(Hi) Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night

[Marina2]

Ep.11

Not sure what to think about Kiui's drama conclusion but look like it ends up as a ladder for Mahiru motivation.

Around middle of episode, it seems Mahiru was going to regret working for Kano mom, but she managed to turn thing around and made things work for both Sundolls business and JELEE's activity.

I assume Mahiru saw the lyric that Kano wrote and sense that she want to sing for her parent(?)

[stray]

Seems like Mahiru was plotting her own schemes all this time. Only one episodes left lets see if the series can stick the landing.

[Kanon]

How can Mahiru compare venting out her frustrations on the net by shitposting to having a Youtube's channel whose purpose is to ruin people's carrers? Is it actually worse than I think, and she was telling people to kill themselves because their art sucks? Was she a 2channer?

Kiwi being trans or whatever actually makes sense, since she always made a point to wear baggy clothes and clearly hated it when a guy ogled her G-cups in an early episode. Not sure retreating into an online persona (which, to be fair, is mostly her real persona but with a different appearance) is all that healthy though, but as long as she's having fun, it's fine.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised Mahiru suffered zero consequences for going to Yukine, and will even help JELEE in the process. She can do no wrong. Even her accepting Mero's channel is portrayed as a good thing because it shows she's empathetic. She understands and accepts everyone. The costumes in the first episode were foreshadowing, Mahiru is an angel and Kano is a devil who punched a poor misunderstood girl and lashed out at our little angel Mahiru.

[ryllharu]

The scene with Mero in the cab was the only part of the episode that really felt out of place for me. It's absurd that Mero would trust Mahiru enough to even ask about the tabloid scandal channel she secretly runs considering how the fallout with Kano went.

The entire scene didn't fit either character's character development to date.

[deadite]

Originally Posted by ryllharu

The scene with Mero in the cab was the only part of the episode that really felt out of place for me. It's absurd that Mero would trust Mahiru enough to even ask about the tabloid scandal channel she secretly runs considering how the fallout with Kano went.

The entire scene didn't fit either character's character development to date.

I disagree, this is clearly spurred by her recent encounter with Mei, which Mello saw as the kind of person Kano associates with now. Doesn't help that Mei got for 2 million view from her sincere desire for Kano not to disband JELEE, which she no doubt followed.

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Kiwi being trans or whatever actually makes sense, since she always made a point to wear baggy clothes and clearly hated it when a guy ogled her G-cups in an early episode. Not sure retreating into an online persona (which, to be fair, is mostly her real persona but with a different appearance) is all that healthy though, but as long as she's having fun, it's fine.

I don't know that she's "trans," strictly speaking. She seems content to keep her male persona online. She may wear baggy clothes and the like, but she still presents as female in person.

I'm a man, but when I write fiction my main characters tend to be female. My subconscious even uses female characters to represent my writer-side in my dreams. I suppose if I was in ancient Greece, I could have said I had a muse. Here in the modern world, however, it's just a certain way my brain chooses to represent and express itself. That doesn't make me trans. I'm completely comfortable in my own body and my own physical gender. Kiwi might be the same way.

[Ragashingo]

I'm not liking Mahiru's plot. At all. It's just too big of a strain on credibility that a producer obsessed with getting to the top would hire and keep a high school girl who, for weeks(?) now, has been not delivering a good enough product. Is Mahiru the only artist on this project?! Is Kano's mom really gonna compromise her idol group's show by allowing a second group to join in via a last minute request? The storytelling is just too convenient and too lax.

I'm not very happy with Kiwi's story either. Mostly because it feels more like a mishmash of incomplete plot threads than a cohesive thrust. There's the thread of losing one's identity when others think you are weird for liking the things you like. There's the thread of being a streamer to show your real personality, but we've also seen that Kiwi turned heavily to gaming as part addiction, part avoiding of problems. The gender stuff has been hinted at a bit, but in odd ways like with the biker woman hitting on Kiwi and Kiwi not really being all that receptive to it.

Today's "dramatic" yelling moment only to have Kiwi quickly call it lame similarly felt incomplete. I want Kiwi to be whoever they want to be. But I also want them to get over their fear of being in public. And to get over being so unhappy with themselves that they continue to feel the need to lie to their actual friends all the time. Maybe it's more I don't see Kiwi as having made much progress towards being who they want to be that's throwing me off...

