Mieruko-chan

Story: Its about a girl named Miko who suddenly starts seeing supernatural entities everywhere. These supernatural entities cling on to people without their knowledge. Miko does her best to stay away from them pretending she can't see them, afraid of what their reaction to her unique powers might be but whenever one of them gets too close to her, she gets really scared yet continues her act with a poker face. She tries to lead a normal life but fears that these ghosts can harm the people they cling to and sees it as an act of haunting, so she must look for ways to protect herself and those close to her. This premise is perfect to blend of slice of life with horror.

Slice of life, comedy and characters: Its a very unique kind of slice of life which those who aren't very interested in the genre like myself might enjoy because it combines it with an interesting premise involving elements of supernatural, horror and comedy.

The characters always find a reason to go on everyday adventures to lots of different places. These include a sight-seeing trip for which they must go through a dark tunnel beneath a bridge, search for a scared dog in a gloomy abandoned building, a visit to a shrine free from human activities to get blessing against evil spirits, shopping at an occult shop, a visit to a horror house etc. All these places I mentioned and even regular places like a dark store-room in school's gym or the hall where Miko is watching TV with her brother or an empty street at night where Miko once went to get a drink from the vending machine, they all look really good, peaceful and evoke a very cozy feeling as if you are present there with the characters. These qualities nail major aspects of a slice of life series involving cute girls doing cute things in a world of terrifying spirits doing weird things.

There are three major characters: Miko, a usually quiet girl who can see supernatural stuff most of which scares her so she pretends not to see them. She helps people around her and puts on a poker face even when she is scared out of her wits from ghosts a hair's breadth away.

Hana, a kind, cheerful, plump, airhead girl with a huge appetite who is oblivious to the supernatural stuff around her. She is Miko's best friend whom she must protect.

Yulia, a short, slightly awkward girl who too can see the supernatural but only the weak ones. Due to some misunderstandings she is scared of Miko and considers her a rival.

As you would expect from the description above, the characters with their traits and dynamics add to the comedic-tone to the slice of life aspect of the anime. Its no top-tier character writing but it never intended to be. The characters are cute, quirky and wholesome and their design compliment their personalities.

Another character I liked is an old lady who has a lot of experience in occultism. She had a shop where she sold supernatural stuff to repel spirits. I love it when world-building involves a town or city having small locations like parks, houses, shops etc. Where you can find an interesting or eccentric character who plays a certain role or gets involved in events of the story, some of which occur at that very location. This is a type of world-building very common in video-games. I hope this series does more of this thing.

There are several scenes in which we can hear Miko's monolgues. However I would've really appreciated if there was more of Miko's monolgues of her thinking about obvious questions like why she has such unique powers? Did supernatural entities exist even before she got her powers or did she get those powers after they started showing up? If they were always present and everything went normally for her, then maybe ghosts clinging to her friends isn't something to worry about etc.

Spirits, good or bad have longing for something they did not get when they were alive. As she is the only one who can see them, it is only Miko who can deal with them. This, as one would expect, creates opportunities to come up with story arcs about the spirit forementioned and those related to them and finally putting an end to their story in a meaningful way. Mieruko-chan did have a few stories like this to tell especially one at the end of season 1. However these stories felt fairly simple, had somewhat bland characters about which the audience did not know much about or cared about. Despite all this, the show presented those stories in an emotional manner and expectedly failed to invoke any real emotion in the audience. Also not all spirits need to have a short arc. Some spirit can stick around as a fun side character and get their story completed at the end of the series.

Supernatural elements: The entire world is filled with supernatural entities of various types. Their concentration varies from place to place depending upon the amount of negative energy i guess. Their behavior and interaction also vary with people, other supernatural entities and the place where they are. There are supernatural objects to repel them as well. The supernatural elements are coherent/sensible/inter-related unlike many other series. I like portable or small fantasy/supernatural elements and it even has those. The sheer quantity and variety of supernatural entities is another strong point of the show.

As mentioned earlier it also explores the mechanics of the supernatural which is really interesting to learn about along with the main character. It is slightly similar to Light learning about the rules of Death note. This is one of the strongest aspects of the show and I fear that as more of the rules are revealed, the show will either have to come up with new ones up until the end or create interesting situations based on those concepts or mechanisms.

