Excel Saga is a comedy anime directed by Shinichi Watanabe and based on a manga series written by Rikdo Koshi . The complete Japanese title is へっぽこ実験アニメーション エクセル・サーガ , translated as Quack Experimental Anime Excel Saga.
Excel Saga is a television show which originally aired on TV Tokyo from August 7, 1999 to March 30, 2000. There are 26 episodes, but only the first 25 were aired (Episode 26, Going Too Far, was intentionally made to be too controversial to show on TV, even down to the show's opening and closing animation.)
The Excel Saga manga is published in English by Viz Communications. The anime is available in the U.S. from ADV Films.
Lord Il Palazzo, head of the secret organization "ACROSS", wants to rid the world of corruption, starting with just one city ("Conquering one city is a reasonable plan that allows some leeway for setbacks"). Trouble is, "ACROSS" consists in its entirety of himself and Agent Excel, an airheaded blonde who never stops talking. (The situation doesn't improve noticeably when Excel gains a sidekick in the second episode; Agent Hyatt is quite a bit smarter than Excel but has an unfortunate tendency to keep dying for no readily apparent reason.) The city in question is referred to as "F City, F Prefecture" in the anime; this is short for Fukuoka, Fukuoka, a city which, incidently, has a convention center called ACROS.
Where the original manga is more of a satire of the Japanese culture and way of life, the animted series relentlessly parodies various films, games, dramas, and other works of anime, including but by no means limited to Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Superman, Doraemon, Fist of the North Star, Resident Evil, Mickey Mouse, Lupin III, Mobile Suit Gundam, Captain Harlock, Space Battleship Yamato and Star Wars. It is also very self-aware and features appearances from the writer, the director and the singers of the theme tune (the Excel♥Girls).
The writer of the comic, Rikdo Koshi , is killed in the first episode by Excel, with a big Chinese sword. In a parody of many manga-to-anime translations (including Sailor Moon), Excel Saga the anime has very little to do with Excel Saga the manga (in fact, they knowingly skip sections from the manga).
The Japanese voice actor of Excel, Kotono Mitsuishi, is same as Misato in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Tsukino Usagi, the central character of Sailor Moon.
Excel Saga comics are originally based on the dojinshi comic Municipal Force Daitenzin, also written by Koshi Rikdo.
There is also an (even wackier) OVA spinoff called Puni Puni Poemi.
Characters
ACROSS
- Excel Excel, aka Hanako Dosukoi: Fast talking, wise-cracking heroine. Initially the sole minion within ACROSS. Excel approaches her work with a combination of extreme determination, overenthusiasm and complete lack of understanding on how to finish the objective; she never manages to complete a mission without help, and even with Hyatt's assistance she usually screws it up somehow. She's hopelessly in love with Il Palazzo and will do almost anything for him -- even if he doesn't want her to.
- Lord Il Palazzo: Typical evildoer, Excel and Hyatt's boss. His obligatory catchphrase: "This world is becoming rotten!" Il Palazzo doesn't have much patience for Excel's antics, and drops her down "the pit" (a deep hole with water at the bottom and a trap door at the top, positioned directly in front of Il Palazzo's "throne" and controlled by a rope) whenever she's too hyper for his taste. Because Excel never seems to get anything done, Il Palazzo prefers to leave complex operations to Hyatt, which makes Excel insanely jealous. Despite all his scheming, he seems to be an ordinary man obsessed with the little things of life, like games, music, or arranging domino blocks.
- Menchi: Excel's pet dog and emergency food supply. She was sent away by her caring owner who hoped she would have a better life than he could provide; unfortunately for her, Excel found Menchi first. Despite numerous threats, Excel never does get the courage to eat Menchi, and actually begins to care for her (in a twisted sort of way) as the series progresses; Excel even has Iz-chan do a reset on her in the middle of one episode. In a wicked naming joke, "Menchi" is Japanese for "Mincemeat," and the English translation of the manga choose to refer to her as "Mince."
