kuranosuke

Covers volumes 9 to 17 of Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura

Don your armor (read: your prettiest, frilliest dress) and get ready to defend Tsukimi and all the residents of Amamizukan from corporate kidnapper Kai Fish. Guest Carrie McClain (an editor at Black Nerd Problems) and host Ashley list off the moments that made them cry in the second half, what clothes come to mean for the Amars, who has agency (and who doesn’t), and have one of the most epic Shipping Corners on the podcast yet. (Shu!! How dare you worm your way into our hearts like this?! HOW DARE YOU make us doubt Kuranosuke x Tsukimi for even a minute?!) Plus, in an author’s note, Higashimura questions why Princess Jellyfish is so popular in America, so Ashley and Carrie, as Americans, provide personal (and speculative) answers.

LINKS

• Princess Jellyfish is available from Kodansha USA physically and digitally
• You can watch the 11-episode anime over on Funimation
• Higashimura also did Tokyo Tarareba Girls, which was a digital-first initiative from Kodansha that's now getting a print run. Listen to our episode about it here.
• Kuranosuke still does not identify as an okama
• What is a fujoshi?
• Hana-Kimi is available from Viz Media
• Harajuku and fashion
• Correction when talking about Maid-sama: Takumi Usui is actually 3/4s Japanese, 1/4 English, and his half-brother Gerald Walker is the reverse. Which just makes their genetic stereotypes even more ridiculous in the manga. (To show that Takumi is mixed-race, he has blond hair and green eyes, both recessive genes.) This was mentioned at some point during our Maid-sama coverage. Listen to our first Maid-sama episode here. The manga is also available from Viz Media.
• Higashimura’s divorce news
• Deb Aoki’s article in Publisher’s Weekly about why manga is booming in the West right now
• Outro song: “Kokodake no Hanashi” by Chatmonchy (the opening of the Princess Jellyfish anime)

SOCIAL

• Find Carrie's work on Black Nerd Problems, where she writes lots about comics
• Follow Carrie on Twitter @DivineBlkPearl
• Follow Shojo & Tell on Twitter @shojoandtell
• Follow Shojo & Tell on Instagram @shojoandtell
• Follow Ashley on Twitter @AshMcD00

Comments, questions, constructive criticism, concerns? Want to tell us what made you cry? Email shojoandtell [at] gmail.com or simply leave a comment on the episode page.

Covers volumes 1 to 8 of Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura

Chances are you’ve heard heaps and heaps of praise bestowed upon this manga about a jellyfish otaku whose life is changed forever by a crossdresser. That praise is HELLA ACCURATE. Carrie McClain (an editor at Black Nerd Problems) and host Ashley reveal how much they’ve become Princess Jellyfish otaku by fangirling all over the Amars and Kuranosuke, dissecting how Higashimura explores identity politics through the narrative and motifs in the art, and remind you that everybody, EVERYBODY, is an otaku. Yes, even straight-laced, stuffy Shu. He’s a Tsukimi otaku.

LINKS

• Princess Jellyfish is available from Kodansha USA physically and digitally
• You can watch the 11-episode anime over on Funimation
• Higashimura also did Tokyo Tarareba Girls, which was a digital-first initiative from Kodansha that's now getting a print run. Listen to our episode about it here.
• Tokyopop had a line of comics back in the day called Chix Comics. Groan.
• Are you living the NEET life?
• Kuranosuke does not identify as an okama
• Records of the Three Kingdoms, aka what Mayaya's always going on about
• Princess Jellyfish Nomu is probably insulted to be lumped in with My Hero Academia Nomu. Maybe.
• What is a fujoshi?
• Don't let your party get petrified in Final Fantasy
• Tenryū Arashiyama from Maid-sama, the much more problematic version of Kuranosuke. Listen to our first Maid-sama episode here. The manga is also available from Viz Media.
• Outro song: “Kokodake no Hanashi” by Chatmonchy (the opening of the Princess Jellyfish anime)

SOCIAL

• Find Carrie's work on Black Nerd Problems, where she writes lots about comics
• Follow Carrie on Twitter @DivineBlkPearl
• Follow Shojo & Tell on Twitter @shojoandtell
• Follow Shojo & Tell on Instagram @shojoandtell
• Follow Ashley on Twitter @AshMcD00

Comments, questions, constructive criticism, concerns? Want to tell us who your favorite member of the Amars is? Email shojoandtell [at] gmail.com or simply leave a comment on the episode page.