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! The ... situations 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

The show looks good at first but when you take a look and try to analyze what is going on you aren't really left with much substance or reason.

Mieruko sees ghosts is the basic idea of the show and that is fine but the problem is that this is also the part where it stops. There is no idea for developement, no concepts to explain whats going and everything just happens because it does.

When the main character gets into a situation where she sees a ghost it usually happens in the same order every time.

She sees a ghost > The ghost tries to get her ... to react > she ignores the ghost. This can be applied for almost every single encounter. There is no suspense, no threat, nothing. It just happens and then it says "ok cool, lets move on" which makes the encounters repetitive and honestly kind of pointless after the first few times.

And the EXACT same applies to the comedy. When she sees a ghost she tries to act natural while being nervous. Don't get me wrong this can be funny but if that is the only type of comedy there is it just gets boring after the 5th time. There is no other comedy elements. The one where she looks on her phone in the cafe was pretty good but it becomes a lot weaker since the same concept of the joke happened at least 10 times before.

The characters so far are mainly there to drive the narrative and don't really have that much going outside of them so far( up to Ep.4). You don't have to have fleshed out characters after such a short amount of time, however most characters with a solid amount of screentime have done nothing to make them somewhat memorable and not just blank slates for the "story" which there is none to tell.

The horror aspect kinf of falls flat since that genre is pretty hard to do in animation but I think they still did a good job so far. I like the design of a lot of the ghosts and the sounds they make can weird you out.The main issue comes from the ghosts being completely powerless. How are you supposed to be scared of something that you know can do nothing against you?

There are a few good scenes like her dad or the one with the cat. If they expanded more on the stories of the ghosts it could be a lot more solid. Even then those scenes are VERY basic and me bringing them up as good shows just how low the standard is.

There is also absolutely no need for fanservice in the show like this but its there I guess? It adds nothing and basically confirms that there is no direction here. So might as well put it in to garner a certain group of watchers.

I wish I could give it a higher rating but so far there is just nothing that justifies a rating higher than maximum of 5/10. The fanservice leads to it getting a 3/10 from me.

I was really excited to check out this anime. The premise is promising, and honestly even though a lot of the jokes were the same, I would've been happy to stick around and keep watching Miko get through these scenarios. I found the design of the ghosts really cool, especially the way they used more choppy lineart and a different color palette. The thing that turned me off was the ridiculous amount of panty shots, unnecessary jokes about her best friends boobs or underwear and other shots that are totally not needed. I get this is anime and theres gonna be stuff like that and ... I'm normally happy to accept it and continue on, but this is almost softcore porn (not to mention its of minors). Really not worth watching in my opinion. Find a better anime.

Dropped this anime because it is full of unnecessary shots that it made it looked like the whole point of the plot is for fan service.

I mean it does have a potential but over time, I got fed up with those things that I decided to watch even better ones that are worth my time.

But who knows maybe I'll pick this up again after sometime if ever I changed my mind or someone made me changed my mind about it.

For now, I still think it should focus more on what the plot is all about and stop with the unnecessary fan service ... shots, even though it's an anime, the girls are still minor in the story, y'all basically supporting sexualizing minors to be a norm.

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)

OVERRATED. Another attention seeker anime. The whole point of this anime is you can see young high school girls and get sexual arousal from them. And it was not supposed to be a ecchi anime.
Remember, they said its a horror anime where a girl can see ghosts but ignores them, Very promising. But at every episodes the same thing happens, Ghosts that grab b00bs? Splashing water on shirt so you can see her bra? Seriously? And that bath scene, gross.
Seriously just go make hentai, they tried to mix two different genre, and failed. It’s like pineapples on pizza (even that tests good sometimes)
The author ... could not come up with a good story so they just put unnecessary fan service. And the studio animated it hoping it will get attention cuz sex = attention.
And I can't stand people saying it’s good. Same happened with the takt op destiny. Just put a beautiful girl and normies will make it viral. 'nEw wAiFu mEtrRiaL'
But the artstyle is really good, probably to make those scenes look more sexual

The anime was awesome! The animation and voice acting were top-notch, making the show super enjoyable. I especially liked how they portrayed the ghosts; it gave the whole thing a really creepy vibe.

