History Manga / ExcelSaga

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome: Excel's enthusiasm for everything and Watanabe's enthusiasm for Hyatt means pretty much everything becomes awesome.

** This stopped being a tease when they actually became a couple; however, it hasn't stopped Misaki from (literally) punching his face in when he touches her, [[BeyondTheImpossible even as a cyborg]].

* GoodAngelBadAngel: Not just subverted but demolished. Watanabe's angel is actually his evil side, and his good side is dressed like [[JojosBizarreAdventure Jotaro Kujo]].

* InformedAbility: Supposedly, Elgala and Hyatt are a master swordsman and marksman respectively. Elgala has been seen holding a sword on the cover of volume 10, brings a stick to a possible fight and brandishes it like an IaijutsuPractitioner, and claims to have found gold on a real-life ''TheLegendOfZelda'' adventure. Hyatt once offered to throw a rock at a suspicious repairman and died in the process. That neither of these two have (so far) actually ''shown'' these abilities is remarked upon be Excel.

->''This world, is corrupt!''

Opposing them are the Department of City Security, made up of [[ActionGirl Misaki Matsuya]], [[TheEveryman Toru Watanabe]], [[OnlySaneMan Daimaru Sumiyoshi]], and [[IdiotHero Norikuni Iwata]], and led by Dr. Kabapu. Watanabe and Matsuya joined the department in the hopes of getting a decent government jobs, not expecting that they would have to fight supervillains, and Iwata and Sumiyoshi joined because they are Watanabe's friends. Ironically, both teams start out living in the same apartment complex, but only know each other as neighbors and not as enemies.

The story started getting more complex around volume nine. New characters were introduced, like [[RichBitch Elgala]], the third member of ACROSS, and roboticist Goji Shiouji and his family, which is teeming with [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implications about his childhood]]. Il Palazzo created ILL Electronics, a front for ACROSS, and Dr. Kabapu and the Department of City Security tried to stop them. Excel got a lot more focus as her life became more difficult, and Ropponmatsu I, or "First", got more screentime, thanks to the device which allows her to move around and act independently and [[spoiler: impersonate Excel]]. Misaki started working with Shiouji in the interest of figuring out what exactly is going on, what Kabapu is really after, what his real connection to Il Palazzo was, and why is everything tied to Excel.

''Excel Saga'' has never had a large fanbase outside of Japan. Thanks to the sheer number of jokes and references it makes, and for fear of copywright lawsuits, no one has ever wanted to do a serious fan translation, and the official translation by Viz, which has an entire section in each book dedicated to the sheer amount of untranslatable references and jokes they had to change, slowed down to one volume a year. However, with the release of Volume 23 in April 2011, and the 24th slated for November, so hopes are high that this may indicate a speedier release schedule to finish off the 27 volume series.

The manga was adapted into a twenty-six episode {{Anime}} in 1999. Since the anime's storyline was only loosely based on a scant four volumes of the manga, it changed several things, [[Anime/ExcelSaga it has its own page]], '''and tropes that only happened in the anime should go there.''' Due to the point where the anime and manga diverge, many of the characters introduced later on (such as Elgala) do not exist in the anime itself.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: ACROSS' headquarters are located Fukuoka sewers, and at one point in both the manga and the anime the department employess go looking for it. In the manga, Excel flushes them out accidentally by pulling levers in the pump room; in the anime they meet a Xenomorph.
* AirVentPassageway: Justified in Kabapu's underground base, as Dr. Shiouji pointed out, they have to be big in order for any sort of air to move though such a large place underground.
* AscendedExtra: "Mr. Manager", who only appeared once in the anime but became a recurring character in the manga.
* AuthorAppeal: The manga started out chaste enough, but as the series went on Rikdo let his old history of drawing adult doujin start to seep in. Dude loves drawing women's butt in tight pants. Much of the 'adult' art one can find out there for this series is drawn by Rikdo himself.

* ClarkKenting: Matusya undoes her ponytail and puts on a pair of glasses when she sneaks into a ILL Electronics store to look at the merchandise. Sumiyoshi spots her immediately.

* DisappearedDad: Dr. Shiouji's father, the even more brilliant Tenmangu Shiouji, disappeared without a trace when Shiouji was four. Right before he disappeared he had discovered ''something'' about Kabapu and the technology he owned, and his disappearence is allegedly the reason Miwa became a MyBelovedSmother mother. Tenmangu's disappearance seems to be the cause of a very uncomfortable relationship between lonely mother Miwa and her son's thorough distaste for busty women... which led to a mildly unsettling interest in ''very'' young women.

