Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai

Mahiru Kouzuki, a skilled artist, gives up on her passion after her elementary school classmates ridicule her colorful jellyfish mural. Several years later, upon encountering an unexpected admirer in Kano Yamanouchi—a former idol with a troubled past—Mahiru decides to pursue her childhood dreams once more.

Tasked with designing the mascot for Kano's new music project, JELEE, Mahiru enlists the help of her childhood friend and professional streamer Kiui Watase to make JELEE's first music video. Together with Kim Anouk Mei Takanashi, a pianist and fan of Kano's work as an idol, the girls aim to turn JELEE into a global hit. However, if they want to succeed in this ambitious endeavor, they will first have to free themselves from the shackles of their pasts.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yamanouchi, Kano Main

Takahashi, Rie Japanese

Watase, Kiui Main

Tomita, Miyu Japanese

Kouzuki, Mahiru Main

Itou, Miku Japanese

Takanashi, Kim Anouk Mei Main

Shimabukuro, Miyuri Japanese

Baba, Shizue Supporting

Uesaka, Sumire Japanese

Honami Supporting

Shiina, Hekiru Japanese

Koharu Supporting

Seto, Asami Japanese

Setou, Mero Supporting

Okasaki, Miho Japanese

Yanagi, Momoko Supporting

Shutou, Yukina Japanese

Hayakawa, Mion Supporting

Anzai, Chika Japanese

Saitou, Shingo Producer

Suzuki, Renta Producer

Takeshita, Ryouhei Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Kimura, Eriko Sound Director

Reviews

Jul 22, 2024

HenelyThornhill

Recommended

I'm not big on reviews and especially not fond of cute girls doing cute things even shojos are a stretch (i still think old school shojos did it best) but for whatever reasons this series found a way to conquer my heart. I can't speak about the quality of said characters or whatnot not even if the story was satifying at the end but for me it made me care about this group of four girls. They are kind of lost kind of not and just need the right people to be able to realize their worth. They tear each other from time to time ... but that's how they always find a way back to each other that i find very endearing. People who truly know you tends to be able to inflict the most sanity damages but being this vulnurable that you can create true bonds between people. Also the art feels very warm and inviting and just compliments the show even more wether it's the animation style, charadesigns or the actual art that Yoru does in the show. Anyway now i want a colorful jellyfish tattoo hahaha

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jul 6, 2024

CaptainKenshiro

Mixed Feelings

After watching two Bang Dream anime and being completely put off by everything about the early episodes of Girls Band Cry and drop it, I tried my luck with the actual title of the girls band/idol-ish subgenre I wanted to watch, which is this. As expected, it is the only one I enjoyed and the only one I thought it was overall decent and worth a watch, but still only so barely.

Despite grouping it into that subgenre, the truth is that the girls here do not actually form a band, but more like an artistic group where just one of the girls writes and sings. ... The others add illustrations, compose the music and make arrangements, and do the video editing and organize the events they take part of, stuff like that. So it is not an anime just about the musical part of a band, but about the whole artistic process that is more and more important nowadays, and I appreciate that approach as somewhat different and fresh.

This series is also topical and covers different themes through its characters, as the artist doubts her abilities because her art is seen as weird or inferior compared to others that makes fan arts of her creations later on.

The singer and co-protagonist of the show was a former idol so through her we can see some shady aspects of the idol industry, such as groups sabotaging others and any possible incident ruining your public image. She’s also full of mommy issues, as a big part of her character arc is how she was used and tossed apart by her mother within the idol industry, and now tries to get back at her while finding her own artistic vision and expression.

The composer has a more typical backdrop of having to live up to the expectations of others and being mocked because of her looks, while feeling like she has nowhere to belong. Changing from playing piano to compose her own themes with her idol she freakily fangirls over could be seen as a form of expression of artistic freedom but it is honestly not looked into that much nor that well. Her kind of perverted and freaky fangirlism over her new friend makes her the less serious and worse character out of the main ones to be honest.

Then there is the editor, who is also a vtuber, so you know there’s another topical thing in there. She’s primarily a tomboy who, like Anon from It’s MyGO!!!!!, came to realize she’s not that special nor cool (from others’ perspective), and was isolated by the rest and mocked by her back by her fake friends. It’s interesting to see how she became a neet that lies about her life and the repercussions that had once that was found out.

Through these characters, and the group becoming an artistic group that gains popularity online, the series also shows online harassment and cyberbullying on social media, so you know that was a good detail to have in there as another addition.

And like I’ve been implying so far, the characters, both as a group and on their own, essentially go through the same character arcs as the ones from the shows I watched before it. Introspecting about their goals, looking for a personal purpose and objective, trying to find a place and group to belong to along with their friends, and as a form of conflict, different artistic visions and clashes between the members for personal reasons later on.

The series also has generally a good pace, as it follows the whole process of the girls while making music and videos, and in turn, they are fleshed out at all times.

I will not call the writing anything amazing however, as it is true that the girls become quite successful quite easily and quite fast, and even when they are harassed and doubt themselves, they don’t have it too hard to face those hardships and controversies and stuff.

Is the themes and character immersion that makes the first half of the show good, more than the actual writing itself, which is still fairly naïve and convenient.

Did I say first half? Is the second half crap and makes the anime not worth watching? Well, not exactly, though it does make it inferior that it could have been.

From episodes 7 to 9 you can notice that the focused is switched to another older idol that has her own struggles, being older and a mother and all. There’s another episode on which the girls are apart doing their own thing and deciding what they want to do with their lives and stuff.

There was still character immersion, so it wasn’t bad, but when you see characters doing things completely different to the main activity of the show, while at the same time introducing another secondary character with just very little screentime, and almost falling into fanservice territory, you can notice that the writing starts to crumble.

