How to keep a mummy

Episode 6

Not every mythical creature makes a great pet. In today's plot-minimal episode of How to keep a mummy, the gang subdues a mandrake—and it's just as creepy-cute as the one from Flying Witch. But beyond that bit of action, it's all vignettes of average life with a not-so-average pet. From playing to bathing to sleeping, the adorable pets themselves are the draw, and the scenario is just an excuse for cuteness.

Did you know How to keep a mummy is on Crunchyroll Manga now? Many of the things I've been wondering about, like Kaede's job, have clear answers in the source material. The anime does mix up the order and structure of the manga's plot points, but the cute antics of the pets themselves have been brought to life almost exactly as intended. So it's not some strange marketing committee decision that leads to the reveal that this dragon, mummy, and child-oni can write. Yes, these cute pets are capable of expressing and conveying their thoughts on a human level—in Isao's case, in both the Japanese and English alphabet. Am I the only one who finds this unsettling? If they can write, they can start a newspaper and organize against humans!

Fortunately, Isao, Conny, and Mii-kun have no such ideas. Instead, their letters gave me cavities. And they turned them into a feel-good treasure hunt for their owners! This is the kind of heart-melting gooey-ness that makes this anime such a wish-fulfillment goldmine. The only thing better than having a dragon? A dragon that writes in crayon about how much he loves you. Mii-kun's “together forever” made my heart grow three sizes, and Conny's listing of his favorite foods was, if not as sweet, perfectly in character.

The main conflict of the day was Mii-kun's concern that he wasn't pulling his own weight, something that has been a theme for our miniscule mummy. He's not actively rescuing the town from a mandrake like Isao, but he's also not the one who pulled it out of the ground in the first place like Conny. This isn't going to resolve itself in one episode, but as Sora observes, Mii-kun is “growing up,” getting smarter and better at caring for others. Perhaps it's not the ability to write that's the truly unsettling reveal in How to raise a mummy, but more the understanding that these creatures are just adorable because they are small. When they reach their full size (like Tazuki's recollection of adult oni), these will be monsters that humans tell scary stories about, instead of the adorable childlike beings that Sora and his friends tell bedtime stories to.

The B-side of this episode was just a leisurely stroll through Motegi, Tazuki, and Sora's nightly routines and sweet moments with their pets. It's odd that in moments like these, where How to keep a mummy has the least to say, its payoff is the greatest.

Rating: B

How to keep a mummy is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about geek careers at Otaku Journalist.