AKA: “The Girl Who Can See Them”, 見える子ちゃん

Genre: Horror Comedy

Studio: Passione

Episodes: 12

Seasons: 1

Available On: Crunchyroll, Funimation

Imagine you can see spirits but you actively ignore them. In fact, you go out of your way to pretend they don’t exist. That’s essentially what Mieruko-chan is about but adds in some comedic and dark twists. Before you read any further I also want to put up some trigger warnings since the show does touch on some uncomfortable subjects such as Animal Harm and Miscarriage.

Production

Passione is a production company that this is honestly my first time hearing. Granted, I haven’t watched any of the shows they’ve produced aside from Mieruko-chan but there are a few titles I’m familiar with such as Higurashi: When They Cry, Citrus, and High School DxD.

Summary

Miko Yotsuya is in high school and has the ability to see spirits that haunt her and other people. The series follows her as she tries to lead a normal life, ignoring the spiritual activity near her. She also tries to protect others from being haunted while pretending she doesn’t see the spirits. This is where the comedy comes in. Just picture being able to see the most horrendous, obnoxious spirit in front of you and you have to ignore it. Each scene I applauded her because I would’ve lost it. I mean, what if the spirit of Leatherface was in front of me with a chainsaw?

There’s a mature vibe to this show as well. Miko is dealing with a lot even if she tries to suppress it. I can’t say this show is 100% kid friendly but like I said, there are some moments where the subject matter can be heavy. Most notably, it touches on dealing with death and grieving.

One instance is a teacher at her school having to take maternity leave. Miko sees a spirit attached to the teacher’s womb, learning that the teacher had previously miscarried and the spirit was there to protect its sibling. Another would be during the background of Zen, the mysterious teacher Miko is weary of.

Growing up, Zen’s mother was very controlling and didn’t like the idea of anyone getting close to him. In order to cope, Zen found a stray cat and tried to take care of it secretly. This however did not last as his mother found out and subsequently murdered the cat. This causes him to always help stray cats but since there is someone going around murdering cats, Miko suspects him due to his ‘creepy’ nature.

The mc is also sees the spirit of her father. Before he died, she was upset that he ate one of her favorite puddings. Since then, he was able to apologize and she was able to get closure. The show had some light-heartedness to it while also addressing real life situations such as abuse and death.

Characters

Miko Yotsuya

She is the MC and is able to see spirits and does a good job at avoiding them. Currently, she’s in high school.

Hana Yurikawa

MC’s best friend. She can’t see spirits but they are attracted to her high life energy due to her eating an enormous amount. Because of this, she attracts a lot of spirits and they feed from her energy. This causes her to become sick but she can recharge by eating.

Yuria Niguredou

Described as MC’s rival, she also is able to see spirits. However, since her awareness is weak, she can only see lower level as opposed to the scarier ones Miko can see.

Zen Toono

He’s the substitute teacher for Miko and Hana’s homeroom teacher due to her taking maternity leave. At first, Miko thought he was a psychopath without any emotions. There were also a string of cat murders happening and he was the main suspect in Miko’s eyes. However, it’s later revealed that he actually loves cats due to a traumatic experience as a child.

Pros

Gives different perspectives on death and grieving
Healthy sibling relationship
Comfortable length with only 12 episodes

Cons

Unnecessary Fanservice shots
Mentions animal harm

Conclusion

There were a lot of things I felt this anime did well. One of them was to only have 12 episodes. I’m sure they could’ve dragged everything out but it was nice they didn’t. Surprisingly, I didn’t get tired of the new spirits Miyo encountered. Usually, shows with a reoccurring theme can wear out pretty fast but there were more elements to it. Everything tied together nicely and I wouldn’t mind a second season. My only, teeeeeeny, tiny complaint was it wasn’t scary at all. You can tell there were moments when they were wanting a scene to be a jump scare but I didn’t jump. Not to say it was predictable, you just knew when a face was going to pop up. Other than that, anyone who loves a good horror comedy should give this a try.

Now, there were some things I thought were unnecessary. For example, I was getting a lot of fan service vibes, especially with Miyo’s friend Hana. It was like they made her the ‘dumb blonde’ with big boobs and super short skirts. If she wasn’t in the show, it wouldn’t have made a difference to me. Also, there were some moments where the camera was just like…lingering on the girl’s legs or butt for no reason at all. That’s why I docked an onigiri because that part wasn’t enjoyable.

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