* FreakOut: Watanabe suffers one of these after [[spoiler: being dumped by Hyatt]]. And freak out is [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil putting it pretty mildly]].

*** Kabapu gets several of these. His expression in volume nineteen as he explains how he's not going to be a dictator...he's going to be '''more''' than a dictator to his terrified employees, is a thing of horror.

* HellishPupils: A trait people from the lost civilization Solaria hav is yellow cat eyes, a trait Il Palazzo, [[spoiler: Dr. Kabapu, and Miwa Rengaya]] have.

* LargeHam: Il Palazzo, Kabapu, Iwata, and Excel.
* InformedAbility: Supposedly, Elgala and Hyatt are a master swordsman and marksman respectively. Elgala has been seen holding a sword on the cover of volume 10, brings a stick to a possible fight and brandishes it like an IaijutsuPractitioner, and claims to have found gold on a real-life ''TheLegendOfZelda'' adventure. Hyatt once offered to throw a rock at a suspicious repairman and died in the process.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Manga vol. 4, when Excel is accidentally struck by a speeding car. She finds herself acting out her usual mannerisms, calling for "what's-her-name-chan" and hailing Lord Il Palazzo, but not remembering their names or faces. About a chapter later, Menchi suffers a bump on her head, too, forgetting that she's supposed to be Excel and Hyatt's emergency food supply, and willingly goes with the' to ACROSS HQ.
** This happens again in volumes 15, [[spoiler: when Umi Rengaya finds Excel washed up on a beach with amnesia (even her former personality is forgotten), resulting in her being adopted into the Shiouji household. Excel recovers her memory in volume 20.]]

** It's implied that Excel's "normal" state is amnesiac in itself. It's unclear why she fears needles and why Dr. Kabapu seemed to recognise her. At one point Lord Il Palazzo is dissapointed that her whole memory still hadn't returned after a more recent amnesiac episode.

* {{Meganekko}}: Miwa for the MILF lovers, and Kanal Sumiyoshi's little sister for the {{Lolicon}} crowd.

* PerpetualPoverty: A recurring theme, since the whole thing was supposed to satirize the recession. Working for ACROSS doesn't pay the bills, so the girls repeatedly get temp jobs, which they always lose or run away from when they destroy the place. Meanwhile, Watanabe tries to get more steady work as a civil servant and ends up getting in over his head.

** Iwata has had his consciousness unintentionally projected into both First ''and'' Second's robot bodies. Later in Volume 23, [[spoiler: this happens to Excel as she wakes up inside Second, who was disguised as her anyway while running ILL Corp. Unfortunately, Excel only sees her body as a tool that allows her to be more useful to her Lord, and doesn't seem willing to return to her body... which Shiouji warns may kill her.]]

* ScaryShinyGlasses: Il Palazzo, Dr. Kabapu, and Shiouji too at times, but they're the least scary thing about that guy.

** There is another one in volume 22 when Matsuya [[spoiler: kisses Iwata because he is stuck in Ropponmatsu's body and needs to be shocked out]].

* SnotBubble

* SparklingStreamOfTears

* TakeOverTheCity: ACROSS' goal, as a first step towards taking over the world.
* TerribleTrio: Two ''warring'' TerribleTrio's in fact, though eventually it turned into a terrible quartet versus a FiveManBand.

* TrapDoor: Il Palazzo's favorite way of punishing Excel for her failures is dropping her through a trap door in his throne room into a pit filled with different dangerous things. Excel does not mind though, and is finds the experience comfortable whenever she is seperated from Il Palazzo.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Il Palazzo [[spoiler: abandons Excel to die on a desert island, and throws Elgala out on the street once she reveals she knows Competent!Excel is an impostor. She then uses a corpse-like Hyatt's authorization to regain access to the base, a long while later]].

** Iwata, due to being a cyborg and because of [[WeCanRebuildHim experimental technology]], though Dr. Shioji does not appreciate all the time he wastes fixing Iwata's ''male'' body... down to every last detail.
* DisappearedDad: Dr. Shioji's father, the even more brilliant Tenmangu Shioji, disappeared without a trace when Shioji was four. Right before he disappeared he had discovered ''something'' about Kabapu and the technology he owned, and his disappearence is allegedly the reason Miwa became a MyBelovedSmother mother. Tenmangu's disappearance seems to be the cause of a very uncomfortable relationship between lonely mother Miwa and her son's thorough distaste for busty women... which led to a mildly unsettling interest in ''very'' young women.

