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Mieruko-chan Episode 12 Review – Quick Summary
In Mieruko-chan Episode 12, “The Girl Who Sees, Mieruko-Chan,” it looked like Miko had triumphed over Zen’s mother, with the help of the two Sankai. But Yulia’s observation that spirits sometimes haunt those who sympathized with them just drove home an important fact: Miko really didn’t understand her power at all. Why did she have it? What did it really tell her? How could she learn more? And someone sent a photograph of a faceless Miko and Hana to Mitsue Takeda mean. What did that mean?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Mieruko-chan Episode 12
Hana can be really stern when she wants to be! Capture from the Funimation stream.
Hana is just a fountain of common sense information. In this episode, she and Yulia found Miko just after the Sankai had finally destroyed Zen’s mother’s spirit. Yulia and Hana had learned Zen ended up in the hospital because he had tried to save a kitten from being run over.
Unfortunately for Zen, when Hana and Yulia arrived, they saw that Miko had been crying. She’d been crying because the stress of having almost been attacked by Zen’s mother a second time almost overwhelmed her. Also, she felt nearly crippling joy over still being alive. Let’s just say she was in a conflicted mood.
Hana, never one to delve into minutiae, assumed it was Zen’s fault that Miko had been crying.
“I’m glad you saved that kitty,” Hana said, wearing her stern face (03:51), “but you can’t die in front of a student!”
Leave it to Hana to have her priorities in order!
Best in Show Moment for Mieruko-chan Episode 12
Well, that took an unexpected turn! Capture from the Funimation stream.
Setup: The Shadow of Zen’s Decreased Mother
I really hope we get a second season, because this episode left two open questions. First, who sent Mitsue Takeda the picture of Miko and Hana with their faces covered by drawings of their favorite logos? That seems like a significant development. Someone would have to have access to Hana, Yulia, or Miko’s phones. Or know how to hack into them!
Or not be bound by the laws discovered by our sciences!
The second open question is how should Miko express her gratitude to the god of the shrine? The god whose attendants (Sankai?) appeared to save Miko’s life three times. Were they trying to communicate with her through her dreams? What did it mean when they showed up on the street behind her?
Those questions will have to wait until a season 2, which has not been announced yet. In the meantime, let’s talk about my favorite moment from this episode. I chose something that’s indicative of one of this show’s strengths: The presentation of subtle and realistic characters. Like Zen.
It took two tries, but the two attendants finally took down Zen’s mother’s evil spirit. Zen was free! But only from ongoing damage. Capture from the Funimation stream.
The guy’s mom psychologically scarred him. She isolated him and would not let him have any pets. She tried to control every aspect of his life. That control and interference lasted until after her death.
In this episode, we saw that spirits I called the attendants, whcih Anilist called the Sankai, finally destroy Zen’s mother’s evil spirit. That means he’s free, right? Well, yes and no.
Yes, he’s free of her ongoing interference. That means she won’t inflict any more damage on him. No, he is not free of the damage she had already inflicted. We got to see that play out in this episode.
Delivery: Zen’s Free, But Broken
Zen’s mother’s evil spirit seemed to act to keep him timid. Remember back in episode 2, when Miko told Zen he could not have the kitten? He backed down. In this episode, we got two examples of him deciding not to back down.
The first was he refused to accept his neighbor’s “leftovers.” He was quite blunt about it, too! But it seemed she had put something in that food. My suspicion is that given how much the crows hated her, she had been snaring them and including their meat in the dishes. Crows can memorize the faces of people, and it’s not unheard of for them to warn one another when a predator or harmful person is nearby.
The second time was my favorite moment. We got a quick shot of some cruel-looking man about to maim and/or kill a mother cat with her kittens. He apparently wanted to harvest their eyes. Well, Zen found him. One Taser-shot later, and the scene shifted.
The writing in this show has impressed me. This scene is an example of why! Capture from the Funimation stream.
The police had just hung up a picture asking about the whereabouts of a man. The cat-killer, as it turns out. He had suddenly gone missing (11:41).
Did Zen kill him? I think that’s the likely interpretation. I don’t see Zen keeping someone and torturing them. But it shows just how realistic these characters are. Sure, Zen’s free of his mom now. But not of the damage she inflicted on him. He’s still damaged, but now he can do something about it. Apparently, what he intends to do about it is save the cats he could not save before. With extreme prejudice.
That’s the kind of subtlety I did not expect from this show. That made it all the more satisfying when it delivered!
What did you think of Yulia and Miko finally starting to talk to each other about spirits? What were your favorite moments in this episode? Feel free to share in the comments!
Mieruko-chan Episode 12 Review: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Mieruko-chan – Episode 12 discussion – FINAL
- RABUJOI: Mieruko-chan – 12 (Fin) – Best Butt Bun Buds Forever
- Random Curiosity: Mieruko-chan – 12 (END)
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Mieruko-chan Episode 1: Can You See Them?
- Mieruko-chan Episode 2: She Can Totally See Them
- Mieruko-chan Episode 3: She Still Sees Them
- Mieruko-chan Episode 4: Yep, She Sees Them
- Mieruko-chan Episode 5: She Sees Them, Too
- Mieruko-chan Episode 6: She Sees Real Crazy Ones
- Mieruko-chan Episode 7: Did You See That?
- Mieruko-chan Episode 8: The Things She Sees
- Mieruko-chan Episode 9: Things She’s Seen Before
- Mieruko-chan Episode 10: Don’t Look
- Mieruko-chan Episode 11: She Looks
- Mieruko-chan Episode 12: The Girl Who Sees, Mieruko-Chan
That god-thing and its attendants. This show has skillfully made things seem one way when the truth was the opposite, as in the case with Zen and the dark, tortured cat spirits around him, and the ghost of his mother (and even whatever his supposedly kind neighbor was putting in the food she gave him). So, we have this thing that ate a ghost, just like the ghosts eat each other, and the godmother seemed alarmed by that picture she mysteriously received. So, just because something saves you does not mean that it is good, and just because something answers a prayer, this, too, does not automatically mean that it is good. Loads of stories deal with people getting something that has a cost which is either unknown or is far too steep. If the things that destroyed those ghosts are not good things, if they are like ghosts but more powerful, then what was the real cost which Miko does not know she needs to pay? Do they intend to eat her, and are they capable of doing so?
Good point about the god-thing and its attendants. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up chaotic good (to use Dungeons and Dragons morality!) or even lawful evil. The show did a great job of showing they just don’t think like us!
The open questions you brought up really make me hope we get a second season. I’d love to explore this world more!
Chaotic good is unlikely: the “three-times” thing isn’t something a chaotic being would come up with (or stick to). They seem lawful, but might be neutral. The good to evil scale is totally opaque to me.
They seem associated with an Inari Shrine? (That’s what the fox statues suggest; and the little helpers definitely give kitsune vibes.) So I wouldn’t be surprised if they were servants of a god, and thus simply bound to a law of exchange: lawful neutral would make sense depending on the role. That ties in with Miko feeling bound to rules she doesn’t understand.
Yeah, I’d love a second season, too.
The ending was absolutely perfect!
This show would have been much better if I assumed there’d be a second season. Otherwise the pace at which Meiruko-chan adjusted to seeing her apparitions was too slow. She also seemed extremely shy about seeking out help.
I’m really hoping to a second season! The setup with the shrine god and its attendants is just too good. There are other open plot threads, too, like the godmother and Zen.
That said, I enjoyed the show way more than I thought I would. I’ll take that over the opposite!