Once I got the basic m.o. of Mieruko-chan, things began to make a lot more sense.  To be sure, there are still some mysteries, but the fundamental theme here is not to trust your first impressions.  That’s already played out in triplicate as regards the cat scenario, but it’s not limited to that.  I think it applies to the things Miko sees, for the most part.  There are certainly some bad and scary spirits here, but I think her path out for this personal Hell is to fully grasp the extent to which she’s being deceived by what she sees most of the time.

This was already obvious enough that I pretty much knew Zen would turn out to be a lot more than he seemed to be.  His arc is the clincher to be sure, but it’s the culmination of a lot of gradual buildup.  Not that I can blame Miko for getting it wrong, but I think more than anything it’s symptomatic of the fact that she’s an emotional wreck at this point, and utterly exhausted.  Anyone would have trouble processing the things she sees, much less a 16 year-old girl.

In sum, Zen’s current disturbed state is the direct result of a “Mommie Dearest” childhood.  This is relatively standard in the way it plays out (“you’ll betray me like your father did” is an angle we’ve seen plenty of times before) but it gets the job done.  If there’s a hole here it’s the fact that we don’t have an explanation for who the neighborhood cat terrorist is, but as for Zen he’s going about (mostly in vain, thus his entourage) trying to save them.  And Miko discovers all this because she’s tailing him, trying to get proof he’s the cat killer for Hana’s sake.

Miko is trying to do the right thing, so full credit to her.  She takes on the terrifying task of tailing Zen-sensei for Hana’s sake.  And when the moment of truth comes, she doesn’t call 110 so the cops will nab him red-handed (literally) because it’d be too late for the cat.  She gets things all wrong, but Miko’s heart is certainly in the right place.  Unfortunately this leads to Zen having a run-in with truck-kun (or maybe it was car-chan) trying – successfully for once – to save the cat in question.

Also to Miko’s credit is that once she discovers the truth, she makes a personal sacrifice to help Zen-sensei.  His (only, presumably) friend Satoru – a vet – explains the specifics of Zen’s childhood to Miko (who’s brought the cat to her house in the meantime).  The horrific apparition attached to Zen is obviously his mother, who continues to ruin his life even after hers has ended.  Miko confronts a spirit head-on at last, knowing full well it’s going to come after her – which will burn the last of her three boons from the shrine Kami.  Of course she’s putting a lot of trust in that actually happening, but we don’t really know what would happen if the twins didn’t interfere.

Obviously with next week being the finale we’re not really going to suss this story out in the anime, but it’s interesting to reflect on all the things that have happened in the series in this context.  I’m of the opinion that most of the spectres Miko sees are if not beneficial, certainly not malicious – just in pain.  Miko’s path forward seems to be not simply making them go away, but finding a way to help them.  We don’t know why she started seeing them in the first place, and of course that’s probably a pretty important element.  But the implied logic of Mieruko-chan suggests that all this is happening for a reason, and isn’t simply random.