Product Details

• Actors: Christine M. Auten, Jessica Calvello, Kelli Cousins, Tiffany Grant, Yuka Imai
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: Japanese
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Adv Films
• DVD Release Date: June 11, 2002
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (92 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000065AYD
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,902 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Excel Saga - The Weirdness Has Begun (Vol. 1)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A truck flattens Excel, the heroine of this nutty adventure, in the opening minutes of the first episode. But the Will of the Cosmos insists the main character in a series can't die, and brings her back to life. She becomes the overly enthusiastic follower of Ilpalazzo, the leader of Across, an ideological organization that plans to purify the world. Excel stumbles her way through parodies of everything from Star Wars to Galaxy Express 999 to Japanese dating shows. She adopts a cat as a pet (and possible emergency food source), and little balloons with cats periodically pop up to translate the puns and explain what's being spoofed onscreen. Excel Saga is generally regarded as one of--if not the--craziest series in the history of anime, and compared to it, the likes of Dragon Half plays like King Lear. Rated 17 Up: Violence, profanity; risqué and gross-out humor. --Charles Solomon

Product Description

EXCEL SAGA VOL 1 - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's cute.... BUT WHAT THE HECK IS IT !?!?!, May 6, 2002

By 

Stewart Methven (Falkirk, Scotland United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Excel Saga - The Weirdness Has Begun (Vol. 1) (DVD)

Excel Saga is one of those DVD's you watch over and over again, because you're never gonna take it all in in one sitting. The main story is how Excel and team try to take over the city, and that alone will keep you occupied with trying to keep up with Excel, (in both her words and her actions, she's exhausting) but throw in a host of wacky support characters and plots which include :

.The cute alien princess with a tendancy to drop dead at a moments notice.
.The evil overlord who loves dating games and tries to play the guitar(badly).
.The imigrant worker who is too unfortunate for words, who has the gods on his side.
.The original manga author, who changes the theme of the show every episode and survives assassination from both his creations and his staff.
.The anime's director with the magical afro.
.Emergency ration pet Menchi.
.The mysterious S.A.A. led by the man with the rotating mustache.
.The Puchuu menace, cuteness from beyond the stars.

Does it make sense ? Not immediately.
Is it fun ? Of course!

This is up there with the Airplane and Naked Gun films for spotting little jokes here and there which you missed the first time round, and with so many different things being parodied all at once, you're bound to connect with the show on some level, so don't think it's just for the anime elite. For every joke against Trigun and Love Hina, there's a joke for something like Titanic and Star Wars. It's for anyone who enjoys a good laugh and a flair for the ridiculous.

and if you don't come away with viewing this without quoting at least half a dozen lines, then I'll eat my dog ! ^_^

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seriously twisted, but absolutely hilarious!, April 3, 2002

By 

Mark Walters (Barberoy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Excel Saga - The Weirdness Has Begun (Vol. 1) (DVD)

Excel Saga is a hard anime to describe. Perhaps the full title explains it all, "Weird Anime: Excel Saga." The story centers around Excel and Hyatt (Hyatt arrives in the 2nd episode and actually factors into the story starting in the 3rd episode) and their exploits with the secret organization called ACROSS that they work for. ACROSS' goal is to take over the world starting with F City. Don't let that description fool you though, b/c Excel Saga is anything but normal. Expect a lot of random, screw ball humor, a lot of poking fun at traditional anime and mainstream movies/video games (Aliens and Resident Evil), and the most hyper character (Excel) imaginable. The voice actress talks so fast, it would be great to see a gag reel of her recording sessions.
Each episode deals with one of ACROSS' plans to take over the world, all of which end up failing in hilarious ways. Every episode is full of zany humor, it may be hard for some people to take. For example, in the first episode, Excel dies about 5 times, but is always brought back to life by the Grand Will of the Universe. In the second episode, F City is under attack by little cute teddy bear-like creatures (called Puchus) who fly in what looks like a star destroyer.
I would not reccomend this for kids. It has next to no violence (if any), but it does have a few sexual innuendos in the later episodes. But the main reason I wouldn't recommend it for kids is b/c the series is so zany, it practically makes no sense. I really don't think kids would understand it or find it that funny.
Expect the unexpected with Excel Saga and you'll probably find it to be extremely funny. It helps if you like things like Monty Python, Police Squad, and the Airplane movies.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You won't find a funnier anime than this, July 12, 2002

By 

"madnessmark" (Maple Grove, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Excel Saga - The Weirdness Has Begun (Vol. 1) (DVD)

This is probably the best comedy anime I have seen since Nadesico and, frankly, it even tops that show. Here is a good run down of the first five episodes.

Episode 1: Excel takes on the task of killing a manga artist and helping her co-worker, Pedro.
Parodies: Yu Yu Hakusho, Excel Saga manga, Cowboy Bebop.

Episode 2: Aliens come to Earth and it's up to Excel and Nabeshi to stop them.
Parodies: Star Wars, Space Adventure Cobra, Cowboy Bebop, Space Battleship Yamato.

Episode 3: Excel is captured by a bunch of army guys in the jungle and now Hyatt must attempt to save Excel. And Nabeshi must once again do all the work.
Parodies: Patlabor 2, jungle warfare movies, Tekkaman Blade, Getter Robo, Leiji Matsumoto art, Yakuza films.

Episode 4: Lord Illpalzo becomes occupied with a dating game which gets in the way of the mission, but produces some funny results.
Parodies: Season of Sakura game, Golgo 13, Star Wars (again).

Episode 5: Excel and Hyatt must stop a corrupt company from cheating employees. And Excel makes a new enemy.
Parodies: Salaryman manga, Resident Evil, Excel Saga singers.

The extras provide ADVid Notes to help tell the jokes, textless openings and closings, Japanese openings and closings, Japanese video piracy warning (nothing real special) and original trailers that almost make you take the show seriously. The menus are a tad bit slow, but still pretty fun. Check out the extras menu for a hand squashing PuuChuus. Also included in the package is a special ACROSS membership card (just for laughs).

Overall, Excel Saga is the funniest anime you will watch that takes each level to the highest point of anime comedy. Highly recommended to all anime fans.