Mieruko-chan - Vol. 3 Ch. 22

[daywithoutgames]

reading chapter 19 again , here are my thoughts :

- the evil teacher throws the beef stew into the trash because he is a vegan , he doesnt eat meat , lol .

- or the evil teacher throws the beef stew into the trash because he knows those "beef" are actually cat meat , the old hag neighbor is actually the cat-killer .

 

[Sainn]

@Udooky Thank you.

 

[Salfaro]

@relic626 nah, I think @aberdeus is referring to the recent cat abuse cases that Zen mentioned were going on in the neighborhood. Those aren't related to Zen or his mom, and I definitely thought the vet seemed suspicious, considering the switcheroo they just did with Zen. Unless you're saying that the mom ghost has been killing the cats, but I don't think there's really any reason for her to go killing cats that are just in Zen's area and not ones he's actually trying to keep.

 

[Tropingenie]

@Tensei21 I feel like it's more an artistic rendition of the mother, from the view of a child in a rather controlling (and, possibly, abusive) single-mother family, rather than any attempt at what his mother would have actually looked like.

 

[aberdeus]

@Salfaro

 

[BestBoy]

This is really disappointing.

It's not even a good twist. It's just a retcon of the character. It doesn't match up with how the cats were portrayed in previous chapters. Wrapped in barbed wire and with knives sticking out of them. I'm assuming the author didn't want to introduce a human villain yet so they changed direction with his character.

I'll be even more disappointed if the vet is the human villain because it'll just be the trope, "attractive people good, unattractive people bad."

 

[Tsukinotaku]

@BestBoy
I believe the real point is : Unnatractive and attractive people can be both good and deep character, don't you remember that bald scarred due who was like a huge cat lover?

By showing that both of those characters have deep reasons behind them for being haunted, the author is playing on our expectations twice and making us remember that one being evil isn't defined by their appearance.

It actually feels like you're the one who wanted the handsome guy to be bad just for your selfish view of who should be evil or not.

In conclusion, beautiful or ugly means nothing when it comes to character.

And who knows how it'll go, maybe the cats' souls are shaped for their lives and them dying in his hands only made them stick to him.

 

[Torappu]

@Bestboy
Who says the cats aren't like that? The cat in page 19 has barbed wire on him so were the cats when he was introduced in chapter 17.
The cats he's taken care of have grown weak and pass away quickly as he said, it's likely his mother is sucking away their life energy and killing them, then keeping their spirits chained down as evil spirits like how that ghost that followed Hana was absorbing ghosts and incorporating them into its own body or the barrel and axe ghost.

 

[T-L-G-T-W]

The art and story have grown so much considering the first few chapters.

 

[BestBoy]

@Tsukinotaku Except it was entirely expected that the tough yakuza looking fella would be the nice one. I wouldn't even call the yakuza guy ugly either. So not even really the Ugly Hero, Attractive Villain trope.
Like I said, it isn't even about the teacher being good, it's about the possibility of his friend being bad that I'm concerned with. Conventionally unattractive people have been used as villains far too much and it subconsciously harms people's perception of their real life counterparts. I don't know what this nonsense about selfishness you're talking about is. Don't know what's selfish in being worried about an actual problem in storytelling.

@Torappu The point is that we've been shown most ghosts reflect how they died. Some examples. The ghost wrapped around the light pole, the chained up barrel ghost, the store attendant ghost, the "morning" school girl ghost, etc. So for the cats to show knives sticking out of them and wrapped in barbed wire implied they were tortured to death. Something impossible for ghosts to do. Granted this could just be another retcon of how the author wants to treat ghosts. We're only 22 chapters in, after all.

 

[Turahk]

this just jumped to a 10/10 for me

 

[DandeSaft]

some people say this is a bad twist but tbh, it really isnt. The animal spirits looking tortured is probably because they were near death when he found them and couldnt save them. The cats latch onto him bc of their grudge for humans. Plus, he doesn't let the cats go, he feels responsible, wants to atone, but fails doing so, making him more miserable, which is also represented by the grudged cat spirits following him. Also, can we appreciate how the mother is portrait as a praying mantis?

 

[mikan]

Mieruko's a real hero... wtf now I love her

 

[Logic]

@caitsith is he looking at him? Or his ghost mom??

 

[Logic]

People seems to forget that the last time we didn’t see the demon mom behind him... the author just redirected the blame to that thing which i think is genius for the plot twist.... he’s not doing evil thing because of that demon but that demon does the bad thing because of him (refusing to let go of his son)

 

[NotRollo]

Imagine the last scene in an anime. I know the art wouldn't look nearly as cool but I can dream. This chapter is badass.

 

[Minmi]

woaah such a good manga 😭
All of those monster is so F scaring me but i'm still reading it till the end.
Amazing art! Waiting for the next chapter.
Thankyouuu translator and especially author-nim 💖

 

[sssr]

It just occurred to me that mom probably ate the ghost who was haunting Meowel the stray cat.

 

[Mewples]

I wonder if it is going to turn out that he can see them too...If not that maybe a double bluff
Like additionally, maybe his friend just puts the cats down and they are begrudge him because he is the one who sent them there or their resentment is just towards the mum ghost

 

[DocJones]

What a shame, this went from something interesting to something so standard to the point of cliche.