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Excel Saga
"Hail Ilpalazzo!"
"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
Episodes Reviewed: 1-26, DVD
Overall Grade: A+
I was tempted to give this the now-restricted PTS (past the scale) grade, but then it wouldn't be fair to the other anime, now would it?
Storyline: 1
Excel is our heroine in this story, and she belongs to the Secret Ideological Society known as ACROSS. She basically goes there, does what her lord Ilpalazzo wishes, and occasionally goes on to her part-time jobs, while doing crazy things, like dying several times. Along for the ride are Hyatt, who seems to be always fatally sick, Watanabe, a guy who has a crush on Hyatt, Iwata, a guy who has an as-yet unknown role, Sumiyoshi, a guy that speaks in floating written words, Pedro, immigrant worker with bad luck, Menchi, the dog that Excel plans on eating and also sings the ending theme song, and Nabeshin, overall cool-guy action hero with a 'fro that is "based on" the directer, Shinichi Watanabe. Plus the Great Will of the Macrocosm, who exists only to reset the story if things get out of hand. No real storyline at the beginning, but who cares?
Type: Pure Comedy / Parody
Ch. Development: Who the hell cares?
I'd give it a 2
Sexuality: 6 (8 for Ep. 26)
Some pretty perverted jokes here and there, but no nudity... yet... or ever, since this is a TV show. (And yet, Ep. 26 breaks all such barriers.... it isn't titled "Going Too Far" for nothing.
Romance: 5
There's Excel's crush on Ilpalazzo, Watanabe's crush on Hyatt, and Ilpalazzo's crush on Hyatt. All pretty basic, and it sounds like a requirement.
Drama: 5
The basic problems that occur like government issues and bombs that need to be deactivated, but thanks to the Great Will of the Macrocosm, if anything goes wrong, it's all reset. It picks up big time near the end, but I feel that's another form of anime parody.
Action: 4
Hey, there really isn't much of it, but there is the occasional gunplay, and Nabeshin.
Comedy: 10
Are you kidding? With every other category getting low marks and a high overall grade, you were expecting this, weren't you?
Dub
Dub Voices: 9
They work out fine, but Excel's character is done a little too loud and harsh.
Dub Music: N/A
Dub Lines: 10
Nothing wrong here... except maybe episode 17
Excel Saga is a horrible anime. That is, if it were serious it would be horrible, but it's not. Instead it's a comedy that spares no insult when referencing other movies and anime, and never ceases the insanity. How insane is it you ask? Well, in the first episode (and occasionally in other episodes) Excel dies six times. Our hero helps to take over the world (starting off in F City, F Prefecture, and possibly never moving on), and Nabeshin is always around to add some action into the mix... unless he's on vacation at a beach drinking juice and singing about his afro. Excel's partner Hyatt is constantly dying of an unknown sickness, and Ilpalazzo Spends most of his time just sitting around ACROSS HQ. Also, some eps don't have anything to do with consistency at all. Excel Saga is unpredictable and is highly reccomended to anyone who likes to laugh and is planning on doing so until they die. Unless of course you are as unemotional as I am, in which case you won't be laughing that hard, but hard enough for you to notice.
That's my Story and I'm Sticking to it!
