History Webcomic / MierukoChan

* DemonOfHumanOrigin: So far, most of the ghosts and spirits in the world of ''Mieruko-chan'' seem to be the spirits of dead humans. Most of them have clues to who they used to be or how they died in their design, and the most monstrous of them seem to be a type of mutated ghost that cannibalized other spirits. [[spoiler:Even the mysterious "god" of the shine that is presumed to be an EldritchAbomination turns out to be the ghost of a young girl who a long time ago was killed in a religious rite.]]
** However a handful of entities seem just too eldritch to be human such as [[spoiler:the [[SkullForAHead animal-skulled]] maître d' tending the line of ghosts in the restaurant]].

* EldritchAbomination: In chapter 35, [[spoiler:Romm and Mitsue reveal that they don't know exactly what the "God of the Mountain" is, but it's not of this earth and extremely dangerous.]]

* MetamorphosisMonster: In Chapter 10, a HumanoidAbomination ghost sticks to Hana, consuming smaller spirits that try to cling to her. It seems to be using her as a living barbecue grill, roasting the smaller spirits on her aura before eating them. When she enters the haunted building, the ghost gorges itself upon numerous lesser ghosts, and by the time Miko meets Hana, it's become a full EldritchAbomination.

* AsianFoxSpirit: The "god" from chapter 11 that devours the spirit haunting Hana vaguely resembles a fox with multiple tails.
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Several chapters imply that Touno Zen, a sinister figure Miko encounters on several occasions, is a cat-killer. [[spoiler: Subverted when it turns out he actually likes cats. His mother, on the other hand, once killed a stray cat he brought home, and even as a spirit, she clings to him and the one that’s actually been causing the deaths of cats in the area is another man entirely.]]

* BathtubBonding: Miko and her brother are said to occasionally bathe together. When he suspects she has an [[DomesticAbuser abusive boyfriend]] and wants to check her body for any marks, he barges in on the bathroom when she's inside with this offer in mind. But it turns into a [[ShowerOfAwkward awkward situation]] when he [[AccidentalPervert happens to walk in]] just as she's [[SexySurfacingShot surfacing from the bathtub]] and looks mortified. He seems to think she's having a NakedFreakOut and starts to leave, but she's actually terrified of the ghost in the bathroom, and insists on him staying so she won't be alone with the ghost.

* BigDamnHeroes: In chapter 27, [[spoiler: Mitsue shows up just in time to ward off the spirits that have Miko surrounded.]]

** The entire story relies on the concept of people being able to see ghosts while having to pretend being blind to the supernatural, and the ghosts themselves tend to have a wide panel of creepy eye distortions, ranging from empty eyesockets to bloated and bulging blood-shot eyeballs.[[spoiler: Except for the EldritchAbomination that is Michiru Ichijou who has no eyes at all, and this absence makes it very hard for Miko to deal with it.]]
** The motif of the mouth, and by extension the idea of eating and devouring, is omnipresent in the series. Ghosts always have a grotesque or deformed mouth, sometimes they sport extra-sets of jaws in the most [[VaginaDentata unusual places]] ; powerful ghosts are seen regularly devouring weaker spirits to grow stronger and bigger, while people with powerful life-aura such as Hana need to eat a lot to replenish their energy. And of course there is the waiting lines of ghosts whose purpose was fulfilled, seemingly moving to the "other side"... to Miko this process appears as the ghosts being mercilessly devoured by grotesque monsters.

** Chapter 26 ends on a major one; Miko goes back to the shrine from chapter 11, [[spoiler: but not only does she find [[TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday nothing but an empty patch of forest]], but she's surrounded by hostile-looking spirits.]]
** Chapter 35 ends with [[spoiler: Miko apparently being consumed by the "God of the Mountain" and vanishing in an ominous cloud of darkness.]]

