Trivia / Mitama Security: Spirit Busters

• Acclaimed Flop: Despite getting good reviews all around and ranking fairly well in Shonen Jump's table of content, the series failed in sales and was one of the least viewed series on both Japanese and English-language Shueisha websites. According to Shoseki, the first volume barely managed to sell 5000 physical copies during its first week and sales never improved after that point.
• Network to the Rescue: Despite lackluster sales, the series was noticeably pushed by the magazine, getting numerous color pages (as much as Mission: Yozakura Family which debuted at the same time and had way better sales) and even getting a "Design a Spirit" contest. The good critical reception coupled with the fact that Gag Series have lower sales exception might have been enough to keep the series afloat for a while, which is still an unusual behavior for Shonen Jump which notoriously has an unforgiving "success or die" editorial line. It could even be argued that the series survived for as long as it did through sheer luck and good timing, with numerous long-running series ending at that time (The Promised Neverland, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs, Haikyuu!!) while other newcomers somehow managed to sell even worse than it (Zipman!!, Guardian Of The Witch, and Bone Collection which was cancelled the issue after Mitama).
• Official Fan-Submitted Content: Code 31 introduced several new spirits that were the results◊ of a design contest out of 432 submissions. The three winners were REIttuce, Opportunity, and Spirit for the Ethical TREItment of Living Things, but the chapter also featured 10 runner-ups. They even started to appear sporadically after this chapter.
• Translation Correction: The manga has a bit of Gratuitous English that is usually correct and left as is. However, Mr. Stripe saying "Love your Black History" in Code 28 sounded especially wrong and could have a completely different interpretation especially in America (as in "Respect your African-American legacy"). It was localized in English as "Embrace your dark past" which was the original intent of the Aesop.