I did not expect that final episode of Mieruko-Chan to wrap everything up but I was hoping Miko would learn a little more about her abilities. Still, I can’t say I’m disappointed with this final episode that gave us some tension, a jump scare or two, and some heart-warming friendship moments. All things considered it was perhaps the best the audience could hope for given how many unanswered questions there still are.
That said, without a confirmation of a season 2 you can’t help but feel a little saddened that this has come to a close so inconclusively.
What surprises did the final episode of Mieruko-Chan have in store?
Weirdly (or maybe not) Mieruko-Chan decided rather than give viewers closure it would continue its pattern of making us question are assumptions. See episode 10 had me believe Zen was the big bad before episode 11 had me feel that I was completely wrong. Events in this episode lead me to believe that maybe he isn’t a cat killer but there’s definitely something off about him. The implication from the episode is that he’s responsible for multiple missing persons.
Though this time I’m not going to jump to conclusions. Maybe the guy just ran away after being electrocuted by a high-school teacher.
But that’s all just background for the most part and tying up a loose end in Zen’s story.
Mieruko-Chan is Miko’s story.
Her biggest loose end is the shrine and the spirits who have protected her three times throughout the series. In this episode we see her agonising over whether she should go and thank them and having some pretty horrific nightmares about that situation going horribly wrong.
Unfortunately, this plot line is left completely unresolved though there is definitely an ominous sign toward the end of the episode that those spirits have not forgotten about her and they definitely seem to think she owes them something.
With so much still to learn about why Miko can see spirits, what the shrine god actually wants from her, about Hana’s aura and appetite there’s definitely space for a sequel to this story.
But at the same time, it doesn’t really need it.
The episodic nature of the encounters up to this point kind of make each part stand alone and really other than the shrine spirits and Zen’s cat story none of the other plot threads have really carried along outside of Miko’s friendship with Hana.
And that’s why, even without tying up the loose ends, episode 12 satisfied enough.
The friendship between Hana, Yulia and Miko has continued to grow and while Yulia is still a bit of an outsider there’s clear chemistry now between her and the other two. Mieruko-Chan has really made the power of friendship work for it and with Miko and Yulia now being a little more honest with each other there’s potential for Yulia to help Miko understand a bit more about what she is seeing.
That said, the world moves on and this episode sees a lot of repeated scenes from earlier episodes as Miko walks us through her days with ghosts appearing on the bus, the bus stop, at school and at home and they’ve all become part her daily routine even if she’s still not reacting to them.
And that brings us to the end of Mieruko-Chan. You can read the full season review here.
Images from: Mieruko-Chan. Dir. Y Ogawa. Passione. 2021
Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James
Zen is a cat killer killer? Shades of Dexter!
I really would like another season of this. I felt the pace of her character arc was too slow for a single season because she hasn’t completed it yet. And there are all those loose threads you mentioned.
This feels like a good way to end a season if you aren’t certain of having another.
I’m not jumping to the conclusion that Zen is a cat killer killer largely because this anime has frequently made sure I jumped to the wrong conclusion. But, it definitely implied it.
As of now there’s only 6 volumes of Mieruko-chan that exist (and I can tell you since I read volume 4 recently, there are some similarities but they had to adjust and add a few things for the final episode), so yeah, probably too early for another season to be announced. But I’d like to believe it’s popular enough to return in the future, so in anime form, I don’t think it’ll be the last time we see Miko and the girls…and the terrors!
But yeah, this was one of my favorite new shows of the season, though I didn’t have much doubt (Ok, just a tiny bit lmao), the manga is pretty good. Was just a case of how would the studio handle some of the more subtle stuff (like with Miko’s dad) in the manga, and once that was done well, I was pretty pleased.