Mieruko-chan is an underrated horror comedy anime gem that manages to be equal parts scary, funny, and heartwarming all at once.

Summary

• Mieruko-chan is a unique horror comedy anime that blends scares, humor, and heartwarming moments, making it an underrated gem for horror fans.
• While not overly scary, the series has unsettling ghosts that Miko ignores, leading to hilarious results. Tense scenes with malevolent spirits provide some true scares.
• The series' greatest strength is its humor, with entertaining banter among characters and Miko's hilarious reactions to creepy ghosts. It also has surprisingly beautiful and emotional moments.

Originally a webcomic published on the art hosting website Pixiv, the horror comedy series Mieruko-chan was originally released in 2018 and received an anime adaptation in 2021. The series follows Miko Yotsuya, a high school student who suddenly gains the ability to see ghosts and tries to deal with this problem, and, by ignoring it and hoping it goes away, Mieruko-chan manages to be genuinely creepy, funny, and even heartwarming at times. This unique blend of emotions makes Mieruko-chan an underrated gem that more horror anime fans should watch.

The title is a pun based on Miko's name that's hard to explain in English, but works out to something like "Miss Able-To-See Them", with "them" being the ghosts that Miko sees wherever she goes. Despite not being especially scary, Mieruko-chan is still one of the best horror anime on Crunchyroll. This is thanks to its unique premise and horror comedy angle, which is made clear in the description of the series provided on Crunchyroll:

She can see dead people… she just chooses to ignore them. That’s Miko’s plan, anyway, with horrifying (and sometimes hilarious) results.

Mieruko-chan is a Unique Mix of Scares, Humor, and Heartwarming Moments

Mieruko-chan (2021)

Fans of traditional horror might actually be disappointed by the amount of scares in Mieruko-chan. As unsettling as many of the ghosts encountered by Miko can be, most of them don't actually do anything. Miko's ongoing attempts to avoid dealing with the ghosts by pretending they are there are largely successful and drive much of the humor. There are some tense scenes as Miko and her friends are actively menaced by more malevolent spirits. When simply running away is insufficient to escape from them, Miko is saved by the mysterious and highly creepy fox god she accidentally summons while praying at a local shrine.

Even more than the creepy aspects of Mieruko-chan, the series' greatest strength is its sense of humor. Ghosts notwithstanding, Miko and her friends are fairly typical high school anime characters. Miko and her friends and family have a brilliantly written rapport and engage in really entertaining banter. At the same time, Miko's reactions to creepy ghosts suddenly popping up in weird places are always hilarious. In light of the horror comedy angle, Mieruko-chan also has several surprisingly heartwarming moments. There are several moments where Miko witnesses benevolent ghosts assisting their living relatives and even helps them perform one last act of kindness for their relatives before helping them move on. These moments have genuinely beautiful emotional weight and a very good thematic counterpoint to the scares and jokes in the rest of the series.

One of the biggest complaints about the anime adaptation is the series' over-reliance on fan service. While it's never anything explicit, there's a tendency to frame the characters in suggestive positions, even during the anime's creepier moments. This was present in the original manga version of Mieruko-chan, though it was ultimately abandoned as the manga continued. The fan service in the anime is frequent enough that it may turn off some viewers, but Mieruko-chan is still a worthwhile series to watch.

Mieruko-chan may not be as overtly scary as some other classic horror anime. Even so, it's a highly memorable and unique blend of scares, jokes, and genuinely touching moments. There isn't really another horror comedy quite like Mieruko-Chan, making it an underrated gem that more Horror fans should watch.

The anime adaptation of Mieruko-Chan is available to stream on Crunchyroll, and the official English release of the manga is available on the Crunchyroll Store.

Watch Mieruko-Chan now on Crunchyroll