is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by

Takashi Shiina is a Japanese manga artist who writes primarily for the weekly Shogakukan manga publication ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday''. When he started at the company in 1989, he began with an anthology of various shorts and one-shots collectively known as ''S ...

. It was published in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

's manga magazine ''

Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, making it ...

'' 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 Folk religion, traditional religion, or vernacular religion comprises, according to religious studies and folkloristics, various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized religion. ...

themes such as

possession Possession may refer to: Law *Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance *Drug possession, a crime *Ownership *Pe ...

exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...

shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

, , and . A 45-episode

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series adaptation by

Toei Animation is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including '' Sally the Witch'', '' GeGeGe no Kitarō'', '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

was broadcast on the

Asahi Broadcasting Corporation is a certified broadcasting holding company headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Until March 31, 2018, it was a unified radio and television broadcaster serving in the Kansai region. On April 1, 2018, its radio and television broadcasting divisions ...

from April 1993 to March 1994. An anime film premiered in August 1994. The anime series was licensed in North America by

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC (or simply Sentai) is an American entertainment company. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is Sentai Studios. The ...

. In November 2013, Toei Animation released all of the episodes with English subtitles to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. In 1993, ''Ghost Sweeper Mikami'' won the 38th

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is ...

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.

Media

Manga

''Ghost Sweeper Mikami'', written and illustrated by

, debuted as a

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'', a ...

's manga magazine ''

'' 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.

Volumes

Anime

A 45-episode

television series adaptation, produced by

, was broadcast on the

from April 11, 1993, to March 6, 1994.

Episodes

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 was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demon King of the ...

who was killed and had his form taken by a vampire called

Nosferatu ''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' () is a 1922 silent film, silent German Expressionism (cinema), German Expressionist vampire film directed by F. W. Murnau from a screenplay by Henrik Galeen. It stars Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who ...

. Mitsuhide provides Mikami with a spear tipped with a with which to kill Nosferatu who is protected by his loyal servant

Ranmaru Mori , also known as Mori Naritoshi (森成利), was a samurai retainer to the Oda clan. He was son of Mori Yoshinari, and had 5 brothers in total, from the province of Mino. He was a member of the Mori Clan, descendants of the Seiwa Genji. Biog ...

— 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 The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

and another for the

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched ...

. Released in 1993 for the Super Famicom, is a side-scrolling

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

where the player controls Reiko through multiple stages.''Ghost Sweeper Mikami: Joreishi wa Nice Body''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

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 (formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in the New Territories. Ba ...

released another game based on the franchise in 1994 for the

PC Engine Super CD-ROM² The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched in ...

simply titled ''Ghost Sweeper Mikami '', an

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

featuring card battles.

Reception

In 1993, ''Ghost Sweeper Mikami'', along with ''

Yaiba ''Yaiba: Samurai Legend'' (stylized as ''Y∀IBA'') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from September 1988 to December 1993, with ...

'', received the 38th

for the category.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Anime and manga, Video games, 1990s 1993 video games 1990s horror video games 1994 anime films 1994 films Asahi Broadcasting Corporation original programming Comedy anime and manga Exorcism in anime and manga Gagaga Bunko Japan-exclusive video games Natsume Atari games Platformers Sentai Filmworks Shogakukan manga Shogakukan franchises Shōnen manga Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Supernatural anime and manga Television series set in the 1990s Toei Animation television Toei Animation films TV Asahi original programming Video games scored by Kinuyo Yamashita Video games developed in Japan Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga Yōkai in anime and manga