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SPOILERS for Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night below!_

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ProductionAnimation was fantastic, the vivid color palettes and sharp creative vision of the animators combined to present a visual experience that I think was truly flawless. Camera work was great to, I especially love the scene in the final episode where the re painting of the mural is shown through the POV of a phone camera, it really made the scene feel more sentimental and personal in a way.

Sound design made heavy use of synths alongside a myriad of other more digital sounding instruments and sounds, creating a cohesive and stylized soundtrack experience that was enjoyable and fit the show nicely. Not to mention, the songs performed by the various musical groups in the show were good as well, which should be a given considering that music is a big focus of the anime as a whole.

Plot & CharactersJellyfish Can't swim in the night consistently deals with a theme of feeling lost in the world that I think many people, including myself, can relate to. The characters throughout the show constantly struggle with figuring out what they want to do with their individual lives as well as with their group JELEE, and I think this struggle is best portrayed by the main character Mahiru. Mahiru's character arc is a real highlight of this show for me, as she deals with feelings of mediocrity and wanting to get better at drawing so that she can stand on stage with the others, who she feels are special and talented while she is not, the episodes that focus on her struggle with this were the most gripping to me. Kiui also gets treated to some great development, I honestly didn't like her very much at first but found that she grew on me by the time the show was over. Kiui learns to accept herself throughout the show while dealing with bullies at her school, and I think her story will resonate with anyone who has been ridiculed for enjoying things that others see as "nerdy."

With all that being said, I think the plot is actually the weakest point of the show. The theming is handled well, but trying to fit so much character development and melodrama into only 12 episodes really took its toll on the pacing of the show as a whole. There are many plot points throughout the show that I think just got wrapped up too quickly, a lot of the drama and points of tension would be introduced at the beginning of an episode only for it to be resolved by the end of that same episode. Another thing that really bothered me was Kano's relationship with her mom and Mero, throughout the show Kano talks about how she feels her mom used her for her own benefit, and how she has a strong dislike for Mero, only for all of this to be seemingly forgiven by the end of the show with practically zero dialogue between these characters. It just felt unsatisfying, this combined with the rather odd pacing led me to believe that the plot was really just ok, not great, but not terrible.

ConclusionPROS: + Fantastic animation + A relatable theme that is explored fairly well + Solid character development from the main characters

CONS:

• Pacing is too fast, could've used more episodes
• The drama leaves a lot to be desired

Jellyfish Can't swim in the night is definitely worth a watch, but if you are looking for a more serious music based drama, then it might leave you unsatisfied by the time you are done