano, having gotten frustrated with painting with a small brush, dips her coat in the paint, and uses it as a large brush. Mei is going to do the same thing with her one-piece uniform. The episode grows on one with a second viewing. |
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blahmoomoo
Posts: 478 |
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In the end, this anime reminds me of two of P.A. Works' original works: Iroduku and Aquatope. Both with promising starts that devolved into questionable motivations and incomplete resolutions. Moreso with Aquatope, despite being double the length, which also has the ambiguous friendship issue that this anime has. It's frustrating that Jellyfish turned out to be one of those too.
I'd say that all of these are good, but frustratingly short of great. |
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FanGamer24
Posts: 31 |
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I enjoyed the show but it definitely needed more episodes. Also weird how the first episode had some noticeable fan service then the rest of the show was never like that again. Can't remember the last time a show tried to lure in viewers like that.
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Wizardizar
 Posts: 1 |
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So what was up with Kano's dad? Show frames him in a super weird way for two episodes like he's a serial killer or something and then he just shows up at the end and gives a knowing smile at the mural?
Similarly to Metallic Rouge last season, it's a show I like more than I should but less than I want. |
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FanGamer24
Posts: 31 |
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Sometimes they just won't give a clear view of a character because they aren't important enough to the story to warrant an actual character design. |
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Netero
Posts: 168 |
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It still happens fairly often, perhaps you just have better taste in anime than me 
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dm
Subscriber Posts: 1393 |
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Spot on |
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FireChick
 Subscriber Posts: 2420 Location: United States |
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Someone I know who really hates this anime describes it best:
"It bends over backwards and falls flat trying to ascribe deeper meaning to a story about a street art group and defining who they are in their creations. It wants us to see their art as indefatigably beautiful, no matter how others see them, but it never goes beyond shallow remarks and critiques, and whatever things it wants to say are belted out in the most ham-fisted, heavy-handed manner possible where even subtext has to be explained to the audience. All of this effort for such a shallow girls band show that desperately wanted to be seen as some profound, relevant story about creation and identity, but is too scared that audiences will not "get it" unless it explains its own themes and subtext straight to their face. It may be less "incomplete" than fellow milestone original Metallic Rouge, nor a production mess like Bucchigiri, but this just has all of the markings of a pet project that spent too long in development in search of a purpose before it forgot what it even wanted to say by then. So screw it, just show all the pretty visuals to distract the viewer. And say some profound things to come off as thematically deep and subside by vibes." |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5459 Location: Iscandar |
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In the end Jellyfish never reached the emotional catharsis I wanted to see, but I am still satisfied with what it did. I cannot be salty with it because it is a very sincere show with likable characters. I gave it a Very good rating.
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