GHOST SADIST MIKAMI #10

 "If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade" sounds more like the title of a self-help book than of a story about a lady exorcist fighting a demon who can change adults into children and summon armies of rats.

 And then it's back to basic gropery in "The Lucky Leaf Has Sprouted."

GHOST SADIST MIKAMI #9

 Though "Path of the Dragon" is mostly about Mikami training herself in a spirit-world, Tadao oscillates between being his usual lecherous self-- and showing some noble moments, before reverting to his normal lecherous self.

GHOST SADIST MIKAMI #8

 A demon reduces the lady exorcist to a doll-sized "Mini Mikami." Even at pint-size, Mikami vanquishes the demon. Tadao anticipates that the cancelled spell will result in a naked Mikami-- but she puts his lights out before he sees anything, and for good measure makes him give her his clothes while they walk home, putting a chill on his body as much as on his lustful ambitions.

   

A less routine tale, "Wedding War," involves Mikami forcing Tadao to pretend to be her boyfriend to discourage a rich suitor. She still knocks him around when he gets too grabby, and yet the tale ends with Mikami taking her employee to dinner-- the closest thing they ever have to a "first date."

  

Some months later, in an arc called "Dad's Here," Mikami gets teased by Okinu about having a thing for Tadao. Though the exorcist denies it, she also tells the ghost-girl that if Tadao became more of a man she might reconsider her opinion of him-- which is the first time she even slightly admits the possibility of such a change.

  

GHOST SADIST MIKAMI #7

 "Be Ambitious" demonstrates some ambition on the artist's part, for Mikami finally gets a little competition for Tadao's services from an old enemy, fellow ghost-sweeper Emi Osagawara. Emi tries to hire Tadao away from Mikami, and she's so offended by this that instead of offering the youth a higher wage, she keeps lowering it, as if challenging Tadao to break free of his thralldom to her. When he inevitably does depart to work for Emi, Mikami doesn't seem to miss him at all, though Okinu does. However, after Tadao learns the downside of his employment with Emi, and wants to come back, she gives him just a slight raise in tacit encouragement.

 

In "Go West," Mikami is forced to work alongside rival Emi. First, Tadao makes his usual ordinary assault:

 Then Tadao gets changed into a vampire, making him much more formidable-- though Mikami still kicks his ass-- and she continues to levy punishment when Tadao returns to normal, even though he wasn't really responsible for attacking her. 

 

GHOST SADIST MIKAMI #6

 In the four-part "Love Needs Its Time," Doctor Chaos comes up with a potion to make Mikami regress in time until she disappears, but of course Tadao takes it. His only hope is to get Mikami, or some earlier version of Mikami, to kiss him-- which proves difficult, to say the least.

  

GHOST SADIST MIKAMI #5

 "Sweeping at the Haunted Mansion" appears to be the first story in which Tadao started working for Mikami, and unlike most later adventures, she has to turn on a little charm to bind him to her. It's strongly implied, though, that she has no intention of giving him anything but the occasional tantalization.

   To be sure, Mikami's entirely right not to trust Tadao, who often resorts to scurrilous actions in trying to bed her. In fact, by the time of "Doctor Chaos' Challenge," Mikami is so used to Tadao seeking to assault her that she instantly knows that her enemy Chaos has occupied Tadao's body, because he doesn't seek to jump her bones.

    However, Tadao still gets clobbered when he returns to his body when Mikami's in the process of punishing Chaos.

 

GHOST SADIST MIKAMI #4

 "The Kingdom of the Cursed Dolls" is the first time Tadao makes a pass at a specific female who's not Mikami. However, her punishment is still focused on making him act better, rather than personal jealousy.

 

More of the same in "The Messenger from the Ocean."