First Impressions: Mieruko-chan

I am deeply uncomfortable.

Mieruko-chan is that manga that makes the rounds on tumblr every few months for being extremely good, about the teenage girl who tries to pretend she doesn’t see ghosts. I haven’t read the manga outside of that, but I don’t remember what’s drifted across my dash having the same uncomfortable fixation with Miko’s body? I remember the camera maintaining fairly normal behavior throughout the admittedly little I’ve seen of it, and according to the expert I consulted, that’s pretty much how the camera acts from page one.

There’s a certain amount of discomfort inherent in any good horror property. That’s to be expected. Horror isn’t meant to be comfortable. But the general discomfort of knowing something awful is, or soon will be, happening is far more palatable than the discomfort born of the anime’s insistence on letting its camera settle on Miko’s thighs as she sits down, or lies down, or pulls her underwear down to use the toilet. Is this supposed to be setting something up? Are they trying to make us uncomfortable? Is it supposed to be (god forbid) somehow sexy?

I don’t know. It’s mostly just very uncomfortable and distracting. I can’t tell you anything about the characters except that Hana’s probably haunted, likely by a ghost that starved to death judging from the fact she’s constantly starving, and also, Miko just randomly starts seeing ghosts and defaults to my preferred tactic of dealing with hallucinations or paranoia, which is to ignore them until they go away.

Anyway, I like what I’ve seen on tumblr of the manga. Go read the manga. Maybe wait to see if the anime is really committed to these weird closeups before checking it out, though.