Is there any anime as utterly insane as Excel Saga? If you're an anime newcomer, there's a possibility you've never hear of this nearly 20-year-old series, which is a shame because nothing before or since matches its sheer level of insanity.
How many anime feature the murder of the original manga artist in the first episode? How many feature the series director as an afro-wearing weirdo? How many kill off the main character seven or eight times in the first episode? How many cause permanent damage to a dub actor's vocal cords?
Excel Saga is turning 20, and it's time to talk about it.
What is Excel Saga?
Excel Saga is based on a manga of the same name written and illustrated by Koshi Rikdo, published between 1996 and 2011, and spanning 27 volumes. Directed by Shinichi Watanabe (aka Nabeshin), the anime aired from October 1999 to March 2000. It's 25 episodes, but there's one episode titled "Going Too Far," considered so extreme it couldn't be aired on television. While Rikdo was pleased with the adaptation, the anime basically follows precious little of the manga's plot.
This Show Has a Plot?
The plot of Excel Saga is fairly simple: The organization Across, led by the glorious Il Palazzo, is bent on world domination. But because they want to be careful and not over-extend themselves, they plan on first conquering their local city. Il Palazzo's young officers include Excel, a lunatic obsessed with pleasing Il Palazzo, and Hyatt, a sickly alien girl who frequently dies in a pool of her own coughed-up blood.
The only force opposing this band of idiots is the Department of City Security, which hires three losers who live in the same apartment complex as Excel, plus the far more-competent Matsuya, to protect the city, as assignment that sometimes involves them dressing as Power Rangers.
Also, there is Pedro, a dead immigrant worker whose misfortunes reach absurd levels, even after death, and cute alien conquerors known as Puchuus, who look ugly when you punch them in the face. Oh, and the Great Will of the Macrocosm, an entity that often resets the plot whenever things get too screwy. The director of the anime also pops up as a recurring character.
Each episode parodies a different genre, often to absurd results.
So Why Is This a Cult Classic?
On the surface, this sounds like a strange anime. But then you watch a clip and realize it's even weirder.
It runs on genre-bending logic, often taking a post-modern approach to parodying anime itself -- sometimes explicitly referencing other series in unsubtle ways. But while other shows might make a reference then move on, Excel Saga lingers.
In fact, this series never knows when to stop; it doesn't want to. There are jokes that are so tasteless and so absurd they become, in a strange way, bizarrely endearing. Take, for example, the character Shiouji, a city worker, who's a pedophile. Most shows would avoid that territory entirely, but Excel Saga runs with it. One of the reasons the final episode was never aired on television is because of a joke with Shiouji that went too far.
But none of the humor is mean-spirited. Nothing in the series means anything, and, because of that, it's difficult to connect Excel Saga to any real-life issues. It gets to the point where, toward the end, the series "becomes serious," and the sheer weight behind every action becomes, in its own way, a joke.
But Let's Talk About the Dub
The story behind Excel Saga's English dub is almost as infamous as the series itself. It features a cast of classic early-2000s dub actors, including Monica Rial, Tiffany Grant, Jason Douglas and Spike Spencer. But none of these people voiced the titular character.
If you watched the two clips above, you might've noticed Excel sounds different in each. There's a reason for that: Originally, Excel was voiced by Jessica Calvello. However, by Episode 13, Calvello's intense performance put such an incredible strain on her voice that she actually caused permanent damage to her vocal cords. As a result, Larissa Walcott was brought on to finish the performance.
For many in the early anime fandom, the story surrounding the voice change drew a ton of attention. And, in all fairness, both performances are among the most over-the-top in any anime dub. In many regards, Excel's high-pitched, motor-mouth speaking has never been topped in the entire anime dubbing community.
Should We Revisit It?
Excel Saga's humor remains shocking, arguably more so in 2019 than in 1999. Many of the tropes and ideas it parodies are still relevant today, as these tropes are still prevalent in anime. For many older fans, while the series is absurd and bizarre and incredibly inappropriate, there remains an almost childlike nostalgia.
Will a modern fan watching it find as much enjoyment in this series as fans did in 1999? It's hard to say. Many of the jokes that were already offensive in 1999 are even more offensive now. That said, Excel Saga is available on Funimation's streaming service and YouTube channel. In fact, here's the first episode.