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The Girl Who Can See Them or more commonly called Mieruko-chan is a relaxing and erotic horror-comedy anime that keeps you intrigued by constantly making you feel some sort of strange thrill or happiness for the characters in the series. It sounds a bit crazy I know but keep up with me.
The story revolves around an ordinary high school girl named Miko Yotsuya who suddenly becomes able to see strange existences and ghosts one day that ordinary people can’t see, and she is trying her best to pretend to ignore them every day to live out a normal high school life.
As you can guess from the synopsis and key visuals above, the series really has a full-fledged feature-length horror concept to it. A fresh and unique concept to be honest because the theme hasn’t been explored so much in the anime industry before. If this was the same old pattern horror series, or if the main character was a grown-up instead of a high school girl, I think it wouldn’t have aroused such a commotion in the community. But because it’s a series that went around with the full-scale depiction of ghosts and depictions of high school girls enjoying their daily lives with a well-balanced story with comedy, eroticism, and emotional system without swinging all the way to horror, it became such a hot topic.
All the characters from our protagonists to supporting characters in the series are very likable and sometimes surprisingly relatable to a certain degree. Even the old baba from the shop holds a special place in the viewer’s heart. Furthermore what I really liked about the protagonists especially Miko that unlike other main characters from the series of a similar genre, she didn’t run away from those strange ghosts nor she tried to confront them. She seems like an innocent helpless girl from the outside but really she is a very brave and capable young girl but even with all that she still needs someone by her side, and that person happens to be beautiful energetic Hana Yurikawa which all in all creates a new sense of horror-comedy that seems scary and not scary at the same time.
VA & Music
Voice casts and music are some of the most essential parts of a series especially when you are making a show with horror elements in it. If things are done poorly it can get messed up pretty badly. Anyway, the voice actors were amazing. Kaede Hondo, Ayane Sakura, Sora Amamiya all did an amazing job. Amamiya (Akame /Akame ga Kill, Aqua /KonoSuba, Miia /Monster Musume, Elizabeth Liones /The Seven Deadly Sins, Touka Kirishima / Tokyo Ghoul) also provided the opening theme for the series. OSTs were also good. Kana Utatane (RE-MAIN, Akebi’s Sailor Uniform) managed to mix them with mysteriousness and colorfulness in a way it always felt right with the moment. Nothing too fancy. Nothing stood out but has a nice feel to it.
Media Production: Manga vs Anime
The potential of the original is perfect. Whether or not the anime becomes interesting and entertaining depended on the ability of the animation staff. Considering it was Passione handling the animation and production, I was just hoping for decent quality content but surprisingly they did better. I already talked about voice cast and music but man I was impressed by their animations. Trust me it was not easy to animate and get positive reviews from manga readers. Amazing works there. Until now, I almost didn’t care whenever there was a horror production announcement. Most of them made me laugh rather than caring or appreciating them. But this time, uhmm, it was interesting to see a seriously amazing production. Character designs were also great. With the combinations of spooky graphics with very nice details, and additional to the sound made it an amazing piece of work.
Although I will admit that the manga is a bit scarier than the anime and it handles the tensions and arranges the horror stories slightly better than the anime but still how the composition in the anime version brought a slightly relaxing tone in the media is quite impressive and also wonderful. They were also great with the fanservice. There’re explicit moments such as the scene of pulling down underwear in the bathroom, the navel flicker when rolling up the futon and so many more. It’s a little overkill, but it’s acceptable. I think many people liked it.
Final Thoughts
Mieruko chan feels like a love letter to modern classic Japanese horror anime like Dorohedoro and Zombieland Saga. It’s like reading a Junji Ito manga had it been done by Hideaki Sorachi. At first, I was worried that the flow of ghosts appearing and high school girls desperately trying to get through will be the same every time, and it would be a one-way ticket to the certain kind of enjoyment, but fortunately, there are different kind of variations in how one can enjoy it. It has scenes of a complete horror series, that go beyond any standard CGI animated animations on the market as certainly superior in every way as the show hooks you up with hour-long of relaxing comedic experiences and enjoyment that is rarely seen these days without getting bored.
Fans of chill comedy series and young fans of horror films can certainly enjoy the “dead sure erotic thrill” in a particularly memorable way through this highly attention-grabbing yet relaxing comedy that is targeted at both shounen and seinen audiences. Although since the erotic development in the series is decreasing a little by little, it seems that those who are caught there will be lil bit dissatisfied but nonetheless if you haven’t explored it yet I highly recommend you to watch the series. All in all, it is a comedy work rather than a crazy gutsy horror. So there’s nothing to worry about. It’s available on Muse Asia’s YouTube channel for free in South and Southeast Asia and on Funimation for people outside of Asia.