Around these episodes, the series decided to have some interactions between the main girls that didn’t mean much to me, but others could see them as romantic. Let me be clear, there’s no development nor payoff to any of them, so it is once again silly yuri bait that would leave you disappointed if you expect something from it.

As episodes 8 and 9 go back to focus on what the show is about, while introducing the main conflict between the main characters, you think that the show is back on track, but unfortunately that is not true at all.

The last three episodes introduce drama, conflicts, cringe and unserious scenes at the most crucial moments of the band, overreactions that are different from the tone thus far, more focus on the vtuber girl with her possible gender dysphoria and not very clear relationship with that woman from episode 6 being barely looked into, more like glossed over, and left ambiguous, and eventually, having a very happy resolution where all the characters that did some very crappy things are forgiven just because and without a proper focus and buildup.

The finale itself isn’t bad, each girl finds what they want to do and everything is resolved, it is just that the last three episodes speedrun through way too much stuff without an organic flow and handling of it to call the resolution good, it’s more like meh.

As for the visuals, I was pleased with them after watching two or three (and a bit of another) anime in CGI, so I liked to see another 2D animated show again. Not that it isn’t anything amazing, as artwork, character designs, motions and effects are all just fine, with perhaps the backgrounds being the best bits. The directing would include several changes in perspectives, as sometimes the girls are filming or watching a video with specific cameras. Also, although it is something present in anime for years by now (Yuru Camp is the first example I can think of this), including phone screens to show the characters talking and going through social media is part of the plot in here, so that was a fine detail.

As for the sound, since there is only one character that sings here, they hired seiyuus this time, so the acting is a lot better than the ones in BanG Dream and Girls Band Cry. No performance stands out that much or is that good, but Rie Takahashi has some of her most unique and most pleasing to hear (thus best as far as performances goes), characters in here, so I wanted to point it out.

The music is just some generic jpop that I don’t like, but is fine for the show and the lyrics reflect the characters well, a pattern that seems to be a part of the subgenre or at least the titles that I’ve been seeing recently. A thing worth pointing out is that the show has four endings, one with two versions, canon songs made by this artistic group, and often the result of all of the work they do throughout the show. So you know, their inclusion is worth mentioning in terms of writing and directing and as part of the plot, and not just as background decorations to end an episode and roll some credits.

Bottom line, I do think that the show is worth a watch, for a one time experience, but more so for being topical, relevant for our times, the themes it includes, and the character immersion. The writing and presentation are otherwise not that good, and the final course of the show is very mediocre if not straight up bad.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 13, 2024

Marsh37

Not Recommended

YoruKura is an anime that was incredibly close to being a solid recommendable show. Sadly, the final few episodes felt messy and ended up detracting from all of the good themes and ideas it was building up along the way. This was a result of failing to utilise its characters effectively, sidelining positive plotlines and pointless pandering.

The art and animation quality is the one positive thing which remained throughout this anime, with a unique style. However, the music is subpar for an anime that is meant to be partially about music, and none of the songs particularly stand out as memorable. In most cases, ... this would not count as a negative, but given that music is a big focus in YoruKura, viewers should expect to at least have one or two songs that resonate with them for the show to be counted as successful within its genre.

The characters have a level of complexity, although this is not always to the benefit of the anime. It is a recurring feature of YoruKura for characters to question their ways of thinking, indicating that they may be on the verge of developing, and then miraculously ending up almost exactly where they started. It is not necessarily an issue if character development is slow, or even non-existent, but where YoruKura fails, is where it appears to pretend that the characters have come a long way and developed, when in reality, they end up with an almost identical mindset that led them into a rough spot to begin with. Many of the side characters are clearly designed to appeal to certain niche audiences, which has the potential to alienate viewers outside of those communities. This is not inherently a bad thing, as having a solid target audience requires a certain level of exclusivity, however YoruKura doesn't follow through on key character moments in most cases, leading its characters to be used as a form of bait for its audience, rather than actually creating a meaningful narrative that can truly connect with the viewer emotionally.

The storytelling, alongside the character writing, ends up completely stifling any possibility of a satisfying conclusion. The two central girls, who the story sets up to support one another, ultimately don't really do anything for one another in the final act, leaving rest of the main cast to pick up the slack, which otherwise, could have been used for some emotional character growth. Subplots are introduced and seemingly forgotten about by the end of the show. The theme of creating art for the dopamine effect of 'number go up' is seemingly presented as something to be overcome with some greater purpose, however YoruKura fails to come up with any proper alternative idea for its story to cling to as a good moral. This ultimately ends up feeling shallow, and despite spending a large portion of the anime searching for it, its unclear what the main character's purposes for creating really are, and how they have evolved from where they started.

If you aren't a part of the niche audience that this anime tries to pander to, it is likely that you will find the characters become annoying, as they fail to truly grow as people or deal with any of the core issues which they intitially face. If you are a part of that niche audience, you have a chance of enjoying the anime, however its failure to land cleanly at the finish line may still leave you disappointed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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	Poll: Best JELEE song? Baby_Penewine - Jul 24	3 replies	by Baby_Penewine »» 3 hours ago
	Poll: Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Apr 6	219 replies	by TurnipFan »» 4 hours ago
	Poll: Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Jun 22	179 replies	by Serafos »» Yesterday, 10:46 PM
	Looking for the anime's ending song 1日は25時間 (25 hours in a day) Crystalligator - Jul 20	5 replies	by sakurabare »» Jul 21, 12:09 AM
	Poll: Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Apr 27	79 replies	by WutenderEnte »» Jul 20, 1:23 PM