It’s much more complicated than one might think.
Summary:
- Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night is a very weird title.
- The original title is a multi-layered wordplay in Japanese.
- The English translation loses some of the nuance.
Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night (Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai) is one of the more intriguing series this season. An original anime following a group of young women forming a street band, it has been praised for its amazing direction and animation, as well as for a realistic approach to drama.
And that’s just from the first two episodes!
That said, the title of the series might be very confusing. It’s hard to figure out what it is about just from the name. There’s a lot to unpack there, and the translation is somewhat weird — but that’s on purpose, as the original is also pretty unusual.
The Complicated Wordplay of the Original Title
“Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night” is a very weird sentence. A more grammatically correct construction would have been “at night,” but the existing translation is definitely intentional, as the original is intentionally ambiguous.
This translation wasn’t even chosen by the licensor — we see it on multiple previously released key visuals. The reason for this is that “jellyfish” doesn’t refer to any random jellyfish, but rather to the band in question, which is named JELEE — which is derived from jellyfish.
Presumably, the characters will form a street band that will perform during the night, which here might also be referring to the night city life.
The “Yoru no Kurage” part of the original title is also a wordplay. The main character’s pseudonym is “Kurage Yoru,” which also means “night jellyfish,” but in the Japanese name, both words are written differently from the way they’re written in the anime title.
The jellyfish is also their mascot, and another possible translation is “Yoru’s Jellyfish Can’t Swim.”
The Translation Isn’t Perfect
This is not the first time a wordplay in a Japanese anime title has been lost in translation, nor will it be the last. The original is intentionally weird and ambiguous, and while that part is retained in the translation, most of the nuance is lost.
Still, the symbolism behind the title — and the jellyfish — is there. It’s undoubtedly relevant to the story, but while only two episodes are out, fans can only speculate on how exactly.
However, with the attention the series is getting, it seems that its weird title was actually part of the reason for its success.
The series already has quite a following, and fans can’t wait for the next episode: it seems to be a healthy mix of slice-of-life and drama, and a realistic take on both genres.