The protagonist of Sarari-kun is Sarari, a middle-aged salaryman employed at a company called Red-White Products. He lives with his wife, a pragmatic and often exasperated homemaker; his mother-in-law, who is retired and keeps a cat; and his son. The household also includes a young granddaughter who visits, making Sarari a grandfather. His boss, the president of Red-White Products, is a neighbor in his sixties who puts on a domineering front at work but frequently quarrels with his own wife at home. Almost every character is short-tempered and quick to argue, a deliberate contrast to the gentler tone of many other newspaper comics.

The comic is a four-panel strip that unfolds entirely in brief, self-contained gags rather than a continuous storyline. There is no single narrative arc; instead, each day’s installment offers a snapshot of domestic or workplace friction: Sarari grumbles about his commute, his wife chides him over his spending, the mother-in-law meddles in household matters, and the boss blusters about business while being undermined by his wife at home. The gags often turn on petty arguments, misunderstandings, and small hypocrisies of middle-class life. A recurring subtext is the imbalance between the bluster of the male characters and the quiet authority of the women who manage the household.

The art style is simple and warm, drawn with gentle, uncluttered lines. The tone aims for a fond but pointed satire of the ordinary salaryman’s existence, focusing on the minor humiliations and everyday compromises that define a life of routine work and family obligation. This mix of gentle drawing and sharp observation led one critic to describe the strip as poking fun at the common person with a warm but stingingly honest touch. Although the political leanings of the newspaper gave the strip a generally conservative bent, the humor stays focused on universal domestic and office dynamics rather than overt partisanship.