Jellyfish Can’t Swim In The Night Is Gorgeous
Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night first aired in April of 2024 and was produced by Studio Doga Kobo. This show is an anime original created by Takeshita Ryouhei. The story follows Mahiru Kouzuki and her journey through her once passionate artistic childhood. She finds herself years later with no motivation to continue until she meets Kano Yamanouchi, a former idol who adores the mural art she created. Mahiru finds herself reminiscing over the younger days she had to create art and finds herself braving up to join Kano in making JELEE, the former Idol’s new persona, a reality. It is here she will learn to open herself and start a band as an artistic illustrator for JELEE’s content.
So I’m gonna slow this one down a bit. This show is something special. And I mean really special. I’m not always a big fan of music in anime as it can often fall very flat very quickly. The reason for this is that anime has music that works well towards a scene. So well that it brings great emotion to the forefront. That chill you get when you hear a beat drop at the perfect moment in a fight scene or a quiet musical sequence juxtaposes a very solemn yet high-action-packed scene.
Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night, doesn’t do that. At least, not from the initial first episodes. To put the entirety of what this anime is in one to two sentences: Jellyfish can’t swim by themselves. They require the light to absorb and navigate their way through the ocean. They follow the currents and take anything that comes their way to survive. It doesn’t make sense right now, but it will.
Mahiru is a broke girl. She had a passion for art, she enjoyed drawing. She loved it as a kid and yet one bad experience, one bad day, ruined it all. Her friends ridiculed her art right in front of her. And it shattered her. She couldn’t find the will to continue. Years would pass and she wouldn’t draw. Until she met Kano. Kano is a former disgraced Idol from a once-popular idol band.
She had a falling out resulting in her ruining her name. Changing her look and name she decides she won’t leave the industry. She wants to fight her way back to who she was. But as the real Kano this time. And yet Jellyfish Can’t Swim by themselves.
Kano tries to enlist Mahiru to help her, become her artist to boost JELEE’s popularity and work alongside her. And yet Mahiru refuses. She is scared to continue, scared to dig up the past. She doesn’t want that ridicule again. The embarrassment of having what you love to do be trampled on. It took Kano singing a song directly to her in a crowd full of dozens standing up for her graffitied-over mural, to show Mahiru that she can in fact continue. Jellyfish Can’t Swim by themselves.
It becomes abundantly apparent these two girls have dreams. But these dreams cannot be fulfilled without an ocean current to push them. These two girls are each other current. The first push. The first wave that sends them on their journey. A light to guide the way. And with time their lights will make each other shine brighter. And yet, Jellyfish Can’t Swim by themselves
I am reminded of a line in a video game about a similar situation. It highlights that one thing missing changes the outcome of an entire ecosystem. And nothing works alone: “What is a wave without the ocean? A beginning without an end? They are different, but they go together. Now you go among the stars, and I fall among the sand. We are different. But we go… together.”
That line explains the entirety of your journey in Subnautica. The choices you made once grains of sand now influence the waves in the ocean. No matter how big or how small you are you matter. You make a difference to someone. That is the hidden meaning behind this story. You matter, you make a difference. So make as many differences as you possibly can.
Because one day you’ll help someone else make a difference. And you’ll watch as that grain you moved becomes a tidal wave.