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Hyatt, aka Chihaya Ayasugi: Discovered on an alien space ship and saved from the clutches of the excessively cute Puchuus. Dies all the time, but always revives soon thereafter, even if medically pronounced dead; when she's not dead, she's noticeably anemic, and often has to crawl to get around. (This aspect of her character parodies an anime tradition of attractive heroines with weak constitutions. Another less extreme parody of the same thing can be seen in Mutsumi Otohime from Love Hina, who Hyatt not coincidentally physically resembles.) Besides being anemic, her disease also makes her cough up blood, and kill or weaken any lower life form she touches (particularly grass); the anime doesn't explain why either of these happen.
- Elgâla, aka Kasumi Mukanaka: Appering only in the manga, Elgala is the third ACROSS girl -- Excel's rival for Ilpalazzo's 'affection,' Elgala is a strange girl with the bad habit of speaking every thought that comes into her head aloud. She often goes on secret missions that she is not allowed to talk about (or think about) with the other girls, and seems to like Menchi as an actual dog -- not (gasp!) food. She is always being bossed around by Excel, and shares Excel's habit of being dropped down the pit on occassion.
Excel, Ilpalazzo, and Hyatt are named after Tokyo's three largest hotels. Early on in the manga series, a photograph of the Fukuoka Elgâla Hall is used as a background image. In the original manga series, these are codenames; the real names of the members of ACROSS are never revealed.
Department of City Security
- Kabapu: Officious leader. Has a handlebar moustache which can spin around and even fall off. Kabapu seems to hold a position of extreme and shadowy power which is never fully explained; the Mayor and the leaders of F City defer to his wishes, as he is apparently given to terminate all dissenters (with the help of a brainwashed man from accounting named Yamazaki.) Although he seems to be a villain at first, his zealotry is a result of his genuine desire to protect the City from anything which threatens it -- esecially ACROSS. His trump card is his newly-founded Department of City Security, (later, Municipal Force Daitenzin), which Watanabe, Iwata, Sumiyoshi, Misaki, and the two Ropponmatsus become reluctant members of.
- Tooru Watanabe: Excel and Hyatt's neighbor, he lives in an apartment with Iwata and Sumiyoshi, but he's fed up with them, all the time. He falls in love with Hyatt.
- Norikuni Iwata: A really stupid guy. He falls in love with Misaki. And Ropponmatsu #1. And Excel. And any other cute girl he sees (except Ropponmatsu #2). Unfortunately for him, he always ends up slammed into a wall, drenched or otherwise beaten up.
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Daimaru Sumiyoshi: The only really intelligent male in the group, Sumiyoshi is a fat guy who speaks only in subtitles, using the Kansai dialect (in the manga, he has an Okayama accent, which is translated in the English language Manga as the Geordie dialect of England).
- Misaki Matsuya: Attractive and intelligent female recruit. Very dedicated to task, but also very good at repelling Iwata's frequent advances (not to mention telling the camera off for leering at her).
- Ropponmatsu: A beautiful bomb-disposal expert who happens to be a robot. Rebuilt after an explosion in two forms; as herself, and as a perky young cat-girl.
Other Citizens of F
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Nabeshin: A strange guy with an afro, who dresses like Lupin III. The name comes from Watanabe Shinichi, the voice actor's name in Japanese order. (This is the same Shinichi Watanabe who directs the anime.) Being the director, he is the personified deus ex machina. Also, as a parody of the struggle manga artists often find themselves in with anime adaptations of their work, Nabeshin and Rikdo are often at each other's throat throughout the series.
- Pedro: The unluckiest man on Earth. Died while working on a construction project alongside Excel. Keeps referring to his wife in the English translation as his "sexy wife", and always ends his appearance in an episode with a teary face and a loud "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
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Daiuchuu no Ooinaru Ishi: The Great Will of the Macrocosm. Appearing in the form of galaxy with arms, she acts kind of a reset button to revive Excel when she dies (she dies a lot in Episode 1). She falls in love with Pedro. Usually called "Iz-chan," an abbreviation of her name in Japanese. Strangely, she and Pedro's former wife have the same voice...
- That Man: Pedro's archnemesis, who masquerades as a friend and seduces both Pedro's wife and his lover. The characters never learn his real name and therefore refer to him simply as "That Man" (with the official reason for his lack of a name being that he was not originally intended to be anything but a walk-on character in one episode).
