Mieruko-chan

Mieruko-chan tells the story of a high school student Miko Yotsuya who suddenly became highly receptive to spirits of the dead and other otherworldly beings, and now she constantly runs into them trying to pretend she doesn't see them so that they leave her alone. Fortunately, that helps every time. The title is a play on the word "mieru"—"to see", and that's just about the last clever thing you'll see the series do. The whole premise of "a girl sees spooky ghosts and is scared but keeps her cool" sounds like something that would wear itself thin almost immediately—and indeed, that is exactly what happens! Thesituations keep repeating themselves almost one for one: Miko notices something odd but doesn't really do anything about it, a spirit approaches her and starts questioning whether she sees it (they are, apparently, very inquisitive), she maintains her poker face while being terrified on the inside, spirit goes away, Miko moves on with her life until she runs into another one. That's it—that's the formula. The very few exceptions either have the otherwise very distinctly looking spirits inexplicably mimicking regular people so Miko doesn't realize it, or she just attracts their attention on purpose. At no point do we receive any indication that her past experience has somehow taught her anything, or that the encounter has actually affected her to the point where it would affect her life going forward. Nothing ever changes, and Miko adapts to her life of being bullied by ghosts immediately. If you add it to the fact that why or how she acquired that ability is never explained, you end up in a situation where it's nothing more than a tacked-on gimmick rather than a plot device used to its true potential. It doesn't help, either, that Miko's character is a walking lump of contradictions. Her internal monologue suggests she is scared, but she doesn't really act the part. She pretty much never fails to keep her cool in the face of unspeakable horror, but such mental fortitude comes seemingly out of nowhere (is she secretly a Navy SEAL?). She drops her phone out of shock when it starts behaving erratically, but does well not to flinch at the grotesque imagery that presents itself to her at any other time. Miko's friends are almost completely useless and do nothing except providing occasional comic relief. They never seem to notice how terrified she is, let alone confront her about it. They are non-characters. It could be said that it's made this way because it's meant to be played for laughs. Except nothing about it is funny unless you're easily amused by all sorts of gluttony jokes and distressed girls on the verge of mental breakdown—in which case, please go see a doctor about it. I think comedy and horror are a very difficult combination to pull off in general because the emotions that drive them are almost polar opposites of each other. So in the end, you either get something that is too funny to be scary (as it happens most of the time), or too scary to be funny—but never both in a similar measure. Works that successfully balance between the two to ratchet up the excitement just enough before changing the tone can probably be counted on one hand. Nevertheless, Mieruko-chan is eager to do both... and, predictably, fails at both. And it's paced so dreadfully that if you were to start watching it at 125% speed, you'd only notice something was wrong during the OP/ED sequences. I'll give credit where it's due: *some* scenes have unexpectedly solid cinematography and sound design, and they capture the horror atmosphere pretty well for an anime... That is, at least until the camera decides to focus on one of the female heroines' tits, ass, or thighs, with buttock curves, panty lines and cameltoes well defined—and it lingers there for many seconds on end. The manga is somewhat guilty of this as well, at least in the early chapters, but the TV adaptation takes it to entirely new and completely unnecessary heights, courtesy of Passione—the studio that made its name on some of the more degener— ahem, "cultured" TV series out there. Yeah, the word is still used ironically in this context, but you can already get the feeling that very soon this will become its primary meaning. I want to underline just how intently Mieruko-chan is willing to die on the hill of misplaced erotic titillation: every few minutes, as part of building up dramatic tension, you're forced to look at a vulnerable underage girl from some of the least appropriate angles just to funnel that elevated heart rate into something else entirely. This is easily the creepiest thing about this show by far. In case I'm not being clear enough on what the problem is and how it's different from a typical instance of fan service in an ecchi anime: a brief panty shot or boob slip in a setting where the mood is light and the girl in question is largely in control of her situation (in other words, it's safe for both her character and the audience to assume it won't escalate from there) is one thing. But protracted, persistent creepshot angles in a setting when the girl is vulnerable, afraid, and clearly unhappy, and we expect it to go downhill for her—that is completely different. The kind of difference that separates a joke made in poor taste from being on a list of registered sex offenders. It's important to understand this difference because the end result seen here just feels bad in a very irredeemable way. Why in the world would anyone who is mentally healthy be aroused by the sight of a visibly uncomfortable, distressed girl? Is her sexual performance somewhere in the first hundred of questions you might be having at that moment? Do you find being bullied or terrorized somehow cute, romantic, or funny? If so, again, please go see a doctor before it ruins your future relationships or, god forbid, someone else's life. I'm sorry; I'm at the age where spooky scary skeletons do nothing for me, but realizing how many people get off on this drivel is truly disturbing. Fascinating how the series itself is less scary than the thought of dealing with someone who gave