Ghost Sweeper Mikami: The Great Paradise Battle!! (GS美神 極楽大作戦!! Gōsuto Suīpā Mikami Gokuraku Daisakusen!!?) is a comedic horror manga series by Takashi Shiina. It was published by the weekly manga magazine Shōnen Sunday from 1991 to 1999. In 1993, it won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen. The series explores some folk religion themes such as possession, exorcism, shamanism, Yurei, and Yokai.
The series was adapted as a 45-episode anime television series by Toei Animation called Ghost Sweeper Mikami (GS美神 Gōsuto Suīpā Mikami?) which ran on TV Asahi and the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation from 1993–1994, covering most parts of the first nine volumes of the Manga (total 39 volumes). The anime lead to the release of a movie, which is currently the only existence of Mikami in the United States (released by Manga Video).Contents [hide] 1 Story 2 The world of GS Mikami 3 Terminology 4 Characters 5 Trivia 6 International releases 7 External links and references
[edit] Story
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 Reiko Mikami and her two assistants, the teenage 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 plots are some longer story arcs where new characters are introduced and the existing characters are further developed. There is no one ongoing storyline, therefore the plots are character-driven and serve to gradually develop characters, especially the main protagonists. [edit] The world of GS Mikami
The story plays in the world of modern times with many references to (now old) fashion, trends and characters. However, humans coexist with supernatural beings such as gods, demons and spirits, which is why the profession "ghost sweeping" was created. In order to call oneself a ghost sweeper, a license confirmation by the world government and world GS community is required. While most humans live their daily life in their world not aware of the danger, gods and demons are in the state of cold war, which might lead to the Apocalypse for all three factions. [edit] Terminology Ghost Sweeper, ghost sweeping The modern term for exorcising, and getting rid of any problems with supernatural origin. Occult G men The nickname for the ICPO occult crime department, a governmental structure for supernatural cases. [edit] Characters Reiko Mikami (美神 令子 Mikami Reiko?) Voiced by: Hiromi Tsuru (Japanese), Sharon Becker (English) The president and owner of the ghost sweeping agency Mikami GS. A strong-willed first class Ghost Sweeper, 20 years old. She was initially trained by the pastor father Karasu, but unlike her mentor, she was not satisfied with a life of poverty. Although she is wealthy from the success of her exorcism business, she is stingy when it comes to paying her employees, and often gouges her clients for a higher fee. Her Junior High years were tough considering that her mother Mikami Michie passed away, but she still managed to graduate as an honor-student. After acquiring her ghost sweeping license, she finally opened up her own business and started her life as a professional. Her big motivation is not to help the people in need, but to earn the big money and to chase after the thrill. Her biggest weaknesses are small children and cockroaches. Even though she would never admit it, she does show feelings towards Yokoshima with the progress of the manga. The two are revealed to have been connected together in a previous life. Tadao Yokoshima (横島 忠夫 Yokoshima Tadao?) Voiced by: Ryo Horikawa (Japanese), Wayne Grayson (English) A high school student, started working as the assistant of Mikami at the age of 15. He is totally enthralled by Mikami, and often tells himself that he only keeps his dangerous job because he loves Mikami. His official wages per hour is 250 yen, later increases to 255 yen. He appears at first to have dormant spiritual abilities and later on in the manga, with the help of Shoryuki, Yokoshima does gain various abilities of his own. Kinu Himuro (氷室 キヌ Himuro Kinu?) (Okinu) Voiced by: Mariko Kōda (Japanese), Debora Rabbai (English) A teenaged female ghost. First encountered by Mikami and Yokoshima as one of two ghosts causing chaos at a mountain hot spring, Mikami ends up "adopting" her when she doesn't know how to go to heaven. Eventually, she ends up becoming the secretary and errand girl for Mikami and even develops feelings for Yokoshima. To the other friendly spirits she is consider a Senpai. Later in the manga, Okinu does get her life back as her body was never destroyed. She is able to reunite her soul with her body (although weakly) and now lives a life of a normal teenage girl. Pietro de Bloodeau (ピエトロ・ド・ブラドー Pietoro do Buradō?) (Pete) Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese), Alan Steele (English) A 700-year-old half vampire. He is the son of Count Bloodeau (Pronounced Blado) who is said to be "cousin of the husband of Count Dracula's sister". Currently a disciple of Father Karasu. He also goes to the same school as Yokoshima, and because of his handsome look, he's very popular with girls. His ability is the combination of the holy power with the vampire's power. Kazuhiro Karasu (唐巣 和宏 Karasu Kazuhiro?) (Father Karasu) Voiced by: Kazuyuki Sogabe (Japanese), Yotee (English) A male Catholic priest exorcist and Mikami's mentor, 45 years old. He is said to be one of the best and most powerful exorcists currently active thanks to his training on Myoushinzan, but with the progressing story, he becomes more like an advisor than a ghost sweeper. Doctor Chaos (ドクター・カオス Dokutā Kaosu?) Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba An old senile male alchemist / exorcist with a genius level intellect. Being immortal (or at least 1000 years old), he has acquired much knowledge of the supernatural. Unfortunately, he forgets something he already knows if he tries to learn something new, which leads to him constantly rereading his old books and manuscripts. Maria (マリア?) Voiced by: Wakana Yamazaki A tough-fighting, female android who is the companion of Dr. Chaos, created from the image of Dr. Chaos's love in his younger days. She is strong, fast and resistant to damage. Maria acts as Dr.Chaos' main weapon and bodyguard. Emi Ogasawara (小笠原 エミ Ogasawara Emi?) Voiced by: Michie Tomizawa A dark-skinned female voodoo exorcist, chief competitor to Mikami's ghost sweeping business. Like Mikami, Emi has been the target of Yokoshima's lust more than once. According to Mikami, Emi is the strongest voodoo user worth competing with her. Even though it seems they are enemies, they're in fact good friends and partners who can rely on each other in times of emergency. Tiger Torakichi (タイガー 寅吉 Taiga Torakichi?) (Manga only) A Large, muscular man, who has been hired by Emi to defeat Mikami. After failure, he stays as Emi's disciple and assistant. Tiger used to be a woman chaser just like Yokoshima, thus his nickname "molesting tiger", but this habit of his turned into fear of women due to some reason. His ability is to create illusions through his telepathy. Meiko Rokudo (六道 冥子 Rokudō Meiko?) Voiced by: Kumiko Nishihara (Japanese), Jeanine Bartel (English) An innocent-looking but extremely powerful female who directly controls 12 Shikigami, which are named after the Japanese names of the Heavenly Generals (Jyuni Shinshou), legendary Hindu figures who became Buddhists: (Indara, Ajira, Kubira, Basara, Shindara, Sanchira, Haira, Makora, Shôtora, Anchira, Bikara, and Mekira). These are animal in form, caricatures of the symbols that these figures carry, which come from the Chinese counting series Earthly Branches. Normally they are under control, but whenever Meiko becomes distraught, her "pets" destroy anything or anyone within their reach. Unfortunately for all, Meiko is sensitive, weak-willed and easily hurt, therefore the Shikigami are set on the loose very frequently. She is hinted at being a lesbian with feelings for Mikami, who was the only person able to calm Meiko down when she first lost control of her shikigami in public. Meiko is the daughter of a famous mad scientist and a rich heiress; her mother was the former mistress of the shikigami and is still able to control them at will. Although she acts and looks younger than Mikami, she is actually older (her mother was shown to be pregnant with her before Mikami's mother even met her husband). Yakuchin (厄珍?) He is the owner of a store that deals with many magical items. He is very greedy and will often overprice his wares if he has the chance. Shoryuki (小竜姫 Shoryuki?) Lit. "little Dragon Princess", a female warrior of the dragon god race, who owns a training center in spiritual martial arts on top of a sacred mountain, Myoushinzan. She helped in unlocking Yokoshima's latent spiritual skills and increasing Mikami's power. Even though her power is immense, she cannot fight outside of her mountain for longer than 3 minutes, creating a parody of the live action show "Ultraman". Teruhiko Saijou (西条 輝彦 Saijō Teruhiko?) (Manga only) Mikami Michie's only known disciple, 28 years old. He traveled abroad to England in order to enhance his abilities, and is now currently working as an occult G man in Japan. He is Mikami Reiko's first love, and even though they have been separated for 10 years, he still has feelings for her. His weapons are his Reiken (spirit sword) "Justice" and his full automatic handgun. Even though he claims to fight for justice, his methods are sometimes very dirty, making him a hypocrite. Shiro Inuzuka (犬塚 シロ Inuzuka Shiro?) (Manga only) A young girl of the Jinrō(wolf people) tribe, though at times she acts more like a dog than a wolf, she is energetic and cheerful. Impressed by Yokoshima's "Hand of Glory", she became his apprentice, in order to avenge her father's death. Aiko (愛子 Aiko?) A yōkai of an old desk housing in Yokoshima's school, her only interest lies in getting to know the school life. Her catchphrase is "the spring of youth". In one chapter of the Manga it's being implied that she's secretly in love with Yokoshima, who has a natural charm towards everything supernatural. Yukinojou Date (伊達 雪之丞 Date Yukinojō?) (Manga only) A strong spiritualist and battle freak with an oedipus complex, thus mistaking everyone for his mother, who passed away when he was still a child. It is implied that he is even poorer than Yokoshima because he always spends his entire money in training and travelling. He first served as Medusa's henchman, but later left their group and became an ally of Yokoshima. His technique is a demonic art called Masoujutsu, where he creates an armor to enhance his basic abilities. There is a running joke going on that he always sees Yokoshima as a strong rival because of the circumstances. Kobato Hanato (花戸 小鳩 Hanato Kobato?) (Manga only) Due to the Binboukami's (god of poverty) influence, she and her mother have been suffering poverty their entire life. With the help of Yokoshima however, they managed to turn the Binboukami into a god of luck, ending their demise. She also has feelings for Yokoshima, and is even willing to marry him. [edit] Trivia Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (October 2007) This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)
Because Mikami represents an adult woman, her eyes are not drawn with as wide irises as are other female anime characters, so that the series can contain endless attempts by her male assistant to try and grope her without this being confused with groping a teenager or pre-teen. According to the author's note; Mikami name was based on the Asian inflation and Yokoshima is a play of word 'poison' in Japanese. Main characters Mikami, Yokoshima and Kinu appear in an omake page in Zettai Karen Children, with Yokoshima and Kaoru (from the mentioned series) being just as perverted as each other, much to Mikami's annoyance. [edit] International releases In the UK, Manga Video took the bizarre decision to release only the last few episodes of the series. The anime was broadcasted in mostly all Latin America in the late 1990s and it was a smash hit in countries like Mexico (aired on Televisa) and Chile (aired on the channels Chilevisión and Etc...TV), however, the manga has yet to be released in Latin America. The series were so popular in the Chilean Otaku scene that Tadao Yokoshima is known as a generic perverted character for mostly all things in the mainstream Otaku community (example: If you are peeking a girl's underwear, you are a "Yokoshima").
