well... this was screaming 'shallow' from the very beginning, so I'm not that surprised that it really turned out to be.
Did I enjoy this? Certainly yes.
Would I recommend it? Probably yes, if you're just looking for a bit of fun, and you like the style and this manga's brand of beauty (I loved it).
But man, so many stereotypes! So many generalizations! "All girls want to be princesses"? Why is that? Who said that? Why won't people treat amars seriously? Why do they have to change how they look to be treated with something at least resembling respect? They ARE strange. But should this strangeness have ANYTHING to do with how officials treat them? To protect their home they do have to change - to become more brave, eloquent, serious. But that's not that kind of story. They do become better in those regards, but mostly it's about physical transformation. Yes, the author tries to find a middle ground here, but I don't think that she's entirely successful. Not to mention, the garbled last chapters do dilute the message a lot - maybe if she had more space (or wanted it, for all I know), she could resolve it better.
Romance - in the end, it just feels pasted on. IMO, the way it was treated until the end, it would have been better if no one said anything about it.
And I agree with the previous comments - some serious issues are glossed over here. One of the amars, who was a bitch to her family, is treated like THEY were bitch to her instead. TBH, when I was reading about her, I was thinking 'go find a job' nonstop.
IDK, it's important to chase your dreams, but hell, earn some money for them yourself. Or at least show your desire to work.
Anyway - it's all cool if you don't treat it seriously. That's all I can say. If you will, it may make you reeeeally irritated.

... Last updated on July 26th, 2018, 4:36pm

Mmmm so I read the final chapter when it just been realised and I DID NOT even realize it was the final!!
I was waiting for months like usual for the updates
god what a disappointment after following it for YEARS

I first watched the anime, who left me completely in love with the story. I waited patiently till the entire thing was translated and then dove in with a sense of bliss, that I could finally dig into one of my favorites. Boy did I not expect what was coming. Nothing, and I mean *nothing* gets resolved in this manga. How can you have 17 volumes of something and STILL not manage to resolve a single storyline? How can you have 17 volumes and still manage to give off the feeling that this work was axed in the end? The mind boggles.

Let me begin by saying I liked this manga. Tsukimi is adorable, and Kuranosuke is my favorite and the NEETS are great, they make me want to live in Amamizukan. All the jellyfish art is just beautiful as well, and the way it translates to the clothes is such an interesting idea. (I would 100% buy basically every dress.)

A quick warning: don't go into this expecting romance! At the beginning, you might easily think 'oh! this is going to be about relationships!' While they are touched on a little, they are definitely not the main focus of this manga, and ultimately we get very little progression or resolution on that front.

There were some things that bothered me, which I will list below.



Tl;dr: There's some pretty dark, depressing stuff in here that isn't really presented as being dark or depressing, and also is not resolved. The clothes are cute though, and I liked most of the characters - and it ended on a happy note with a nice message that actually had me tearing up a bit, so that was great. I'd say read it, but be prepared to be confused/irritated about how some things are handled

... Last updated on December 2nd, 2017, 11:27am

I finished all the chapters currently out and enjoyed them, but I rather agree with some of the other commenters about the negative parts. All in all, I felt that Kuragehime was a story that has some serious issues if you actually sit down and think about it, but manages to gloss over them because it's amusing, well-drawn, and has really quirky interesting characters.

For instance, a lot of what's being played for laughs is actually kind of terrible - like Kuranosuke spending huge amounts of his family's money, not going to school, and throwing his family's reputation under the bus on a whim. Tsukimi has a strange amount of men after her considering how much she doesn't care. Mayaya is an awful friend who whines constantly, throws tantrums, does really nothing productive unless forced or bribed, and worst of all, casually throws away her friends for her own comfort. All the older politicians are perverts. Virginity is apparently like a disease, and the reactions of some of the characters toward men are just... what?

Also, for a story about otaku NEET women, Kuragehime is, shall we say, less than empowering. There's a lot of story about rescuing Tsukime, without considering that perhaps Tsukime should be making something of herself. There's also a rather heavy layer of shallowness (mostly regarding looks and particularly at the beginning) that is hard to describe and mostly played for laughs. Perhaps the best female character introduced up to this point has been the Indian sister of the clothing manufacturer, who is unfortunately just a side character.

Basically, Kuragehime is a story that makes you laugh by playing to preexisting prejudices on women who dress well, women who don't, corrupt politicians, etc. It does it very well, and it's memorable and funny and interesting and even occasionally sad and touching, but if you really think about the some of the issues it's using as a premise you can get a little squicked out.

... Last updated on November 2nd, 2014, 10:34pm

In the beginning, I was very skeptical of this manga and had problems continuing. This is because I had no interest in fashion, and I didn't like how the manga seemed to look down on women who were not good looking nor took care of their looks. It felt very superficial.

However, as it went on the manga got better and better. The story became less about "you NEETs are ugly af and need to become beautiful to survive in society", and more about a bunch of women who did nothing productive with their lives, who started to work together towards a dream of creating a fashion line. Of course, many of the amars were very lazy and were difficult to motivate (mainly Mayaya and Banba) but some were more earnest, such as Cheiko.

Tsukimi, who in the beginning could only feel sorry for herself, started to polish her own talent in designing and worked hard under the guidance of Kuranosuke. Someone like me who had zero interest in fashion started to get invested in their journey as a fashion line, and now this is one of my favorite shoujos (well, technically josei) due to its unique plot. The relationship between Kuranosuke and his mother was very touching at times as well.

