WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Mieruko-chan, now streaming on Funimation.
Mieruko-chan was a long-anticipated anime for Winter 2022 and received much praise for its adaptation. Finishing with a solid score of 7.5 on MyAnimeList, this supernatural slice-of-life horror comedy has charmed audiences with scary apparitions and hilarious predicaments featuring the ghost-seeing protagonist Miko and the blissfully unaware ghost-attracting Hanna.
One day, Miko suddenly finds herself seeing terrifying apparitions 24/7 and spends her entire day-to-day life ignoring the fact. This changes when others, such as the younger student Yulia and the fortune teller shop owner Mitsue, also take notice. The final episodes of Season 1 wrap up the emotional story arc of Miko's substitute teacher Zen, but many questions still await answering in a prospective Season 2.
When Miko first meets the mysterious Zen, she sees a horde of cat spirits trailing behind him. She assumes he is the one who killed them all and refuses to give him the lost cat she and Hanna had found. Toward the end of Season 1, Zen suddenly shows up as Miko and Hanna's substitute teacher while their regular teacher is on maternity leave. Episode 11 revealed that Zen's abusive deceased mother is responsible for the cat spirits and is haunting him as well.
Using her third and final chance of protection, Miko invokes the Shrine spirits to get rid of the spirit of Zen's mother so he may live in peace. Episode 12 of Mieruko-chan shows Zen adopting the cat he saved, which he previously could not do because of the guilt of his past. He also seeks vengeance on the mysterious animal abuser running rampant in their town, whose missing poster is shown being put up on a wall.
As the Season 1 finale draws to a close, the fortune teller shop owner Mitsue is shown receiving a photograph of Miko and Hanna from an anonymous sender. Not a lot has been shown of Mitsue, or Grandmother, as she has retreated from her shop in favor of the countryside, but this short appearance will surely have fans looking forward to her return in Season 2.
Back in town, Miko decides to bring offerings to the Shrine spirits to thank them for saving her, but is seemingly devoured for doing so. Waking up from what is revealed to be a dream, she continues to live her life ignoring the apparitions for her own protection, but shows a gratefulness for her friends Hanna and now Yulia who make the burden a little bit easier. The Shrine spirits are shown observing Miko from afar, indicating they might not be done with her just yet.
Indeed, Miko still doesn't know where her powers came from or what their extent is. It's unclear why she sees ghosts, and why they hurt her when they find out she can see them. Who are the Shrine spirits and why did they help her? Will Hanna ever find out that Miko can see ghosts? All of these mysteries and more will hopefully be answered whenever Season 2 arrives. There are no official announcements as of this writing, but viewers can hope that with the manga's continued popularity, a continuation of the anime's storyline will manifest.
