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An analysis of Mieruko-Chan

What I liked about it and my predictions for season two

By Ashlea BicknellPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 7 min read
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‘Mieruko-Chan’ is originally a manga, created by Izumi Tomoki. It was adapted into an anime by Studio Passione in 2021. The show is about Miko Yotsuya, a girl who can see spirits who haven’t yet passed over. This anime is described as being a horror comedy and that is accurate. The way the ghosts are animated is horrifying. The first ghost that is introduced is an overweight man, who seems to have had his stomach cut open, which exposes his rib cage, organs, and two severed heads. I am someone who loves horror, but it takes a lot to scare me. I can honestly say, the animation excelled at creeping me out.

The dialogue in the show is when the comedy aspect comes in. An example from the sub is the locker room scene in episode two. Miko and her best friend, Hana Yurikawa, are discussing a cliché movie trope. It’s when a character thinks they are safe, but upon turning around, the threat is right behind. The show utilizes this trope by having Hana ask Miko to check her locker for a severed head. Hana reasons that she saw this happen on TV, so it’s plausible. Being the good friend she is, Miko checks her locker and sees nothing at first. She then looks up and sees a spirit's severed head on the top shelf.

Miko acts as if she hasn’t seen anything and tries to be done with the situation. Hana then asks Miko if she can get her phone down from the top shelf. Miko does and the spirit reacts by screaming at her. She calmly hands Hana her phone and then proceeds to collapse on the floor. While Hana is asking her if she’s okay, Miko can be heard thinking, “I really wish they’d stop with that trope already.”

Head mid-scream

Miko's sarcastic humor, which is a staple of the show, is well represented in both the dub and sub. However, scenes that are meant to be heartfelt, translate better through the dialogue in the sub. This idea is represented well during the scene with Miko’s father.

Spoilers for episode four!

Miko’s father is seen as a constant in Miko’s life. He's always there to see her off to school and comes across as a sweet and loving father. In episode four, Miko buys a chestnut pudding. In a conversation between her mother, father, and brother, it’s revealed that her father ate Her pudding last year. This led to a big fight between Miko and her father. As Miko is getting ready to leave for school, she pauses and instead goes to the fridge to get her pudding. She is seen stepping into another room and it pans to a memorial shrine. The picture in the frame is Miko’s father. It's revealed that Miko has been seeing the spirit of her late father.

Father is revealed to be a spirit that only Miko can see

I watched this scene in both the dub and the sub and compared the dialogue. The dialogue doesn’t make as much of an impact in the dubbed scene because it’s long-winded. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have eaten the one you bought last year. And I kept meaning to apologize to you, but I never quite did it, did I? That’s on me. I let my chance slip away.” Whereas, the sub is more impactful because of its directness. “I’m sorry for eating it last year. I really wanted to apologize to you, but I never got the chance. I never got to make it up to you.” The part where he said he never got to make it up her has more emotional impact than the quote “I let my chance slip away.” Him saying that he let the “chance slip away” makes it seem like he had a choice in the matter. This is not the case, since he died unexpectedly.

The directness of the Sub reflects Miko finally coming to terms with her father’s death. The indirectness of the dubbed dialogue seems to take away from this. It dances around the subject of death, rather than facing it head-on as Miko does in this scene. The sub dialogue also reflects how people communicate naturally; therefore, it adds to the scene. It is opposed to the dub's unnatural dialogue, which takes attention away from it.

End of spoilers!

It seems that the spirits Miko sees can be classified into two categories. Harmless and sinister.

The spirit of the man is one example of a Harmless spirit. Though he is visually terrifying, all he does is ask if Miko can see him and when she doesn’t acknowledge him, he walks away. The second example is the schoolgirl spirit. When Miko is at school, a ghost appears in front of her and mistakes Miko for her sensei. This is apparent when she keeps repeating the phrase, ‘morning sensei’. Or in the dub, its ‘morning teacher.’ It's confirmed that she is a former student of the high school.

Highschool girl ghost

These two ghosts, among others, don’t try to hurt Miko. They both ask Miko if she can see them and when she pretends that she doesn’t, they leave her alone. During the exchange between Miko and the schoolgirl spirit, it’s clear that the spirit is disappointed by Miko’s lack of acknowledgment. This scene alludes to the idea that they can be helped. This is later confirmed by a spirit who is wrapped around a utility pole. It’s heard repeating the same phrase of ‘help me.’

Some sinister spirits become enraged when humans unknowingly do something that they don’t like. In episode ten, a spirit is haunting the substitute teacher, Zen. She screams at people who are interacting with Zen to not look at him. This is quite difficult since he is a teacher.

In episode 12, Miko confronts the spirit about setting Zen free. The spirit charges at her in an attempt to harm her. However, before it can, Miko is protected by the fox spirits of the shrine she visited in episode six. These fox spirits have the power to banish spirits that are wanting to harm Miko. The deal, however, is that they can only do this three times. This is the third time.

Shrine fox spirits

At the end of season one, I’m left with some assumptions about what season two will entail. A big part of the comedic element of the show is that Miko ignores the terrifying spirits around her. She has her reasons for some, for example, the two sinister spirits I discussed before. However, in episode twelve, she faces the spirit haunting Zen, head-on. This character development suggests that Miko will start acknowledging the spirits around her.

The ghosts of the disemboweled man and the high school girl are seen asking if Miko can see them and the ghost wrapped around the pole is heard asking for help. It seems that Miko will eventually acknowledge them and assist them in finishing their unfinished business. This could result in them crossing over.

The fox spirits of the shrine have fulfilled their end of the bargain, which was to exorcise three malevolent spirits to protect Miko. This implies that Miko might have the power to banish spirits on her own, but she needs to develop this skill. Maybe a new character will be introduced to help her with this.

Overall, I found the anime to be very enjoyable. The balance between horror and comedy is done well. If you like horror, I recommend giving this anime a watch.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story. It truly means a lot. Feel free to drop a like if you wanna see more content like this and subscribe if you want to read more content by me :)

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About the Creator

Ashlea Bicknell

Writing has always been and will continue to be one of my biggest passions

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