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Mieruko-chan Episode 3 Review – Quick Summary
In Mieruko-chan Episode 3, “She Still Sees Them,” Miko Yotsuya takes what should be an uneventful bus ride to meet her friend Hana Yurikawa for coffee. But even that turns into an ordeal when a three-headed ghost tries to trick her into admitting she can see it. When she finally arrives at the coffee house, Miko finds Hana is running late. Even there, in public, Miko is not safe. A philandering man tries to hit on her, and the jealous ghost of one of his ex-girlfriends takes exception. Can Miko find peace anywhere? Will prayer beads help? Or is she doomed to live in constant terror?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Mieruko-chan Episode 3
Let me tell you, Miko earned that smile! Capture from the Funimation stream.
Miko had a rough episode. Episode 1 and episode 2 weren’t easy on her. But this episode seemed to pile terror on terror. I felt so sorry for her by the mid-point in the episode that I wanted to send the poor girl a care package of holy oil, holy water, and a consecrated rosary! I was a theology student, after all. We’re aware of the entities on both sides of the spectrum.
But I don’t inhabit that universe. I can’t help Miko. But her friend Hana can! Since Miko wanted out of the coffee shop (and who could blame her — damn!), Hana suggested they go buy some freshly baked butt buns. No, I don’t know what those are. Neither did Miko. But apparently, they are delicious.
I know because Miko said so. “Right?” said Hana, enjoying the fresh-baked deliciousness (15:17). “It’s just like eating a real butt!”
“I mean, I’ve never eaten a butt before,” Miko said, a relaxed, happy smile on her face. Talk about a well-earned moment of peace! But I share Miko’s WTF about eating butt buns.
Best in Show Moment for Mieruko-chan Episode 3
Miko is a good soul. Brave, too, since the definition of brave is acting in spite of your fear. And God knows Miko had to experience a ton of fear in this moment! Capture from the Funimation stream.
Setup: Of Boots and Bravery
I know next to nothing about fashion. But can I just say that I thought Hana’s outfit in this episode looked ridiculously cute? It’s the boots. I like boots about as much as I like awesome witches’ hats (like Elaina’s).
Just between the two of us, I want to say how much fun I had with this episode? There wasn’t a moment I didn’t find something to enjoy. Whether I felt dread on behalf of Miko, or I laughed at the crazy situation, or I sat amazed at a plot development, this episode constantly entertained me. It was hard to pick one single favorite moment.
And that’s a wonderful problem to have!
This moment barely lost out to my actual favorite moment. It was still amazing, though! Capture from the Funimation stream.
It came down to two moments. The moment I didn’t pick was when the Godmother (Mitsue Takeda) tried to arm Miko with her most powerful prayer beads. I really hope we haven’t seen the last of her. Anime, like the rest of the industry, under-represents older folks, and Mitsue has real dramatic potential.
My favorite moment, though, had to do with Miko. She endured the Valley Girl ghosts on the bust. She endured the jealous ex-girlfriend ghost in the coffee shop. And then she endured the gaggle of jealous ex-boyfriend ghosts of the philandering dude’s current girlfriend. By that point, Miko felt desperate to have a few moments of peace with her best friend Hana. But this world denied her. How she reacted impressed me.
Delivery: Real Courage
Hana wanted to take Miko to a bakery to try their freshly baked butt buns. There’s a bakery in Japan that makes Corgi butt buns. Which is strange to. But Japan, I guess!
Anyway. To get to the bakery, Hana wanted to lead Miko through a dark alley. And guess what inhabited this dark alley? Yep! Tons of ghosts. One in particular blocked the way, and Miko froze. Hana had gone ahead, and she turned to see her friend. Thinking that maybe Miko needed to tie her shoe, Hana came back for Miko.
But to get to Miko, Hana would have to walk through a particularly frightening ghost. Miko couldn’t allow that. She loved her friend Hana, and she didn’t want her to expose to herself to that kind of danger. Screwing up her courage, Miko pushed herself through the ghost to stop her friend. Great moment, right? She saved her friend! Hana was saved!
Miko thought she’d done good. And she had! But it wasn’t going to be enough. Capture from the Funimation stream.
But Hana had dropped the stuffed bunny she’d just purchased. And she saw she had dropped it behind the ghost. She moved to retrieve it.
Miko had just pushed herself through a ghost to save Hana. There was no way she was going to let Hana walk into the ghost now. She pushed her friend back, and leaned back through the ghost to pick up the bunny. The effort extracted such a toll that tears welled in her eyes as she handed the bunny back to Hana.
Miko can see these things. She knows that if she lets on that she can see them, they’ll descend on her like sharks on chum. But she still stuck her head into a ghost to protect her friend. If that’s not bravery, I don’t know what is. And it’s one of the reasons I love this show!
What did you think of Julia Niguredou’s attempt to visit the Godmother? What were your favorite moments in this episode? Please feel free to let me know in the comments!
Mieruko-chan Episode 3 Review: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Mieruko-chan – Episode 3 discussion
- RABUJOI: Mieruko-chan – 03 – A Bus Ride, Don Juan, and Beads
- Random Curiosity: Mieruko-chan – 03
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
I loved this episode! I agree that Miko showed how brave she is – and smart too! My first thought was just to walk around the scary alleyway ghost, but she’s right, if she did that then it would know she saw it. The prayer beads moment was so dramatic and I wasn’t expecting the reaction to the second set of beads at all. I also hope she comes back in the show! Definitely my favourite episode so far and I’m very excited to watch more.
It’s probably my favorite episode so far, too! I agree that Miko showed she’s got brains — pretending to like the video of wrestlers was genius!
Hana’s such a dear — she could tell that the old woman meant more than she had said, and she seemed really worried for her friend!
And that final moment with the beads was awesome, especially the old lady’s reaction. Completely reformed her life, too. Quite a lot happened in that instant!
Yes! The wrestling video was genius! Hana is such a lovely character – the revelation about her aura was very cool and showed that there’s some interesting worldbuilding going on. I’m definitely curious to see how the old lady comes into it more, as she seems to know more about what’s going on and I want to know too!
Seeing Hana’s aura gave me chills. It fit her so perfectly!