Ghost Sweeper Mikami

Ghost Sweeper Mikami: The Great Paradise Battle!! (GS美神 極楽大作戦!!) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takashi Shiina. It was published in Shogakukan's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from May 1991 to September 1999, with its chapters collected in 39  volumes. It follows the exploits of a group of exorcists who try to combat supernatural forces in an effort to get paid. The series explores some folk religion themes such as possession, exorcism, shamanism,, and.

A 45-episode anime television series adaptation by Toei Animation was broadcast on the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation from April 1993 to March 1994. An anime film premiered in August 1994. The anime series was licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks. In November 2013, Toei Animation released all of the episodes with English subtitles to YouTube.

In 1993, Ghost Sweeper Mikami won the 38th Shogakukan Manga Award in the category.

Plot
Overdevelopment and crowding in Japan has forced many of its indigenous spirits and ghosts to lose their homes. Due to problems caused by the homeless spirits, a new profession was created, the Ghost Sweepers (GS). Private exorcists for hire, they serve only the highest bidder to survive in the cutthroat corporate world. Among this, the Mikami GS Company, led by 31-year-old Reiko Mikami and her two assistants, the 17-year-old boy Tadao Yokoshima and the ghost girl Okinu, is said to be the best.

The manga setup is scenario-to-scenario, with many plots intertwining classic Japanese culture and modern day realities, with occasional references to Western influences. In between these plot points, there are longer story arcs where new characters are introduced and the existing characters are further developed. While the overarching storyline focuses on Reiko's contention with her arch-nemesis, Astaroth, the series is mostly character-driven and serves to gradually develop characters, especially the main protagonists.

Manga
Ghost Sweeper Mikami, written and illustrated by Takashi Shiina, debuted as a one-shot in Shogakukan's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday on May 8, 1991. The manga was then serialized in the same magazine from July 17, 1991, to September 22, 1999. Shogakukan collected its chapters in thirty-nine volumes, released from March 18, 1992, to November 18, 1999. Shogakukan re-released the series in a twenty-volume edition, published from December 16, 2002, to July 15, 2004; a twenty-volume  edition from June 16, 2006, to March 16, 2007; and a twenty-three volume  edition from August 18, 2016, to June 15, 2018.

Anime
A 45-episode anime television series adaptation, produced by Toei Animation, was broadcast on the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation from April 11, 1993, to March 6, 1994.

Film
A 1994 anime film was produced by Toei. Its story is original and acts as a sequel to the TV series. Ghost Sweeper, Reiko Mikami, is called on by the ghost of the long dead samurai Mitsuhide Akechi to stop Nobunaga who was killed and had his form taken by a vampire called Nosferatu. Mitsuhide provides Mikami with a spear tipped with a Seirei Seki (精霊石) with which to kill Nosferatu who is protected by his loyal servant Ranmaru Mori — a demon who can take the shape of a white spider. Nosferatu captures Mikami's associates, Emi Ogasawara, Doctor Chaos and Maria and begins to drain their blood. However, Mikami with the assistance of her friend, Yokoshima, manages to defeat Nosferatu with Mitsuhide's spear, Mitsuhide took him away to insure he is not revived again.

Video games


The manga and anime spawned two video games, one for the Super Famicom and another for the PC Engine. Released in 1993 for the Super Famicom, Natsume's Ghost Sweeper Mikami: Joreishi wa Nice Body (ゴーストスイーパー GS美神 〜除霊師はナイスバディ〜) is a side-scrolling platform game where the player controls Reiko through multiple stages. Reiko is armed with a magic baton that can be used to perform several types of melee attacks. The baton can be powered up to shoot various types of projectiles, though these powerups are lost if Reiko takes any damage. It can also be used as a type of grappling hook to access certain platforms. There are also limited uses of magic attacks that hit all enemies on the screen.

Banpresto released another game based on the franchise in 1994 for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² simply titled Ghost Sweeper Mikami , an adventure game featuring card battles.

Reception
In 1993, Ghost Sweeper Mikami, along with Yaiba, received the 38th Shogakukan Manga Award for the category.