Our main protagonist, Excel.
Straying away from any new anime, I returned back to the last century to watch another often-talked about comedy anime, Excel Saga. This anime holds the distinction of having the most screenshots I’ve taken to date.
Excel’s junior Hyatt, died for the umpteenth time.
Story:-
Excel is a member of ACROSS, a secret organization that aims to take over the world. The local chapter of ACROSS is led by the mysterious Lord Ilpalazzo which our protagonist has a crush on, and Excel was assisted by the ever-dying Hyatt and their emergency food supply Menchi as they strived to take over the city…
Basically, almost all the episodes revolves around Excel and co. attempts to take over the city, with each episodes has their own ‘themes’, so to speak. Like Lucky Star, this anime parodies plenty of other anime/TV shows/movies etc. especially in the context of the ‘theme’ used in the given particular episode, only not as blatant as Lucky Star did and also less frequent.
The story by itself (yes there is one here) is flimsy at best, and thus naturally needs more support from the character strength of the protagonists. While Hyatt and Menchi perform admirably well, there is a major issue I have with Excel, and I will explain it in the Voice Acting section.
The anime’s storyline can be divided into 3 parts, divided by the 2 recaps episodes (so common in the last century) in episode 13 and 20. The first part started slowly (and the issue I have with Excel I will explain below really bugs me) but the 2nd part improves considerably, maybe simply the best part of the series. But the last part is disappointing, especially the ending. It is so corny and the amnesia plot device is simply crap.
Menchi a.k.a. the emergency food supply, and simply the coolest character in the series!
Character Design:-
Considering the genre and the era, the character designs in this series are outstanding, especially for the main characters. They really fit the story perfectly, especially for the Hyatt-Excel-Menchi trio. Definitely a plus point of the anime and it has been quite some time I have seen something as good as this one. And this is an anime from the last century!
One of the parodies in the series. Excel is imitating her own seiyuu previous work.
Voice acting:-
My biggest complaint about this series is that, just like Yakumo in School Rumble, Kotono Mitsuishi did not fit the role of Excel. She simply does not have the ability to properly convey the essence of the hyperactive Excel to the audience, just like Mamiko Noto with Yakumo. At least with Yakumo, she is a minor character in School Rumble and thus her screen time is limited. While in this series, we have to see plenty of Excel, in all episodes and in most of the air time. And for this alone, I dock 2 points off the score for the final evaluation.
This is really sad because voices for Hyatt and even Menchi are very well done. Yes, even for Menchi. The rest of the cast are also doing great, at least none is worse than Excel.
The excellent ED theme.
Music:-
Unfortunately, the only thing that is good in this section is the ED theme. You know who sings it!
TONITE, DINNR IZ U!
Animation/Direction:-
The animation here is just average but good enough in the fast scenes. The directing is excellent though, although some of the director’s decision making process is questionable.
Why ACROSS will never succeed in their plans to take over the world.
Conclusion:-
6 out of 10. Voice acting, story and music are some of the culprits that caused the anime to lose so many points.
Menchi’s last moments….
See the rest of the screenshots I have taken here.