it a 10. Miko is a victim in the spirit encounters presented, and most of her actions are just mitigating the damage already done to her mental state. It's not exactly a funny subject, at least if you think about it for more than half a second. Personally, I find it the opposite of funny: it's actively making me unhappy. Sure, it gets a tad better near the end, like around episode 10–11, when Miko finally starts taking some agency to behave like a protagonist in her own show, and the director—the Interspecies Reviewers guy—becomes slightly less of a creep. The problem is it merely gets from the level of a raging dumpster fire to being almost mediocre. "Better" doesn't mean good; it's far from good. Should you read the manga instead? Eh, perhaps—as far as I'm concerned, neither is worth the time, but the TV series stops at the point where the manga just about gains the semblance of a plot. If this show ever gets a second season and gets rid of the pervy cameraman syndrome, I can imagine it becoming comfortably mediocre. What I find truly puzzling is the glowing reception the series had gotten long before it even started to attempt delivering on the potential of its premise (and mind you, the manga at almost 40 chapters in is still nowhere near where it could've been if written by a competent author). Seriously, if you want good monster horror, try John Carpenter's The Thing or maybe David Lynch's Eraserhead; enjoy your nightmares for weeks. If you want a comedy, try literally any comedy: if you laugh even once, chances are that's already more than Mieruko-chan can get out of you. It attempts to do a lot of things that are completely opposite to each other but does none of them well—not a single thing. Lastly, there are some very misguided comparisons floating around between Mieruko-chan and Natsume's Book of Friends. The idea is so wonderfully asinine it deserves its own paragraph in this already long review. So let's get this straight: the two are nothing alike beyond the most surface-level similarity. Natsume is a very kind-hearted series with a pronounced feel-good vibe and a great deal of respect shown to all of its characters. And while it also tends to succumb to the "monster of the week" formula with little to no overarching development, the protagonist shows a great deal of agency in how he goes about solving the issues he is presented with in almost every case, with his friends meaningfully supporting him. Miko doesn't: she's just passively drifting along the similarly episodic plot, doing little other than getting distressed (with no lasting effects) and showing ass—and being none the wiser for it. It doesn't feel good, it doesn't feel appropriate, it's mean-spirited in both form and spirit. tl;dr scared gurl funey and has nice ass

Even though Mieruko-Chan labeled itself as a horror anime, the series itself was never about horror. It’s more about you watching Miko, the protagonist, doing her best to not give out any sort of reactions to the horrific-looking spirits that happen to exist and only people like Miko can witness. And that’s where the entertainment really lies. This show, Mieruko-Chan, instead of keeping its viewers constantly at the edge of their seats and anticipating the next jump-scare, it’s more about following the daily life moments of someone who can see these hideous spirits and not lose sanity. These creatures were supposed to be presented toincite the feeling of creepiness in both of its characters and the viewers. But the reliance on this element in the anime does get aggravatingly repetitive and can lose its purpose. While some of that concern is valid, I think the series does a good job of surprising its viewers every now and then in unexpected ways. One of the aspects of Mieruko-Chan is that it’s unclear what these spirits truly are because the series never really delved into it for possible explorations. But it’s safe to say that a spirit can be a deceased family member or a relative, or even an entity that can express emotions. One such that was presented in the series: A deceased elderly man who found his way to his current living family and helped his equally old spouse to remember a key lock to a small metal box that she had long forgotten. Another random incident in the show was when a spirit hid inside a cardboard box with a cat, intending to provide protection from an evil spirit. It’s random moments like these that I’m quite fond of because it was something that I was not expecting. To a degree, moments like a deceased spirit interacting with the world of the living can provide a deeper meaning than it seems. In a way, the belief in benevolent and malevolent spirits is something that I think is universal because we can acknowledge that there’s no such thing. However, we do subconsciously think of it from time to time. It’s pretty much a reminder, for me, at least, that these feelings and beliefs can still creep their way into the scientific and progressed world. Earlier on in Mieruko-Chan, there were bickerings among the viewers about the unnecessary fanservice in the show. Ranging from ass shots of Miko and other characters to a horny spirit that’s dedicated to an episode. In the end, however, the fanservice served no purpose to the show and as the series progressed, Mieruko lessened its usage as the plot changed direction to more interesting aspects. Other than those little moments, Mieruko-Chan as a show really doesn’t shine much in the horror compartment. However, that’s not to say there aren’t any horror moments. The very few horror moments in the show were decently executed in my eyes, it’s just that there aren’t that many. Additionally, the series is not about finding the intricacies of how these spirits came to be and I think that’s perfectly fine. If the show isn’t really aiming for an in-depth explanation and is still able to provide a sense of entertainment, then I believe that is more than justified for its existence. Score: 6/10

