Excel Saga - animation expérimentale

There are some things out there that are beyond belief, reason, and most of all, sanity. Excel Saga is one of these things. The continuous stream of visual/verbal gags, inside jokes that are also funny from the outside, and such wonderful and irreplaceable characters such as Ilpalazzo, Nabeshin, and (most of all) the Puchuus make Excel Saga one very interesting trip.

There is so much to laugh about in this series, and so much of it is so nonsensical that it makes sense. I watch and I watch, and though I know what's going on, does anyone *really* know what's going on in the series? Hrm...but it doesn't matter. It's all about the jokes and giggles, not some answer to the Deep Philosophical Question of Life. Go watch Eva or something if you want that.

However, Excel Saga is still smart and funny, which is much more preferable than brainless funny anime like DiGi Charat. I firmly believe that watching DiGi Charat likely kills brain cells.

The only bad thing I have to say about this anime is I did not like the English dub at all. Jessica Calvello wasn't so great as Excel...to put it mildly. What can I say? I'm not a fan of the "nails on chalkboard" effect.

Other than that, watch. Watch Excel Saga.

I have to say this is the weirdest animation I've ever witness from anime world. From the very first episode the world weird comes in five minutes where the character Excel dies about 3 times from the very start of the program. Then again later in the show. It's all about her being an across agency trying to take over the world but her love for Master Iraparatzo is out of control. He doesn't love her obviously. Then a girl comes from outer space called Hyatt who has to have breathing problems because she coughs up blood. Damn. Even more weird is that the show becomes more on nudity at the end of the series 1 and scares me a bit. On the whole it is entertaining and funny but the explicit nature of it is a reason why cartoons are not always for kids.

A friend lent me the first disc to this series...and from the moment I watch the first episode I was hooked. And if you watch it too, so will you.

The series is based on Koshi Rikdo's dark humor satire of the "shadowy world" struggle between government agents and terrorists. Into this mix Shinichi Watanabe threw in anything he could to make the series so over-the-top fall-down-with-sides-hurting-from-laughing-so-hard FUNNY while keeping it from going stale. Struggles with TV Tokyo over broadcasting the series? Throw in gags about those struggles! All those genres of J-Pop TV that are competing with him and his show? Make fun of all of them--a different one for each episode! Add variations on the slapstick routines in it (no scene is ever perfectly repeated) to make the old new again, and you have a funny funny series.

But when it was brought over to America, ADV went the extra light-year (not just mile) to make it even funnier. From the rapid-fire delivery of Jessica Calvello to the moans of Rob Mungle, the voice actors give a new life to the characters that the original voice cast couldn't do.

Also, ADV threw in lots of extras. Vid-Notes help explain the little gags (though some of the explanations only make sense if you watch the subtitles). Six "Menchi" food commercials on Disc 2. The hilarious extended menu dialog of Disc 3. The ridiculous "newspaper" on Disc 5's extras menu--check out the Personals! All in all, this is the funniest anime I've ever seen. --Is that good enough, Lord IlPalazzo? No, please don't pull the---

And what I mean by T.A.T is Typical Anime Trash (you know, the repetitive clichéd crap), and Excel Saga pounds all of those titles in to the ground. And probably the best parody/satire show I have seen, even better than IMO South Park (Which SP can be good at times, a lot of times can be annoying too).

Excel works for Illpalazzo of Across, an organization based on taking over the world. She may be a loser, but at least she "tries" to do her job. And with her new partner from outer space, the constantly vomiting and coughing Hyatt, she ain't giving up. Meanwhile 3 roommates get a job with a secretive government agency, a Brazilian construction worker is forced to be the love slave to the embodiment of the universe, which is (yes, it is true!) a vortex with slender womanly arms(!) and a man with an afro gets into so much trouble for reasons unknown. And I just only scratched the surface of the series.

The only downside of this series is that it ended in 2000. But luckily, there still is the Manga that is still being published to this day, I think.

But if you are tired of the Typical Anime Trash shows, Excel Saga is one to check out. The parodies and satires in the show are PRICELESS!

I bought the first Excel Saga DVD based on the rather humorous description on the back of the package ("Contents may be hazardous to your sanity"). What I discovered was the first five episodes of the most insane, most hilarious, and most enjoyable anime series of all time! A wonderful parody of all things anime and a good number of Western movies, everybody and everything is a satire of something.

This is the story of Excel, the typical over-exuberant, love-sick teenage girl who is employed by Ilpalazzo, the typical enigmatic, white-haired villain and the object of Excel's affection. Together they are the secret ideological organization ACROSS, bent on taking over the world, but starting in the place where global takeovers always do in anime: urban Japan. They are soon joined by Hyatt, the typical overly-feminine, overly-frail, beautiful anime girl, always falling over from some ailment or another.

Other characters include Excel's neighbors (three jobless, lecherous ronin), Nabeshin (the everpresent action hero with a wicked afro), Pedro (a dead immigrant worker who keeps seeing visions of his family), the puuchuu (dangerously cute aliens intent on taking over the galaxy with futon beaters), and Menchi, Excel's dog/emergency food supply.

Excel Saga has a madcap, anarchic energy that is sure to cause vast amounts of head-scratching and laughter, usually at the same time. Multiple viewing is recommended to catch all the gags, especially since on the Reigon 1 DVDs, you can enable a "pop-up video" type of commentary that explains jokes specific to the Japanese dialogue.

Excel Saga is not for everyone, however. Casual anime viewers (i. e., those who aren't die-hard fanboys) won't get many of the jokes, and many people have expressed dismay over Menchi, who is in a constant state of being THIS CLOSE to being eaten by the ever-hungry Excel. In fact, the closing theme (which is one of the funniest parts of the series), features Menchi singing a mournful ballad in dog speak (translated by a woman in the corner), begging Excel not to eat him even as she sprinkles spices on him.

However, if you don't mind being subjected to what may be the funniest anime series of all time, I STRONGLY recommend that you watch this show!