Mieruko-chan – 04

「やっぱり見える」 (Yappari Mieru)
“Yep, She Sees Them”

The latest Mieruko-chan gives us a glance into Miko’s home life as she has to dodge ghosts even within the comfort of her own house. As she struggles to deal with her supernatural problems, however, she’s able to find some solace through her younger brother, Kyousuke.

MIKO’S FAMILY

Much of this episode centered around the predicaments that Kyousuke went through to figure out why Miko is so secretive about what she’s going through. It’s amusing to see him try to put in the detective work to try to see whether she has a more believable issue like trying to hide a relationship. At the same time, being able to relax with Kyousuke or focus on him to direct her attention away from a horrid spirit is something that Miko can use to avoid having to deal with the harsh reality of seeing ghosts on a regular basis.

There is one reveal at the end of the episode that I teared up a little at; the fact that Miko’s father has been dead this whole time and we’ve just been seeing a ghost whenever he shows up on-screen. I only say “a little” because once the grief washed over, I was more curious about his whereabouts throughout the past four episodes.

In this episode alone, he’s got a newspaper in hand at the breakfast table, and could possibly be aware that he shares his afterlife with ghouls that terrorize Miko. It calls to question if he has any kind of communication with Miko, if he’s done anything to try to help her out to avoid the monstrous spirits, and if, eventually, we can get some moments where she communicates with her dad or gets advice from him.

NO PRIVACY

Her father being a ghost also calls attention to the sad reality that Miko faces on a regular basis. Deep down, this is a really depressing story about a girl who has no way of achieving peace when she’s regularly traumatized by hideous ghosts everywhere she goes. On top of this, she also has to contend with seeing anyone who has died in front of her, including her own father who can constantly remind her that he’s not alive anymore.

The last half of the episode is the most depressing it’s gotten yet considering how each new malicious spirit finds its way inside of her home. No matter what measures she takes, she’ll be forced to deal with a new batch of spirits haunting her television, her kitchen table, and even the bathroom. The bathtub scene might have been reminiscent of the scene where Nancy nearly falls asleep bathing in A Nightmare on Elm Street, but it just made me think how horrible it must be to face what Miko has to. There’s no space to just breathe or relax. Just ghosts.

GONNA GET WEIRD WITH IT

One of the funnier scenes in the episode does call into question if there’s a watchful protector that is overlooking Miko’s ordeals. When Miko’s hubris ends up backfiring as she sees funny tiny old man spirits leading her to a monstrous ghoul, she’s saved at the last minute by a crow that is seemingly aware of the situation and steals the coin that she lost. But from the looks of it, it feels like the crow was far too keen on what was going on for it to be just a fluke that it swooped in to save Miko at the last minute. Hopefully, we’ll see if that ends up coming to fruition and Miko will have someone to help her navigate through this ghost-riddled world she’s been tearfully encountering every day.