Mieruko-chan

[neflight86]

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"* Based on a horror comedy seinen manga by Izumi Tomoki.

One day, Miko suddenly started seeing grotesque beings that others couldn't. Her response was not to run, not to face them, but to do everything she can to completely ignore them! Can she keep a straight face and continue her day-to-day life while surrounded by horrifying monsters?

Source: Yen Press"

Genre(s): Horror, Comedy, Seinen
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Well I'll be... an honest to goodness horror anime. Not horror themed or horror adjacent thriller, but actual 'trying to make you afraid' horror. It sort of worked, too. I kept waiting for the humor to drop in the first episode, but the spooks just kept coming. The silent flash transitions worked well and the grotesque ghost designs were pretty off-putting. There is fanservice, and it is obvious, so there's a caution if that bothers you. I guess the humor elements will come in next episode? 'Tis the season, so give it a try.

[Ryllharu]

I thought the humor was in Miko maintaining her perpetual deadpan despite her inner turmoil and terror. Which works in keeping the ghosts from killing her.

Amamiya Sora (Aqua, Elizabeth Liones, Mizuhara Chizuru) is killing it on the presentation though. I've liked her since she debuted into main roles, and she's just a top tier VA. Miko breaking down in her own head is such a great contrast to her outward demeanor.

I've heard the fanservice trails off (once the mangaka realized he didn't need it to sell it), and this is really just being overly faithful to the manga.

[Ryllharu]

Eps 2
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Aww, there's a silver lining with Miko's curse...

[neflight86]

That, and the big spirit eating others suggests there might be more complex mechanisms at play here that is keeping me interested. The spooks have already worn off, so I'm thankful for that element. I hope third girl is the missing link to really give this story some legs and direction.

[neflight86]

4

While I'm still looking for some more concrete application of how these spirits work or aggress (or if they even can), the episode-to-episode hijinks still entertain, and that twist at the end really caught me off guard. Good stuff.

[MFauli]

So if I want a well-animated ecchi-horror anime, is that it? Is the story intriguing?

[neflight86]

It's pretty well animated, at least no problems so far production wise. The story seems interesting, but more for the potential of what this all means. So far, there is next to no explanation for how these spirits react or behave. That may change, and there are characters to facilitate it, but it hasn't happened four episodes in.

[Ryllharu]

Well animated, yes. For its distinct style of cute-vice-grotesque.

Story? It's very light on that. There's not really a cohesive plot. Just a few related/remembered prior events. It's Miko suffering from her "condition" and trying to do her best to not be killed by a ghost recognizing she's seen them.

But in contrast, the lore is pretty good. It's not entirely scary shit she sees.

My favorite OP/ED this season too (though Mushoku Tensei's OP is good this season, ARIA style in-world).

[DarthEnderX]

My cat just passed away last week, so the 2nd episode literally made me cry.

(though Mushoku Tensei's OP is good this season, ARIA style in-world).

HOW CAN YOU TELL?!

[Ryllharu]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say, or if you are sarcastic or dense here.

ARIA was very effective at using it's OP during lead-in and mood setting to the episode (it's one of the things ARIA became known for since few other anime were doing it at the time), which Mushoku Tensei also does. It makes an OP in the musical style that all of the respective songs share, more effective.

Nothing more than that.

Mieruko-chan's OP is just FUN. Amamiya Sora kills it on stuff like this.

[DarthEnderX]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say

I'm saying, how the hell do you know what MTs opening is like this season? Just like with S1, they haven't SHOWN it yet!

[MFauli]

My favorite OP/ED this season too (though Mushoku Tensei's OP is good this season, ARIA style in-world).

Watch Ousama Ranking's. Best one imo.

My cat just passed away last week, so the 2nd episode literally made me cry.

I'm sorry, Darth. Hope it gets better.

[Ryllharu]

I'm saying, how the hell do you know what MTs opening is like this season? Just like with S1, they haven't SHOWN it yet!

Okay, I guess you didn't get it then.

That is the OP. Mushoku Tensei and ARIA both use the opening theme song set over added unvoiced runtime to set the tone of a given episode before it actually starts proper. It's just a technique so rarely used that people assume the series doesn't have an OP.

As opposed to Mieruko-chan's, which cuts distinctly, but also gives us some repeated character development and tone setting in the lyrics for the beleaguered Miko, who looks impassive during the gags of the series, but is deeply tormented by her spirit sight. Set to a lighthearted song with not-so-lighthearted lyrics.

