[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Excel_Saga_DVD_Cover_Art_1872.jpg]]

->''"There is one Earth! If it splits in half, there'll be two! All mankind is scum -- and bee-yoo-ti-ful!"''
-->-- '''Excel'''

{{Anime}}'s answer to [[MindScrew surrealism and Dada art]].

Having nothing to do with Microsoft Excel (although the software makes a brief appearance in episode 5), ''Quack Experimental Anime Excel Saga'' tells the story of recent high school graduate Excel Excel. She's a [[TheDitz small-brained]] but highly energetic GenkiGirl who finds her ideal job serving as a minion to the mysterious Lord Il Palazzo, leader of the subversive yet ineffective fascist organization ACROSS.

As she undertakes missions intended to unravel the fabric of Japanese society so that ACROSS can step in and take over, Excel pines for her impressively {{bishonen}}, and impressively eccentric, boss Il Palazzo, who spends most of his time when his minions are out on missions [[OrcusOnHisThrone sitting around his headquarters]] [[VillainsOutShopping playing dating sims or practicing on his guitar]]. Il Palazzo, on the other hand, views Excel as a necessary annoyance who is to be killed as required, or at least dropped through a TrapDoor into an oubliette, when she gets out of hand. If it weren't for the frequent interventions of the [[DeusExMachina Great Will of the Macrocosm]], Il Palazzo would be going through minions like Kleenex.

Excel's partner is Hyatt, a frail, beautiful alien girl given to bouts of coughing up horribly poisonous blood and frequent, brief attacks of death. Together with their dog/backup meal source Menchi, Excel blasts her way though a series of adventures with gleeful incompetence and a hysterically rapidfire stream of dialogue that makes, at best, only minimal sense.

At the same time, a city official, the mysterious Kabapu, has hired Excel's next door neighbors to form a counter-insurgency team that will inevitably come into conflict with the forces of ACROSS. Meanwhile, on yet a third plot thread, immigrant laborer Pedro, who dreams of earning enough money to leave Japan and return to his young son and sexy wife, dies in a terrible construction accident caused by Excel. He must now roam the world alone as a ghost, at least until the Great Will of the Macrocosm encounters him and decides he's cute. Interleaved into all three plotlines and running along on a fourth one of its own are the adventures of [[ShinichiWatanabe Nabeshin]], the MartyStu[=/=]ParodySue and [[AuthorAvatar self-insert character]] of director ShinichiWatanabe, who can best be described as Shaft reincarnated as an Asian guy wearing a ''LupinIII'' costume.

The series is adapted from the original manga by Koshi Rikdo, but only ''very'' loosely; this is actually the core gag of the anime, with pre-title sequences that feature Rikdo giving, or being violently coerced into giving, his permission for his creation to be warped, twisted and re-imagined into a completely different genre every episode. As a result, each episode it dedicated to skewering a particular genre of anime or manga, [[DeconstructorFleet inverting and demolishing its cliches and conventions]] while leaving behind a trail of sight gags, puns and the just plain bizarre. Incredibly, it manages to tell something approaching a coherent storyline at the same time. Hilariously funny and at the same time mind-warpingly strange. As one member of the fan community has said: "''Excel Saga'' -- when crack is not enough."

A lot of the jokes and sight gags are ''very'' Japanese puns that [[LostInTranslation only the Japanese would get]]. To the rest of the world, it's just plain random. Then again, [[WidgetSeries the series is just plain random]].

