Mieruko-chan – 12 (End) and Series Review

I think the first question I should address with Mieruko-chan relates to the aspect of it that was unusual for me.  To wit, I dropped it and picked it back up again.  So am I sorry I did – pick it back up, that is?  No, not at all.  It generally tended to get better over its run (my suspicion that it would was one of the reasons I came back).  And it ended up being a very entertaining series.  The crass fanservice was a detracting element to be sure, and there was one major element of the narrative that never clicked with me (the school friends).  But on the whole, a pretty good show in a really bad season.

The whole Zen thing ended up being a fairly interesting subplot, largely because of the whiplash-inducing fakeouts the narrative threw at him.  It strikes me quite funny that in the end he wasn’t a cat killer, but a plain old killer – that Miko was right to be wary of him, but for the wrong reason.  We don’t know if his murdering is limited to the cat killer (maybe, but there’s no reason to call it a safe assumption).  At the very least Nekomaru Mocha should be safe with him, though that will be small comfort to poor Kyousuke.

I don’t know whether the Zen thing gets revisited – Miko’s teacher being a murderer is a pretty big matzoh ball to just leave hanging out there, but if his primary purpose to the plot was fulfilled, maybe it’ll hang.  The main takeaway from his storyline was that it pushed Miko to confront one of her visions head-on for the first time (though she did so because she had the crutch of the shrine guardians to lean on).  This was a very Miko thing do, and while Yulia’s comment about spirits because attracted to someone who sympathizes with them wasn’t directed at her, it does engender some interesting speculation.

I’m more or less of the opinion that any cliffhanger in a series with no confirmed sequel is a cruel one, but this was pretty big-time.  The matter of the shrine God – who now that I see him in more detail looks like a Kyuubi no Kitsune, a nine-tailed fox – is the biggest piece of unresolved business with Mieruko-chan.  Miko’s dream about the wrath of the kitsune may have been a dream, but in context it’s not hard to believe it has a direct connection to reality.  In the dream her offerings – sweet dango, a purse full of coins – clearly did not satisfy the Kami or his attendants.  But in real life, it seems as if Miko hasn’t even gone to the shrine (Inari, presumably) to offer her thanks for services rendered.

With Kitsune & co. now following Miko around town it’s pretty safe to say their role in the plot is far from over.  If he sent her that dream did he do it to encourage her to make an offering, or to make it clear that offering better be high-level?  Or something else altogether?  We have even bigger questions of course, and Miko asks them herself – why did she start seeing these things in the first place, and what are they exactly?  Maybe those are directly connected to the shrine spirits, but one guesses they’ll be the subject of the series’ final arc, whenever that comes around.

I have the sense that Mieruko-chan is quite well-received both in Japan and overseas, and this is the sort of show that could definitely get a second season.  The issue is that there’s not enough material for that and probably won’t be for at least a year, and a year is an eternity in the production committee world.  I certainly wouldn’t mind – there was a lot to like about this series, even if I never cared for Hana or Yulia or found them funny.  The core premise is very interesting, the relationship between Miko and Kyousuke was really well-done, and Miko herself is a solid protagonist.

That last part is really the key.  You can’t help but feel for Miko going through the stuff she does – she’s a good person, and never seems to get a respite.  It’s always important to feel some connection to the main character, but with this series especially it’s crucial that we empathize, see the world as she sees it.  Mieruko-chan has some big blemishes but the stuff it has to get right in order to work, it generally does.  In a season and a year like winter and 2021, that’s enough to make it stand out from the crowd