Horror: Miko avoids ghosts but sometimes she finds herself in unfortunate situations where she must pretend that she can't see them or sometimes do something else about it. Horror anime avoid jumpscares and this is no exception. Mieruko chan does not intend to be scary so it may not be entirely appropriate to call it horror. It wants the viewer the feel the uneasiness of Miko. Sometimes it even intends to be somewhat thrilling. However, the show is very light-hearted and grim consequences aren't something you can find here. The outcome of supposedly thrilling situations never involve permanent effects, as expected. As a result there is a lack of any sense of thrill and suspense. Miko doesn't even have any clever ways to deal with dangerous spirits as of now. So her dealing with scary stuff, when she is mostly useless frankly speaking, despite her bravery and efforts, can be criticized as repetitive. However for some reason I still like those scenes in which Miko pretends that she can't see ghost even if they are repetitive.

Animation: The animation is great. As mentioned before, most places look good. Their choice of colors is absolutely perfect. Everything looks cute, vibrant and colorful. Nothing to complain about here.

Sound: Pretty good. The soundtracks suit the series. The opening and ending are great. The voice actors did a flawless job. Again nothing to complain here. Highly recommend sub even though I usually watch dub but maybe thats because I grew too used to the subbed version.

Tldr; Mieruko chan absolutely nails it as a slice-of-life show with peaceful and immersive environment explored or inhabited by cute and fun characters. It has an interesting premise that blends SoL, comedy and horror. It won't scare you or make you laugh but has ghosts and a comedic tone instead. It has an elaborate mechanism and wide variety of coherent supernatural elements. Its light-heartedness, lack of danger and lack of clever means to deal with supernatural entities implies lack of tension and repetitiveness in situations that were meant to be high on tension. Despite the repetitiveness of same type of situation, it still fun to watch. Its emotional story arcs are too simple in story and characters and couldn't evoke strong emotions. The animation, character design and sound is great.

Mieruko-chan is one of the most unique shows I've seen so far. The protagonist, Miko, can see ghosts, and does her best to ignore them. This premise creates an anime that is mostly devoid of any action, though it certainly manages to have its suspenseful scenes. Instead, the show is mostly slice-of-life, featuring Miko, her best friend Hana, and her not-really-rival Yulia going through their lives.

What I appreciate the most about Mieruko-chan is Miko's deadpan inner monologue. Alexis Tipton as her English voice actress fits the role perfectly; this alone made Mieruko-chan one of the favourite shows I watched in the last few years.

It's not all grand, though. The plot can become a tad repetitive, considering that Miko had no idea what's going on and no way of actually dealing with the ghosts except for ignoring them. Likewise, the characters other than Miko could certainly use a hefty dose of character development.

Nevertheless, the production value is great, the more or less conservative use of fan service doesn't detract from the atmosphere (unlike the wide majority of anime), and the premise is interesting.

I hope the second season will stick to the strengths of the first one while still managing to escalate the events a fair bit.

We interrupt this program to bring you...Miko the Scaredy Cat Girl, starring Miko, the Scaredy Cat Girl! Cursed with the ability to see ghosts, she tries to ignore them while living her normal life with her best friend Hana, and her rival, Yulia! But creepy spirits fester her town. It's up to Miko to ignore them all!

Mieruko-chan is a horror-comedy anime featuring Miko Yotsuya, a young teenage girl who goes about her daily activities, except she kind of has a tiny problem. That is if seeing horrifying ghosts amounts to being a small problem. For whatever reason, Miko is able to see ghosts, yet ignores them. But, in truth, Miko is scared silly due to her predicament, but if she wants to avoid the consequences of her acknowledging the ghosts, she has to suck it up.

For the first few episodes, we do get a formula: Miko sees a scary ghost; sometimes scary ghosts would go after her friend Hana so she tries to pretend to not see the ghost. As more characters are introduced into the anime, we get more of the basic ingredients for the plot of the show. With this episodic flow, the show can get predictable as a result of the premise.

But, starting from episode 6, there comes a drastic change in the formula of the show which can potentially build towards big lore drops. For instance, we have yet to hear an explanation of how Miko was cursed with seeing ghosts, and what prominence this has over professional mediums. In short, the first few episodes do fall short because of the predictability, but episode 6 onwards does have the potential to improve on the world-building.

What also works for the show is that, while it is a horror-comedy, it is also surprisingly emotional and heartwarming. Believe me, I watched the show not expecting to be hit with the feels train. These moments are not contrived and feel genuinely earned and heartfelt my favorite one being the ending showing what happened with the scarred man and his pet cat.