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Sandora: Pedro's first son, who has a thing for anime. Sandora moves to America and starts selling his drawings, not knowing that the pictures are being sold to the Mafia. Eventually he comes back home at the end of the series. One of the episodes reveals the fact he is the one responsible for creating character designs for Puni Puni Poemi and a loyal BROCCOLI fan with a couple of Di Gi Charat posters around his apartment. It is also worth noting that in the episode 17 that reveals these facts Excel does a brilliant parody on Sailor Moon's appearance sequence. Since Excel speaks the same voice of Mitsuishi Kotono as Tsukino Usagi/Sailor Moon does, the parody becomes absolutely ingenious.
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Puchu-puchu: Aliens from outer space that arrive to invade Earth in the second episode. Puchuus have an extremely cute, teddy bear-like appearance that few can resist - exceptions include Excel and Misaki. Physically, they are not very robust, only requiring a mere kick or shove to the head to kill. Once defeated, they often let out distressed interjections such as "You make-a me bleed!", or "Ouch!", secrete a purple liquid, and always reveal their true 'not-so-cute' form: Their faces are that of Golgo 13. After Excel repelled their initial invasion force (misunderstanding the whole situation, of course), ground forces of the aliens remained on the planet, living with humans either as pets or as helpers (like maids; they even come with their own futon beaters). It's unclear if it is representative of the entire Puchuu race, but the social structure of the ground force seemed hive-like, with an Aliens-style queen. When the main Puchuu invasion fleet arrived in Earth orbit, it was repelled through the team-up of Excel and rebel Puchuu forces - unfortunatley, they managed to drop the entire Puchuu battleship on the City of F in the progress.
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Gojou Shioji: Shioji is the creator of the Ropponmatsus; he also has a serious lolicon (he leers at little girls at a playground in one episode, and has a favorite robot "daughter" that's about the size and apparent age of a toddler). In the final episode he ends up in a love hotel with the young girl assassin Cosette; luckily for the audience, a certain plot twist keeps it from (as the title suggests) going way too far.
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The ACROSS Five: The surviving members of The ACROSS Six after That Man is killed, they are only distinguishable from That Man by differently-colored scarves. They only have a brief cameo appearance in episode 26, introducing themselves as This Man, That Man Over There, That Man Over Here, This Man Over There, and This Man Over Here. They are promptly killed by Nabeshin.
Episode Guide
- 01. The Koshi Rikdo Assassination Plot
Excel joins up with ACROSS. Her first task is to kill Rikdo Koshi . Excel keeps on messing the job up, usually dying in the process. One of Excel's temporary jobs takes place on a construction site; this is where the series introduces Pedro.
Hyatt arrives on the scene. However, the aliens transporting her to earth have the usual world-domination plans. This parodies western Sci-Fi movies, especially Star Wars (Puchu's ship resembles the Star Destroyer). Excel also gives a quick explanation of the series at the beginning of the episode.
- 03. The Sacrificial Lamb of the Venomous Great Escape of Hell
The episode resembles a war B-movie. Excel is trapped in the jungle, alongside some very manly mercenaries, who also happen to have some unfinished business with Nabeshin. It turns out some of them have a soft side for her dog Menchi. And what's with the androgynous prisoner in the iron mask, anyway?
"Love Puny" is a romantic comedy spoof. Watanabe sets his sights on Hyatt, but he is actually under the control of a dating game Ilpalazzo is playing, causing hilarity to ensue. The pun in title of this episode can unfortunately not survive translation - in Japanese, "puny" is "henachoko," which is shortened to "hena," making the title "Love Hena" - a reference to "Love Hina", a popular romantic anime and manga. The dating game is played on what appears to be a Game Boy Advance.
- 05. The Interesting Giant Tower
Excel and Hyatt set out to infiltrate the government of F City. It turns out that the officials are even more incompetent than the heroines.
"I, Rikdo Koshi, hereby authorize Excel Saga be made into a survivor show!" ACROSS plans to set up a laser in the mountains. Of course, they become stranded again. Menchi discovers yet another of Nabeshin's acquaintances in a cabin.
