Mieruko-chan Manga Editions — What’s Available Right Now
If you’re searching for a breakdown of every Mieruko-chan manga editions on the market, here’s the short version up front: two official edition tracks exist. The Japanese edition is published by KADOKAWA and currently has 14 volumes. The English edition is published by Yen Press and currently has 12 volumes. Both editions are ongoing, so more volumes are on the way. There’s also an Official Comic Anthology — a separate bonus release that sits outside the main volume count.
Mieruko-chan (見える子ちゃん — the original Japanese title) by Tomoki Izumi is an ongoing horror comedy manga about a high school girl named Miko who suddenly begins seeing horrifying supernatural creatures everywhere — and her only survival strategy is to pretend she can’t see them at all. It’s a premise that swings between genuine dread and absurd comedy, sometimes within the same single image on the page.
The English release carries an OT (Older Teen) content rating — a manga industry age classification similar in spirit to a PG-13 or R film rating, signaling that the content is intended for readers roughly 16 and older. That rating makes sense here. Miko’s daily life involves walking past creatures that would make most horror manga blush, all while keeping a straight face. It’s darkly funny, but the horror side doesn’t pull punches.
Japanese Edition (KADOKAWA / MFC)
The original Japanese edition is published by KADOKAWA under their MFC (MF Comics) label — essentially a branded sub-division within KADOKAWA that focuses on manga. As of the latest verified count, 14 volumes have been released, available in both print and digital formats.
The series is released chapter by chapter on ComicWalker, a free online manga platform run by KADOKAWA, with 72 numbered chapters published so far. This chapter-by-chapter release schedule — called serialization in manga terminology — means individual chapters appear online before being collected into the bound volumes you’d buy off a shelf. Tomoki Izumi continues to actively produce new chapters, so the volume count will keep climbing over time. For context, manga volumes typically collect several chapters into a single book, so 72 chapters spread across 14 volumes gives you a sense of the pacing.
For readers who can read Japanese — or who simply want to collect the original artwork without waiting for the English release schedule — the Japanese volumes offer access to the most recent storylines. The English edition currently trails by a couple of volumes, so importing the Japanese releases is the fastest way to stay current with the story.
The MFC editions use a standard manga volume size — roughly the dimensions of a typical paperback novel but slightly taller and narrower. If you’ve collected other KADOKAWA manga from this label, they’ll sit nicely together on your shelf.
English Edition (Yen Press)
Yen Press handles the official English release, with 12 main volumes currently available. The series is ongoing, so additional volumes will continue to roll out as the Japanese edition stays ahead. Yen Press has been steadily releasing new volumes, though the article doesn’t have an exact release cadence to share — checking their announcements or your preferred retailer for the next volume’s listing is the most reliable way to track upcoming releases.
The English volumes are available in both print and digital formats. Print copies are standard manga-sized paperbacks, while digital editions can be read through various e-reader platforms and apps. Both formats contain the same content.
The English volumes are rated OT (Older Teen), and that rating is well-earned. The supernatural creatures Miko encounters range from unsettling to outright nightmarish, and Izumi’s detailed art makes them impossible to look away from. If you’re buying this for a younger reader, the OT rating is worth taking seriously — the horror imagery is a core part of what makes the series work, and it doesn’t soften over time.
The English translation does a strong job preserving the sharp contrast between Miko’s internal panic and her external calm — that tension is really the engine that drives the whole series. The rapid shifts between horror and comedy come through clearly in the English script.
One important note: the Official Comic Anthology is a separate publication and is not counted among these 12 main volumes. If you see it listed alongside the numbered volumes, don’t mistake it for volume 13 — it’s a companion release with a different purpose entirely.
For readers who want to experience the full main story in English, the reading order is straightforward: volumes 1 through 12, in sequence. No jumping around, no alternate reading paths, no complicated continuity to track.
Mieruko-chan, Vol. 12
The Official Comic Anthology — Is It Part of the Main Series?
Short answer: no. The Official Comic Anthology is a companion volume — meaning a bonus book with side stories and supplementary material created alongside the main manga, rather than being part of the main storyline. It was published separately by KADOKAWA in Japan and is explicitly excluded from the main Mieruko-chan volume count.
