Heppoko Jikken Animation Excel♥Saga

It is hard to take over the world, and the enigmatic Il Palazzo, head of the ACROSS organization, knows this, so he aims to start small by conquering the city of Fukuoka. Two young officers, Excel and her partner Hyatt, are tasked with executing this plan, but standing in their way are the City Security workers, a group consisting of three mostly normal guys, a very severe girl, and some robots. Regardless of simplicity, Excel and Hyatt always manage to screw up their missions, which usually result in death and lots of destruction.

Heppoko Jikken Animation Excel♥Saga chronicles the elaborate troubles that the ACROSS officers get themselves into, as Excel and Hyatt never fail to do their jobs improperly.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Excel Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Menchi Main

Koorogi, Satomi Japanese

Il Palazzo Main

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Hyatt Main

Minami, Omi Japanese

Nabeshin Supporting

Watanabe, Shinichi Japanese

Domingo, Pedro Supporting

Nagasako, Takashi Japanese

Space Butler Supporting

Takagi, Wataru Japanese

Puchuu Supporting

Okiayu, Ryoutarou Japanese

Kabapu Supporting

Ootomo, Ryuuzaburou Japanese

Unit 2, Ropponmatsu Supporting

Koorogi, Satomi Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Greenfield, Matt Producer, Script, ADR Director

Kitayama, Shigeru Producer

Matsukura, Yuuji Producer

Reviews

Aug 10, 2024

joemaamah

Recommended

Back in the day, this was a very guilty pleasure. The artwork for the times was about par. While the animation could be a bit sketchy, it wasn't horrible. But that's not why you came here, anyway.

What sets this apart are the main characters, who are completely goofy. Excel is such a bipolar chaotic mess. All hell is going to break loose where ever she goes. Hyatt is such a sweet thing, who is trailed by disaster at every turn. She's constantly taking some kind of beating. Between the two of them, they totally manage to F up everything they get involved in. They're ... LOL funny most of the time, and at least highly amusing all the time.

Plot? We don need no steenking plot. Although there is a gossamere wisp of one involving world domination, which is seriously botched along the way. The voice acting can be a touch grating, especially for Excel, but I am sure she is rendered exactly the way the director wanted.

When I first watched it way back when, it was only 25 episodes. I just rewatched it, and saw the 26th, and MAN was it way over the top. Just be warned, the fan service and gore won't be for everyone.

Is it perfect? Not by a long shot, but I found it one of the most amusing animes of its day. Even with the rewatch recently, this is still a hell of a lot funnier than most of the swill the studios puke into the mass consumption trough today. If I was to grade it, it still ranks as an A- at 90/100. Doing a 3 eps test will quickly determine whether this is the kind of dopey silliness for you or not. It's quite the saga, and well worth giving a chance.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 21, 2018

Dionkeykong

Mixed Feelings

Welcome ladies and gents fasten your seatbelts cause this is the big one.This is a review of one of the craziest,zaniest animes the world has witnessed,Excel Saga.

And it's not just crazy,this anime is a very important chapter in anime's history..You might be thinking that it's quite a bold claim for an anime i rated a mere 6,right?Well kinda no,you see ES was conceived in a time when comedy/parody genre was still in short trousers or in some cases not even a fertilised egg in the minds of people.And some day a mad bloke from Japan thought:"Know what,i think i can make one batshit crazy anime ... and people will love me and think i'm interesting and at parties they won't avoid me like they would avoid frenchkissing a bulldog"..And boy the world laughed and laughed,but when the damn thing hit our screens it did so with a punch so deadly it puts Goku to shame.

Story?....Erm....There is one but don't expect a soul crushing story or anything of the sorts.It's basically a blonde airhead(where have i seen this before?)who has just graduated from high school and as she dances and sings through the streets,she has a taste of the real world in the from of a truck.However,an unknown entity decided to bring her back to life(sounds like a female Jesus),because it's not yet her time to die....Note at this point that this is how the anime starts..From that point on she becomes the wildly annoying and totally useless tool of destruction of a sketchy guy called Lord Il Palazzo,who plans to conquer Earth.Her very first task is to punish those pesky rats that spread anarchy with their evil designs that demoralise the youths,the manga artists or more specifically,the manga creator of Excel Saga.And just like that you're into a world of insanity,blood and guts..My kind of place.