- 07. Melody of the Underground Passage
The Puchus from Ep 2 seem to have infiltrated F City's sewers. Since it is a horror-movie spoof, an Aliens-style cleanup action is necessary, pitting the Department of Security against ACROSS for the first time.
- 08. Increase Ratings Week
Everybody chills out in the pool, and the males are never on-camera (except for one single man). This episode is pure fanservice, except of course for Excel (who gets stuck with a decidedly un-stylish high school swimsuit).
This episode has to do with bowling. ACROSS has found that bowling is the most popular sport among Japan's youth, and sends Excel and Hyatt to a bowling alley as operatives; however, it seems ACROSS is not only wrong (Excel and Hyatt end up finding a TV crew shooting a show no one watches, with hosts even more clueless than they are), it's also not the only nefarious organization to get that idea. The title of this episode in Japanese ("Bowling Musume") is an oblique reference to the Japanese girl-band Morning Musume (essentially, a Japanese female version of Menudo).
- 10. Elegy to the Dogs (Menchi's Great Adventure)
One of the first animal anime spoofs. Menchi has had enough of her role as emergency food supply and runs away. Soon she meets up with some other strays.
Excel temps as a substitute teacher/baseball coach at her old Inunabe High School, only to find that it has degenerated into a dumping ground for delinquints and losers. Although dubious of coaching a gaggle of thugs, she is blackmailed into doing so so by the former coach, who will soon be unable to fulfill his duties because of his "sporadic anal enlargement syndrome." To help the team win, Excel tries to recruit the team's legendary dropout, Bean Boy, who has possibly the strangest hairstyle of anyone, ever. Although they convince Bean Boy to play in the big game, not all goes as planned. Parodies Great Teacher Onizuka and "spring time youth drama" in general.
This Police-story spoof has no part one, by the way. The Department of City Security gets to tag along with a very strange police detective for a day, while Hyatt is taken hostage by some extremely incompetent bankrobbers.
- 13. The New Year's-End Party Hidden Talent Contest
A recap of all previous episodes, in the form of a game show.
The Department of City Security gets a new member: Ropponmatsu, robotic bomb disposal expert. Just in time, because ACROSS is now trying its luck with bombs. Unfortunately for her (and Iwata), Ropponmatsu is none too successful.
Ropponmatsu is back, and so is her updated little sister model, Ropponmatsu.
The two Ropponmatsus fall madly in love with Excel and Hyatt. In the episode, it seems like having a near-indestructible combat robot fall madly in love with one is not all it's cracked up to be, and Excel in particular gets to know Ropponmatsu #2 in ways she wishes she hadn't. Again, the title cannot survive translation - in Japanese, "love" is "ai", used in the title with a double meaning: as the literal meaning, and as the acronym for Artificial Intelligence, referring to the Ropponmatsus.
Excel and Hyatt are on a reconnaissance mission to the United States. Somehow, their wackiness seems even more inappropriate there. The episode contains the ultimate showdown between US and Japanese animation, with Excel doing a dead-on parody of Sailor Moon (whom Kotono Mitsuishi also provided the voice for) and a host of others from both sides of the Pacific.
The Department of City Security is outfitted with Sentai suits to stop crime even more effectively. They now are able to blow up anything, and of course they do. This episode is a reference to a doujinshi Koshi Rikdo drew, which carried the same name and is what Excel Saga based on.
- 19. Menchi's Great Adventure 2: Around the World in 80 Hours
Another Menchi detour, she makes a trip around the world with a young industry magnate who, when she isn't plugging Alps Electric , is being hunted by her evil uncle.
- 20. The Best of Mr. Pedro
Another recap, featuring all Pedro happenings up to this point and even some new ones.
Seems like there is such a thing as ACROSS HQ, and it sends a messenger - Key, a typical J-Rock star. He does not blend in well with his coworkers, he insists on delivering his message at a particular rock festival he can't seem to get to, he's staying in the same apartment as Excel and Hyatt...and to make matters worse, Excel ends up developing a massive crush on him. A phallic guitar and Excel's visions of 3-way lust complicate things even more. The title is a spoof on the term Visual kei.