* CreepyChild: Chapter 20 of the manga has a child in the park who waves his hand to Miko and she waves her hand to him. [[spoiler: It was actually a ghost disguised as a completely normal human child that shows its twisted real form and attacks Miko inmediately as she has acknowledged its existence only to be destroyed by the guardians of the shrine.]]
* CreepyGood: The "gods" that banish the monster haunting Hana in chapter 11 appear benevolent, but are just as terrifying as the other creatures Miko sees. They also offer Miko a cryptic warning: "Three times." Chapter 27 seems to suggest [[spoiler: they're not as benevolent as they first seem, as they cruelly reject Miko's offering and leave her to be tormented by spirits.]]
** There´s also a ghost in the train that looks slightly less horrible, as it´s at least fully dressed, and wields an ax, really scaring Miko when she sees it attacking everyone but [[spoiler: it turns out the ax cant hurt humans and the ghost was hunting another ghost that had posessed a woman]]. In a later chapter Miko even considers for a moment the idea of asking that ghost for help though she rejects it as she does not even know how could she do that.

* {{Curse}}: Miko's [[ISeeDeadPeople ability to see ghosts]] has brought her almost nothing but stress and misery. The few benign encounters such as the cat spirits or [[spoiler: her father]] offer only temporary reprieve.
* DarkIsNotEvil: For all that the ghosts are horrifying, most of them are fairly harmless... Unless you notice them. Maybe.

** Mitsue believes this of the larger things devouring waiting lines of ghosts that Miko occasionally sees, theorizing that they may just be [[{{Psychopomp}} helping satisfied spirits pass on to the next plane.]] However, due to the difference in their perception she sees the process [[FadingAway much differently]] than Miko [[NightmareFuel does.]]

* DemonOfHumanOrigin: So far, most of the ghosts and spirits in the world of ''Mieruko-chan'' seem to be the spirits of dead humans. Most of them have clues to who they used to be or how they died in their design, and the most monstrous of them seem to be a type of mutated ghost that cannibalized other spirits. [[spoiler: Even the mysterious "god" of the shine that is presumed to be an EldritchAbomination turns out to be the ghost of a young girl who a long time ago was killed in a religious rite.]]
** However a handful of entities seem just too eldritch to be human such as [[spoiler: the animal-skulled creature tending the line of ghosts in the restaurant]].

** In chapter 18 Miko, Hana, and Julia visit a haunted house set up by a local bakery as a promotional gimmick. Hana is tempted by the promise of free donuts to those who make it all the way through, and Miko relishes the rare chance to not have to hold back from freaking out at scary things. [[spoiler: Until a REAL ghost shows up...]].
** In chapter 32, Shindou Romm organizes a "haunted tour" of the area, and he makes his clients stop in front of a haunted house where a grisly crime took place. However as it turns out, the place isn't actually haunted... [[spoiler: but the house next door is.]]
** Miko's own house is actually technically "haunted" as all sorts of creepy ghosts keep popping in regularly, though they seem to be ghosts simply happening to pass by... There is only one ghost who stays permanently in the house, and it is [[spoiler: the spirit of Miko's dad]].

* HumanDisguise: All hostile or even neutral ghosts can be more or less humanoid but look clearly inhuman, which means at least Miko can identify them at first glance.. [[spoiler: until she has an encounter with a ghost that has the appearance of a completely normal living child and uses that to find out that she can see him and then attacks her.]]
** In Chapter 39, [[spoiler: Miko is the only one who can see that the NewTransferStudent is actually a monster]]
* InterruptedSuicide: [[spoiler: In chapter 30, it turns out the boy Hana met really ''was'' going to throw himself in the river, but Hana helping him out and Shindou giving him a pep talk convinces him not to go through with it.]]

** [[spoiler: [[DoubleSubversion Doubly Subverted]] with Touno Zen. He initially appears to be a cat killer because he is followed by freaky corpse-like cat spirits. However, it's revealed that Zen genuinely does love cats to the extent of getting hit by a car to save one. It was his abusive mother that was responsible for the cat spirits and a separate man who's been killing cats.]]

* MadnessMantra: In chapter 13 Miko encounters a ghost muttering the words "Four... six... three... one..." over and over. [[spoiler: It turns out to be the ghost of an old woman's husband, trying to remind her of the combination to his old safe.]]

