Mitama Security: Spirit Busters, Chapters 1, 2 and 3 (Manga Review)
/By Justin D Williams
Story - Rena's haunted by spirits, but when a strange guy comes to bust them, he may be more of a hindrance than a help.
Chapter 1 Review - Chapter 1 is a great introduction to the world and concept of what the overall book will be about. We are introduced to Rena who is a sweet girl who unfortunately has a unique ability. She has the ability to see spirits and she has had this ability since birth. The spirits don’t really do anything harmful. They just follow her around in an singular line. Rena feels that if she ignores the spirits that no harm will come to her. However things take for a strange turn when Joh Mitama enters the picture. Joh is a paranormal Secureity who has come to exorcism the spirits. This leaves chapter 1 to go into a hilarious and entertaining read. Joh’s character is an intriguing one because he is an exorcist that is afraid of spirits. The sight of the spirits makes him act cowardly. For the sake of spoilers I won’t go into further into the plot. However I do the like that aspect and how the relationship with Rena is playing off. Joh comes off as a crazy person towards Rena and she’s not quite sure what to make of him. This is a relationship dynamic I can see that will be explored in later issues. The art style is pretty good as well. However I would’ve like a little more detail in the designs of the spirits. The spirits all look the same but in their defense it makes sense for the story.
Rating - B+
Chapter 2 Review - The story continues in chapter 2 . However chapter 2 doesn’t offer much in terms in character development. This chapter just moves the concept of Joh trying to exorcise the spirits. In this chapter we learn that he is going to be following Rena even to school. There is a hilarious bit with him and the school staff that gave me a chuckle. Reading this chapter made me question who actually is the bad person. The spirits that are haunting Rena don’t do anything to her. They just stare at her or in this spirit case try to play basketball with her because he was a basketball player. Joh enters and claims the spirit is evil with no evidence of evil deeds. He sees a spirit and swears they are all bad. This is intriguing because it makes me wonder more of his backstory and what makes him so driven. Chapter 2 is a fun read but doesn’t do much in terms of moving the plot forward. It’s pretty much the same beat and humor that we had from chapter 1.
Rating - C+
Chapter 3 Review - Chapter 3 is full on comedy as Rena is home cooking curry and is being haunted by a spirit who use to be a food critic. Throughout this chapter the food critic keeps saying to her that’s gross. Enters Joh who can sense the evil of this food critic and decides he must take him down. Chapter 3 brings the laughs but unfortunately again there is no real meat in the character development. The pacing is getting repetitive. As of now the series is random spirit who has a tie in to a certain activity. Joh claims their evil and defeats them and Rena has a bland of whatever reaction. I’m hoping this picks up and delve deeper in to Rena’s gift and why Joh is so driven to defeat ghost.
Rating - C+
