【Ghost Sweeper Mikami】 Action x Comedy x Supernatural! Winner of the 38th Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shounen category!!

Ghost Sweeper Mikami is a Japanese action franchise written and illustrated by Takashi Shiina.

The manga was serialized in Weekly Shounen Sunday from 1991 to 1999. Its chapters are compiled and published into 39 separate volumes. The manga series won the 38th Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shounen category.

An anime adaptation of the manga was also released in 1993, with the 45 episodes adapted by Toei Animation. A live action film was also released.

The story follow Reiko Mikami and her two assistants, a young boy Tadao Yokoshima and the ghost girl Okinu. Together they make up the Mikami Ghost Sweeper Company, a company with private exorcists for hire. The manga covers some folk religion themes such as possession, exorcism and shamanism.

We see Reiko Mikami, the CEO of Mikami GS Co., performing an exorcism on a ghost who has taken over a factory and is proving to be a hurdle in it’s redevelopment. She successfully subjugates the ghost as she is the one with the highest powers in the area of ghost sweeping.

The narrator introduces himself as Tadao Yokoshima, a part time assistant at Mikami GS Co. Reiko takes him to another job regarding ghosts in an outdoor spring and assigns him the task of handling all of the bags. Tadao collapses under the weight of all the baggage and is left behind by Reiko. Tadao is approached by a mysterious girl who informs him that she wants him to go to a shady-looking location to fetch her medicine because she is ill.

A boulder falls down on Tadao as he goes to get the medicine, barely missing him. The girl is revealed to be a ghost. He goes and tells Reiko about the young ghost girl who tried to kill him. Reiko dismisses the thought by saying that the girl isn’t related to their job and starts the search for the ghost who is haunting the springs. The ghost reveals and introduces himself as a trekker from Meiji University. He explains how he got buried alive in the snow and his body still hadn’t been discovered.

Reiko decides to help find his body and give it a proper burial so that he can rest in peace. While a bitter winter rages outside, she dispatches Tadao and the ghost to locate the body. While Reiko is having fun at the springs, Tadao has to make a tent to protect himself from the storm. Tadao flees as the ghost makes some odd advances on him, describing it as disgusting.

The situation swiftly devolves into chaos as the ghost girl from earlier smashes a rock at Tadao as he runs away from the trekker's ghost. Tadao sees the trekker's spirit catching up with him and runs along with the ghost girl. Reiko was taking a bath in the spring when the three of them burst in.

After things settle down, the ghost girl introduces herself as Okinu, someone who has been dead for three centuries. She was killed as a sacrifice and was looking for a scapegoat in order to pass on as she wasn’t qualified to be the mountains guardian deity. Reiko recognises the predicament and commands the trekker's ghost to become the mountain's protector instead, casting a spell to do so.

Since Okinu couldn’t find her way to heaven, she needed someone’s help. Reiko offered to help only if she pays in advance, but since she’s a ghost she has no money. As an alternate, Reiko comes up with the idea that Okinu could work for her till she earns enough money to pay her for her service.

What awaits the trio as they perform more exorcisms?