What’s this?
Fushihara is a woman who is a “slave” of her company. She meets Yūrei, the ghost girl who wants to help her.
Shachiku-san wa Yо יjo Yuurei ni Iyasaretai. is based on Imari AritaThe manga and broadcasts on Crunchyroll Thursdays.
How was the first episode?
Rebecca Silverman
Classification:
I almost feel bad for giving this show such a low rating, because it’s clearly trying its best. There’s a kind of seriousness to the whole thing that should make it more appealing than it is, a kind of well-meaning cuteness that’s clearly meant to soothe a weary soul. But there’s a fine line between “relaxing” and “boring,” and I’m afraid Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost he crosses it with wild abandon, trying his best to be as charming as possible without really understanding what it is that makes anything sweet.
Mainly that’s because I felt a bit undervalued by the episode. Our protagonist, Fushihara, is overworked by her boss when a ghost baby (or ghost baby) starts telling her to leave the building. The ghost is only concerned for Fushihara’s well-being, also believing that she is paying the woman for onigiri “offerings”; Meanwhile, we know that Fushihara and the other workers have been wondering who keeps stealing their lunches. It’s almost too deliberately lovable to be actually cute, and there’s a real sense that we’re getting hit over the head with things that we should find warm and fuzzy without actually being that way naturally. Things like the ghost baby who sets up a futon for Fushihara and then falls asleep on it reeks of the kind of fabricated childish behavior not many real children exhibit, as if the ghost was written by someone with an academic take on toddlers. without ever having interacted with one.
Granted, it’s a show about a ghost (and a nekomata, a fox, an oni, and a tiny maid, if the opening theme is to be believed), so realism isn’t necessarily something you need to adhere to. But the cloying nature of the episode is just plain off-putting, not to mention the uneven nature of the narrative, which relies as much on the baby’s cuteness as it does on jumps back and forth in time, neither of which quite works. . I’m probably being too picky here, but all the manufactured sweetness in the world failed to capture my attention with this one.
Nicholas Dupree
Classification:
Every time we have one of these shows, I can’t help but feel a little depressed about the whole thing. They’re not very common, but in recent years we always seem to get at least one of these “chill” comedies about an overworked criminal office worker who gets supernatural help from a cute spirit creature. But it’s never about helping the main character find a new job or learn to value himself enough not to work himself into an untimely grave – the spirit is always there to offer some basic comfort and support to make the rise and the grind. be a little more bearable. That’s a premise that just can’t be very fun, especially not with a show as slow and repetitive as this premiere.
Because “slow” is the word for this entire episode. The jokes come with the speed of a sleeping turtle, extending the setup of each joke well past the breaking point, for a punchline that almost always amounts to “Aww, isn’t this little ghost girl just powerful?” and a little more. And that’s before we get into the back half of the episode, which is just a retelling of the previous events from said ghost girl’s perspective, adding very little besides a couple of equally boring jokes. All in all, it feels like a premiere that was planned to be an 8-minute short, and suddenly had to struggle to fill 20 at the last minute. That plodding moment pretty much strangles any chance of a comedic moment, even if the jokes were conceptually funny.
So we’re left with a show that’s depressing when it wants to be moving, and boring or annoying when it wants to be funny. That’s a certified death sentence for any show, and especially one as mild as Little Baby Ghost. I don’t think I’ll ever find one of these shows endearing, something about getting a fairy buddy to make 18-hour workdays a little less soul-destroying, it just tastes like ash in my mouth, but this one is far from be exemplary.