But here's the thing, the random fanservice shots in the anime got on my nerves big time. It felt kinda unnecessary and took away from the story. So, I decided to bail on the anime and stick to the manga instead. The manga has all the good stuff from the anime, minus those weird fanservice moments.

So yeah, if you're like me and don't want to deal with that fanservice stuff, go for the ... manga. It keeps things focused on the story and characters without all the distractions. Happy reading!

Mieruko is fairly popular, I see it a bunch on social media and that was the reason I started watching it. It's not like I had my hopes fairly high, but I certainly didn't have it low either from what I have seen online.

The story is very repetitive, the premise for each episode is almost exactly the same and I find it's more of a series of events rather than a story. While that isn't bad sometimes, it certainly didn't suit this genre. It's tags don't seem to suit the series either. I couldn't find a way to get scared or even remotely disgusted by ... anything apart from the fanservice in certain moments, so it didn't suit my tastes in terms of horror. The supernatural tag definitely fit in, but the comedy one, not really. I didn't know which part I was meant to laugh at while watching.

The whole story was just frustrating, there were many problems that could've been solved if MC had said something. Even if she didn't want to explicitly say that there was a ghost and they shouldn't go in, she could say something like 'the vibes are off' and it would be accepted because instincts are a thing. Though I can understand it's for the story sometimes, others I really am not sure why she kept letting herself get misunderstood. I couldn't find any way to empathise with mc either, i cld def sympathise but I cld not understand her sometimes. She can have very contradictory thinking, like she knows how it will end since ghosts are only ghosts and have limited abilities, but decides to get scared abt it until she cries.

Something that also made me dislike the series was how oblivious other characters were. Miko could be standing still for a good 5 minutes and her friends just stare at her. Like ??? Idk if that's how it's meant to be but it can be a slap in the face sometimes.

Overall,
Pro:
- pretty art and animation
- it gets slightly better as you go along
- uses day to day situations and implements stories well (execution wise tho...)

Con:
- repetitive
- characters seem one-dimensional and can get very frustrating (e.g. only rlly being there for comedic relief, serve barely any use to the story)
- fanservice where there shouldn't be (wish i cld name them but don't want to spoil)

In the end, maybe it's just not my taste, but I feel that there are better animes that can satisfy your need for horror/comedy/supernatural.

Not for me. Interesting concept but very lackluster execution. I found myself yawning quite a bit and most of the episodes were so boring. Story meanders quite a bit, and every character other than Miko is either lifeless or annoying. Hana's airheadedness and Yuria's "rivalry" schtick got old real quick. Sound was whatever, voice acting met expectations. The best aspect of this show is easily the artstyle as it is very pleasing to look at.

This is also supposed to be a horror comedy but in my opinion it fails at both. Yeah, both of them are pretty subjective and I can see why some ... people might find it funny even though I don't, however I really can't see anyone being even creeped out over this, the ghosts look more goofy than creepy.

Pretty disappointed that it turned out to be so dull, the synopsis sounded very interesting but it's yet another anime that I drop because it's just so boring and bland.

Honestly, it's not for me. I mean the art is great and i really love the design of the monsters but it's pretty boring. When i was watching I was really trying to focus but it was just so boring because of the repetitive scenes and unnecessary fanservice.

I also feel like it wasn't that scary and funny like some ppl say it is. It wasn't funny at all. It was kinda entertaining watching her trying not to react to the monsters at first but like i said, it was repetitive and it got dull very quickly.

The sounds and voices were really good and i ... love the weird noises the monsters made . Concerning the characters, they're pretty flat and dull and they didn't have much of personality.

I am definitely not watching this again anytime soon. It was pretty bland and boring and i was really trying not to sleep while watching this.

The story definitely caught my attention but i feel like it would've been more enjoyable if it was scarier and there was more world explanation(if u get what i mean).

I have never written a review ever, but this anime was so bad that I had to bust my review cherry just to talk about it.

First of all, the story is non existent. You will literally go on multiple episodes with nothing contributing to the overall plot of this anime. Not only that, but every single episode has the same layout, mc gets in situation with scary ghost thing, sits there for about 3 minutes thinking about what to do, plot armor kicks in and saves her. They do this for about 7-9 episodes.

The anime is supposed to be a comedy horror. The thing is, ... that does not work at all. Not only is the anime not funny at all its also not scary at all.

