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.

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 went into this show completely blind, not knowing anything about it - I just knew it was a horror-comedy. I thought it was gonna be a meh show with a lot of surface-level stuff. But boy was I wrong. This show was so good. I loved it! I enjoyed it way more than I thought I was going to. What I admire and love most about it was how it was able to surprise me throughout the whole runtime. There were moments that completely caught me off guard. Moments where I found myself crying, where I found myself laughing way too hard at something, and moments where I was genuinely creeped out and unsettled. This show has an unexpectedly clever way of evoking emotions and it's all done in the way they execute everything. It's in the way they use the music, how they build up a scene or how they create the right atmosphere. They know how to hit their marks and they do it really well. The beautiful balance between the creepy unsettling moments, the funny comedic ones and the heartwarming sentimental ones is what makes this show stand out so much and why it's so good.

The animations are great and the art style is fantastic. Especially the character designs for the ghosts - they're some of the best I've seen. They're genuinely creepy and unsettling. The way they're conceptualized makes it so that they're very distinguishable from one another. It's crazy how much character they give the ghosts - to the point where you get a sense of their backstory or how they might've died. It's interesting to try and figure out what each one might represent and why they exist. The voice design for the ghosts were scary good, it almost penetrates the soul with how creepy they sound. The soundtrack was another stand out aspect of the show that surprised me as well. The music plays a big role in evoking the emotions. It's the way in which the music is implemented at the perfect time - it ends up elevating and complimenting each scene beautifully. It's honestly pretty God-tier. I loved the way they experimented with different synthesizer noises and audio effects to create a unique-sounding soundtrack. It can be very creepy and ominous while being ethereal at the same time. It can also be quite beautiful whenever the piano, violin or flute kicks in.

It's got good story progression and it never feels like it drags or gets boring. It's a feel-good show. Slice of life done right and comedy done cleverly. It handles it's themes with both a maturity and frivolity. And it's got some really creative ideas that end up feeling pretty fresh and original. The characters are great. They end up becoming very well fleshed out. Miko's dead pan personality and humor are great. Hana is the dense and oblivious airhead that provides comic relief. Yulia is the cute, delusional and manipulate girl that shakes things up. While Zen and The Godmother end up becoming really interesting characters. I think Yulia's my favorite, mainly because she's the most interesting and complex one out of all of them. I loved watching the relationship and dynamic between Miko, Hana and Yulia. Whenever they're all together, it's always an entertaining time. The haunted house scene was hilarious. This show has self-aware humor and it's really refreshing to see that.

Do be warned though: the first 2 episodes, especially the 1st one, is riddled with fan service. It's basically fan service bait. It's very much in your face and it's not subtle about it. It gets to the point where it becomes comedic because it's like every couple of minutes they feel the need to have to show a skirt or groin shot. It ends up feeling pretty ridiculous and campy. Thankfully though, the show starts to pick up after the 2nd episode. It starts to focus more on building the story, the world and the characters and less on the fan service. It actually starts to get quite interesting. The shrine scene is when it has this unexpected shift and it opens up a world of potential for the show. The whole visual conceptualization behind it was so good. I was not expecting all the incredible animations. They outdid themselves.

My only gripe with the show has to do with some of the characters and the lack of development within them. Hana for example, is a character that desperately needs some sort of development or transformation. Some of the characteristics to her personality end up becoming pretty annoying and stale after a while. So I'm hoping that in Season 2 she goes through some sort of change that makes her character more interesting. Miko's character can become kind of frustrating as well in the way she deals with the ghosts. But thankfully by the end of the show, there's at least some development in her character.

The show has a lot of potential. So much potential that it could end up being a slice of life shonen hybrid. They've introduced everything nicely, now all they have to do is go ham with the 2nd season. Give this show a chance, you won't regret it!

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.

I never wrote any review for anime but this anime deserve one I loved it it's awesome it's great however characters are less ,character progress is slow but what I have watched I will give it 10/10 it is funny it's good the story is slow but I definitely think it will grow and I definitely say it's better than Jujutsu kaisen ,better than bleach and it will definitely grow as we can not just say anything by watching few episodes , I would love to watch meiruko concurring her fear and fighting those monsters or ghosts and love see the whole story gods saving meiruko everything is great ah i am keenly waiting for the next episode .