Really liking this one. But it's really sad that 99% of her spoofy encounters are completely negative, and highly repetitive.
Almost every chapter is a hard-copy of the former, and nothing really changes. It's not like she needs to become an exorcist, but there's a limit as to how much I can hear the MC monologue to herself: "ignore it, ignore it, nope nope nope".
I mean, it'd be a lot more interesting to place more instances in which the ghosts are also seen as a good thing, rather than just exist to spook her. Instances like the cats, the lock-grandma, the temple, they were all good additions to the story.
Kind of a shame if the author won't be able to maintain the story without having to repeat the same template.
@Solipsist i wouldn't really call it repetitive since, some encounters proved to be basically part of a bigger picture (the donut shop eating guy basically being the gateway for souls, the Dog murderer teacher ect)
@FireCamp My point was that most of the story is carried through the template of scaring the MC, and seeing her react. 'Makes the story feel like it doesn't really progress, regardless of the bits the author throws around.
@FireCamp For example, Natsume's Book of Friends uses basically the exact same premise but the individual episodes are given some development, recurring characters are fleshed out and have a sense of progress, there's some semblance of an overarching plot (even if it moves hella slow), and there's the feel-good thing going on which makes it worth reading in the first place. Even though I've been criticizing it for overusing its own most unnecessarily annoying tropes (e.g. the "oh no, I can't tell my aunt and uncle; they would be worried"—they're already worried, you fucko), at least it tries to build some unique narrative or a problem around each of the new encounters, which keeps things minimally fresh even if the encounter itself is entirely superfluous.
Mieruko-chan started off promising but felt like it wore itself thin after as many as a dozen chapters already as there has been no real interaction between Miko and the "antagonists" of the story. As a result there isn't really a narrative for her to be involved in most of the time, and her agency is reduced to either avoiding the confrontation or otherwise being helpless. It just feels like she's being bullied by the author, and that makes it hard to read. The youkai encounters also feel like the same shtick repeated ad nauseam; the forms may be different, but in terms of the effect you could pretty much substitute most of them with the very first youkai she meets, and it would change nothing at all, whereas in Natsume's or Mushishi they typically affect the physical-world entities in some way that is specific to them even if unseen. There was also no reflection given on her encounter with
dad's ghost or that one time she used her power to help someone in need
, which could've been used to flesh out her character but is glossed over and forgotten instantly. And the tonal shifts between horror and comedy often come off as awkward because the author doesn't commit enough to either, which leaves both aspects flaccid. Here's to hoping that the
teacher dude
actually triggers some consistent development, because this manga is seriously wasting its opportunities.
@FireCamp
It just occurred to me that I forgot to reply to your comment.
You're right that "progression" and "SOL" don't tend to come together, and yes, there are a few examples out there which show how "SOL" can have "progression". Or, for the very least, not repeat the same template ad-nauseam.
Higurashi is probably the best example I can give, as every game in the series starts with nothing but SOL, and then slides into mystery / horror.
Honestly, the author here can accomplish both. There can be some chapters in which nothing happens but her daily life, and arcs in which it mainly focuses on the spoofy ghosts. It's possible, but it might be
Albeit at this point it might be too difficult to make that shift. Pixiv- / twitter-esque manga don't tend to change much.
I have no idea what you guys are talking about, but if you want slice of life with progression, that's basically what Watamote is. Compare the first 5 chapters with the current 2-3, you'll see Tomoko's become very different, yet the same.