Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 02 (Too Adorable! #しゃちされたい)

April 14th, 2022

AstroNerdBoy

Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 02
社畜さんは幼女幽霊に癒されたい 02
Shachiku-san wa Yо̄jo Yuurei ni Iyasaretai Episode 02
Shachiku-san Wants to be Healed by a Little Girl Ghost

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Fushihara’s coworker checks on Fushihara before leaving. That night, Fushihara’s illness is getting to her. As such, she goes to have a lie down, but sleeps longer than she wanted. When she wakes, a tape player is playing a message from Yuurei-chan for her to go home. Yuurei-chan is asleep at Fushihara’s feet. She wakes and is distressed when Fushihara won’t go home. However, when Yuurei-chan offers to go to Fushihara’s home, Fushihara decides to go home immediately.

At home, Fushihara struggles to work. Yuurei-chan cleans her small apartment. Eventually, Fushihara finishes and falls asleep. Yuurei-chan finishes cleaning and makes onigiri. She recalls when she was alive (pre-war Japan) and worried about her mom overworking. Yuurei-chan finds that Fushihara’s scent is similar to her mom’s, though Fushihara is not her mom.

The next day, Fushihara’s kohai, Shino-chan, is working late. Shino-chan admires her senpai and wants to be of assistance. Yuurei-chan notices this and does stuff to help her. Shino-chan cannot see Yuurei-chan and gets a little freaked out since there are rumors of a ghost haunting the office. When Shino-chan falls asleep at her desk, Yuurei-chan leaves her a note. Shino-chan thinks it is from Fushihara and gives her a crying hug of thanks.

Thoughts/Review:

We get more adorable Yuurei-chan in Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 02.

Adorable but Uneven

As will be the case for this series, Yuurei-chan is as adorable as ever in Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 02. The episode gives us some backstory for Yuurei-chan, explaining why she’s so keen on Fushihara. While the episode (and source manga) have Yuurei-chan state that Fushihara isn’t her “Kaka-sama”, I think it is possible that Fushihara is Yuurei-chan’s reincarnated mother. But we’ll see.

I loved that Yuurei-chan went home with Fushihara. Generally speaking, Japanese ghosts usually are bound to an area. So I’m glad that the story isn’t following that trope. But alas, Yuurei-chan did return to the office building. Well, it is technically her home, so I suppose that makes sense. But now that’s she’s become somewhat attached to Fushihara, it would make sense for Yuurei-chan to just live with Fushihara.

The introduction on Shino-chan didn’t work for me in the episode. It didn’t feel right. She cannot see Yuurei-chan. And Yuurei-chan treats Shino-chan kindly, but doesn’t do the normal “Get out!” routine. That aside, Shino-chan feels like an intrusion. I mean, the PROPER English translation of the title is Shachiku-san Wants to be Healed by a Little Girl Ghost. So the story should be about Fushihara and Yuurei-chan.

I decided to check the source manga and sure enough, Shino-chan is an addition to the anime. But whereas Fushihara’s other female coworker fits in fine, Shino-chan intrudes due to her “interactions” with Yuurei-chan. It might be different if she saw the little ghost girl, but since she cannot see Yuurei-chan, it is out of place to me.

Crunchyroll

As expected, Crunchyroll isn’t meeting the ANB translation/adaptation standard in Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost 02. Honorifics are trashed, sans “Senpai” for some reason. Kohai-san became “Miss Coworker”. Yeah, a kohai is a coworker, but it is an underling. So we get a “lost in translation” moment.

I still cringe at the “Little Baby Ghost” when it is “Little Girl Ghost”. It literally makes no sense to change “girl” to “baby” when Yuurei-chan is not a bloody baby. Considering the pollution of the woke religion, my mind does wonder if this change was made ’cause “how dare you assume it is a girl, even though the Japanese have identified the ghost as a girl?”

Some might say, “Well if that’s the case, then why “Miss Shachiku” and “Miss Coworker”? That is a good question, considering the butch attire of Fushihara. But considering how a previous work got “Miss” put into the title because FUNimation wanted credit for having an anime with a female lead, I suspect that was the reason for the “Miss” here. But then, I’m rather jaded by the world at the moment, so you’ll have to forgive my cynical thoughts.