Excel Saga #1:
Let The Weirdness Begin!
ADV
125 minutes
English/Japanese
English Subtitles
06/11/2001
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Excel Saga #1:
ADV
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Okay. Let me just put this on the table right now. The first episode of Excel Saga sucked. I mean really sucked. Sucked ass, and we're talking about some serious ass here. If I wasn't so dedicated to getting at least one review out to my nonexistent reader base every two weeks then I probably wouldn't have even finished watching it. Especially since I didn't even buy the damn thing. That pleasure belonged to our Filipino pal Jerry Garcia. And so, when the ending credits rolled, instead of forwarding through them like we normally do, the four of us sat down for a healthy game of Starcraft before calling it a night.** And since I know that everyone accepts what I say as the god's honest truth I'll just assume that half the people reading this (all two of you) have cast Excel Saga down into the deepest depths of hell, never to return. And thus, in doing so you have no need to read the rest of the review. However, you could not be more wrong. Because for some reason after the first episode Excel Saga gets REALLY GOOD. Well, at some parts. But it maintains a tone of at least bearable throughout. |
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Basically it goes like this. Excel Saga was a fairly popular manga. Ask Jerry, he's read it. The guy who made it, Koshi Rikdo, gives this little disclaimer at the beginning of each episode saying that should the series be made into an anime he gives permission for it to be made into a Sci-Fi, a B movie, a Dating Sim. Whatever. The humor of Excel Saga mostly stems from the fact that no matter how hard you try you'll never really be able to say it's about anything at all. The rest of it is filled with humor spoofing, satirizing, whatever any anime and manga it can get its hands on. Well, any anime that an American viewer would recognize. Take for example the Puchus. They're a bunch of fuzzy little mouse things in diapers that carry around rug beaters. For some bizarre reason, every time one of them dies its face becomes that of a grimacing Golgo 13. It took me a few tries to catch it, but I was certainly amused when it did. Another particularly skillful Matsumoto-verse crack is inserted in another episode. That one I just couldn't get enough of. |
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That's the kind of screwball comedy Excel Saga offers. Aside from the odd toilet joke that could've been left out, and the fact that every main character NEEDS to say "fuck" in the dub, it's all good. Excel Saga does a pretty damn good job of convincing you that there really isn't a plot at all. Hell maybe there isn't even a SHOW. If that's true, then what the hell did I watch last night for two hours?Excel Saga starts out pretty damn hard to get into. The characters talk TOO DAMN FAST in the first episode and the whole 22 minute ordeal is really more annoying than anything. Save for the inclusion of Pedro, the immigrant worker who always seems to catch the short end of the stick. Pedro's horrendous luck and absolute mortification at each new torment that befalls him is a joy to watch and would bring warmth even to the dank cackles of Mr. Scrooge's heart. What is Excel Saga really about, you ask? Let me give you as base a description as I can. Excel Excel (Excel for short) is the only agent of a super secret organization called ACROSS who plan to take over the world. But as their (her) esteemed leader Lord Illpallazo says, it's best to start small. And small they do start, with the F Prefecture of F city, which looks a lot like it's in Japan. Excel's lot in life seems to be that of dying... dying a whole bunch. We're talking once every other episode at least. Luckily, whenever she (or any other character) dies, the interdimensional goddess of the cosmos swoops in and revives them. This comes in handy more than one might think. Excel Saga has no qualms about killing off basically everybody, considering it can just bring 'em back if it feels like it. |
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So that's Excel, enthusiastic in her unrequited love for Lord Illpallazo, chronically hungry, loud to the point of incoherent (in both dub and sub), and basically every other anime cliché you could think of. You can bet if there's one she's missing some other character fills it up. Hyatt, for example, soon joins ACROSS. She's the soft spoken female. More importantly is the cool guy of the series who really kept me going, Nabeshin. Part Lupin, part Spike Speigel (who in turn is part Lupin) and part Blaxploitation hero, Nabeshin is one big badass and I can't argue with that. Plus he's voiced by Brett Weaver. That guy is my hero. Excel Saga is the first show I've watched in a long time where I've wanted to see more. Not only that, but I want to see it soon. Like right now. Hell, I want to own the first DVD myself and that's pretty huge considering I don't have any money and all I can really afford to want is the second Dirty Pair DVD. In closing. Buy it. Then watch out, as one of the subtitle tracks has something akin to VH1's "Popup Video" on it and it's often pretty damn funny if not enlightening. I only wish I'd discovered it earlier as I can't bring myself to rewatch the episodes I missed just to see the captions. They're like AnimEigo's liner notes on the screen instead of on paper, with a few jokes by ADV thrown in. No complaints from me. Just how often do you think you're gonna hear THAT? Every time I say I like something anime related... I think a puppy dies. |
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**Yeah, sure. If you can call it "healthy". Our games
of Starcraft involve more trash talking and infighting than a little league
hockey game.