, abbreviated as , is an original anime television series produced by Doga Kobo for its 50th anniversary. Set in Shibuya, this series follows four Japanese girls, an illustrator, an idol, a music composer, and a VTuber, who form the band JELEE to become a global phenomenon.
The series was directed by Ryà Âhei Takeshita and aired from April to June 2024. A manga adaptation illustrated by Niko Fujii was serialized on Kodansha's Magazine Pocket manga website from April to December 2024. The series is licensed in North America and Australia by Sentai Filmworks and is streaming through its Hidive platform.
Four girls, Mahiru Kouzuki, an illustrator who stops drawing, Kano Yamanouchi, a former idol who wants to prove herself with singing, Nox Ryà «gasaki, the self-proclaimed "strongest" VTuber, and Kimura-chan, a mysterious composer who wants to support her favorite person, together form an anonymous artist group, JELEE.
On March 24, 2023, Doga Kobo announced it was producing an original television anime series titled Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night, which would be scheduled to premiere in 2024, with its story taking place in Shibuya. Later, three more batches of teaser PVs and teaser visuals were released on May 12, July 28, and October 23, 2023, respectively. According to director Ryà Âhei Takeshita, the teaser PVs were produced in live action, mainly because he did not want to strain the resources from the production of the anime series, and partly because he wanted to attempt to create something in live action. On November 1, 2023, its first fully animated PV was released, together with cast and staff announced, as well as the series' premiere in April 2024. On February 7, 2024, the second PV was released, as well as the series' premiere on April 7.
An advance screening of the first two episodes was held on March 3, 2024, at Marunouchi Piccadilly, Tokyo, with live broadcast in four cinemas in Saitama, Aichi, Osaka, and Miyazaki respectively.
The screenwriter, Yà «ki Yaku, the art director, Yà «ji Kaneko, and the editor, Kashiko Kimura were all invited by Ryà Âhei Takeshita to the crew. Ryà Âhei Takeshita said the production of the anime has been completed already on Twitter on April 11, 2024.
The series is created by JELEE, and takes place in Shibuya, Tokyo. Produced by Doga Kobo, it is directed by Ryà Âhei Takeshita, with series composition by Yà «ki Yaku, original character designs by popman3580, and designs adapted for animation by Junichirà  Taniguchi. The series aired from April 7 to June 23, 2024, on Tokyo MX and other networks. The opening theme is , performed by KanoeRana, while the ending theme is , performed by Anna Tsurushima. The series is licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America, Australia, and British Isles. Muse Communication licensed the series in Asia-Pacific.
A manga adaptation illustrated by Niko Fujii was serialized on Kodansha's Magazine Pocket manga website from April 7 to December 1, 2024. Four tankà Âbon volumes have been released.
A light novel adaptation, written by Yà «ki Yaku and illustrated by popman3580, was published in three volumes under Shogakukan's Gagaga Bunko imprint from May 20 to July 18, 2024.
The anime series' first episode garnered generally positive reviews from Anime News Network's staff during the Spring 2024 season previews. James Beckett gave high praise to Yoru and Kano's "immediately compelling relationship" and the overall production for displaying the characters' "weight and heft" during the musical and dramatic scenes. Richard Eisenbeis praised the overarching plot involving Yoru's crippling peer pressure and her interactions with Kano, saying "all signs point to this being a journey worth watching." Rebecca Silverman was critical of the show's "meandering conversations" over "highly symbolic images" and unsure if it can sustain this storytelling style, but was optimistic for Yoru's artistic rediscovery and relationship with Kano. Nicholas Dupree was critical of the show spelling out its characters' problems by hammering them with "blunt metaphors", but gave praise to the visual artistry for its nighttime Shibuya backgrounds and showing "elastic vibrancy" in the character designs, saying "Jellyfish is playing with ideas and themes that I love and clearly has the artistic ambition to make the journey a pleasant one. I can forgive a few fumbles when a show is this earnest and delightful."
Zhang Yi from The paper stated that after the "stunning" first episode, "the plot of the whole anime steadily declined in quality." He criticized the anime is trapped in an awkward position of being "dreamy, yet not dreamy enough" that failing to deliver pure relax while rendering the narrative conflicts overly superficial, describing the first episode of the series as a "fraud".