It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 7 July 1974 through 19 March 1978 and was later published into thirteen tankōbon volumes by Kodansha.

[citation needed] The main character, Hosuke Sharaku, had had appearances outside the manga as a recurring character in Tezuka's Star System, appearing in two television films, One Million-Year Trip: Bander Book (1978) and Undersea Super Train: Marine Express (1979) respectively, and one episode of the series Blue Blink ("A Prisoner at Rose House", 1989).

The woman, who had a third eye on her forehead, encourages him to take care of his child in exchange for her having a "long and prosperous life" she will want for nothing and ran off from the house.

To repel any further development from this weird desposition, Kenmochi stuck a cross-shaped bandage on his forehead shutting his third eye, and Sharaku went on to have a mostly normal childhood, bearing a dumb mind and being a strictly obedient person.

In his worldwide search, which takes both he and Wato-san to locations like Arizona, Easter Island, and Mexico, Sharaku deciphers ancient scriptures and uses gadgets he invents to help solve (or start) problems and mysteries.