The anthology is also available in English: Yen Press published it in August 2023, so English-only readers can pick it up too.
For collectors and dedicated fans who want every piece of Mieruko-chan content they can get their hands on, it’s a nice addition. But if you’re reading for the story — Miko’s encounters with increasingly dangerous spirits and the slowly unfolding supernatural world-building — you won’t miss anything by skipping the anthology.
If you do pick it up, just keep it mentally separate from your numbered volume collection. It slots in as a bonus, not as a chapter in the ongoing narrative.
The Anime and Where the Manga Picks Up
The Mieruko-chan TV anime — an animated television series based on the manga — began airing on October 3, 2021, and it introduced a huge wave of new readers to the source material. The anime brought Izumi’s creature designs to life with animation that leaned hard into the horror side of the series, and it worked — the contrast between Miko’s mundane school life and the nightmarish things lurking around her translated beautifully to screen.
For viewers who finished the anime and want to continue the story in manga form — which is likely why many of you are here — the anime covers roughly the first three volumes of the manga, and its final episode reaches into the early chapters of volume 4. The safest place to pick up the story is the start of volume 4 — you’ll revisit a few scenes the anime touched on, but you won’t miss anything.
That said, there’s a strong case for starting from volume 1 even if you’ve watched every episode. The manga’s pacing and the way panels are arranged on the page offer a different experience from the anime. Izumi’s art carries a lot of subtle horror details — tiny background creatures, unsettling visual foreshadowing — that the animated version couldn’t always capture. Reading from the beginning gives you those details plus the full context for everything that comes after.
The manga extends well beyond what the anime covered. Without getting into spoiler territory, the story develops significantly past the anime’s endpoint, introducing new characters, deeper supernatural world-building, and escalating stakes for Miko and the people around her. With 14 Japanese volumes and 12 English volumes currently available, there is a lot of story waiting for you beyond the anime.
Which Edition Should You Buy?
For English-speaking readers, the path is clear: pick up the Yen Press volumes 1 through 12 and read them in order. The story builds progressively, with early chapters establishing how Miko handles her terrifying new reality before the series gradually raises the stakes and expands its supernatural world. Jumping ahead would rob you of that escalation.
The Official Comic Anthology is optional. Grab it if you love the series and want more content, but don’t feel any pressure to track it down before or during your read of the main volumes. It’s available in English from Yen Press, though it sits outside the main volume numbering.
Print vs. digital is worth thinking about for this series specifically. Both formats are available for the Yen Press English edition, and both contain the same content — so neither choice is wrong. That said, horror manga lives and dies by its art, and Mieruko-chan’s creature designs are packed with fine detail — grotesque textures, unsettling proportions, tiny background spirits you might miss on a smaller screen. Larger print pages let that artwork breathe and give the horror imagery its full impact. Digital is a perfectly valid choice — it’s more convenient, takes up no shelf space, and often lets you start reading immediately — so go with whichever format fits your reading habits best. If you’re genuinely torn, print has a slight edge for this particular series because of how much visual detail Izumi packs into each page.
A quick word on the OT (Older Teen) rating: this isn’t a series that front-loads its scariest content and then mellows out. The disturbing supernatural imagery is consistent throughout the run. Miko sees things that are designed to make your skin crawl, and Izumi gets more confident with those designs as the series progresses. That’s part of what makes it great — but it’s also why the rating exists. Keep it in mind if you’re recommending the series to someone else.
Finally, if you’re the kind of reader who wants to stay as current as possible with the story, remember that the Japanese edition is ahead at 14 volumes compared to the English edition’s 12. The gap means English readers are always waiting a bit for the next installment, but Yen Press has been steadily releasing new volumes, so the wait between each one is manageable.
Mieruko-chan is one of those series that makes a seemingly simple concept — “girl sees ghosts, pretends she doesn’t” — and builds it into something much larger and more compelling than you’d expect. Whichever edition you choose, volume 1 is a fantastic starting point. Grab it and see how long you can keep a straight face.