In Fullmoon, Meroko is introduced as a full fledged Shinigami, partnered with Takuto Kira, a “failure” cat Shinigami that she was set up to train after she was broken off from Izumi. When the Shinigami forces were informed that Mitsuki Kouyama was fated to have a postponed death, Meroko and Takuto were sent to see that she would die naturally. Meroko ended up truly falling for Takuto, and became extremely jealous to see that Takuto took such a strong interest in Mitsuki. Meroko seems very serious about her job, ad heavily protested Takuto’s choice to help Mitsuki become a singer.Meroko spends the early part of the series fighting for Takuto’s safety, after realizing that his relationship with Mitsuki was releasing his memories of his previous life. She even went as far as to call her old flame Izumi, to help stop Fullmoon. Her strong personality is reflected in these moments, and is both repelling, as it is pure. Through out the series, she notices that Takuto is romantically interested in Mitsuki, and becomes very jealous of her. She starts to connect with the girl in the second volume of the manga after Mitsuki professes to her her love for Eichi, however, she is betrayed by Mitsuki later on, and seems to be in constant distress until volume four, when her past is further exposed. Before she reconnects to Mitsuki, Meroko wants to leave it all behind, and return to the shinigami world, but both Mitsuki and Takuto show her deep kindness, ad her fears of losing them cease for a very long time. It is during this time that Meroko starts to create close personal bonds with her friends, that shape the foundation of her motivations for the future. She learns the meanings of selflessness, ad also, self protection.
In the anime, it takes a bit longer to develop relationships with others. Meroko is constantly fighting in inner battle of accepting Takuto’s feelings, though unlike the manga, Takuto and Meroko seem to have a less restless bond. The anime contains several fillers which show three constant things: Meroko trying to toy with Mitsuki, Meroko standing up for her, and Meroko and Takuto getting closer. A good example is the famous Christmas episode, where she spends the episode making him a scarf, and he is stressed that she is “ignoring him”. She and him end up sharing an embrace, and almost get tricked into kissing. She is much stronger willed in the sense that she does not let Izumi or Takuto take advantage of her, and puts herself out for being hurt.
One major difference between the anime and manga is that Meroko’s past is never revealed, so Meroko must make her own peace with Takuto and Mitsuki, and tends to spend the series alone (usually watching the house XD)