“Garo”: The Experimental Magazine That Took Japan’s Manga to a New Artistic Level

The first (left) and second editions of Garo. (© Nakano Haruyuki)

Ninja Bugeichō: The Legend of Kagemaru (left) and The Legend of Kamui. (© Nakano Haruyuki)

Tsuge Yoshiharu’s Nejishiki is one of his most famous works. (© Tsuge Yoshiharu/Seirin Kōgeisha)

Creators working in many genres appeared in Garo. (© Matsumoto Sōichi)

The first edition of Com. (© Nakano Haruyuki)

Various editions of Com. (© Nakano Haruyuki)

An exhibition of the works of Yumura Teruhiko, who drew covers for Garo in the 1970s and 1980s, and is an exemplar of the hetauma “bad but good” aesthetic. Photograph taken in July 2025 in Tokyo. (© Kenelephant)