Although the manga is primarily a comedy, it includes several scenes of serious, gripping drama, and the first volume's plot and theme are solidly based in noir fiction.

For the sake of clarity and brevity, this article refers to the original 15-page Rising Stars of Manga entry as "the short story" and the full-tankōbon graphic novels as "the books".

The actual narrative and dialogue of the short story and the first book come primarily through "Snack Girl", Dogby's "Watson" who also has a huge crush on him.

The original 15-page story for Rising Stars of Manga 2 features Dogby and Snack Girl clearing Birdie of the theft of 20 pounds of hot dogs.

In the first book, Dogby solves a murder, while the rest of the park is on the brink of civil war over the mysterious theft of a week's ticket sales.