[serenade_beta]

So they used the "Screaming solves everything" plot (now with screaming in public) AND the "We did something and it just happens to trend" plot again
Man, modern day kids have it easy. I wish screaming helped me so often

[ryllharu]

Originally Posted by BBOvenGuy

I don't know that she's "trans," strictly speaking. She seems content to keep her male persona online. She may wear baggy clothes and the like, but she still presents as female in person.

Originally Posted by Ragashingo

The gender stuff has been hinted at a bit, but in odd ways like with the biker woman hitting on Kiwi and Kiwi not really being all that receptive to it.

I don't think she is trans either, but she is a bokukko bordering on orekko, though I'm not exactly sure where the line is.

They also didn't go all the way on any follow through from her rant. Kiui is deeply unhappy that her body is very stacked, and they cover it with her finally saying it, but still only as a passing mention. The one line of the rant revealed that she really despises her body much more than we thought from the earlier episode that hinted at her cup size.

So, I don't think she's trans, but she has some degree of gender dysphoria. Maybe she'd be fine with it if she was smaller, and she didn't have any issues with it when she was younger, but she certainly does now as the end result of her puberty. She still presents as female otherwise. Overall her character is a bit confusing, mostly from this episode feeling like it contradicts the others where she got development.

Maybe it would have been better if she had a whole episode about it instead of a half-episode.

[stray]

Originally Posted by ryllharu

So, I don't think she's trans, but she has some degree of gender dysphoria. Maybe she'd be fine with it if she was smaller, and she didn't have any issues with it when she was younger, but she certainly does now as the end result of her puberty. She still presents as female otherwise. Overall her character is a bit confusing, mostly from this episode feeling like it contradicts the others where she got development.

This is the first episode that really went into detail about Nox Ryugasaki -- we never got any details about Nox or her streaming other than its just what she does. Transbait? Japan is still probably too regressive when it comes to LGBTQ rights for a confirmed trans character anytime soon. She's definitely an internet onabe (nenabe) at the very least.

[grecefar]

I love kiui more now after she told them off.

[Alchemist007]

I feel like the punch might have knocked some sense of shame into Mero, and now she's slowly recovering from her brain injury do what it takes mentality, she might make up with Kano.

The most hamfisted thing would be Kano making up with her mother...who she hasn't really spoken to this whole series in the present.

[Ragashingo]

And so it ends...

This wasn't terrible, but it never reached the highs I hoped it would. There were some good ideas floating around in there: Confronting the part of yourself you didn't like, the interplay of social media with entertainment, providing motivation to others by being yourself. But it all kinda... floated around aimlessly like... you know... jellyfish that can't swim in the night. It was fairly rare that anything really clicked into place. I wish it had been more tightly written. Given the way everything basically turned out happy without any real effort or losses, it all felt more than a little superficial and the big drama moments didn't land for me as they felt a bit contrived in that "two sides just not talking to each other" kind of way.

I think my favorite part of the show was the opening each week. It did a good job of visualizing what the show wanted to be about as each girl gazed upon her unwanted self. Again, it wasn't a bad show, but it also isn't one I'm planning to revisit or recommend. There's a good handful of better music / rock band anime out there that I'd revisit first.

[stray]

I'm still kind of digesting but it was a pretty solid finale overall -- even if there was no yuri.

[ryllharu]

I felt like the first two thirds of the series were incredibly strong, but the third act was very amateurish. For me, the series peaked in the middle of episode 8 and started its decline during their livestreamed "live" gig.

After that, a lot of the drama felt forced, the character arcs rushed/abbreviated, and the conclusion pushed beyond my ability to suspend my disbelief.

The plotline with Mero is just handwaved and she and Nano are friendly and supportive again, just like that, is probably the thing I was most disappointed about. The series felt like it was going down some interesting realism and challenging the girls to push through the harsh realities of the business side of creative work in a clash with Yukine siphoning off Mahiru, and then it all just sort of works out a little too cleanly. Yukine being misunderstood and still supportive all along of her daughter while mostly being focused on her goal is fine, but will always feel like missed potential because she and Kano never actually talk to each other concerning it, just a smug side comment from Kano.

The scenes from the epilogue felt unearned to me. The cellphone video of repainting the mural saved it a bit and felt like the first two thirds again, but I'm not left satisfied with the series.