The animation. It isn't necessarily visually eye-opening, but it befits the tone of the show. Of course, there are elements of it like fanservice often coming from lingering shots of Miko's legs or Hana's chest, but it does it in a balanced way where it is not distracting.

While the normal world is more or less bland/mundane, what makes it are the designs of the ghosts. The ghosts are truly terrifying and potentially mind-shattering to look like. They move in inhuman actions much like reanimated corpses; they are shrouded in darkness, and sometimes they even emit insidious fumes. Looking at the manga, it looks like they took a book out of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark movie by translating the illustrations over to the big screen. It should come as no wonder why Miko tries to ignore them at all costs.

As for the characters: Miko. Poor, poor, poor Miko. She does not deserve to suffer like this and sometimes, I am often compelled to give her a pat on the back and tell her that everything's okay. Yet at the same time, it is amusing to see her being scared. Just really cute whenever she is. Yet despite her fears, there are moments where she has to swallow her fears and put her foot down if it comes to possible danger Hana might face, or helping the ghosts in some way.

Hana. She is really the best friend that anyone would want. She is very loving and compassionate, and she has your back. With her, her immediate characteristic is that she is always hungry and she scarfs down several sweets frequently despite never gaining weight from them. Starting around the halfway mark of the anime, she is getting targeted by spirits as it turns out because of the excessive aura she projects. To think about it, imagine ghosts dropping tiny ghosts on a barbie and you'd get why ghosts single Hana out.

Our tritagonist is Yulia. She already appeared in earlier episodes and for the most part quietly observed Miko. As it would turn out, much like Miko, Yulia can see ghosts...but she is unable to see the larger and more potentially dangerous variants.

Yulia is a complicated character for me. I like her Gothic aesthetic and character design, and it is intriguing to have someone else being able to see ghosts except with one key difference. At the same time, Yulia can also be annoying and self-absorbed with believing that she is the big cheese when it comes to her medium abilities despite not being able to exorcise ghosts herself.

When she starts to suspect Miko as also having "the gift," she becomes the "rival" of Miko and completely misinterprets her actions as her trying to show off her skills when it is painfully obvious that she had her all wrong. This came to be after she locks Miko in the ballroom which led to the most memorable part of the episode where Miko chokeholds Yulia in order to protect her. While she is egotistical, it is explained briefly via flashback that she was bullied for her claims over clairvoyance. So it makes sense that she would want to believe that she was not alone. Hopefully, Miko will come around to clear up these misunderstandings.

For other characters, we have the Godmother of Downtown who is a fortune-teller with actual psychic abilities despite having the looks and attitude of a scammer but is willing to help Miko. Miko's parents appear and they are depicted as being your typical good parents to their children. But Miko's Dad's role in the story is such a huge twist, it makes you reevaluate what you had witnessed.

And then there's Miko's little brother Kyousuke who, for all intended purposes, is more or less the man of the house. He is introduced as being suspicious of the oddities happening with his sister and wants to protect her. He is a good boi.

With that, I'd say that Mieruko-chan is worth looking into. While it starts off formulaic, it shifts into high gear due to the one decision that Miko makes that could lead to more reveals down the line. Even then, I would also recommend it largely because of the designs of the ghosts.

It is an interesting premise, but I don't know if it's meant to be a comedy or actually scary, because most of the time it feels like I'm supposed to laugh at what is happening.

The first half of the show feels like the same joke over and over and over and, it does become tiring after a while. And how overly sexual everything is in the first episode is so funny. Luckily the show picks up halfway through and becomes way more entertaining.

I will say I really enjoyed the main characters friendship with the bimbo character and a little pigtail grill character.

The main characters composed demeanor beside the bimbo, brings the best forward.

The character design looks good and horrifying ghost even more. Animation is not bad. The production is just all around really good.

It's just a little entertaining show. It's good enough to watch.

(14+) Great little spooky anime! I thoroughly enjoyed this series even though it is completely female driven but - wow! - some of the battle scenes were so cool! The fox spirits and lesser god she encounters is some of the coolest anime characters ever. Even better, are her benefactors actually benevolent or not? Amazing! What I loved most about this series, though, was that her fear at seeing some of the horrible ghosts (most of whom are full of malice) was palpable! The animators and writers did a GREAT job of realistically portraying her panic and hopelessness at being constantly haunted. Don't let this one get away! Highly recommended!

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