Minene Sakurano is the pen name of a Japanese manga artist born on November 29 in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. She began her professional career in 1995 with the story Mother Doll, which tied for first place in the first Enix 21st Century Manga Prize contest. This debut marked the start of a long career creating manga series, many of which have been adapted into anime productions.

Sakurano is best known as the creator of Mamotte Shugogetten, her representative work. The original manga was serialized in Enixs Monthly Shōnen Gangan magazine from 1996 to 2000 and compiled into eleven volumes. The story, which blends magical girl and romantic comedy genres, follows a young boy who receives a magical ring from his father and subsequently gains a protective moon spirit named Shaolin. The popularity of the manga led to a twenty-two episode anime television series produced by Toei Animation, which aired from October 1998 to April 1999. Following the television series, an eight-episode original video animation series titled Denshin Mamotte Shugogetten was released between June 2000 and November 2001. This OVA series is the work mentioned as an example in the query.

In 2001, Sakurano became involved in a dispute with her publisher, Enix. As a result, she stopped publishing Shugogetten in Shōnen Gangan. She subsequently moved the series to Comic Blade, published by Mag Garden, where it continued under the title Mamotte Shugogetten! Retrouvailles, which ran from 2002 to 2005 and was collected into six volumes.

Beyond her signature series, Sakurano has created a range of other manga works. These include the short story collection Shōuindō no Emily, the series Jōshū Tōzoku Aratamegata Hinagiku Kenzan! which ran for three volumes, the single-volume work Healing Planet, and other titles such as Madoromyāna no Komoriuta, Yggdrasil Liveline, a continuation titled Hinagiku Kenzan: Ippon Ōkamachi-hen, Fairial Garden, and Hoshi no Dai Circus. Her work has also appeared in anthologies based on video game properties, including contributions to comics for Tōshinden and Fire Emblem.

The central artistic identity of Sakuranos work, as exemplified by Mamotte Shugogetten, combines supernatural fantasy elements with everyday life and romantic comedy. Her stories frequently feature magical beings, often drawn from Asian mythological traditions such as moon, sun, and earth spirits, who interact with and disrupt the ordinary world of human protagonists. Thematically, her work explores ideas of guardianship, companionship, and the humorous consequences that arise when ancient magical powers encounter modern society. This blend of shōnen demographics with sensibilities sometimes associated with shōjo manga, particularly in the focus on character relationships and emotional development, marks a distinctive aspect of her creative style.

Sakuranos industry significance lies primarily in her successful creation of a multimedia franchise. Mamotte Shugogetten achieved popularity not only as a manga but also as a television anime and an OVA series, reaching audiences across different formats. Her work was also licensed for English-language release in North America, first serialized as Guardian Angel Getten in Raijin Comics and later published under its original title by Tokyopop. The dispute with Enix and her subsequent move to Mag Garden with the Retrouvailles continuation also represents a notable episode in manga publishing history, demonstrating a creators ability to relocate a successful property to a new publisher.