The first series published in Garo was Shirato's drama Kamui explored themes of class struggle and anti-authoritarianism around a Burakumin ninja boy with an Ainu name.

Although a new, young president was installed and advertisements for computer games (based on stories featured in Garo) started to run in the magazine, Nagai was kept on board as chairman until his death in 1996.

Over the years, Garo went through many artistic phases, including Shirato's leftist samurai dramas, abstract art and surrealism, erotic-grotesque, and punk.

Sharon Kinsella writes that the magazine explored "the realm of dreams, collective memories and social psychology" and that its manga were "characterized by obscure and typically nihilistic vignettes about individuals living on the fringes of modern society."

[2] The early period of the magazine saw manga inspired by "kamishibai paper theatre of the [1940s and 1950s], rental kashihon manga of the late [1950s] and early [1960s], children’s illustrated fiction from the 1930s and [1940s], pre-modern travel literature and Buddhist parables, and Japanese folklore and ghost stories".

Contemporary graphic design in Japan owes much to Garo artists, particularly King Terry, Seiichi Hayashi, and Shigeru Tamura.

It featured several of the creators who had previously appeared in Garo in its later years and received a high level of praise from critics.