Rena Nounen to star in live-action "Princess Jellyfish" film

By kevin on April 17, 2014 at 7:17am EDT

On Thursday it was announced that Rena Nounen will star in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Akiko Higashimura’s manga Princess Jellyfish (Kuragehime). Nounen, who also stars in the massively popular NHK drama Amachan, will play an otaku girl whose main geek obsession is jellyfish.

The manga was first serialized in Kodansha’s Kiss magazine in 2008 and became popular with fans due to its unique characters and humor, reaching a total circulation of over 2.7 million copies to date. In 2010, an anime version aired as part of Fuji TV’s “noitamina” nighttime animation programming block.

The story revolves around a group of young otaku women, each with their own specific area of interest, who all live together at an apartment complex called “Amamizukan” in Tokyo. In general the women tend to shun the need for having any men around, and thus refer to themselves as “Amars” (nuns).

Supporting cast members include Masaki Suda as Kuranosuke, Hiroki Hasegawa as the woman-fearing Shu, Chizuru Ikewaki as railway otaku Banba, Lina Ohta as Three Kingdoms otaku Mayaya, singer Tomoe Shinohara as old man enthusiast Jiji, and Azusa Babazono of the comedy duo “Asian” as Japanophile Chieko.

Nounen’s character Tsukimi is an aspiring illustrator who befriends a young woman at a local tropical fish shop who actually turns out to be a cross-dressing young man named Kuranosuke. Soon, Amamizukan is threatened with demolition and Kuranosuke begins helping the girls become successful in order to save their beloved apartment building.

Taisuke Kawamura (Nodame Cantabile, L DK) will direct the film and Toshiya Ohno (Watashi no Yasashikunai Senpai) is handling the screenplay. In addition, Kumiko Iijima—who’s recently designed outfits for colorful pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu — is in charge of the film’s costumes.

Filming of “Princess Jellyfish” is set to begin in May, with a release planned for December 2014.

Sources: Eiga.com, Anime News Network