Is Mieruko-chan Scary, Sexy, or Both? – This Week in Anime

Mieruko-chan is a blend of fear and fanservice as Miko, newly able to see horrific spirits around her, does her best not to let the ghosts know she can see them. It’s a teetering balance between cheesecake and creepies. Does it pull it off?

This series is streaming on FUNimation

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.
Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.

Steve

Nick, I’m excited today to talk about an anime I feel uniquely qualified to review each week, because I too can only function by ignoring the grim concatenation of dark monstrosities that cloud the periphery of my every waking moment.


In my example, though, I’m on my phone retweeting good pictures of Shuten Douji.

Nick

It’s the saddest time of the year: Halloween is over, the chill of winter is truly setting in, and by god I need something creepy and crawly to combat the encroaching invasion of Christmas music. So today we’re covering the hilari-fying world of MIERUKO-CHAN!

Based on a series of gag web comic strips that were then expanded into a full manga by Tomoki Izumi, Mieruko-chan posits a simple question: what if a high school girl suddenly gained the ability to see the supernatural? And the answer is she makes this face a lot.

Yep, the series is one joke that takes your standard supernatural exorcism series, and turns it on its head by having our heroine do everything in her power to blindfold her third eye. No magic rituals or holy weapons – just one girl trying her best to avoid eye contact with whatever creepypasta monstrosity the afterlife throws her way that day.

So rarely do we see a main character so doggedly determined not to be an anime protagonist. There’s a gaggle of would-be shonen heroes chomping at the bit to get their hands on a power like this, but Miko just wants to be left alone. It makes her instantly relatable in a fun, subversive way.

Couldn’t tell ya why, but a character trying to compartmentalize the ever-present horrors that they are constantly aware of yet simultaneously powerless to effect in any significant way sure is relatable in this particular time and place. For some reason.

Truly it is a mystery of paranormal proportions.

Honestly, jokes aside, even though this is a genre-heavy series, there’s plenty of room to read between the lines of Miko’s daily struggle, and that subtextual space enhances Mieruko-chan a lot for me. But it also plumbs some very different depths at the same time lol.

I mean I respect horny that respects novelty, so the above example, at the very least, qualifies as interesting to me. But overall, yeah, it’s extremely funny that you’ll have a scene with this exquisitely rendered maggot-infested hell creature, and then BAM here’s an entire ass and/or boob.

Also before it becomes A Thing (because it always does) this is not an attack on the concept of horny anime or fanservice or whatever. It’s just talking about what’s appropriate for the overall tone or emotional aim of any particular scene or story. Sex is a tool in media as much as any other aspect, and can be implemented well or poorly. And for as much as sex and horror comingle in media, that doesn’t mean every instance works, y’know?

Yeah, like, personally, I’m amused rather than offended at the fanservice in Mieruko-chan. Horror especially has long walked hand-in-hand with the lascivious, so I went into the show primed to expect a certain degree of tastelessness. Where it becomes a sticking point, though, is when it starts being juxtaposed against Mieruko-chan‘s developing narrative aspirations, which treat these characters more seriously than gag or cheesecake fodder.

And thankfully that shift does eventually catch up to the visuals, to the point where the last couple episodes have featured few-to-zero lovingly rendered buttcracks. Which is nice, since it lets this show’s horror and comedy chops really take center stage. Because for all that this show is at once light-hearted, it also knows exactly how to build and pace terror when it wants to.

Right! I love how understated that particular example is too. The series, however, does pull out all the stops for its creature design, which takes plenty of creative avenues to make these ghouls look as gross and otherworldly as possible. Like, they literally recruited at least one of the monster designers—Hiroya Iijima—from Jujutsu Kaisen. That’s pretty above-and-beyond for a comedy anime!

They’re so fucking gross. It’s great. I want scale figures of all of these godforsaken abominations.

I have a powerful need for a Nendoroid of the little naked guys who scamper around and collect loose change. Even Miko thinks they’re cute.

And that design work is integral to the conceit of the show. Ghost fiction has conditioned us to just expect protagonists to eventually communicate and connect with specters and ghouls, so the only way the series works is if the creatures Miko can see are absolutely repulsive. And hey, mission accomplished.

You can instantly understand why her first instinct is to avoid these fetid fellas—and also why it’s so bone-chilling for her to have to put up with this bullshit every day. Miko already looks perpetually tired thanks to good character design, but it’s easy to imagine a version of this show that descends fully into the psychological horror of wading through this horrible spirit world without anyone to help or guide her. Mieruko-chan, though, would rather spend time on butt buns, and I can’t blame them for that.

I mean, there is still a certain existential terror that is always at the back of any given scene. The other cool thing about the design work of these creatures is how so many tell just the barest bits of a story behind their existence. These spirits come from somewhere and half the time your brain can’t help but try to piece things together, which can be even scarier.

I’m glad that edge is there, but I’m also glad it’s not any more pronounced than it is. The show already juggles so many other different tones—jump scares, horny, trash paranormal TV, sight gags, wholesomeness, etc.—that it needs some restraint. Like I said earlier, though, I’m perfectly okay with the show swapping out some of the horniness and comedy for more serious character/plot development, which does seem to be the direction we’re heading in.

