Excel Saga

] that they were "tiresome," or even "painfully unfunny." Episodes fourteen through sixteen, starring the Ropponmatsus, bear the brunt of this criticism, but several reviewers consider episode seventeen, "Animation USA," to be one of the best. [cite web | url = http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/2003/02/reviews/02/ | month = February | year = 2003 | last = Arnold | first = Adam | publisher = Animefringe | title = Animefringe Reviews: "Excel Saga" Vol.4: "Doing Whatever It Takes"|accessdate=2006-06-12] cite web|url=http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=4124 | title = "Excel Saga" #4: "Doing Whatever It Takes" (2000) | last=Cunningham | first=Joel |publisher = Digitally Obsessed| date=2003-01-13|accessdate = 2006-06-12]

Reviewers also agree that the series suffers from too much "filler" in its later episodes, with Crandol describing the show as "spinning its wheels."cite web |url = http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/reviews/display.php?id=442 |accessdate = 2006-06-01 |date = 2003-03-10 |title = Review - "Excel Saga" DVD 5 |last = Crandol |first = Mike |publisher = Anime News Network] The production staff's reliance on a second summary episode—recapping the Pedro-Nabeshin subplot—particularly displeased reviewers.cite web | url=http://www.animeboredom.co.uk/anime-reviews/excel-saga/92/ | first=John | last=Huxley | date=2004-04-28 | accessdate=2006-07-04 |publisher=Anime Boredom | title="Excel Saga Volume 5: Secrets and lies!"] Crandol alone seems to have enjoyed it, calling the episode "delightfully stupid" and one of the series' "most entertaining installments." Yegulalp reserves his harshest words for the unaired "Going Too Far," calling it "pure, idiotic, wretched excess." He goes on to say that the episode has "the feeling of trying to deliberately enrage the audience by resorting to the only tactics left: genuinely offensive subject matter." Joel Cunningham at Digitally Obsessed disagrees, saying that the episode succeeds just in time, "with one of the series' funnier sight gags," and Anime Boredom's John Huxley considers it "too light hearted to take offense" and "a complete success."cite web | url=http://www.animeboredom.co.uk/anime-reviews/excel-saga/93/ | first=John | last=Huxley | date=2004-04-28 | accessdate=2006-06-03|publisher=Anime Boredom | title="Excel Saga" Volume 6: "Going way too far!"]

The series generally receives high marks for technical aspects. Cunningham feels the animation is "flat-out gorgeous,"cite web | url = http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=3856 | title = "Excel Saga" #1: "The Weirdness Begins" (1999) | publisher = Digitally Obsessed | date=2002-11-14 | last=Cunningham | first=Joel | accessdate = 2006-06-03] but Crandol considers it merely above average. In the latter's opinion, its quality wanes as the series progresses and increasingly relies on super-deforming the characters for comedic effect. ADV's release earned praise for the quality of the video transfer and the DVD extras (particularly the Vid-Notes). Reviewers especially appreciated the English voice acting: Crandol calls it "brilliant," and several note that Calvello and Wolcott were each able to capture Mitsuishi's Excel. Pearce, in contrast, found the English cast to be "pretty bad" and its Excel to be "dental drill" shrill.

Akadot's reviewer of the manga writes that "some of the strange events go on a little too long and do not have the impact that they do animated," but that Rikudou's "Excel Saga" is "graced with fantastic visuals and a hilarious story," and that the English edition is "a masterpiece of the translator's skill."cite web | url = http://www.akadot.com/article.php?a=129 | title = "Excel Saga" | publisher = Akadot | date=2003-09-16 | accessdate = 2006-06-03] Barb Lien-Cooper from Comic World News concurs that the manga cannot keep pace with the anime, but she finds Excel herself to be wittier in the manga and that the manga's plots "make more sense" than the anime's. [cite website | url=http://www.comicworldnews.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?column=reviews&page=84 | last=Lien-Cooper | first=Barb | title=Excel Saga Volume 3 | publisher=Comic World News | accessdate=2006-06-29] A reviewer of the French edition also praises Rikudou's work, noting that it is an "…easy read without problems of clarity." [Full quotation fr icon: "En ce qui concerne la mise en page, celle-ci est particulièrement dynamique avec un enchaînement impressionnant de cases les unes sur les autres et qui laissent, malgré le nombre, une lecture facile et sans problèm de clarté." cite web|url=http://www.scifi-universe.com/critiques_staff.asp?media_id=9535&muz_id=35|title=Critique de "Excel Saga"|publisher=SciFi-Universe|accessdate=2006-06-08]

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.viz.com/products/products.php?series_id=58 Official Viz Media "Excel Saga" manga website]
* [http://www.madman.com.au/actions/series.do?videogramId=35&method=home Official Madman Entertainment "Excel Saga" anime website]
*ann manga|id=33|title=Excel Saga
*ann anime|id=398|title=Excel Saga