If you like "cute" girls and also like fan service this is the anime for you, as that is all this anime is good for.

Sees ghost -> feels scared -> try to escape situation -> repeat x12.

No real plot. No real comedy.

Does not explore backstory of ghosts and what their grievances are (except one scene).

Does not attempt to help ghosts with any last wishes they might have (except one scene).

Does not attempt to fight/exorcise ghosts (except the Kitsune, which I'm still confused about)

... Does not show Mieruko try to figure out how to deal with the ghosts definitively, even though there are other character(s) who can see them.

Hana only talks about food, food and food EVERY single episode.

In summary,
No action
No romance
No feel-good aspect
No comedy
Not even the horror is done properly... the ghosts simply breathe heavily around Mieruko and don't actually do anything to her/humans.

It is an anime about a girl trying to ignore ghosts for 12 episodes, with a sprinkling of scenes showing big boobs, short skirts and plenty of thigh (I could watch other stuff for that if I was really interested in doing so...)

There are several possible ways that the story could have elaborated on the ghosts.
However, they just exist and there is nothing much to discuss about them...
I'm not sure why this is anime of the season on some ranking sites...

where is the fu... story tale of this anime , it just a wast of time , mabye tom and jerry episodes has much story than this , disappointment!

Genres: Comedy,Horror
i going to this anime at first cuz of its genra that i loved most but
and there is no comedy and horror at all

dont wast your time with this
i wonder how i didnt dropped it and wait until last episode ,, i was expected at least a storyline even at the end but also no

and a again ,, Kinda waste of time. Its not dreadfull to watch. The show ... just features not a single interesting element. It tries to lure you in with some really shity fan service !! that they has to do only if you are a failed anime

oh to be honest the art was good , but it doesnt matter at all so .. lets end this to my score

Story: 0
Characters: 2
Animation: 7
Sound: 4
Enjoyment: 2
Overall: 2

No spoilers;
I came from the manga
Story: Good story I guess. It followed most of the original manga. It could have been scarier

Art: I love the art style mieruko chan is so pretty. They got the monsters pretty ok but not as scary.

Sound: Amazing voice actors. It's funny when she gets scared

Characters: They have their original personalities. Kind of cliched but that's totally fine. It added to the comedy aspect.

Enjoyment: I expected a lot. I thought it would be scarier because when I read the manga, I wanted something actually scary. It was good. Scary but humorous. The anime? Fanservice. Fan service to make up for ... the fact that it cant be scary and that its humour is the same as every other anime. disappointed. I don't want fan service.

Overall:
It's a really good anime, don't get me wrong. The art style and voice actors are really good. The original comedy style is still included however I did come over from the manga. I read the manga wanting something actually scary and I was excited for the anime only to be let down. Watch it for comedy and fan service. If you're looking for something scary, keep looking. I expected so much but they changed it to appeal.

Honestly would be a solid show, Really good comedy, interesting horror and amazing art on the spirits, however the weird, ecchi, fan service stuff with girls that are underage high school girls is awfully uncomfortable. There is constant upskirt shots and boob shots, they really don’t go more than a scene without showing it and it’s worse that the second episode literally starts with them getting changed in a locker room just to fill out the rest of the quota of fan service makes it worse. The mcs best friend has to mention her tits every 2 conversations, her whole character is mainly focussed on ... the fan service, in the second episode they have a whole convo about how she’s going commando that quite literally adds Nothing to the episode it’s purely in there for one reason. It’s painfully constant and honestly makes the show quite unwatchable, I think it’s got an interesting concept if not for all the other stuff it might be a really good show. But unfortunately the ecchi stuff is too distracting to keep watching.

Miko can see ghosts.
Miko sees ghost.
Miko scared.
Ghost be lik; girl scared?
Ghost think; she see me?
Miko pretend not to see ghost.
Ghost say; nah she don't see me.
Ghost goes away.
Miko no scared anymore.

That's the entirity of the first three episodes and from what I've heard it doesn't become anything more than that. It's a great idea that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Imagine if she would interact with the ghosts, try to solve their murders or give them closure about their death. But no it's just a girl who can see ghosts pretending she can't.

Better off not watching it. The whole storyline was just meh. Just a girl with supernatural eyesight seeing icky creatures. Nothing really stood out.

