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The first exposure I had to Excel Saga was a trailer on another of ADV's releases, and as soon as the trailer had finished, and after I had stopped laughing, I pre-ordered it. It is often the case that the best moments of a film or series are shown in the advert or trailer, but in Excel Saga's case the show was actually even better than the hilarious trailer suggested. Set in the city of F, Excel Saga follows the trials and
tribulations of Across, a secret ideological organisation bent on world
domination. Starting small, Across are planning on conquering F first and
using it as a stepping stone for their plans, but there's a few problems.
First up there are only two of them, commander and all-round evil overlord type
Ilpalazzo, and his devoted by insane subordinate Excel. Secondly, Excel
doesn't get paid for her Across work, which means she has to fit in world
domination around a succession of part time jobs and borderline starvation, and
thirdly they have to cope with Excel's insane enthusiasm. There's also the
problem of alien invasion, Excel being kidnapped by a guerrilla army, the
flooding of their underground headquarters, a rival organisation bent on
protecting the city and no end of other insanity. Even though they recruit
two new members - Hyatt, an alien princess who has a has a habit of dying at
inopportune moments, and Menchi, a dog that Excel keeps in case she can't find
any other food - Across are going to have their work cut out, and did I mention
Pedro, the unluckiest man alive, and Nabeshin, the afro-sporting all-action
alter-ego of the director? |
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Seems like a lot going on doesn't it? Well that isn't the half of it. Excel Saga vol 1 crams about 50 episodes worth of parodies, sight gags, puns, pop-culture references and plain slapstick into just 5 episodes. I have never seen a comedy like it, it hurtles along at a breakneck speed throwing gags around with a reckless abandon matched only by the sheer pace of Excel's delivery. Mitsuishi Kotono, the Japanese voice actress for Excel, speaks so quickly (particularly in the next episode previews) that you have nearly no chance of keeping up with her, and how Jessica Calvallo (Excel in the English dub) matches it I'll never |
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know. The English dub is absolutely excellent, matching the pace and comic timing of the original Japanese dialogue perfectly and losing none of the humour despite inevitable dialogue changes. After the first episode, in which Excel is tasked with killing Koshi
Rikdo (the author of the Excel Saga manga), each episode
parodies a particular film genre. Sci-fi (episode 2), cheap
war films (episode 3), romantic comedy (episode 4) and office drama
(episode 5) are the targets this time round, as Excel balances world
domination with traffic control, toilet cleaning and a paper round.
As well as Excel's struggles we are also presented with the stories
of some background characters, in particular the migrant worker
Pedro, afro-sporting Nabeshin and Excel's neighbours Watanabe, Iwata
and Sumiyoshi. Pedro is killed when Excel's spacing out causes
disaster on a building site, and from then on things get even worse
as he wanders back home in ghostly form only to find his sexy wife
has shacked up with his friend Gomez and his son has forgotten him.
Pedro looks like he is going to be the unfortunate comedy stooge of
the series, but the series' action hero is definitely Nabeshin. |
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Nabeshin is the alter ego of director Shinichi Watanabe and gets a lot of the best scenes, whether fighting rebel soldiers or helping his friend Space Butler fight the insanely cute Puchuu aliens. With his story, Pedro's story and the story of Excel's neighbours, who join a civil defence agency under the control of mysterious old guy Kabapu, there is enough going on to make up four separate series, and this is Excel Saga's strength and downfall. The sheer pace of it, the intertwining stories, the deliberate narrative dead ends and the near overwhelming amount of gags and references could be too much for some, and |
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many may find Excel annoying too. However, because of these same things there is a huge amount of rewatch value, even after watching it with the excellent AD Vid-Notes there is still plenty to spot and loads to enjoy on repeated viewings. Excel Saga may be too anarchic for some viewers but there is absolutely no other anime like it. It's over the top, brash style and sheer amount of comedy and pop-culture references makes it hugely enjoyable and there is so much going on that it contains something to suit everyone's sense of humour. The English dub and presentation from ADV is top-notch, and as long as you are prepared for utter insanity then Excel Saga is one of the best anime comedies available. Buy it. Extras: ADV really spoil us with the extras on Excel Saga vol 1. Trailers, production sketches, clean opening and closing sequences and original the original Japanese trailer may be expected extras nowadays, but we also get the Japanese opening and closing sequence, a video piracy warning and the excellent AD Vid-Notes. The Vid-Notes are an essential extra for Excel Saga, pointing out the deluge of references, parodies and cultural oddities through a series of pop-up text bubbles similar to those used on the TV series Pop-Up Video. There are a couple of bizarre easter eggs too, and look out for the weird comments in the credits of every episode! One of the best selections of extras I've seen. Ratings Feature:
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