The alternative is to just use a random pop song as cross-advertising for both the vocalist/band/group and the anime, set to alternate animation of the series' future (as with Kimetsu no Yaiba or Fire Force) or even just random shit we never actually see in the series proper.

[DarthEnderX]

Okay, I guess you didn't get it then.

That is the OP. Mushoku Tensei and ARIA both use the opening theme song set over added unvoiced runtime to set the tone of a given episode before it actually starts proper. It's just a technique so rarely used that people assume the series doesn't have an OP.

I coulda sworn MT S1 had a real OP...it just only showed up in, like, 1 episode.

[Ryllharu]

Episode 5
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I guess Miko was right to avoid them and pretend she can't see them. I would have thought anyone with Spirit Sight can see everything, but I guess that's not the case. Yulia only sees the weak ones, and Godmother could only see the aura of everything.

The ones Miko sees would definitely kill her if she ever let them catch on. She got lucky that the old lady's husband wasn't malevolent.

Hana is safe because of her supreme aura, so presumably Yulia has one too of some degree. She only started to see the big one while Miko choked her out. Miko has nothing defending her.

[DarthEnderX]

The ones Miko sees would definitely kill her if she ever let them catch on. She got lucky that the old lady's husband wasn't malevolent.

Really? Cause, like, have ANY of them been malevalent so far? Cause I don't think we've seen a single one hurt someone.

I mean, I'm sure there ARE evil ones, but what if it's literally a Sixth Sense situation where the spirits just need someone to finish their business for them so they can move on?

[Ryllharu]

The big ones that only Miko can see seem to be.

Yulia sees the nicer ones that would fall in with the old lady's husband. Miko doesn't panic about those and they usually don't ask her if she can see them. The ones who ask her repeatedly fall into the category of Japanese ghost horror stories and follow all those tropes like Kuchisake-onna or Aka Manto conversations.

The exes and bakeneko seem to be what happens to someone who can't see them. Hanging around very close to notice any moment of weakness. If either of those three could, they'd be very, very dead. And Yulia starting to see the big one as she began passing out may have some connection? Like the triggers to start seeing ghosts in The Frighteners (or countless anime/manga who do the same "near death now I see ghosts!" thing).

Though lore wise, Miko just started randomly seeing them.

[DarthEnderX]

The big ones that only Miko can see seem to be.

SEEM to be, but doesn't mean they are. Just cause they look scary and act creepy doesn't mean they're harmful.

I thought, based on the dad and the cats, that good/evil spirits would be clearly delineated. But the spirit in this one looked like a bad one, but wasn't, so that's out the window.

Even those "evil" cat spirits probably aren't evil. They were victims, and their dark appearance is probably just a reflection of trauma.


I think the giant eating spirit might be, like, the door to the afterlife. And once a spirit resolves its unfinished business, it goes there to be eaten in order to move on.

[Ryllharu]

Well, going by Japanese folklore, the cats are very clearly delineated into Bakeneko (horribly mistreated while alive) and Nekomata (deeply cared for while alive), in their traditional forms and based on the way they were treated in life.

Most ghosts probably can't do anything to their prospective victims because they have auras. Hana's is extremely powerful, so they can't do anything to her despite how many she attracts, like the groper perv ghost. Miko noticeably doesn't have an aura at all. So if we believe Godmother, and there's no reason not to, Miko is in significant danger.

Miko can't see auras, so we don't get to know how those other cursed people are fending them off.

[neflight86]

I must have missed Godmother saying she was in great danger. Yes, they are unnerving, yes their actions are as suspicious as it gets, but none of them have actually touched or projected any force upon Miko yet, have they? I don't blame her for not wanting to test the theory, but I don't see any evidence that these spirits are both malignant and capable of corporeal harm. Apparently, people are walking into and through them all the time without ill effect, unless these 'auras' are protecting them, which I also am unfamiliar with.

That being said, this episode pushed me to two opposing extremes of emotion: in the first half, annoyance that the first encounter and 'reset' of Yulia as a subject matter expert feeling squandered. Miko uncovering the origin and moving to remedy her spiritual issue is the most interesting thing this show has going for it, and for it to be so teased and quickly sidelined felt like a contrived bait-and-switch. On the other hand, the second half with the elderly couple was very heartwarming and brought me back down to appreciating taking our time again.

I'll take feeling something over not, any day.