The mc was scared shitless the whole time while pretending she's not, which lowkey ticked me off. Wish she sought help or do more research on how she can exorcise those creatures, instead of just enduring them.

Also, there were a lot of irrelevant fanservice scenes, which was really odd/felt out of place, since this is a "horror"-themed anime. (Although I wouldn't consider this horror. It was more horrifying for the mc than it was to the audience).

The only wholesome element of this ... anime was the mc's little brother, who was quite caring towards the mc.

Ignoring ghosts doesn’t make for a fun series.

If I were in this situation, I’d be doing a few things:

1) Going to a doctor and ruling out a hallucination disorder
2) Making the effort to learn about ghosts
3) Yeah, I’d talk to them

The ghosts don’t seem to pose a physical threat to the main character, so I’m not sure what the stakes are here. There’s no real story going on- why can she see them?, what do they want?, can they be banished?, etc etc.

This series is more proof that horror comedy doesn’t really work as its own genre. The ... creepiness factor makes laugher too much of an effort.

And I just have to make a comment about the overuse of fan service. I’ve never seen it get in the way of plot, but this anime managed it. There’s times I want to know what the character’s real actions and expressions are doing, but I’m getting endless chest and butt shots. Their eyes are up there.

Overall, I can’t tell what the point of this is other than boobs and creepy jump scares. I was hoping for more of a mystery element.

I usually don't wirte reviews but man... this THING is just sad.

Currently I am 3 episodes deep in this and I will cancel it after 1 more episode if nothing changes.

Its basically slice of life, whom can have weird story telling , I am usually fine with.

-------------------
A few weeks passed and I tried to force myself to watch the rest of the episodes.

Every episode follows the same schema every time. Nothing changed.
...
I try not to write spoilers, but you have read the basic story and you know that there will be ghosts and other weird things she will see ( and pretend not to)..... yea thats every episode. No development, no story arc. She will do regular girl things as a slice of life usually is and some panties and bra's will be on screen and she will see something, pretend no to see it and do something with a pokerface. Cry afterward and thats about it.

I hope if there will be a season 2, they will make the characters more lovable, because at the moment its a cookiecardboardcutout.

:(

dude I hate how boring my life has become that I actually, Actually finished watching all 12 episodes of this lukewarm bowl of nothingness.

No actually, a lukewarm bowl of nothingness is too kind, this is the anime equivalent of an unseasoned undercooked chicken breast. Oh Dear God.

Yes I realize it's a different take on the "school girl with supernatural abilities seeing supernatural things" trope, as in she doesn't become OP and start having superpower battles with the spirits, yes I get that, but this MC has stepped miles deep into the "impossibly dumb" category. I don't care who you are, a modern human being, raised ... by the internet, in the 21st century, would have the following sequence of reaction if they started seeing spirits: 1) *panics, gets scared, etc.* 2) *realizes they've lived their 10+ years of lives without seeing these things and probably walking through them all the time and nothing bad happened so far anyways 3) "I mean...this is, probably not a big deal right?" and then if you lived with this "condition" every single day for weeks, for months, you'd DEFINITELY stop caring about it. You want a non-shounen, realistic depiction of an everyday man/woman's reaction to "seeing spirits"? that's what it's gonna be like, and there's plenty of drama/comedy/etc. you can do with a character like that, but instead the author decided to use an impossibly dumb MC who never learns and never adapts.

And we all know why, it became painstakingly obvious why the author made the MC this dumb a few episodes in, because they can't write. They can't write characters, dialogue, or any interesting stories. So they keep the MC dumb, impossibly dumb, so they can reuse the "sees spirits, gets scared, pretends to not see it, the spirit goes away" plot a billion times, they really were shameless enough to pad out this many episodes with this exact same plot. Wow. The few exceptions are plotlines you've already seen in Mushishi, Jigoku Shoujo and other similar shows but done in much, much more moving and satisfying ways.

And Oh God, that best friend, "I~am~hungry~let's~go~eat~~~~~~~~", I'm not exaggerating when I say that was literally 99.9% of her character. This author really just, doesn't even try.

the fact that writing like this a manga like this was deemed worthy for an anime adaptation......I guess the anime industry has stopped pretending that they need to try eh, "just put out anything and the dumb otakus will pretend to like it and pay"