Customer Reviews

Excel Saga - The Weirdness Has Begun (Vol. 1)

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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 ! ^_^

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.

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.

I first saw this show at school...odd as that may sound its true. IT IS THE MOST HILARIOUS SHOW I'VE EVER SEEN! I haven't seen a lot of the animes they parody but its still very funny. I've seen all 26 episodes and except for the last one every show parodys a different kind of anime. One of the last episodes parodys mad max (or one of its sequels). This show isn't for kids though, which may be confusing with all the puchus running around. Just remember, they aren't so cute all the time. The 26th episode is especialy adult...but this one isn't going to have that show on it so i dont need to review it here! Check it out it will definatly be worth your while.

Fair warning beforehand: Either you will love this anime or you will hate it. There is no middle ground.

Excel Saga is a parody of the Japanese and Anime, and has no problems with going over the top. The title character, Excel, is a just-graduated high-schooler who is working for a top secret organization called A.C.R.O.S.S. which has a total of two members. However, Excel has three distinguising characteristics: the ability to speak a mile a second, will do anything to please Il Palazzo whom she loves, and is a basic ditz. Il Palazzo is the leader of A.C.R.O.S.S., whose goal is to conquer the city of "F", but is easily distracted. Hyatt (who is introduced in episode 2) is anemic and faints a lot. And then, there's Menchi, Excel's stray dog/emergency food supply who even sings the closing theme (with translation). Other characters include Pedro, next door neighbors (one of whom speaks only in subtitles), and Will of the Microcosmos.

Just how wierd is this anime? In the first episode, Excel dies about six times (including once in the first 30 seconds), but the series Deus Ex Machina, the Will Of The Microcosmos, sets things straight. Excel's mission is to kill the Koshi Rikdo, the manga artist who happens to draw the original Excel Manga. Other episodes include a space battle, B-movie, Japanese love-dating video game, and newspaper story.

BTW: The original Japanese voice of Excel is the same person who did the role of Usagi/Sailor Moon in the Sailor Moon series. (The role was tailor made for her.) Jessica Calvello did the English Excel, which put a real strain on her voice.

One bonus feature of the DVD is a "pop-up" notes which explain some of the in-jokes for us Americans.

Today's experiment...... failed.

I first saw Excel at the sakuracon, and at first i was totally confused. Then I realized the plot, and I was practically rolling on the floor, laughing my head off. It's like an anime version of monty python, except this stuff is actually a bit more funny. A definite must for anyone who likes spoofs and stuff like that.

I have become very fond of Hyatt after watching the second and third DVD in a row earlier today, but I digress. The Excel Saga gets even more bizarre in this second DVD. There is lots of unnecessary death (mostly Hyatt, who picks some wierd ways to die, like freezing in ice standing up) but it's even funnier than before. I said it before and I'll say it again: Hyatt has one of the best English voices I've ever heard in an anime series EVER. Her voice matches her character perfectly.

Anyway, the parodies get more frequent, and some of them are easily recognizable to Americans like me (such as the Puchuu Queen, which looks like the alien from the Alien movies) and others are fairly obscure.

If you liked the first volume of the series, you'll love volume two!

"Excel Saga" is taken from the Japanese comic book (manga) of the same name. The name of the game for "Excel Saga" is PARODY! And this series spoofs tons, especialy other anime series and Japanese culture.

This DVD contains the first five (of 26) episodes of this anime series. The first episode is so out there that I didn't laugh at all -- kind of like the first time I saw Monty Python. However, once you get past the shock, the series becomes very funny, especially if you can identify all of the jokes! This DVD helps you to understand (and catch) some of the jokes by turning on an option in one of the sub-menus. With this on, the dog Menchi will pop-up (like that video show on VH1) with an explaination complete with a bubble sound. Be warned though, sometimes these can go quickly as jokes will sometimes only flash on the screen briefly!

The English dubbing is pretty good. Having seen the show in Japanese, I wondered if they'd be able to do this in English. However, the English voice-actress (who's name escapes me at present) does Excel right! Great care has been taken to get the English voices as similar to their Japanese counterparts as possible. Kudos to ADV on this! But, if you want to hear this in Japanese (with English sub-titles), you can do that too.

There are some other features on the DVD, but it's small fry. Nevertheless, that's not why I purchased this DVD. I loved "Excel Saga" when I saw it and wanted to see the English version. The translations may be a bit off, but all in all, a very good job has been done. Can't wait to buy the next DVD!

While the first five episodes of the series were great, these episodes still retain that comedic greatness you'd come to except from the series and doesn't dissapoint.

Episode 6: Watanabe and his friends meet Masaki, a sexy new agent that aids them in their civil service duty. Meanwhile, Excel and Hyatt go on a search for resources.
Parodies: Yamato ship, Mobile Suit Gundam Movie 2.

Episode 7: Excel and Hyatt trap the civil servents in their sewers and try to kill them while at the same time discovering a monster.
Parodies: Aliens, Cyborg 009, Japanese horror films.

Episode 8: The shows turns into an all-girl show with none of the men showing their faces except Pedro. Plus, Beauty Theater shorts.
Parodies: Maze, ET, Mobile Suit Gundam Movie 3, Titanic, Journey to the East.

Episode 9: Excel and Hyatt explore the exploits of bowling and how dangerous it is.
Parodies: Japanese Bowling Shows (one comes on an hour before Excel Saga's timeslot), Karate Kid, Lupin 3, The Matrix, Excel Saga singers.

The extras include more great production sketches, Japanese TV spots, CD single spots, CD soundtrack spots and ADVidnotes. Plus, there are lots of not-really-hidden easter eggs on the menus, but they don't really access anything really cool.

Overall, I am still impressed at the way this show can still execute this kind of comedy even after five episodes. A must have for any anime fan.

I haven't bought this, though I plan to, but I have seen the first 3 episodes subbed and I'm currently getting more. I've seen a lot of anime ((my favorite being Ranma 1/2)) but I haven't found any that is funnier than this one. These things make you addicted to the Excel Saga:
The death of Rikudo Koshi
I'z-chan
The reoccuring death of the members ((Hyatts are the best because they happen a lot one right after the other))
Iluparatzo doing out-of-character things.
Excel wanting to eat Menchi
Parodies of almost everything, including a weather channel.

I've said enough, I do believe.
Overall, I can't wait to get this DVD and the ones to follow.

((I read that the voice actor that did Mink from Dragon Half is doing Excel, so that's another reason I want to see this ^^))