The manga tells the story of a salesman named Moguro Fukuzou[c], whose job is to help people fill gaps in their soul.

The stories in the series focus on individuals who meet a shadowy and ominous salesman named Moguro Fukuzou (喪黒 福造).

However, once Moguro's clients begin to enjoy the fruits of their new life, they often breach their conditions, betray his trust, or deny that they received assistance at all.

Fujiko Fujio first created the manga as a one-shot called The Black Salesman (黒イせぇるすまん, Kuroi Sērusuman) in Shogakukan's Big Comic magazine in 1968.

After the first anime adaptation's release, Fujiko Fujio A continued the series from 1990 to 1995 in Chuokoron-Shinsha's Chuokoron magazine, this time under the same title of the anime, The Laughing Salesman (笑ゥせぇるすまん, Warau Sērusuman), and later in Manga Sunday from 1996 to 2000 as The Salesman Returns (帰ッテキタせぇるすまん, Kaettekita Sērusuman), with a bilingual (Japanese and English) version released in 2013.

[3] The fourth sequel, The Dancing Salesman (踊ルせぇるすまん, Odoru Sērusuman), ran in Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha's Manga Sunday from 2001 to 2004.

It was directed by Hirofumi Ogura, with Naohiro Fukushima, Asami Ishikawa and Midori Natsu writing the scripts and Kohei Tanaka composing the music.

In the game, it features fully-voiced cutscenes with 2D artwork and as they progress through, they will go through some mini-games, related to the episode (e.g. following Moguro by choosing the correct path).

Fukuzou Moguro makes an appearance as a guest character in the 2012 game Girls RPG Cinderelife developed by Level-5 for the Nintendo 3DS.