Given where its focus was, it’s hardly a surprise that this episode of Mieruko-chan didn’t do a whole bunch for me. I don’t find Hana and the relentless food jokes funny, nor Yulia’s helium-voiced dim-wittedness. The school slice-of-life stuff has always been the weakest part of this show, but compared to some of the stuff early in the run, this wasn’t terrible or anything. There wasn’t much bad fanservice at least (although I somehow feel like that weird eating in the toilet thing was a pitch to some gross fetish demographic I’ve never heard of). Honestly, if this is as bad as things get, that’s kind of OK.
It did look for a while as if this was going to be a fairly heavy and serious episode about the cat-killer sensei, and Mieruko-chan on average seems to be better when it’s weighty. That was mostly a tease, though – that whole business with the handprints and the thing following Toono was pretty ominous, and you can bet the “Don’t Look!” bit was the most important moment of the episode. Before long though things kind of devolved into Hana food jokes, and soon enough Miko and the two idiots were off on another field trip.
Let’s take it as read that a donut shop putting on that kind of God-tier haunted house exhibit is utterly preposterous – we’re not going for photo-realism here. There were some lulls in this sequence, but on the whole it was the better half of the episode. What was communicated very effectively was what a cathartic experience actually being able to react to scary shit was for Miko. Seriously, I could see her becoming a haunted house junkie after this – this show does do a good job of making you feel for this poor girl. One can easily imagine just how good it would feel to be able to scream your lungs out in moments like this. And the tracksuit spirit was one of more amusing designs so far.
I think next week will get us back to more serious business, as the matter of psycho-sensei isn’t one that can be deferred for too long. If I were a betting man I’d say he remembers Miko and Hana, and if he does that can’t possibly be a good thing. There have been some twists in this series that have surprised me, and I’m kind of expecting the Oono subplot to have a couple of those as well. Nothing seems to be quite as straightforward as you think with Mieruko-chan – that’s one of the reasons why I’ve come to kind of like it – and I suspect this situation will be no different.
Bob
November 30, 2021 at 2:27 amEating in the bathroom is a common manga/anime sign of a friendless loner.
ahnold11
December 1, 2021 at 1:50 pmIs it just me, or is the plot/narrative of this show moving a little too slow? I keep coming back to the idea that if Miko just communicated a tiny bit, or even reacted, that we’d have some serious resolution here. This show, from essentially the first episode, feels like one long held in breathe. Appropriate for the subject matter I guess, but I can’t help feeling they are drawing it out just a little too long.
We definitely have been dropped some breadcrumbs the last few episodes, but it does seem to be meager pickings. I’m guessing one’s experience will come down to how much you enjoy filling in the blanks with your own imagination? I definitely agree with the vibe that things aren’t what they seem and that maybe these ‘evil spirits to be avoided’ could easily end up as ‘wayward souls in need of assistance’. I’ve committed to watching the last 3 episodes completely at night, (lights out, alone, after midnight..) and it really has helped make those long stretches a bit more bearable (the tension becomes almost unbearable, which definitely distracts you from the repetitiveness). I’m not as sensitive to trope characters yet, so I don’t mind the sidekicks, and overall the entire experience of the show is quite enjoyable. Just wish Miko could be a bit more proactive/reactive to help move things along.
Guardian Enzo
December 1, 2021 at 2:54 pmI don’t disagree with that. But the fact is that the manga is relatively new, so it’s not as though the anime has the option of speeding things along. I also give a little benefit of the doubt in this not being a totally unrealistic way for a young person to deal with this freaky turn of events – just pretend you don’t see anything and hope it all stops somehow.
Say
December 2, 2021 at 3:02 amTo me the narrative seems to drop hints casually when in reality it does not. For example, the tracksuit dude actually stopped pursuing the trio after Miko had yelled at him. It means that she has the power to stop those spirits, she’s just not aware of that.
Bounty
December 3, 2021 at 10:03 pmMieruko-chan’s adaptation is incredibly disappointing all around. I wholeheartedly advise anyone to give the manga a chance, it’s insanely better because the sexual fanservice is way less than the anime adaptation, and page spreads are breathtakingly beautiful from time to time. I’ll also say that it’s unexpectedly touching in a few places, too.
Give the manga a shot, reject the anime adaptation.