(Hi) Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night

[BBOvenGuy]

My first thought when she rattled off such a long list was that she's a trans woman, but they didn't go that direction. We'll just have to wait and see.

[grecefar]

for me it looked like a woman who was running away from something or someone so she had to do all those surgeries.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by grecefar

for me it looked like a woman who was running away from something or someone so she had to do all those surgeries.

I definitely think that's what they were going for. Sure felt like they wanted to show her as someone that had been physically abused. Changing her face and chest to give herself a new identity. Heck could say she wants the license to leave herself options open to run if she has to.

[stray]

Has Japan finally evolved from using Line (or Lime, Pine, etc.) because that looks suspiciously like a Discord icon...

[Ragashingo]

I'm of two minds on this episode:

On the good side:

- It was the best episode yet. Each girl got to bring her strengths to the concert and they found a creative solution to doing their live show without risk to anyone.
- Linking the projector back to that cool chandelier was fun. I liked the idea of all the connections forming around JELEE.
- The end set the stage to finally figure out what Kano did.

On the less good:

- There were a lot of time skips and odd timings in the episode. How many days did they rent out that love hotel room?? At one point they mention finally checking out... so was it more than a one night sleep over? The "days quickly go by" exterior shot seemed to imply it was a few...
- Likewise, we jumped to two months later to get to the live gig. Without really showing the work put in. A single shot of piano keys being pushed down and Kano doing an admittedly cute jellyfish wave were a bit too minimal. We needed a real montage, I think...

Unfortunately, the animation budget just isn't big enough for the show. There were a couple neat flourishes to the concert. Mahiru drawing live was kinda neat. But mostly it was just a single front show with limited motion. Carole & Tuesday had life-like rotoscoping. Ya Boy Kongming had some really sharp animation bits in its big musical scenes. Bocchi the Rock had some really great music video style band animation. I wish Jellyfish could stand among them presentation wise, but I don't think it is...

[stray]

Originally Posted by Ragashingo

There were a lot of time skips and odd timings in the episode. How many days did they rent out that love hotel room?? At one point they mention finally checking out... so was it more than a one night sleep over? The "days quickly go by" exterior shot seemed to imply it was a few...

I dunno how important that is but it was at least a long weekend... it was probably still summer break too so they could have gone as long as a week or so.

We needed a real montage, I think...

YouTube

https://youtu.be/8I_5Bw1U4s4

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I wish Jellyfish could stand among them presentation wise, but I don't think it is...

Keep in mind the focus of the episode was what Kano wanted to see from the stage, not the stage show itself. This was supposed to be her comeback and it got kinda spoiled.

Anyway given how time usually flows in anime I was kinda surprised that it had been 10 months from episode 1 to now. Its nice to see Halloween get its due, I feel like its a woefully underrepresented holiday in anime.

[grecefar]

the projection of the fans fanart was really beaufitul, kiwi really did a number here. It was shown too the real social media, it doesn't matter what it is, nobody will care about context or anything and haters are just going to hate no matter what.

so what is the mother planning to do with yoru?, trying to make a steal?

[Kanon]

I didn't think it had been this long since episode one. I was really surprised when Kano said the one year anniversary of JELEE was coming up.

Apparently the fanarts being projected during the concert were real fanarts from Twitter. That's super neat if true, and also rather meta.

The ending of the episode has me scared. It would make zero sense for Mahiru to accept the offer, but I fear she will just to create drama between her and Kano.

[serenade_beta]

So not only did their jump start happen coincidentally on their first try (which is not coincidentally since it is a written story), them getting famous just occurs? Maybe instead of spending episodes on some plastic surgery lady(?) and a single mother, they kinda should have built up a bit more...?

Also, the exact same setup occurred in Seiyuu no Uraomote, but when the scriptwriters these days are told to write present-day drama, do all of them just resort to one-off unkempt men exposing the main character? At least they resolved that in one episode. Maybe.

[stray]

Originally Posted by Kanon

The ending of the episode has me scared. It would make zero sense for Mahiru to accept the offer, but I fear she will just to create drama between her and Kano.

I dunno, I can't imagine Yoru doing anything without Kano's okay - but I do hope we at least get backstory out of this.

[HandofFate]

the incident here seemed to be a big nothing burger compared to Radio.
just some random blogger in the pool of the internet that comes and goes lol.

Its a very dicey situation for Mahiru with the offer, considering the connection, but it is a very good opportunity for her. To see how she does when her art goes commercial and actually get paid, and to see if she actually enjoys taking commissions or just fixated on this jellyfish project of hers, and that's it.

A few episodes ago was about everyone's future, and she doesn't know if she wants to continue with art as an actual lifestyle since its an unstable career path or just go a normal route some other way.

[Xeiros]

The narrative needed a natural transition to Kano’s backstory. She’s not about to trauma dump on her friends nor are they about to insist she open up about the lowest point of her life so far apropos of nothing. It was invevitble that eventually JELEE would become big enough that the group/person Kano is trying to beat/prove wrong would finally notice them and treat them as actual competition.

For maximum drama Yoru accepts the job and keeps it a secret from the others. All it would cost is total character assassination. That approach would have fit perfectly in a story that had up to this point taken steps to gradually sow subtle seeds of animosity and mistrust between its members.