** Iwata has had his consciousness unintentionally projected into both First ''and'' Second's robot bodies. Later in Volume 23, [[spoiler: this happens to Excel as she wakes up inside Second, who was disguised as her anyway while running ILL Corp. Unfortunately, Excel only sees her body as a tool that allows her to be more useful to her Lord, and doesn't seem willing to return to her body... which Shioji warns may kill her.]]

* WeCanRebuildHim: Iwata dies of colon cancer and gets his brain put in a robot body. He is repaired many times due to his carelessness. Also invoked by Second, whom Shioji has built more than one of, packed with different tools for different forms of espionage or combat.

''Excel Saga'' is a 27 volume manga written by Koshi Rikdo that ran from 1996 to 2011 in Young King Ours magazine and is being translated by Viz Media. Originally written as a way to mock the recession Japan was going through, ''Excel Saga'' tells the story of the group ACROSS and their attempts to take over Fukuoka City as a first step towards WorldDomination. The manga's title character, Excel, was based on a character from one of Rikdo's earlier works, ''Municipal Force Daitenzin'', which is [[NotSafeForWork definitely not for kids]]. He was interested in expanding on the character and created Excel Saga as a spinoff of sorts. The Daitenzin themselves mostly carry over from that Dojin as well, opposing Excel.

It began with the day-to-day lives of ACROSS's only minions, Excel and Hyatt, as they tried to pay for food and rent while fulfilling the goals of their glorious leader Il Palazzo (one way or another). Both girls are fiercely loyal to Il Palazzo, especially Excel, who is deeply in love with Il Palazzo. Unfortunately for Il Palazzo's goals, Excel is extremely [[GenkiGirl hyperactive]] and often somewhat incompetent, and Hyatt [[IllGirl tends to die and revive at the drop of a hat]]. Excel, however, proves many times to be a near-indestructible force of nature, with innumerable skills (especially in adaptation and survival).

Opposing them are the Department of City Security, made up of [[ActionGirl Misaki Matsuya]], [[TheEveryman Toru Watanabe]], [[OnlySaneMan Daimaru Sumiyoshi]], and [[IdiotHero Norikuni Iwata]], and led by Dr. Kabapu. Watanabe and Matsuya joined the department in the hopes of getting a decent government jobs, not expecting that they would have to fight supervillains, and Iwata and Sumiyoshi joined because they are Watanabe's friends. Ironically, both teams start out living in the same apartment complex, but only know each other as neighbors and not as enemies. In later volumes, Misaki actively works together with Excel in the interest of figuring out what exactly is going on, and what Kabapu is really after...

The story started getting more complex around volume nine. New characters were introduced, like [[RichBitch Elgala]], the third member of ACROSS, and roboticist Goji Shiouji and his family, which is teeming with [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implications about their childhood]]. Il Palazzo created ILL Electronics, a front for ACROSS, and Dr. Kabapu and the Department of City Security tried to stop them. Excel got a lot more focus as her life became more difficult. Much of the plot began to narrow its focus down to "[[RobotGirl First]]" or "Ropponmatsu", a black box robot built by Shioji's mysteriously absent father. First's body contains a device which allows her to move around and act independently; thus, between her and Shioji's own robot Second, only one can be active (and independent) at any given time. In the anime, [[MsFanservice this is ignored to have them meet]]; justified in that it was an episode centered around romance.

''Excel Saga'' has never had a large fanbase outside of Japan. Thanks to the sheer number of jokes and references it makes, no one has ever wanted to do a serious fan translation (also fearing copyright lawsuits), and the official translation by Viz (which has an entire section in each book dedicated to the sheer amount of untranslatable references and jokes they had to change), slowed down to one volume a year. However, with the release of Volume 23, the 24th is already slated for November, so hopes are high that this may indicate a speedier release schedule to finish off the 27 volume series.

* BleachedUnderpants: Koshi Rikdo was an adult doujin artist, as seen in ''Municipal Force Daitenzin'' and less obviously in ''Excel Saga''.

* Sentai: What the Daitenzin are, basically. They're even color coded. Although, sentai are supposed to be justice fanatics, and the Daitenzin are basically anything ''but'' concerned about justice.