* {{Shinigami}}: Several otherwordly entities seem to fill this role, or at least to enforce the rules of death in this world. There are huge humanoid beings whose entire purpose is to devour the ghosts of the dead who are ready to leave this earth, and one of those "waiting lines" is attended by a butler-like ghost with an animal skull (and enormous tentacles to rip to pieces spirits that would try escape the line). There is a bizarre ax-wielding spirit who roams the subways, visibly hunting down spirits that hide into human beings (or possess them), and once it catches them it puts them in a bag for some unknown purpose... And in chapter 43, after nearly avoiding a truck, Miko briefly sees a scythe-wielding man who might have been a GrimReaper (and the ironic thing is that the GrimReaper looked even more human than other ghosts).
** [[spoiler: Chapter 45 also adds the wheelchair-pushing monstrous spirit from the hospital, who turns out to be a psychopomp here to help a family pass on the afterlife.]]

** The wheelchar-pushing ghost from the hospital reenact the FullMoonSilhouette from ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' when he escorted [[spoiler: Mr. Sasaki and his family]].

** Chapter 9: [[spoiler: “I’m not sure how I feel about seeing my dad’s ghost.”]]
** In chapter 24, Mitsue is called back into action when she gets a picture of Miko and Hana at the shrine from chapter 11, [[spoiler: but according to Mitsue, "That shrine doesn't exist."]]
** In chapter 33, Shige, a minor character who operates the shoe store next to Mitsue's shop, casually lays one on her after she returned from a brief absence. "Did anything happen while I was away?" "Oh, there was one thing.[[spoiler: I died]]."

** In Chapter 39, Miko tries to ignore a new ghost at her school and she finds that [[spoiler:not only it is solid but it has a human form that everyone else can see, believing that [[HumanDisguise she]] is just a NewTransferStudent named Michiru Ichijou. It turns out that she is a real human, but Miko is not sure for a while as she only can see the tentacled form that covers her.]]

* HotterAndSexier: It's heavily downplayed due to not getting ''too'' fanservicey, but the anime adaptation includes a lot more MaleGaze than the original webcomic and manga, especially when it comes to Miko's butt.

* BathtubBonding: Miko and her brother are said to occasionally bathe together. When he suspects she has a BastardBoyfriend and wants to check her body for any marks, he barges in on the bathroom when she's inside with this offer in mind. But it turns into a [[ShowerOfAwkward awkward situation]] when he [[AccidentalPervert happens to walk in]] just as she's [[SexySurfacingShot surfacing from the bathtub]] and looks mortified. He seems to think she's having a NakedFreakOut and starts to leave, but she's actually terrified of the ghost in the bathroom, and insists on him staying so she won't be alone with the ghost.

* EntertaininglyWrong: Miko's younger brother suspects her strange behavior is due to her having a boyfriend follows her to the library, and sees freaks out when he sees she picked up a book about getting hickies and assumes she has a BastardBoyfriend, when she actually just randomly picked that book when she got scared by the library ghost.

** CHapter 43 ends with a ghost attacking Miko being [[spoiler:skewered by the tentacles of Michiru with the implication that she currently hides under Miko's hospitable bed]].

* AmbiguousSituation: At the end of chapter 23 Touno Zen finds [[spoiler:the actual man who has been killing cats in his neighbourhood, there's the sound effect of a taser, and the man gets reported missing. What Zen exactly did to him is a mystery.]]

* BaitAndSwitch: Chapter 9 has Miko go downstairs and see a troll-like ghost haunting her family, who are eating breakfast totally unaware. Miko looks and acts incredibly uncomfortable the entire time, seemingly because there is such a horrifying ghost around her parents. [[spoiler: The end of the chapter reveals it's because her father is ''also'' a ghost who died a year before and seeing him upset her.]]

* RefusalOfTheCall: Rather than try and reach out to the creatures and ghosts she sees, Miko [[JustIgnoreIt does her level best to ignore them]] and get on with her everyday life.

** In Chapter 39, Miko tries to ignore a new ghost at her school and she finds that [[spoiler:not only it is solid but it has a human form that everyone else can see, believing that [[HumanDisguise she]] is just a NewTransferStudent. It turns out that she is a real human, but Miko is not sure for a while as she only can see the tentacled form that covers her.]]

