For February 2005, sales of the comic's third printed volume were ranked third on BookScan's list of graphic novels sold in bookstores, then the best showing for an original English-language manga.

[3] Set in a fictional version of Tokyo, Megatokyo portrays the adventures of Piro, a young fan of anime and manga, and his friend Largo, an American video game enthusiast.

The comic often parodies and comments on the archetypes and clichés of anime, manga, dating sims, arcade and video games, occasionally making direct references to real-world works.

According to Gallagher, the comic's first two strips were drawn in reaction to Caston being "convinced that he and I could do [a webcomic] ... [and] bothering me incessantly about it", without any planning or pre-determined storyline.

Calling Kurtz's claim "mean spirited", Gallagher responded:[5] While things were good at first, over time we found that we were not working well together creatively.

Not all creative relationships click, ours didn't in the long run.Four days later, Caston posted his view of the development on his website:[4] After this he approached me and said either I would sell him my ownership of MegaTokyo or he would simply stop doing it entirely, and we'd divide up the company's assets and end it all.

[16] The limitations of this format became apparent during the first year of Megatokyo's publication, and in the spring of 2001, the comic switched to a manga-style, free-form panel layout.

In its early years, it was largely funded by Gallagher and Caston's full time jobs, with the additional support of banner advertisements.

A store connected to ThinkGeek was launched during October 2000 in order to sell Megatokyo merchandise, and, in turn, help fund the comic.

Gallagher emphasized in 2004 that Megatokyo will remain on the Internet free of charge, and that releasing it in book form is simply another way for the comic to reach readers,[25] as opposed to replacing its webcomic counterpart entirely.

His design was originally conceived as a visual parody of the character Ruri Hoshino, from the Martian Successor Nadesico anime series.

At the time of the story, she is a former popular Japanese idol (singer) and voice actress who has been out of the spotlight for three years, though she still possesses a considerable fanbase.

Erika's past relationship troubles, combined with exposure to swarms of fanboys, have caused her to adopt a negative outlook on life.

[42] Nanasawa Kimiko (七澤 希美子) is a Japanese girl who previously worked as a waitress at an Anna Miller's restaurant, and is Piro's romantic interest.

At the current point in the story, she is a voice actress for the possibly-failing Lockart game "Sight", playing the main heroine, Kannazuki Kotone.

[43] Miho often acts strangely compared to the comic's other characters, and regularly accomplishes abnormal feats, such as leaping inhuman distances or perching herself atop telephone poles.

She is apparently killed in a robotic beam attack by Ed,[44][45] but nine days later is found in the hospital reading and eating with no obvious signs of physical damage.

After a spending spree, the pair are stranded without enough money to buy plane tickets home, forcing them to live with Tsubasa, a Japanese friend of Piro's.

At one point, Piro, confronted with girl troubles, visits the local bookstore to "research"—look in the vast shelves of shōjo manga for a solution to his problem.

A spunky schoolgirl, Sonoda Yuki, and her friends, Asako and Mami, see him sitting amidst piles of read manga, and ask him what he is doing.

After the event, Erika, Largo, Kimiko and Piro are reunited, and they talk a bit with Miho, who has shown up again after storming out following an argument with Kenji earlier.

This leads Yuki to appropriate Piro's powerless laptop and leave, believing him to still be in love with Miho and that the device might hold clues to finding her.

He is able to leave jail by paying a suspiciously set low bail of about $100 US, which is obtained through a 10,000 yen bill that has been shaped into an origami 'zilla and left in the cell.

During the process, at one point Kimiko calls from the studio, updating Piro on his artwork and telling him some of how last night she and others found Miho and how crazy it was.

Yutaka's brother is a member of a group of Nanasawa fans who plan to intervene and remind Piro who his true love is to get rid of Miho.

At the same time, Yuki, deciding that she can wait no longer, steals Dom's van and guns, and rushes into the store with Yutaka in tow.

[69] Eric Burns, on his blog Websnark, said that the comic suffered from "incredibly slow pacing" (from 2000–2009, only about two months of in-universe time elapsed),[70] a lack of resolution for plot threads, and an erratic update schedule.

"[72] While Megatokyo was originally presented as a slapstick comedy, it began focusing more on the romantic relationships between its characters after Caston's departure from the project.

"[65] Likewise, Anime News Network has praised the personal tone in which the comic is written, stating that much of its appeal is a result of the "friendly and casual feeling of a fan-made production.

"[66] Gallagher states early in Megatokyo Volume 1 that he and Caston "didn't want the humor ... to rely too heavily on what might be considered 'obscure knowledge.'"