DVD Reviews: Excel Saga Volume 1: The Weirdness Has Begun

Titled 'The Weirdness Has Begun' for this disc is an understatement. Relying heavily on over the top black humour, Excel Saga really shouldn't have the PG rating awarded to it that it does, I would have gone for M15+ to make sure that people knew that really only adults should be watching.

There are five episodes packed onto this fun and well plotted out disc. The storyline is fairly weak and merely serves to put Excel down in the City F. Who is Excel? She's the one in the foreground of the DVD cover. She is a sworn member of the group ACROSS who serve the somewhat spurious Lord Impalazzo who wishes to take over the City of F as the first point in his quest for global domination, one city at a time.

You might have thought that I didn't like the series from the above comments, however that is far from the case. I found the humour hilarious the whole way through though I must warn those weak of stomach that some of the jokes are a little bit (ok a lot) in bad taste and some quite graphic.

Every episode contains one weird situation after another as Excel tries to take over the City of F for her Lord Impallazo, whom, it must be said, she has a crush on.

Long time fans of anime will have a blast identifying how much other series Excel Saga either pays homage to or blatantly rips off in the course of it's zany story. Pokemon-like creatures battle it out and there are a slew of characters that you know are from other series. Add to that the creator Koshi Rikdo who appears in animated form throughout the disc to torment Excel at every turn.

Whilst not for everyone, I found Excel Saga to be a lot of fun.