Mieruko-chan

The last scene you would imagine in your head when you heard about cute girls doing cute things in a comedy would be a monster jumping out like in a horror film. Miko experiences this, as he is unfortunate enough to have the syndrome of seeing the paranormal. In this horror comedy, a high school girl's routine, everyday existence is transformed into a terrifying nightmare.

In the anime series Mieruko-chan, Miko Yotsuya, the lead character, deals with the unsettling presence of otherworldly creatures in her life. She tries to act like they don't exist, but her terror of the paranormal intensifies. The first episode makes clear that this is her first interaction with magical beings. Ignoring her issue, Miko surrounds herself with a wall of defense, but it only becomes worse as the paranormal haunts her. The anime looks at issues including otherworldly presences, social conventions, and overcoming obstacles in life.

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.

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.

With every passing episode i believe common sense is dropping in this show. First 4 episodes were mostly ecchi episodes, didn't feel any horror thing. I would say it's a comedy anime rather than ecchi upto this point. In latest episode where she finds out there is another person who can see thungs, instead of discussing things she doesn't say anything and leaves abruptly causing a misunderstanding. At least put some common sense in her actions. When she sees something instead of trying to ignore it, she just keeps on thinking and cowering from how it's reacting(this thing doesn't count as a horror element) . Man the writer is obsessed with underwear shopping i mean it's discussed in every episode.

I'm generally a casual and will wait for the English dub but to see what the memes were about I gave the sub a go and ended up watched it all. First 5 or so episode is just a girl seeing ghost and ignoring them, over and over again. Yet it's made well enough to keep watching, the design of the ghosts is fantastic. Slowly little bits are added until around episode 9 or 10 when it starts looking like it has a story arc. Interested to see where it goes in season 2.