I want to do a quick run down of the two main characters.

Kuranosuke is a very unique male lead in romance, being both a crossdresser who also sometimes dresses as a fashionable male. He dresses as a female, but his natural personality is rather masculine, although he has a "feminine" interest in fashion. I grew to like him more and more. Being an unwanted love child between his playboy politician father and his foreign mother who was a singer, he acts out by crossdressing and living a free spirited life. He has a fiery personality and instantly DOES something when he wants to accomplish things. His pushy outgoing personality is the driving force that changes the passive lives of the amars, and mostly Tsukimi. He's always there to make them work when they slack off, and go out to advertise their brand when they rather stay inside.

Tsukimi is... basically an extremely shy and withdrawn "otaku" who is obsessed with jellyfish. I feel her personality has developed as the story has went on. From when she was basically resistant to doing almost anything in the beginning, to being caught up in the shenanigans of all the rich and "stylish" people she had to constantly be around after a while. Over time I think she has been willing to do more, whether it be helping with the brand or spending all night making designs. While she still has a meek personality, I grew to like her more than I did in the beginning. She still has a long way to go regarding development, but overall she's still pretty entertaining.

This manga is certainly unique, and I recommend people sticking with it until the fashion line part begins, and the real story starts. I can't say everyone will like it, but it has a lot of humor that also amplified my enjoyment.

This is one of the funniest manga I've read in a long time. There's an extremely unique and diverse cast of characters, and surprisingly author doesn't fall into ethnocentric view of other cultures that less worldly mangaka are prey to. From the onset it is clear the authornis knowledgeable about a great number. of rhings too, which keeps the reading interesting. I see complaints in the comments section about lack of character development - I dont think that is true. If anything the development is more realistic because it is slow and subtle. Have to realise the main characters are NEETS that have been bullied all their lives and the focus is comedy of their struggle to maintain their questionable lifestyle. They are not world conquering sword swinging superhumans with unwavering resolve but fragile girls whom can be bought with promises of Korean BBQ

... Last updated on November 28th, 2014, 10:39am

As others have said, there is very little character development. I read up to chapter 47, got bored, and quit. It also gets very, very repetitive in the middle with Tsukimi expressing the same fears, and the brothers each expressing their own special brand of self centeredness and entitlement. At first I was excited to see these characters grow, and the situation seems like one that would develop maturity in a person, but the fact that they could stay the same in such a situation does not say good things about any of these characters. Basically I got squicked out by them after awhile.

That said, the art is nice enough to look at and the storyline was engaging for the first couple of volumes. I liked the realistic, slow way that the development of the fashion line was portrayed. Nobody came in and waved a magic wand and there was no transformative moment after which everything was a fairytale success ride, instead the characters worked hard and learned and progressively overcame real challenges. I also liked the unique interests of the characters and how their various viewpoints were portrayed.

However, by the 47th chapter I realized that the only endings I could reasonably anticipate would cast a pall back over the series so there was no point enduring the saggy middle any longer.

I love how the author actually shows the steps that the girl takes in order to reach her dreams. This manga is not overshadowed by teenage angst and romance, thank goodness. Instead, there is a perfect mix of love, humor, life, and dreams. Oh, and lovely genderbending!!!

This defies so many other stories' faults by rising up as a manga that doesn't focus purely on one aspect. By reading this, we all might learn something about ourselves because this manga is most definitely easy to relate to.

My only complaint would be the lack of character/relationship development. As others have pointed out, much of this is somwhat STATIC... which is not good. I hope the author takes this into consideration in the future chapters.

... Last updated on July 2nd, 2014, 12:17am

This series really does show promise, however, the characters do not develop throughout the plot as much I had hoped. The art is colorful, the characters are unique and interesting, and the whole idea of focusing on female otakus is very original. Be warned of some spoilers below.

Unfortunately, interesting stories with potential were skipped around with, with none ending properly. This constant skipping around made the series feel empty and the originality novelty. For example,Tsukimi and Shuu have a cute little romance that went nowhere. Their relationship didn't even have to go in a romantic way, but it has to at least end properly. Tsukimi has a crush on Shuu and Shuu with her, and even though Shuu's seems to be very vain, he does seem to care for her. Then he does little to salvage his chances with Tsukimi when Shouko steps in. Almost immediately, Shuu and Tsukimi never interacted ever again which was dissappointing. I do admit though that this example is a bit biased since I support Tsukimi and Shuu together. Maybe it's the fact that Tsukimi and Kuranosuke, the guy she's supposed to fall for, don't have enough "together" moments. The fact that the two are mostly platonic in the end does not help with their romance either. The characters are honestly very unique although they greatly lack development. The genre "romantic comedy" doesn't seem suitable because of the lack of a solid romantic plot. The main romance is not even between the protagonist and a main character. The idea of a romance with Tsukimi and a main character exist, but only an idea (and for most, an expectation). Kuranosuke's father cheated on his wife and there is no explanation for it. Truly respectable for a politcan.

This review is really a lot more critical than I planned, and while I truly enjoyed the series, I am more talented at pointing out flaws. Know that if you decide to look into it, there are many great elements to it such as the comedy, cross-dressing, and characters more people can relate to (Or at least I can relate to them.)

... Last updated on April 17th, 2013, 8:29pm