Instead the closest thing they’ve had to a fight was a minor disagreement, now about a year old, that never even made it to the insults/raised voices stage let alone physical altercations. Unlike the gals in the oft compared GBC, these young women get along most swimmingly. The ingredients for the group imploding from within just aren’t there.

In no sane universe would the Mahiru we’ve followed over the past eight episodes ever even seriously consider the offer, let alone go through with it. Yoru owes where she is right now to Kano. Her outlook on life. Her relationship with art and drawing. At this point she’s never been closer to another person. The motivation to willingly destroy her relationship with her isn’t there.

Kano’s mother's motivations are what baffle me though. How she is handled in the following four episodes will in part determine whether this story sinks or swims for me. I’m not interested in the cartoon villain evil anime mom #324 she is currently shaping up to be.

She knows her daughter is a member of JELEE. She could have commissioned any number of far better, more experienced artists, but she specifically tried to go after the one in her daughters group. What lead her to believe that was even a remotely good idea? Does she think Yoru is ignorant of who she is? That she’d willingly support the person her stood by and watched her own daughters mental health waste away?

Even though Yoru doesn’t know the exact details of Kano’s time as a Sunflower Doll, she does know her mother was at the center of it. That her relationship with her daughter is far from good. The mom comes off as simultaneously evil and moronic in equal measure and neither are good things to be in a story like this.

[Kanon]

How they will handle this storyline will make or break this show. I really, really hope they won't have the characters become stupid all of a sudden.

[Kanon]

Preview for the next episode:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/QbjIyPyt9SU

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Spoiler for Preview:

Seems like Mahiru will tell Kano about the job offer, and Kano will ask her if she wants to do it (that line is in the PV). Mahiru will answer she does and Kano will give her her blessing while obviously hurting inside, Mahiru will go (we see her there in the PV) and will realize how much of a cunt the mother is, leave, and apologize to Kano. Then they'll make up and kiss (right? right?!).

[FlareKnight]

It's an interesting turn at the end. If Yoru wants to really take her art and make a living from it this is a huge chance. With her ability and hard work I do think she'll have other chances. But it's a tempting one.

I'm sure she will talk to the others. The question though is how Kano will react to this. Will she encourage Yoru to take this opportunity or will she be openly against it? Whether she's inwardly against it could go either way but not influence what she says to Yoru.

It's a good time though to maybe reveal what exactly went down here.

[EroKing]

Images

Megami

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[Xeiros]

The Yorunai To-do List as of the end of episode eight.


1. Give Mei a satisfying character arc. She’s not developed beyond comically obsessive idol fangirl Kano simp since her introduction.

2. Give Kiwi a satisfying character arc. She’s at least been treated better than Mei, which isn’t saying much.

3. Give Yoru a satisfying character arc. Given her name is in the title and she’s the secondary lead. This is basically a given.

4. Resolve the Sundolls drama. Remember the episode that sort of focused on them, but we didn’t learn anything of value whatsoever? Did you enjoy the part where they “performed” for the fatass in his robe? Solid writing there.

5. Pay off the implied romance between Yoru and Kano. If we’re lucky, they’ll get together in the final episode. Sacrifice your family/friends for either a kiss on the lips or an “I love you (Aishiteru)."

6. Resolve Kano’s mother drama. I’m so glad we’re over 2/3rds of the way into the story and she’s had less dialogue and focus than pretty much the entirety of the deep as a puddle supporting cast despite being the closest thing this story has to a primary antagonist.

7. Pay off whatever the biker chicks deal is. Trust that her implants and tattoos are going to be like Chekhov's guns in the 11th hour of the finale as she swoops in to save Kiwi, or something.

8. Pay off the build an Aquarium promise/goal. With the rapid pace at which time has been passing in this series this might actually happen.

All of this in just four episodes. That’s assuming no additional characters or conflicts are introduced. Yeah, this show is boned. There are going to be sacrifices, several of them at that. The cast balance has been utterly atrocious.

I’ll admit I’m frustrated by how much focus Kano has gotten despite how little she has going on for her as a character due to the back-loading of her drama. The hardest pill to swallow for me with this show was the gradual realization that there would not be a remotely even split in terms of focus/screen-time between the four leads.

[Kanon]

IMO this isn't an ensemble cast. You have Kano and Mahiru as the main characters and Kiwi and Mei are secondary. What we got in episode 7 is all we'll get for Kiwi and Mei, aside from perhaps an epilogue set a few years later in the final episode showing Mei as a successful pianist and Kiwi as a teacher. Kiwi may get something more, but Mei is really mostly the comic relief character. I would lower my expectations.

4 episodes is more than enough to resolve everything else. I'm not worried.

[stray]

I guess I got used to the mundane drama of Girls Band Cry but that was pretty brutal. At least we finally got Kano and the Sunflower Dolls backstory. I'm guessing Yoru is pretty quickly going to find out who the mom really is.

[Julio C]

Oh Mahiru, what have you done? This situation reminds of Fuuka.

Yukine does whatever it takes to get what she wants, Mahiru is going to learn the hard way of what kind of person she really is.