The story started getting more complex around volume nine. New characters were introduced, like [[MaterialGirl Elgala]], the third member of ACROSS, and roboticist Goji Shiouji and his family, which is teeming with [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implications about their childhood]]. Il Palazzo created ILL Electronics, a front for ACROSS, and Dr. Kabapu and the Department of City Security tried to stop them. Excel got a lot more focus as her life became more difficult. Much of the plot began to narrow its focus down to "[[RobotGirl First]]" or "Ropponmatsu", a black box robot built by Shioji's mysteriously absent father. First's body contains a device which allows her to move around and act independently; thus, between her and Shioji's own robot Second, only one can be active (and independent) at any given time. In the anime, [[MsFanservice this is ignored to have them meet]]; justified in that it was an episode centered around romance.

* WeCanRebuildHim: Iwata dies of colon cancer and gets his brain put in a robot body. He is repaired many times due to his carelessness.

* SoftWater: Averted by Iwata when he falls 50 stories and lands in the ocean, which as Dr. Shiouji puts it, "May as well be cement." * VictoryIsBoring: Kabapu was suffering from this when we first met him. He had covertly seized power over the city and was actually desperate for someone to be trying to conquer or otherwise harm the city, just for some excitement. When Il Palazzo takes over Fukuoka he finds this out too.

* {{Sentai}}: Dr. Kabapu forces the neighbors to beomce a {{Sentai}} team, Daitenzin, to fight ACROSS. Iwata gers into it whiel everyone else points out how silly their outfits and weapons are. Unfortunately their suits are superpowered, so whenever Iwata tries to stop ACROSS he causes a lot of damage.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Il Palazzo [[spoiler: abandons Excel to die on a desert island, and throws Elgala out on the street once she reveals she knows Competent!Excel is an impostor.]]

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: The girls in this series find this out the hard way. Hyatt, despite her frequent deaths, is actually handled quite gently by the rest of the cast; [[TheButtmonkey Elgala is not so lucky]]. This is particularly apparent in Volume 23, when El is hurled from a cart at high speeds and lay bleeding on the ground. When others point out Excel's callousness in ignoring her, she realizes El is actually dying and wraps her entire face and arms in bandages to save face.

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: The girls in this series find this out the hard way.

* FreakOut: Watanabe suffers one of these after [[spoiler: being dumped by Hyatt]]. And freak out is [[SlowlySlipIntoEvil putting it pretty mildly]].

* FreakOut: Watanabe suffers one of these after [[spoiler: being dumped by Hyatt]]. And freak out is [[SlippingIntoEvil putting it pretty mildly]].

* FreakOut: Watanabe suffers one of these after [[spoiler: being dumped by Hyatt]].

* EvilVersusEvil: Dr. Kabapu and Il Palazzo are both trying to take over Fukuoka using very illicit means, like espionage, mind control, and explosives the size of city blocks.

The story started getting more complex around volume nine. New characters were introduced, like [[MaterialGirl Elgala]], the third member of ACROSS, and roboticist Goji Shiouji and his family, which is teeming with [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implications about their childhood]]. Il Palazzo created ILL Electronics, a front for ACROSS, and Dr. Kabapu and the Department of City Security tried to stop them. Excel got a lot more focus as her life became more difficult. Much of the plot began to narrow its focus down to "[[RobotGirl First]]" or "Ropponmatsu", a black box robot built by Shioji's mysteriously absent father. First's body contains a device which allows her to move around and act independently; thus, between her and Shioji's own robot Second, only one can be active (and independent) at any given time. In the anime, [[ThrowItIn this is ignored to have them meet]].

The story started getting more complex around volume nine. New characters were introduced, like [[MaterialGirl Elgala]], the third member of ACROSS, and roboticist Goji Shiouji and his family, which is teeming with [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implications about their childhood]]. Il Palazzo created ILL Electronics, a front for ACROSS, and Dr. Kabapu and the Department of City Security tried to stop them. Excel got a lot more focus as her life became more difficult. Much of the plot began to narrow its focus down to "[[RobotGirl First]]" or "Ropponmatsu", a black box robot built by Shioji's mysteriously absent father. First's body contains a device which allows her to move around and act independently; thus, between her and Shioji's own robot Second, only one can be active (and independent) at any given time. In the anime, [[ForTheFans this is ignored to have them meet]].

