Streaming: Funimation
Episodes: 12
Source: Manga
Episode Summary: Miko is a seemingly ordinary girl whose daily life would be familiar to most. She wakes up, goes to school, spends all day in class, and then takes the bus back home again. As uninteresting as that may seem, Miko’s days are defined by one very specific quirk of hers – she’s able to see and sense apparitions all around her, wherever she goes.
It’s all that Miko can do to keep herself from running away screaming at every turn, but she has come up with a way to cope – as long as she doesn’t acknowledge these supernatural beings or let on that she can see them, she believes that they’ll eventually leave her alone. However, keeping up this act may be more than she’s able to bear.
Impressions: “Ignore them, and they’ll leave you alone…” it’s the sort of advice your parents give you when you’re being hassled by bullies at school. In a sense, the ghosts and ghouls of Mieruko-chan are a little bit like schoolyard tormenters, since mostly what they seem to want to do is just get some sort of reaction out of their target. The advice seems sound on the surface; supposedly, people whose one goal in life is to get a rise out of you will move along elsewhere once they realize their prodding will never bear fruit. Unfortunately, life is often much more complicated than that, and sometimes things that seem logical don’t turn out to be that way. With the rise in influence of the internet in particular, the old adage “don’t feed the trolls” has occasionally turned out to do more harm than good. Instead, decisive action is needed to cleanse your internet territory of those who’d rather make it into a cesspool.
The central “gag” of this horror-comedy series is that Miko absolutely can see the monsters that no one else is aware of, but through sheer force of will manages to give off the impression that they’re invisible to her eyes. I suppose watching her squirm and fight the urge to scream is entertaining for a while, but it’s kind of a one-note joke without a whole ton of obvious variations. There are only so many places one goes in a day, and only so many situations where a ghost leaning in and shoving its face into one’s line of sight could potentially cause a unique reaction.
And that may simply be the extent of what happens throughout the series. Yet, the fact that Miko seems resigned to this solution leads me to believe that there might be more. After she returns home late in the episode, Miko lays out a plate of salt to try to dispel the evil that’s been lurking around her. It’s not the solution she seeks, but at least it’s an attempt at something other than simply waiting and hoping for a change. Sometimes to handle the internet trolls you have to be willing to hand out a few perma-bans. Maybe to handle some unfriendly ghosts, you have to throw around a little salt.
Pros: The episode does a good job of ramping up the tension. For nearly the entire first half, there are only vague glimpses of things that Miko might be seeing, and more often than not there’s nothing actually there to be seen. There’s a feeling of creeping dread that builds until Miko finds herself at the bus stop with a terrifyingly-malfunctioning cell phone. Horror is difficult; I’d put it on par with comedy as far as the challenge of cultivating a certain mood in the audience. This episode is solid in that regard.
Cons: This episode is weirdly fanservice-y at times. Fear and sex often go hand-in-hand; I’ve heard it’s something related to the similar ways the human brain reacts in both circumstances. That said, the premise of this series seems mostly non-sexual and yet the camera seems just as focused on Miko’s butt and thighs as it is on whatever terrors may be lurking in the shadows.
As I mentioned above, the premise is a little bit one-note. Hopefully the formula is able to incorporate a little more variety over time.
Content Warnings: Mild Fanservice (visible panty lines through clothing, visible bra through translucent blouse, low-angle shots of characters). Mild body horror.
Would I Watch More? – This first episode got me interested enough to check out a few more episodes. The manga comes recommended by a few friends of mine and I’ve heard that the fanservice fades into the background a bit, so I’m certainly willing to give it another shot. It’s the Halloween season, after all, and this series is thematically in that vein.