The series also pushed beyond Takahashi Rie's singing ability in the last act as well, the climax song felt a bit flat and out of reach for her workable genres. I still fondly think of Kageki Shoujo using VAs with actual musical theater backgrounds as their "powerhouse" singer characters.

[FlareKnight]

That was fine I guess. The ending of the show didn't quite grab me. But I respect that it wanted to end with this kind of tone.

I thought it was doing pretty well for a while. But feel like the last quarter or so wasn't quite as good. The characters were still fine and there were elements I enjoyed. But it just felt a bit off.

Started pretty well. But I'll probably call it a decent 7/10 show.

[stray]

I think I'd still call it 8/10 in the end, things did wrap up a little too cleanly with Yukine-P and the Sundolls but the recurring cast was pretty great and the seiyuu performances were all top notch in the final stretch -- aside from Miko Ito who I presume was busy with Seiyuu Radio or something. I had kind of been wondering what was going on with their revenue from YouTube, glad we finally got around to answering that question.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by ryllharu

I felt like the first two thirds of the series were incredibly strong, but the third act was very amateurish. For me, the series peaked in the middle of episode 8 and started its decline during their livestreamed "live" gig.

After that, a lot of the drama felt forced, the character arcs rushed/abbreviated, and the conclusion pushed beyond my ability to suspend my disbelief.

The plotline with Mero is just handwaved and she and Nano are friendly and supportive again, just like that, is probably the thing I was most disappointed about. The series felt like it was going down some interesting realism and challenging the girls to push through the harsh realities of the business side of creative work in a clash with Yukine siphoning off Mahiru, and then it all just sort of works out a little too cleanly. Yukine being misunderstood and still supportive all along of her daughter while mostly being focused on her goal is fine, but will always feel like missed potential because she and Kano never actually talk to each other concerning it, just a smug side comment from Kano.

The scenes from the epilogue felt unearned to me. The cellphone video of repainting the mural saved it a bit and felt like the first two thirds again, but I'm not left satisfied with the series.

The series also pushed beyond Takahashi Rie's singing ability in the last act as well, the climax song felt a bit flat and out of reach for her workable genres. I still fondly think of Kageki Shoujo using VAs with actual musical theater backgrounds as their "powerhouse" singer characters.

My feelings are pretty much the same.

I absolutely loved the first 8 episodes, to the point I was thinking it would be my AOTY, but it fell down really hard from episode 9 onward. I'm extremely disappointed with the direction the story took, it felt like they were too afraid to commit to anything. Everyone ends up being a nice person and everything neatly works itself out. And let's not forget how they never followed up on the massive yuribait. I can't believe I actually fell for it.

Can't give it more than 7/10.

[grecefar]

I guess I'm not the only one who disliked the lastest episodes. 6/10 for me, it sucks when this happens but meh.

best of the anime was of course kiui.

[serenade_beta]

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu *takes a deep breath*

Spoiler for final thoughts:

Okay... That was bad. The last arc pulled stuff out of its ass so many times, just to make every character "a good person". I'm honestly not gonna bother tsukkomi-ing that arc.
Though I will point out I don't think the writer realizes that Kano never apologized for punching the girl. So I guess the writer thinks she's completely righteous in that act. So yeah, we can say the writer doesn't have his morals in the right place

Next problem, identity issues
Only one episode had fanservice
Only one episode had a yuri kiss
One episode was spent on getting her motocycle license. They also did this whole "Each member is doing their own stuff and focusing their life past their group activities", except the conclusion of this story is the 4 spending their time together
Also what was the whole point of the plastic surgery person?
The "I don't want to be 量産型" thing also didn't mean shit at the end

Next problem,
Literally everything the protagonists does buzzes. They don't fail. They do something, and before the viewers know it, they are super popular.
Where is the catalysis in this? You just tell us they are popular? They don't fail even once, they just succeed? How am I supposed to feel anything about this?

Finally,
I hear EGOIST retired. She's free. So uhh... How about you use someone that can actually sing instead of reusing the same VAs over and over and over again?


In conclusion... This is what happens when someone who can't write to save his life tries to write a Sora Yori Tooi Basho De-type story
...Yeah, don't use this guy anymore. Pretty sure Tomozaki-kun's story has been criticized before. You know what happened when you got the ReZero guy to write original anime? Yeah, those anime's stories were just as bad as ReZero. I wonder why?!

5/10