Mieruko-chan,based on the manga and webcomic by the same name, is a 2021 horror-comedy anime featuring a teenage protagonist who is suddenly plagued byvisions of grotesque evil spirits and supernatural phenomena. The show is particularly unique as the protagonist, Miko Yotsuya, attempts to continue living a normal life despite being terrified on a daily basis, by ignoring the evil spirits she sees.
Miko doesn’t attempt to tell people about what she sees because she believes that if she makes it apparent that she can in fact see the hidden horrors around her, then they’ll be able to get her. She assumes a blasé, unbothered demeanor whenever evil spirits approach her, and in some unfortunate contexts, they attempt to make contact several times before moving on. This series, other than having a protagonist who can see and interact with the dead, is nothing likeBLEACH, but certain elements do seem very familiar, especially in the sixth episode.
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The Weird Friend
One of the main reasons why Miko can continue to live life despite seeing horrific things every hour of every day is her best friend Hana Yurikawa. Hana ischeerful, happy-go-lucky and extremely positive, providing the excess energy that complements Miko’s serious and guarded demeanor. Despite the fact that Miko sometimes acts strangely around her, Hana is too pure to notice blatant deception, nor does she ever think about things too deeply, which makes tricking her very easy, but sometimes incredibly difficult.Mieruko-chan’smajor similarities toBLEACHbegin to emerge when one looks at Hana as a character, and how she interacts with Miko and the world around her.
Hana has a similar personality toBLEACH’sOrihime Inoue, in that they’re both cheerful, happy-go-lucky characters, but the similarities go deeper when considering that they are also both notorious for their odd eating habits. Since they’re both growing girls at the time of their introduction in their respective series, it becomes a fairly normal thing that they are black holes for food, and strange combinations of food at that. However, in Mieruko-chan, Hana’s appetite is the direct cause of her immense spiritual aura (“Reiatsu” or “Spiritual Pressure” in theBLEACHuniverse). When her aura is depleted like when she is unknowingly in contact with evil spirits, she eats to replenish her energy. There’s also the fact that both characters have hair accessories that they always wear, Orihime’s being a gift from her late brother, the very day he died.
Their physical appearances are not exactly one-to-one, but there arenotable similarities in terms of hair color and body shape. While Hana’s spiritual abilities reflect Orihime, her physical appearance is actually much closer to that of Yuzu Kurosaki, one of Ichigo’s younger sisters. Miko, with her ability to see ghosts and their relentless pursuit of her, particularly in the later stages, reflects more Ichigo, but her appearance and temperament, coupled with her friendship with Hana makes her reminiscent of Karin Kurosaki. Fans will remember that Karin herself develops the ability to perceive the spiritual within the first arc ofBLEACH, and throughout these initial experiences, Karin goes through a great deal of physical and psychological strain, much like Miko does.
The Unwanted Visitor
Now that the similarities of Miko and Hana to certain characters in BLEACH have been established,the BLEACH reference or Easter Eggthat theMieruko-chanseries makes can be found in episode 6, where Hana is effectively possessed by a high-grade evil spirit with notable intelligence. The evil spirit feasts upon lesser spirits, weakening them through holding them close to Hana, whose aura greatly injures them and makes them easier for the big one to consume.
This act is very similar to cooking, which only makes things even more ominous. The initial appearance of the evil spirit that follows Hana around for the duration of the episode is not exactly the same, but eerily similar to that of the very first Hollow encountered by Orihime inBLEACH– Numb Chandelier. Their facial structures, particularly around their mouths is very similar, not to mention the way in which they stalk their respective prey. Numb Chandelier lacks the kind of physical body that the spirit possessing Hana has, but even though they’re not exactly the same, there is something very similar regarding the situations themselves. Both characters have a healing effect on the people around them, with Hana’s being directly tied to her high output of spiritual energy. Hana’s aura is very powerful andkeeps the majority of evil spirits at bay, but the one in episode 6 required intervention from the supernatural guardians of a certain mysterious shrine.
It is possible that the similarities between the two evil spirits are skin deep, which would make sense considering that Hana’s “friend” does not have the ability to remotely control the physical bodies of those it possesses, not to mention the fact that Numb Chandelier was able to speak; however, both Numb Chandelier and the spirit inMieruko-chantarget characters who possess several cosmetic and personal similarities that make difficult to ignore the minor similarities between the evil spirits themselves. Whether it is a deliberate reference, therefore an Easter Egg, is something that author Tomoki Izumi would have to tell fans himself; however, it seems that there may be more to it than meets the eye.