For me it’s that mix that makes Mieruko-chan so unique. Anime has a largely accidental habit of mixing horror and comedy (Hey kids, who remembers Another?) so seeing those two sides implemented in tandem is really fun. I can both laugh at Miko’s prayer beads repeatedly exploding like cheap plastic jewelry AND quake in sympathetic fear for what that means about any given human’s ability to contend with the spiritual.

Yeah I appreciate the ways we’ve seen the spiritual world unfold beyond Miko’s perspective—and how they’ve universally reinforced the fact that Miko’s sight is Very Strong and she’s pretty much on her own. Like, when the spitting image of a wizened old crone can’t help you with your ghoul problem, who can?

Certainly not this chuuni little fungus, that’s for sure.

Yulia may have some extrasensory talents, but she could use some more regular old sensory ones.

Girl’s messing with powers far beyond her comprehension. And by that I mean Miko’s pristine chokehold form.

I really love that one-off gag Miko used to ward away the ghost of Mrs. Vagina Mouth has since blossomed into an actual character trait.


She’s learned from the best, and she wields death in those arms of hers.

Much like its origin as self-contained web comics spiraled out into a full-blown manga series, this show has a knack for taking simple, one-off ideas and bringing them back in really creative ways. Like how they seed Miko’s barely-relevant dad in a few key scenes in the first 3 episodes:

They really went and knocked the wind (and maybe a couple tears) out of me with a cup of pudding. It’s so obvious in retrospect, too, but Mieruko-chan proves to be shockingly deft in setting that up. Like, up to that point, we’re so primed to expect all of the apparitions Miko sees to be these scary unknowable monstrosities, down to this one right here!

He’s so scary it keeps you from noticing the dad’s the only person at the table who doesn’t have a plate in front of him! Or that nobody’s replying to him when he speaks up. And then BAM right in the feelings.

That’s been my most pleasant surprise in watching the anime—how sincerely and beautifully it captures these genuine moments of emotional connection and catharsis. Even the simpler earlier example similarly subverts your expectations to saccharine-sweet ends.

That’s another thing the show deftly takes advantage of. Death is a huge and significant part of life, and just as the scary specters have some horrific origin, plenty of these spirits hold deeply human stories within them, and sometimes we get a glimpse into something genuinely sweet and comforting amid the terror.


Like god damn, I don’t know anything about this man or his life, but I can tell somebody and some animals truly loved and were loved by him. I’m glad he’s got a new fur baby to care for.

It’s the first time we (and Miko herself, probably) begin to consider her sight not just a curse, but something that can help people too. The example with the old senile woman is the show’s crowning achievement so far, imo. Not only does Miko use her power for good, but she for the first time risks the spirit discovering that she can see him. And he does.


And man, I am a really big fan of this adaptation. The choice to make her stand there alone silently for a few moments is so simultaneously powerful and understated. Spot-on direction.

Yeah I’m sure it has a perfectly valid reason to be using Hana’s rack as its own personal ambulatory ghoul grill.

Listen, even unimaginable horrors from the dark crevices of existence enjoy a good barbecue. Is it their fault they have to stalk a busty teenager and her unusually powerful spirit aura to get some?

I enjoy the implication that Hana’s bottomless appetite for sweets is a consequence of her extra-strong aura needing extra-sugary food. Anything that means I get to watch an anime girl wolf down a stack of pancakes is good worldbuilding to me.

She’s a great foil for Miko, truly demonstrating the duality of man.

BFFs!!


Typical Instagram user vs. Average Twitter poster.

Nothing quite captures the last couple years of my life quite like trying to discuss Ghibli movies while God rends a dark spirit to shreds 10 feet behind me.

That whole scene flits so quickly between horror, comedy, and mystery that it really is a good microcosm of the juxtapositions that work well in Mieruko-chan. By the end, both Miko and the audience are left with a sense of awe and plenty more questions than answers.

We get the answer to one question: Gods are real. And then get several hundred more like: Why does it look like that? The fuck does “three times” mean? Does every shrine have one of those? How did it revive one of its fox gremlins that got eaten by the spirit? Why didn’t Hana ever mention Porco Rosso? And those are the questions that are going to keep Miko up at night.

And it’s not like she needs additional help losing sleep when she gets eyefuls of these lovely delights on a daily basis.


Shoulda called this show Ganbare Mieruko-chan.

Free him.

Yeah can I get uhhhhhhhhh one scary little invisible gremlin.

Sorry, Gremlin machine’s broken.

Truly, being Miko is suffering.

So yeah, Mieruko-chan is a special bit of horror/comedy and I’m really glad the anime’s managed to bring that to life so well. It’s this wonderful gumbo of scary, silly, sweet, and everything in between. I especially love the OP which manages to sound more terrified and frantic every time I listen to it.

And the ED, which features a bubblegum-pop call-and-response where the response is the bloodcurdling screams of the damned. That’s the Mieruko-chan mood right there.

The line between horror and comedy is razor-thin, and this show manages to dance along that margin more capably than you’d expect. Watch it if you want a scare, a laugh, both at the same time, or you just want to learn important life lessons: