Given the ending of the last episode, I was worried that Jellyfish‘s final stretch would be all doom and gloom. This episode does get dramatic from time to time but it does have its fair share of levity to keep things from getting too depressing. Case in point, we have Mei and Kiui briefly filling in for Kano and Mahiru at the cafe they work, while the former wants some space and the latter works on her art for Yukine. I was wondering why those Mei and Kiui don’t work at the cafe but after this episode, I can see why. Mei easily gets flustered, Kiui hates people, and both don’t seem to be good at being on time. Naturally, Kano and Mahiru’s manager Honami (Hekiru Shiina) eventually decides to fire them. Oh well, it was funny while it lasted.
While handing out tissues to promote the cafe, Mei runs into Mero and she tries to ask the idol about Kano. Mero tries to shrug Mei off but being the stalker super fan that she is, Mei keeps tracking her down. Eventually the two talk when Mei reveals she is a member of JELEE. You’d think Mei would feel a little awkward around Mei, what with her being the other person involved in Kano’s scandal, but that doesn’t appear to the case. There’s a couple of times where Mei fangirls over Mero, even getting flustered when the idol kisses her in the cheek. I guess it’s a good thing Kano is around to see any of this.
Mero gives Mei a pretty blunt truth: she only sings because she wants to impress Yukine. She reckons that Kano is in the same boat as her, which is an accurate comment given what we know about Kano. On her way home, Mero remarks on the fact that Kano has friends now while also reflecting on her time as LookIdiot. I expected to hate Mero but after these scenes, I instead find myself pitying her. The girl has a very strong case of self-loathing. She’s fully aware that Yukine is using her; she only bears with it because it at least makes her feel useful. Her comment on Kano having friends suggests that she thinks she doesn’t have any and it sounds like she envies her former groupmate a bit. It also seems like she isn’t proud of her work as LookIdiot. Like, she did it to feel better about herself but now that she’s been divorced from that persona, she realizes what a terrible person she is. I don’t know if there’s time to explore her character but I’m curious what more could be done with her character.
Mei confronts Kano about what she’s learned from Mero, leading Kano to admit that she indeed created JELEE so that Yukine pays attention to her again. Kano also acknowledges the fact that she acted a lot like her mother in the last episode and that makes her feel that she’s been using Mahiru and the others the whole time. Disgusted with herself, Kano tells Mei that she wants JELEE to disband. While not this isn’t the decision I want Kano to make, I do like how quickly she realized the similarity between her mother and herself and how badly she doesn’t want to end like her mother.
Mahiru doesn’t really play much of a role in this episode. In fact, she refuses to help with the situation when asked by Kiui. Part of that is because she’s busy working for Yukine and I frankly find that frustrating. Like wow, some friend you are, Mahiru. Then again, Mahiru is right that she probably couldn’t do much anyway. Kano would likely not accept anything she says to her right now. It would also not be a good look if Mahiru were to abandon her job. She’s made her choice; she has to see through it to the end.
With help from Shizue and Ariel, Kiui and Mei hold a joint livestream so that they can share the bad news to JELEE’s fans. Apparently, Shizue has decided to be a foodie livestreamer. Jellyfish did establish that Shizue is a big eater but I don’t know, this isn’t the direction I expected to see with this character. What happened to being an idol in your 30s? I love how supportive Shizue is of JELEE. She’s the one who convinces Kiui to go through a livestream, even though the group is in disarray.
Kiui plays an unfinished song as a parting gift to the fans though this plan goes south when Mei decides to sing the lyrics as some form of protest against JELEE’s disbandment. Per Shizue’s suggestion, Kiui rushes over to Kano’s apartment so that the latter can see the livestream. I guess this was a sort of Chekhov’s gun. We know that Mei sucks at singing but since the show established it, it pretty much had to have her to do it at some point. Even putting that aside, this does have a purpose in the episode. Mei is putting herself in a vulnerable and embarrassing position, even eliciting some confused or rude comments from the chat, but that goes to show how desperate she is to see JELEE live on. This is about as honest as she can get with her feelings. I’m not familiar with Miyuri Shimabukuro’s work as a singer but she has a couple of music credits so she probably is singing bad on purpose here. Whatever the case may be, she sure does a convincing job in this scene.
I frankly find Kano’s arc a little repetitive here. I thought in Episode 8, Kano had found a reason to meaningful reason to sing besides anything involving her past. And yet here she is, acting like she was solely trying to get her mother to notice her. But whatever, Mei succeeds in convincing Kano to keep JELEE alive. I’m very curious about Mei’s confession of love towards Kano. Given everything with Kano and Mahiru, I don’t think there is any reason not to assume that Mei’s feelings really are romantic in nature. But that only complicates the presumed romance in the story. Is Kano going to have pick someone at the end of this show? I’d imagine she’d still pick Mahiru in the end but then, what is the show going to do with Mei?
After the ED, Kiui discovers that some people have deduced that she’s the real identity of Nox. Much to her concern, someone she’s familiar with contacts her about this. This seemed inevitable since both Kano and Mahiru have been identified and anyone curious about Nox’s identity would only have two candidates to pick from. Wow, it’s like their impromptu concert in Episode 6 was a bad idea or something. I love how it continues to haunt theme. Honestly, it feels weird that a Kiui-centric episode might be next when we’re still in the middle of the drama between Kano and Mahiru. To be fair however, it’d be a disservice not to give everyone their own episode at the end.
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