The story started getting more complex around volume nine. New characters were introduced, like [[MaterialGirl Elgala]], the third member of ACROSS, and roboticist Goji Shiouji and his family, which is teeming with [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implications about their childhood]]. Il Palazzo created ILL Electronics, a front for ACROSS, and Dr. Kabapu and the Department of City Security tried to stop them. Excel got a lot more focus as her life became more difficult. Much of the plot began to narrow its focus down to "[[RobotGirl First]]" or "Ropponmatsu", a black box robot built by Shioji's mysteriously absent father. First's body contains a device which allows her to move around and act independently; thus, between her and Shioji's own robot Second, only one can be active (and independent) at any given time. In the anime, [[SureWhyNot this is ignored to have them meet]].

The story started getting more complex around volume nine. New characters were introduced, like [[MaterialGirl Elgala]], the third member of ACROSS, and roboticist Goji Shiouji and his family, which is teeming with [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implications about their childhood]]. Il Palazzo created ILL Electronics, a front for ACROSS, and Dr. Kabapu and the Department of City Security tried to stop them. Excel got a lot more focus as her life became more difficult. Much of the plot began to narrow its focus down to "[[RobotGirl First]]" or "Ropponmatsu", a black box robot built by Shioji's mysteriously absent father. First's body contains a device which allows her to move around and act independently; thus, between her and Shioji's own robot Second, only one can be active (and independent) at any given time. In the anime, [[MissFanservice this is ignored to have them meet]].

Opposing them are the Department of City Security, made up of [[ActionGirl Misaki Matsuya]], [[TheEveryman Toru Watanabe]], [[OnlySaneMan Daimaru Sumiyoshi]], and [[IdiotHero Norikuni Iwata]], and led by Dr. Kabapu. Watanabe and Matsuya joined the department in the hopes of getting a decent government jobs, not expecting that they would have to fight supervillains, and Iwata and Sumiyoshi joined because they are Watanabe's friends. Ironically, both teams start out living in the same apartment complex, but only know each other as neighbors and not as enemies. Later, after the two groups relocate to other places, a romantic subplot spanning nearly the entire series begins between Watanabe and Hyatt. When he discovers she's a terrorist, the psychological damage [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil goes deeper than it seems]], sending a fairly generic character on a spiral of moral deterioration.

* DisappearedDad: Dr. Shioji's father, the even more brilliant Tenmangu Shioji, disappeared without a trace when Shioji was four. Right before he disappeared he had discovered ''something'' about Kabapu and the technology he owned, and his disappearence is allegedly the reason Miwa became a MyBelovedSmother mother. Tenmangu's disappearance seems to be the cause of a very uncomfortable relationship between Shioji's lonely mother and her son's thorough distaste for busty women... which led to a mildly unsettling interest in ''very'' young women.

* DisappearedDad: Dr. Shioji's father, the even more brilliant Tenmangu Shioji, disappeared without a trace when Shioji was four. Right before he disappeared he had discovered ''something'' about Kabapu and the technology he owned, and his disappearence is allegedly the reason Miwa became a MyBelovedSmother mother. Tenmangu's disappearance seems to be the cause of a very uncomfortable relationship between Shioji's lonely mother and his own distaste for busty women. (Much to the chagrin of his cousin, who has been in love with him since they were kids, but ''grew up''... a few sizes over his preference level.)

* DisappearedDad: Dr. Shioji's father, the even more brilliant Tenmangu Shioji, disappeared without a trace when Shioji was four. Right before he disappeared he had discovered ''something'' about Kabapu and the technology he owned, and his disappearence is allegedly the reason Miwa became a MyBelovedSmother mother.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: ACROSS' headquarters are located Fukuoka sewers, and at one point in both the manga and the anime the department employess go looking for it. In the manga, Excel flushes them out accidentally by pulling levers in the pump room; in the anime they meet a Xenomorph

** Iwata, due to being a cyborg and because WeCanRebuildHim, though Dr. Shioji does not appreciate all the time he wastes fixing Iwata's body.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: ACROSS' headquarters are located Fukuoka sewers, and at one point in both the manga and the anime the department employess go looking for it.

* AuthorAppeal: The manga started out chaste enough, but as the series went on Rikdo let his old history of drawing adult doujin start to seep in. Dude loves drawing women's butt in tight pants.

* BleachedUnderpants: Koshi Rikdo was an adult doujin artist before creating ''Municipal Force Daitenzin'' and ''Excel Saga''.