In the interests of full disclosure, one of the reasons I’ve more or less returned to Mieruko-chan is that this anime season has a massive hole in it.  For me that is.  There’s a three-day stretch (Monday-Wednesday Japan time) where I have nothing on the schedule for the site, pending what happens with Kimetsu.  While I could probably use the break, it feels weird to me not to cover anything for three days (and it’s not like the rest of the week is jam-packed either, anime-wise).  I could defer something from the weekend, or pull a show back like Digimon Ghost Game or Muteking (which I’d have to defer from the weekend anyway).  None of those is an ideal solution to say the least.

Neither is this scenario, I suppose.  I won’t deny that this isn’t the best reason to blog a series, but it does go deeper than that.  I like those other shows I mentioned, but in blogging terms Mieruko-chan feels more substantial somehow – at least potentially.  This adaptation is proving very popular and I get why.  It kind of galls me that the fanservice overload in the first few eps did exactly what it was designed to do – suck people in.  But the fact is, the show has turned out to be pretty good.  There’s something here, to be sure – it’s flawed, but Mieruko-chan has a certain “it” factor.  It’s a grabby sort of show.

One of the reasons Mieruko-chan is growing on me is because it’s growing.  The mythology is getting more complicated and interesting as it progresses, which is good.  Not as good for me is that there’s not much tonal variation – apart from the scenes with Kyousuke, things stay pretty one-note.  My hope is that the additional layers to the plot will eventually drag that side of the series along with them, and there’s some indication that’s happening, at least a little.

It’s quite clear that Hana is a spiritual hot spot of the highest order.  I find her persona incredibly annoying to be honest, but she’s interesting as a device.  That whole bit with the freaky spirit (or youkai, or whatever they actually are) using Hana’s body to cook the cute little spirit dudes was highly gross, exactly as it was intended to be.  I mean really, Hana is exactly the worst sort of friend for someone like Miko (or dogs) – but I guess that’s exactly the point.  How many of these apparitions Miko sees are close because Hana (or the stink of her) draws them in?

This time around Miko actually tries to get rid of a youkai – which I think is the first time that’s happened – because she perceives it as haunting Hana.  This thing is a real nasty piece of work, to be sure, and it seems to grow larger with every entity it consumes.  Miko’s plan is to take Hana to a Shrine which the internet says is a known power spot.  When they arrive, it turns out to be abandoned, seemingly (and I can vouch for the fact that big old abandoned shrines are extremely atmospheric and creepy),  but that doesn’t stop Miko from dropping a ¥500 coin in the box (it’s considered good luck to use denominations of 5 in a donation).

This scene at the shrine is very well-done, and I like the way the inane “Studio Mibli” dialogue is going on as a backdrop.  Miko’s prayer is undeniably answered – a couple of the Kami’s servants show up but the hungry beast is too much for them.  Eventually the God itself weighs in – and it destroys the monster in pretty short order.  After a brief but very disturbing conversation between the Kami and its servants, it does something to Miko – and then declares in Japanese “Three times”.  That feels like a big fat piece of foreshadowing if ever there was one, though at this point the meaning is a mystery.