** In Chapter 39, Miko tries to ignore a new ghost at her school and she finds that [[spoiler:not only it is solid but it has a human form that everyone else can see, believing that [[HumanDisguise she]] is just a NewTransferStudent.]]

* {{Shinigami}}: Several otherwordly entities seem to fill this role, or at least to enforce the rules of death in this world. There are huge humanoid beings whose entire purpose is to devour the ghosts of the dead who are ready to leave this earth, and one of those "waiting lines" is attended by a butler-like ghost with an animal skull (and enormous tentacles to rip to pieces spirits that would try escapet he line). There is a bizarre axe-wielding spirit who roams the subways, visibly hunting down spirits that hide into human beings (or possess them), and once it catches them it puts them in a bag for some unknown purpose... And in chapter 43, after nearly avoiding a truck, Miko briefly sees a scythe-wielding man who might have been a GrimReaper (and the ironic thing is that the GrimReaper looked even more human than other ghosts).

* Shinigami: Several otherwordly entities seem to fill this role, or at least to enforce the rules of death in this world. There are huge humanoid beings whose entire purpose is to devour the ghosts of the dead who are ready to leave this earth, and one of those "waiting lines" is attended by a butler-like ghost with an animal skull (and enormous tentacles to rip to pieces spirits that would try escapet he line). There is a bizarre axe-wielding spirit who roams the subways, visibly hunting down spirits that hide into human beings (or possess them), and once it catches them it puts them in a bag for some unknown purpose... And in chapter 43, after nearly avoiding a truck, Miko briefly sees a scythe-wielding man who might have been a GrimReaper (and the ironic thing is that the GrimReaper looked even more human than other ghosts).

* {{Kitsune}}: The "god" from chapter 11 that devours the spirit haunting Hana vaguely resembles a fox with multiple tails.

* AppearanceIsInTheEyeOfTheBeholder: Chapter 28 implies that what the ghosts look like varies from person to person; while Miko sees them as horrific monsters, the more experienced Mitsue sees them in AFormYouAreComfortableWith.
** That, or Miko is stronger and is able to see the true form of the ghosts.

* HauntedHouse: In chapter 18 Miko, Hana, and Julia visit a haunted house set up by a local bakery as a promotional gimmick. Hana is tempted by the promise of free donuts to those who make it all the way through, and Miko relishes the rare chance to not have to hold back from freaking out at scary things.

* DemonOfHumanOrigin: So far, all of the ghosts and spirits in the world of ''Mieruko-chan'' seem to be the spirits of dead humans. Most of them have clues to who they used to be or how they died in their design, and the most monstrous of them seem to be a type of mutated ghost that cannibalized other spirits. [[spoiler: Even the mysterious "god" of the shine that is presumed to be an EldritchAbomination turns out to be the ghost of a young girl who a long time ago was killed in a religious rite.]]
** Then comes along Michiru Ichijou who [[spoiler: might be a true EldritchAbomination]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mieruko_chan.jpg]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mieruko_chan_anime_poster.jpg]]

* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''Manga/ReKan''. Both works have the exact same premise, and Miko, Hana, & Yulia look very similar to Hibiki, Makoto, & Narumi. However, the main character of ''Re-Kan'' is a bright and cheerful YamatoNadeshiko who bends over backwards to help the quirky spirits who come to her while Miko from ''Mieruko-Chan'' is scared shitless at the horrifying abominations who haunt her and tries her hardest not to notice them.

* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''Manga/ReKan''. Although both works have the exact same premise and Miko & Hana look very similar to Hibiki & Makoto, Hibiki from ''Re-Kan'' is a bright and cheerful YamatoNadeshiko who bends over backwards to help the quirky spirits who come to her while Miko from ''Mieruko-Chan'' is scared shitless at the horrifying abominations she sees and pretends not to notice them.

* MulticoloredHair: The anime adaptation gave the three main characters differently-colored gradients at the tips of their hair; purple for Miko, blonde for Hana, and pink for Julia.

Yen Press has picked up the rights to an official English release. The first volume came out on November 2020.