"Can you see me? Are you watching me for the horror comedy and not for the fanservice? Please see me...or feel my wrath!" To say that Mieruko-chan is the perfect segue to air in the season where Halloween is abound in existence is truly an understatement, other than the trepidatious BL supernatural mystery show Sankaku Mado no Sotogawa wa Yoru a.k.a The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window that aired alongside this show at the same time. In hindsight, this show is a breath of fresh air from the many iterations of Junji Ito's pure horrifying horror, done with a mix of comedy that doesn't feel contrivedin all aspects that feels entertaining and enjoyable from start to finish. But the journey to get there has some qualms, purely because of the people related in production, and it doesn't take a bat inch of an eye to see why. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Putting that out of the way first, Mieruko-chan is just a basic straightforward plot of the protagonist who has for some unknown reason, the ability to see ghosts/spirits, but chooses to ignore them with a straight face. And this is a clear example of people like mangaka Tomoki Izumi, knowing the intricacies of a simple plot and using its characters to elevate the story segments intimately, as such seen with the protagonist Miko Yotsuya, with ghosts lurking at every corner that sends shudders on her skin each and every time she encounters them. With someone being able to see and sense the supernatural, Miko shouldn't be just a castaway MC who's wrought to suffering alone, and this is further implemented by the other characters who serve a purpose alongside Miko as friends that ought to be protected while in full view of the situations at hand. Hana Yurikawa for one, she's Miko's classmate and a best friend whom is air-headed and a glutton, but that gluttonous behaviour actually serves a purpose as a proportionate yin and yang between herself and Miko. You see, Hana is the exact opposite of Miko, that she is a literate ghost/spirit human BBQ that small prey can easily be fried through her with just a contact of the skin (a.k.a huge boobs) to be fed to the larger spirits. Talk about a god aura that the level of air-headedness doesn't know that she's helping Miko be kept sane. Yulia Niguredou on the other hand, she's the illusive girl that's initially stalking Miko on the sidelines, only to realize that she's the exact same as Miko, only on a customary lower level fitting to the smaller spirits. These 3 girls are the epitome of Halloween horror comedy, and while they had a rough start, it doesn't take long for their characters to become likable, especially Miko who has to trudge through that creepiness everywhere. Man, Miko's got a hardened steel heart to play hide-and-seek with these ghosts and wished for constant emancipation as it legit scares the living shit out of her, this girl is a real MVP. Over the course of the show we get to see other people whom has been proven time and time again about their actions from the 3 high school JKs, and they've promptly received their salvation from them, which I thought was a nice touch all things considered. Of course, what is Mieruko-chan without the obvious elephant in the room: the fanservice. And what better way than to bring this to task with the studio best representative of "culture" (that is Passione) with the in-house director Yuuki Ogawa that helmed one of the most defining "men of culture" shows of the 2020s, Interspecies Reviewers. And if the near-obscene ecchi fanservice shots are of any indication to the source material, while I've seen a fair bit of the Western side being in loggerheads that the fanservice adds or detracts to the anime, over in Japan, people were allied in total hate of this move, saying that this unnecessary decision to add the ecchi fanservice scenes only degrades the source material, earning it average ratings in the process. Production is decent to good, save for the obvious fanservice, so give or take that as you will. And man, Sora Amamiya as the MC Miko Yotsuya is really running on high for this show, it's simply "gas, gas, gas". Not just in her stellar VA performance, but also in the OST theme songs as both OP and ED are sung by her, what a star-studded Stacy/Trixie. For a horror show that blends the creepy heebie-jeebies with comedy, I don't really remember if there's any other AniManga like this ever done before, but it's for certain that Tomoki Izumi's work is the first that I've come around to enjoy a fair bit, even if the inherent flaws (like the fanservice) do detract from the experience. Love it or hate it, Mieruko-chan is not great, but at least it's a play on the horror genre for doing something different and unique. And for that alone, Mieruko-chan comes easily recommended if you wish to get the creepy factor but without being too overly shocked by its premise.

Welcome to M1c3f's condensed anime review. I'll be giving you all the necessary information about a show in just a few sentences and the following recommendation. Today featuring: Mieruko Chan The genres of Mieruko Chan are: Comedy, Ecchi, Horror - Is it particularly funny? No - Is it particularly scary? No - Enjoyable fan service? No The show clearly failed its mission regarding that. The protagonists clearly deserve their own special Emmy:Emmy for most apathetic main character. Emmy for most reluctantly annoying sidekick. The show has one single character who is enjoying to watch and is not written by an ape. There's no real story that's been told to follow along nor are there any designated antalogistic arcs. Most of what's happening is incoherent and serves no greater purpose. Only close to the end of the show the narrative gets some depth to it. The animation is honestly basic and not creating any kind of apt atmosphere. The lightning and coloring mainly is way to bright. Recommendation: Kinda waste of time. The show features not a single interesting element. It tries to lure you in with some really shity fan service but after Episode 3-4 there won't be any fan service'y scenes anymore. My score: Story: 2.4 Characters: 2.6 Animation: 4.0 Sound: 4.8 Enjoyment: 3.0 (Also refer to my profile for scoring criteria)