It was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1989 to 1991, with its chapters collected in three tankōbon volumes.

The manga was licensed in North America by Viz Media, being serialized in its Pulp magazine from 2001 to 2002; they also released a single volume.

A second series, titled Saruman 2.0, was serialized in Shogakukan's Monthly Ikki from 2007 to 2008; its chapters were collected in a single volume, released in 2017.

[16] Johanna Draper Carlson from Comics Worth Reading comments on the "vulgar but funny" adult contents of the manga with its "nudity and various scatological gags".

[18] Canadian cartoonist and writer Bryan Lee O'Malley described the book as a significant influence on the art style of his Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series.