Quack Experimental Excel Saga as is the full name is proof that over there in the distant Japan mangakas have been heavily influenced by the Dutch artists and went heavy on the drugs.Fortunately that didn't end up with their ears or noses cut off but it shows in animes like this.It's violent,crude,primal,politically incorrect,and it's just the thing normal people like me were waiting for.People who are tired of the Dragon Ball or Neon Genesis copies and are in desperate need of something to bring light to their empty souls..The weird thing is that it does it in such a way that it doesn't need to resort toilet humor like South Park does.And as a rare treat the protagonists are the bad guys.

Starting with Excel who is not very bright.When it was raining sharp razors she was the only one to be holding an umbrella.This results in forcing Il Palazzo to use any weapon he has in his disposal on her just to shut her up.One has to wonder how she managed to get to graduation..And though she mighgt be annoying she isn't as annoying as you might think,she is a very well thought of character and brings back memories of some old friends in other animated series.What's more,she's a walking-breathing natural disaster.The situations that unfold when she sets out to do a mission beggar belief.And don't get me started with what happens when you add Hyatt to the mix.It's as explosive as drinking a whole pint of vodka with just a minor splash of juice..It's gonna make you vomit blood from every hole in your body..Much like Hyatt then.Last but not least Pedro,the migrant construction worker..You might thing he's there just to fill the time but trust me he does play a major role in the whole disaster..Speaking of disaster that last episode was banned from airing in TV so you know you're in for some surprise.

As for them soundtracks and VA..Dear mother of god!!!It's out of this world.Everything from the little things to the opening and ending songs are just fab.Mad props to Excel's VA who really did bring the character to life and gave her a very unique presence.I'm sure i've never heard such an outstanding performance,EVER.As for the opening song it has that 90's feel to it,oldschool stuff,kinda like Fresh Prince of Bell Air.And the ending song was Menchi singing or rather barking a ballad.I loved it all honestly.

Now i'll admit that ES is not without faults and sure enough if you watch it in one sitting it becomes incredibly tiresome but no matter what it is special and it definitely is memorable.I'll also admit that it isn't an anime that suits everyone's tastes,after all it is a comedy and comedy strikes differently among the masses.But if you are like me and you love black humour,slapstick comedy with a splash and dash of sickness then this is the one for ya.Hope you do give it a chance,it will amaze you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 17, 2022

Startled-Normie

Not Recommended

Haiku review:

Experimental
Anime from long ago
Why even bother?

Prose review for more pedestrian tastes:

“Damn! Episode 16 and still no plot!” says Nabeshin (played by Watanabe Shinichi, who also directed the series and wrote the OP and ED) near the beginning of Episode 16 of “Excel Saga,” one of those experimental maybe-aimless anime typified by “FLCL” and, a decade later, “Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt,” both of which were much better than this too-cool-for-school alleged comedy. The show reminds me of nothing as much as the 1970s stoner comics that everyone liked to quote and no one admitted weren’t really all that good. Its actual full English title ... is “Quack Experimental Anime Excel Saga.” And talk about a slow burn . . .

Excel is the woebegone protagonist. She is not a spreadsheet either in the sense of a computer program or that of a morally loose person. Right off the bat she tracks down a dog, Menchi, which she intends to eat. Throughout the series he’s kept around, just in case he’s needed to fill that role. The unhappy fact is that this detail is as close to sense as the first dozen episodes of the series makes. (Actually, that may not be fair – but we’ll never know, because the dialog is largely in inaudible whispers from Monica Rial when she’s not coughing, vomiting, or bleeding, or else in Excel's loud anime screeches.)

It is plenty meta and self-referential, which is how a show that otherwise displays no symptoms of it announces that it’s a comedy. If it were billed as a program designed to be force-binged to enemy spies to get them to talk, that would be believable, too. It is apparently supposed to parody the styles of popular anime of the day. I’d never heard that anime in 1999 was so bad.

I did occasionally, briefly, like it, but that was most likely flashbacks to a time of which I remember little.

Though beginning with episode 17 the series does acquire a bit of coherence. That episode, about making fake anime cels (from “FLCL” and “Samurai Champloo” – “Sailor Moon” is rejected because no one would want them) was meta enough to draw the occasional unexpected grin. And in episode 18 we have this exchange: “So this is YOUR sick plan.” “No, our sick plan is three days per year.” It may be that watching it drains the viewer’s IQ at a rate – I’d guess about five points per episode – that by episode 17 one has become stupid enough to like it. Today’s experiment . . . Failed.

All is not lost, but the years have not been kind to “Excel Saga.” A lot has happened since 1999. Thank goodness.

Closing haiku:

It might be a good
Historical document
But bad anime

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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