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Title: Excel Saga Imperfect Collection Boxset
Distributor:
ADV Films (USA)
BBFC Certificate: N/A
Suggested Retail Price (SRP): $89.98
(approx £60)
Episodes: 1-25 (of 25)
Audio Options: English 2.0;
Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English
Reviewer: Rich (Webmaster)
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Insane. Utterly insane. This is really the only
way to describe Excel Saga.
This is probably the most breakneck, bizarre, parody laden and frequently funny
anime series you will ever see. The plot involves the secret group known
as Across - an ideological organisation hell bent on taking over the world (but
starting small with one city), consisting of 4 members (one of which is a dog) –
and their various trials and tribulations in their ongoing quest to achieve
their ultimate goal. However, it isn’t as simple as that – there are three
main storylines running through Excel Saga, they are as follows:
Across’ Attempts to Conquer the City of ‘F’. Across (consisting of
Lord Ilpalazzo, Excel, Hyatt and Menchi the dog) try generally to infiltrate
various institutions in order to quell ‘the ignorant masses’. This is the
main story and the characters are excellent, particularly the archetypal ‘evil
overlord’ type Lord Ilpalazzo.
The Story of the Blokes Next Door. Excel’s next door neighbours -
Watanabe, Sumiyoshi and Iwata – who, because of Watanabe’s infatuation with
Hyatt, become civil servants under ‘mysterious old guy’ Kabapu and are tasked
with defending the city from any threat (ie. Across).
The Saga of Pedro. Pedro is a Peruvian immigrant working on a
building site to raise money for his son, Sandora, and his ‘sexy wife’ back
home. Unfortunately Excel’s blunder controlling traffic results in a
premature end for poor old Pedro who from then on suffers disaster after
disaster!
All three of these stories work very well and manage to cross over each other
without getting bogged down in unnecessary drama. The characters mentioned
above are all brilliant too, from the insane Excel and anaemic Hyatt to the
Kansai accented Sumiyoshi, who speaks only in subtitles. But there are
hosts of others – The Great Will of the Macrocosm, a swirling void with arms who
resurrects the characters when they die; Koshi Rikdo, the original author who
appears in every episode; Excel Kobayashi & Mikako Hyatt (the ‘Excel Girls’),
the pop stars who sing the title theme, to name but a few. Probably the
best character is Nabeshin – the animated alter ego of the director Shinichi
Watanabe. Randomly appearing throughout the anime, Nabeshin always spices
up the action side of things. Plus he’s got a massive afro!
Excel Saga is extremely hard to pin down, but what is clear is that it is
an excellent comedy. It parodies everything, from films like Aliens,
The Matrix, Star Wars and Titanic to anime like Gundam,
Pokémon and Fist of the North Star to computer games like
Sakura Wars, Resident Evil and Silent Hill, nothing is safe.
I mean, Yoda turns up in one episode for god’s sake! There are so many
jokes that even on repeated viewings you will see something new, especially in
the visual humour. A special mention also has to be given to ADV’s
‘Vid Notes’ extra, which is a superb feature which notes many of the parodies
and jokes in ‘Pop Up Video’ style on-screen captions during the show.
This feature is indispensable as it succeeds in covering the cultural references
and word plays that would pass most viewers by. It also demonstrates the
sheer amount of gags crammed into each episode…
Excels Saga’s only real flaws are that sometimes the jokes are so
relentless that you can’t keep up and that some of the parodies really only work
if you are familiar with the subject. The series also seems to run out of
ideas near the end, whereas earlier in the series each episode would revolve
around a set premise (Sci-Fi, cheap war film, romantic comedy etc.) it ends up
overusing a Fist of the North Star style post apocalyptic scenario in the
last few episodes. There are also a couple of pointless episodes revolving
around Menchi the dog, which are distracting at best.
It is worth noting though, that as your knowledge of different anime increases
so too do the amount of things you’ll notice and the jokes you will get in
Excel Saga. Repeated viewings are rewarding and highly enjoyable and
there are episodes on every DVD that you will watch again and again. There
are no better anime comedy series available in the UK at present, it is surreal
and extremely funny and well worth your money. Plus it has one of the best
anime theme tunes ever, all together now: …TONZURA KOITE! Best Bit:
Watanabe's declaration to Hyatt that he is a civil servant.
Worst Bit: The episodes revolving around Menchi the dog.
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