Mieruko-Chan Episode 6 - Protecting Hana Is Becoming A Full Time Job

I’ve mostly really enjoy Mieruko-Chan this season and while my initial concern in episode one was the clunky fan-service or the slightly weaker comedy elements, they’ve kind of dwindled (not disappeared) and left the elements I was enjoying. That is, the friendship between Miko and Hana, the creepy ghost things, and the reasonably solid execution each episode of setting up a situation and giving us a satisfying resolution to it.

I’d potentially go so far to say that Mieruko-Chan is the anime where I enjoy individual episodes each week the most even though there are other series I’m watching where once they are resolved I know they will stick with me longer.

It is almost as though this anime was made for episodic viewing.

Mieruko-Chan Loves To Place Hana In Seemingly Dangerous Situations

Anyway, episode 6 of Mieruko-Chan begins with Hana and Miko buying cakes. As usual Hana is cheerful and gushing over an extremely cute slice of cake, meanwhile Miko is a lot more subdued, and originally tries to buy the cake next to the one Hana is admiring, before switching again to a cake elsewhere in the cabinet. It is clear Miko has seen something, though you’ll have to watch the post-credits to see the scene as Miko does because we’re moving on to the real problem in the episode.

Oddly, this episode only has one real issue and it carries across three separate scenarios. After leaving the cake show Hana is suggesting their next location when Miko suggests they go another way and we soon see a fairly grotesque monster in the direction Hana intended to go. Then we get the boppy and colourful OP.

The first half of the episode then largely follows the oblivious Hana as she eats breakfast, helps a kid find a dog, and heads off to meet Miko. All the time lights are flickering near her and we are occasionally shown the monster from the day before following her and periodically throwing smaller monsters her way to see if her aura burns them.

Here I’m going to identify a small complaint with Mieruko-Chan. We’ve seen ghosts latch on to Hana before. They’ve neve actually harmed her but they’ve definitely been able to touch her without burning up. Maybe it is because the ones the larger creature is using are particularly weak but it kind of seems like an inconsistency given the larger monster doesn’t seem willing to actually touch Hana because of her aura.

Or maybe I’m asking too much for continuity on this.

When Hana finally meets up with Miko, Miko obviously immediately notices the monster in Hana’s wake and abruptly changes their plans to visit a shrine.

The friendship between Hana and Miko really does continue to be one of the strengths of Mieruko-Chan. Miko is terrified for her friend and really wants to help her but absolutely doesn’t want to alarm her in anyway. Instead of making any kind of fuss, Miko simply tells Hana she wanted to visit some popular power spots and they end up saying prayers at a shrine.

Also kind of cute how Miko ends up tossing in 500 yen instead of the 5 yen coin she suggests to Hana.

What happens after is kind of interesting though Miko isn’t given any kind of explanation and so the audience is also left a little in the dark about what has actually happened here. That’s one of the fascinating things about this story, because Miko doesn’t have a clue what is happening, and is denying pretty much everything, the audience is firmly kept in the dark.

Normally the protagonist of a horror story would have googled for a bit or found some old book that would explain away the mystery, or sometimes find some random researcher who just happens to have an interest in… Miko may have looked up a few ways to protect herself but we don’t know why she could suddenly see things, we don’t know why she’s seeing more and more things, and while we can make some assumptions about what happened at the shrine largely we’re left in the dark.

And Mieruko-Chan is a decidedly better story because of that. Other stories could take note that you can withhold information about the supernatural element in a story because it is more interesting and intriguing, but everything else makes sense. Miko’s character, her choices, her motivations, all of these are perfectly grounded and make sense given the situation. We’re not face with an inscrutable series of events, rather a clear and easy to follow set of events springing from the appearance of creatures who are the only unknown here.

So yes, another solid episode of Mieruko-Chan and honestly I’m very much looking forward to the next one.

You can read the full season review here.

Images from: Mieruko-Chan. Dir. Y Ogawa. Passione. 2021