English Dub Review: Mieruko-chan “Did You See That?”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Yulia’s determined to get Miko to reveal her true powers to her and accept that Yulia’s a seer, just like her! Maybe a trip to a haunted tunnel will do the trick?

Our Take:

The second half of Mieruko-chan is underway, which means more ghostly problems arrive for both Miko and Yulia. Following her actual appearance in its fifth episode, “She Sees Them, Too”, Yulia Niguredo is back to get revenge on Miko for “humiliating” her. So what better way to do that than with a photoshoot?

The episode sees Hana taking up photography as a hobby after receiving tons of likes for a photo of herself and Miko at the shrine. Yulia sees this as an opportunity to force Miko to admit that she sees the spirits too. However, the only way to do that is to go through a creepy tunnel full of low-level ghosts.

I can easily admit that Yulia seeing Miko as a threat was a bit excessive. She even takes Miko’s offering of her doughnut as a sign of intimidation. However, the episode does try to make Yulia a sympathetic and paranoid outcast because of her ability. This was something that I do appreciate regarding Yulia’s development, and I hope we get to see more of that later on.

The plot itself is basically Yulia attempting to make Miko admit that she can also see the ghosts. But of course, it proved to be easier said than done because Yulia can only see the lesser-powerful ghosts, unlike Miko. There are also a couple of moments where Yulia believes that Miko is effortlessly exorcising the ghosts, but it was actually the high-level spirit that’s devouring them.

The different perspectives of Miko and Yulia prove to be the interesting aspects of their complicated “rivalry” so far. While the two characters have the same gift, that doesn’t mean that one is as powerful as the other. As I said earlier, Yulia can only see the low-level spirits and not the giant one that’s eating them, while Miko sees every ghost in existence, especially the ones in the photographs. This makes the dynamic between the two intriguing enough to make their beliefs essential. If their abilities had the same amount of power as one another, it would’ve made the chemistry far less engaging. So kudos to writer Kenta Ihara for understanding this.

Overall, “Did You See That” is as delightful (and spooky) as Hana’s photos of Miko and the spirits. It’s another enjoyable episode that sees more of Yulia’s development towards Miko and Hana despite her paranoia towards the former. Plus, it isn’t without its share of decent humor, mainly Yulia getting squeezed by Hana’s hug.