Founded as a used bookstore specializing in manga in 1980, Mandarake incorporated in 1987 and currently operates 11 retail locations and one fulfillment center.

The company focuses on the purchase and sale of a wide range of collectables and otaku-related goods, including anime- and manga-related items, DVDs, CDs, toys, figurines, trading cards, video games, cosplay items, animation cels, and dōjinshi (self-published works).

[2] The company subsequently began a process of expansion, acquiring multiple stores in Nakano Broadway and widening its scope to sell a broader range of otaku-related goods.

[7] Mandarake was listed on Mothers and became a public company on July 26, 2000,[2] and moved to the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on February 1, 2015.

[11] Nakano Broadway houses twenty-seven individual shops (also known as annexes or kan) operating under the Mandarake brand.

[26] On November 16, 2012, a former Mandarake employee petitioned the Tokyo District Court for the payment of unpaid overtime from the company, claiming that he was not compensated for time spent at work before and after store opening hours.

The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, and ordered Mandarake to pay ¥2,233,606 in unpaid wages and additional damages of ¥2,108,165.

[28] The Tokyo District Court consequently suspended Mandarake Complex's online sales license for one month, and fined the company ¥300,000.

[29] In 2018, an original illustration from Ai to Makoto, one of a series of fifteen believed lost in 1974, was listed for sale in an online auction by Mandarake.

Ai to Makoto publisher Kodansha requested that the illustration be returned to the company, and issued a statement asking the public to not bid in the auction.

[32] In an interview with Weekly Toyo Keizai, Mandarake president Masuzo Furukawa stated that decision to post the image was motivated by a desire to have the item returned, and to deter future shoplifters.

[37] On August 19, 2014, the shoplifter was identified as Kazutoshi Iwama and arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police after he attempted to sell the toy to another secondhand store.