The Puchuus are back, and this time they're trying twice as hard to conquer Earth. This leads to an epic space opera in the vein of Gundam and the works of Leiji Matsumoto - complete with Puchuu versions of Captain Harlock and Char Aznable, among other characters. They "puchuized" the RX-78-2 Gundam down to the core fighter, as well as the Zeong, and ripped the final battle of Mobile Suit Gundam—-not to mention the fact that the debris that was dropped looks suspiciously like a space colony. Also, it was the first episode that actually upset audiences.
- 23. Legend of the End of the Century Conqueror
The space battle of the last episode didn't go so well, so now the City of F has some dire problems. Gangs roam the deserted wastelands. There is one person standing up against them; that person is Excel. This episode directly parodies Fist of the North Star.
Further exploring the "wastelands" storyline, the Department of City Security has survived having a city-sized space cruiser dropped onto their heads. Now they must try to reclaim their city. Meanwhile, Excel has been shot and is suffering from amnesia; the Department finds her and nurses her back to health, but for some reason she can't shake the image of who tried to kill her. This is the only "serious" episode in the series, as per Rikdo's edict to "remove all the gags" at the start of the episode.
- 25. We Will Not Be Held Responsible
The episode begins by showing off the politically incorrect super robot taken from the Daitenzin doujinshi, while Nabeshin and Rikdo argue over the plot. It leads to a group of fights: Pedro and Nabeshin fight That Man for the lives of Iz-chan and Pedro's wife, the Daitenzin fight Il Palazzo's giant fortress from the outside, while Excel (who has regained her memory) confronts him inside; and Watanabe finally gets the courage to confess his love to Hyatt, but she has other plans (Hyatt's gun looks familiar). Also, while there are gags, it still retained some of the seriousness from the last episode. They purposely made it resemble an end-of-series episode, or so they say...
After the events of episode 25, everything seems to be back to normal, and Il Palazzo has one last mission for the girls. He sends them away for three days, and Excel and Hyatt are at a loss as to what they're supposed to be doing. Il Palazzo, however, wants them out of the way, and Cosette is sent along to watch them. Instead of killing them, Cosette drugs their food with a "mystery medicine" (nazo no kusuri), causing them to switch bodies. Naturally, this doesn't go nearly as smoothly as expected.
Excel (and the audience) gets to see how Hyatt dies in excruciating detail, Hyatt delights in using Excel's healthy body and meets up with Watanabe, Shioji meets up with Cosette with every intention of fulfilling his lolicon desires, and Nabeshin saves the day once again, following a weird and wild climax involving the girls and Watanabe that ends up invoking Kamen Rider for no good reason. Pedro comes back to Japan fully reincarnated, along with his wife and Sandora, and meets the girls...only to have Hyatt bleed out one last time, flooding the Earth. Finally, Nabeshin and Kumikumi get married, only to have Koshi Rikdo show up as the priest and want a final showdown. And Il Palazzo finally gets to rock out...but he's still not very good at it.
This episode was never shown during Excel Saga's original run on TV Tokyo, and in fact was not intended to be run on TV. According to Nabeshin, they wanted to see just how far they'd have to go to offend people, and in keeping with the title, the producers crammed something objectionable to the censors (blood and gore, sexual innuendoes, nudity, violence and other shocking images) into nearly every scene. It also contains many sight gags (even more than usual) that have little to do with the plot, including an extended musical sequence at the beginning and a commercial for Puni Puni Poemi, and also goes "too far" by running a minute longer than normal.
Opening and Ending
- Opening: Ai (Chuuseishin) - Love (Loyalty)
- Ending: Menchi no Bolero - Menchi's Bolero of Sorrow (So You Are Going To Eat Me...)
Episode 26, while using the same songs for the open and close, has more questionable animations - the opening animation has more blood, sex (Excel and Hyatt sing in the nude, albeit pixelated out), and violence (cooked Menchi); the close has a bit of role reversal - the translator (complete with collar) is singing Menchi's Bolero in Japanese, while Menchi is on the side, translating the song into dog.
External links
Last updated: 10-20-2005 16:05:30
Last updated: 10-29-2005 02:13:46
