“…” Speechless really my brain usually leaks out of my ears when I watch Excel Saga.
Packaging
Excel reclaims her place on the front cover this time with the Daitenzin team behind her, the back continues to be as daft as ever with it’s descriptions and warnings, extras and disc stats are all dotted about in various places along with screen and menu shots. The insert has a montage of different scenes from the various episode situations with a production sketch of Pedro on the flip side that also lists the extras again and chapter stops.
Menus
Going with a psychedelic rock vibe this time each options are very colourful located in shooting stars and such, navigation is fun with many of the options being on different levels, Excel Saga still impresses in it’s unique approach to it’s menus, it’s the only series I know that completely changes the format with each volume.
Soundtrack
English and Japanese Stereo 2.0: are your choices for this series, I’m still sticking with the English dub as my language of choice, but I noticed nothing wrong with either when I spot checked the Japanese track.
Extras
- ADV Vid Notes tm
- Daitenzin Commercial
- Puni Puni Poemi Character Designs
- Puni Puni Poemi Staff Interview
- Puni Puni Poemi Interview With Shinichi Watanabe
- Production Sketches
- Interview With Koshi Rikdo
- ADV Previews
Oddly more Puni Puni Poemi related extras keep the Excel Saga extras count high, the series re-occurring Vid notes still stand out as an impressive extra that should be employed into more of ADV’s more culturally related shows.
Episode Contents (This part may contain
Spoliers)
Koshi Rikdo is forced to give his permission at a Doujinshi convention for Excel Saga to plagiarise one of his early fan works the Municipal Force Daitenzin. Commissioned by Kabapu for his city security employees they each find themselves waking up already wearing the Power Ranger-esque spandex brightly coloured form fitting suits, Misaki is more concerned with who dressed her while Watanabe is more concerned by the fact that they wont come off. Iwata is the only one who loves it right from the start and quickly gets into the role of justice enforcer. Finding that to get the suits of they have to protect the city peace from crime and such a specific number of times, everything quickly becomes a crime no matter how small, and given that the suits give them super powers it’s yet again a recipe for slapstick comedic disaster.
The two weakest episodes on the disc are another episode given over to the hapless Menchi who manages to escape again and ends up on a frantic journey round the world with a rich girl, while keeping the nonsensical elements that make up a large portion of Excel Saga it’s a little lacking in the zaniness that despite how over the top she is, Excel brings to the show. And then the creators manage to wangle in another recap episode, Excel and Hyatt drinking at the “Puke Bar” watch videos of “Pedro: The Movie” catching us up with the other running story that’s been going on here, as with the last recap episode the double act that Excel and Hyatt mange to come up with saves the episode somewhat.
Back on track (and plot) for the last episode on the disc, the HQ of Across (there actually is one?) has sent a messenger agent to Lord Ilpalazzo to basically shout out them for not progressing in their plans for world conquest. The messenger; Key, is a smooth rock star artiste, Excel immediately falls head over heels for him along with Hyatt and lord Illpalazzo immediately hates him and everything he stands for. Unable to deliver his message as he can only sing the message under the right circumstances, Excel and Hyatt are charged with looking after him day and night until his soul can be released and he can sing his message to Across.
As usual with this series there’s loads crammed into each episode, while this is another mixed bag of episodes that hit and miss the mark with me in equal numbers. The two episodes that do hit the mark are spot on, the Daitenzin suits kept me laughing throughout, picking up on all the elements that made the 90’s things like Power Rangers so memorable. The English punk band that Key happens to sing with, manage to get all those English words in the script that only the American think we speak, making the episode even funnier as being English it’s purely unintentional humour.
Excel Saga’s humour is still going to be hit and miss with everybody who watches it, as is the nature of comedy, the first and last episodes here do stand out as particularly funny though as they hit a lot of anime related subjects the UK has had exposure to.
Signed
Damian
Ai Says
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These episodes again bring a mix of the average and very funny to the pile of wackiness that is Excel Saga, if you’ve been collecting the series thus far it’s still more of the same craziness, with Excel Saga, that in itself can be a good thing. "
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AWSOME!!
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