Buso Renkin
Nobuhiro Watsuki started writing "Buso Renkin" thinking it would be his last "shōnen" manga; he tried to do "everything [he] ever wanted" with that genre. He unexpectedly experienced problems drawing the manga's fight scenes and said he "struggled with the comedic elements". Watsuki drew references from several sources in "Buso Renkin"; from his past works "Rurouni Kenshin" and "Gun Blaze West" to American comics, and from films to other anime and manga. Despite dealing with alchemy, Watsuki initially avoided mentioning the philosopher's stone because he thought he could be accused of plagiarizing another series. He could not omit mentioning it, but he said that it is "general knowledge". During the series' publication, Watsuki had four severe colds; the fourth cold made him so weak that he could not finish the chapter he was due to send to "Weekly Shōnen Jump".