'''This page is for tropes that apply to the anime only.''' For the original manga, check [[Manga/ExcelSaga here]].
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!!The ''Excel Saga'' {{Anime}} provides examples of:
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: [[LampshadeHanging "Wow, I never knew sewer tunnels were so wide and spacious."]]
* TheAbridgedSeries: ExcelSagaAbridged
* AchillesInHisTent: Binbou, the {{Delinquent}} with the three meter pompadour who is the top pitcher of his high school baseball team.
* AdaptationDecay: Very much intentional, with Koshi Rikdo's AuthorAvatar getting killed at the end of the first episode, then brought back to life, then forced to give his ever more reluctant approval to change the story's very genre between each episode. It culminates in an all out battle with the ''director's'' AuthorAvatar, who was the one responsible for "ruining his life's work". The whole thing is a parody of the internal struggling associated with most adaptations. In fact the goal was never to make a faithful adaptation, as much as it was to see how far they could push the whacky "experimental anime" format until it imploded. The result was a bigger success than expected and even eclipsed the original in popularity by far. Even so, Koshi Rikdo still admits he's happy with the way it turned out.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Excel has blond hair in the manga and orange hair in the anime; Hyatt has brown hair in the manga and blue in the anime; and Il Palazzo has pale cyan hair in the manga and pale violet hair in the anime.
* AffectionateParody: Of lots and lots and lots of other anime; one long scene in episode 3 and then all of episode 22 are devoted to gentle send-ups of LeijiMatsumoto's work, for instance.
* AnimationBump: Invoked for episode 8...at least with the females. The males (at least the parts of them that are shown) are OffModel in contrast.
* ArcWelding: The GrandFinale ends up tying all running plotlines together.
* ArtShift: Episode 17, "Animation USA". To prove a point to a group of black market thugs the benefits of WesternAnimation and {{Anime}}, Excel shows off the tropes of both sides, where the art style shifts to superhero comic book style, and then to something resembling a WaltDisney cartoon.
** There's a ''lot'' of ArtShift in ''Anime/ExcelSaga''. Usually it drifts in the direction of whatever's being parodied this week.
*** In the preview for the Shojo-parody episode they say something along the lines of: "Turn up the contrast! Make the eyes 40% bigger! Add the bloom effect and bubbles!"
** Episode 9 interspersed footage of actual bowling alongside animated bowling, and also included instances of 3D animation and overlaying animation over actual footage of a cliff.
* AscendedExtra: Pedro went from one panel in the manga (maybe two) to being TheChewToy in the anime and ends up becoming important in the end.
* AscendedMeme:
-->''The [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment cracked out crackfest]] [[RecycledINSPACE RETURNS!]] Buy Anime/ExcelSaga... [[MemeticMutation OR THE DOGGIE GETS IT]]!''
-->-'''Funimation's answer''' for those who want the anime.
* AuthorAvatar: Nabeshin and manga artist Koshi Rikdo.
* BalloonBelly: Excel during the all-girls episode and episode 23.
* BananaPeel: In the opening credits.
* BeamOWar: Between Pedro and "That Man" in Episode 25.
* BellisariosMaxim: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]:
-->'''Hyatt''': ''"How can he ride a car if he's a ghost?"''\\
'''Excel''': ''"For the writers' sake, don't ask questions like that."''
* BigNo: Pedro, at least OnceAnEpisode. Several times, this manifests as a delightfully Engrish ''"Very No!"''
** Episode 20 (a marathon recap of the Pedro segments) had a BigNo every other minute or so.
* BirdRun: Koshi Rikdo and Excel.
* BlackComedyRape:
** Ropponmatsu II assaulting Excel.
** The Great Will of the Macrocosm forces herself on Pedro multiple times. He can't escape.
* BlandNameProduct: The next episode previews always feature a logo of FQX in the background.
* BlueWithShock
* BookEnds: The first episode has Excel being given the mission of assassinating Koshi Rikdo. The last episode (if you don't count "Going Too Far") ends with Excel sneaking up on [[spoiler: Nabeshin]] in the same way, grinning evilly and saying "One more time..."
* ChristmasEpisode: Ostensibly "Big City Part II".
* ColdOpen: Each episode begins with Koshi Rikdo giving his approval for the anime staff to produce the episode.
* CoolBike: Subverted. Daitenzin's cool bike is a rather unimpressive scooter...that they all have to ride at the same time.
* ConspicuousCG: Episodes 22-24 are dripping with it.
* CrossPoppingVeins
* CuteLittleFangs: Excel.
* CutenessProximity: The Puchuu have this effect on people. Oddly, it seems to only work on males. Then again, the only females we see resisting the Puchuu are {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Excel and SugarAndIceGirl Matsuya.
* DatingSimShot: In episode 4, "Love Puny" (original Japanese title: [[LoveHina "Love Hena"]]).
** Except for the very first sequence—where Il Palazzo's third option is to kill Excel (he does and gets a BadEnd)—Option #3 is always "Put it in." Later decision trees were even ''less'' subtle.
-->-''Have sex''
-->-''Have sex''
-->-''Put it in''
* TheDanza: The anime stars two Excel and Hyatt lookalikes named Kobayashi and Mikako, who are played by Yumiko ''Kobayashi'' and ''Mikako'' Takahashi. Also, [[ShinichiWatanabe Nabeshin]].
* DeathIsCheap: Excel, thanks to the Great Will of the Macrocosm, survives getting several times in the first episode. Hyatt just does because of RuleOfFunny. The Ropponmatsus are constantly being blown up and then having new bodies rebuilt
* {{Delinquents}}: Parodied in episode 11, "Butt Out, Youth!"
* DesertPunk: The aftermath of the destruction of the city in episodes 23-25.
* DropTheWashtub: When Excel and Hyatt try to remove the intruders from their AbsurdlySpaciousSewer, Excel tells Hyatt to press a button on the wall to spring a trap. Spears start falling down over Excel. She manages to dodge them, and tells Hyatt to press another... [=*BONK!*=]
-->'''Excel:''' [=*Gets smacked on the head with the washtub*=] [[PrecisionFStrike FUCK!]]\\
'''Hyatt:''' Umm, I'm sorry.\\
'''Excel:''' I wanna believe that.
* DudeNotFunny: This in-universe quote speaks for itself.
--> '''Excel:''' He's gone! We only looked away for a minute!!\\
'''Hyatt:''' (puzzled) A minute? You were sleeping like the dead.\\
'''Excel:''' (dismayed) Don't say that, because when '''you''' say it it's not funny!
* {{Eagleland}}: Played for laughs in one episode that takes place in an obviously exaggerated version of America.
* ElectricTorture[=/=]HarmlessElectrocution: Happens to Excel in the 3rd episode. [[TooKinkyToTorture She comments on how nice it feels and asks the torturer to turn it up higher.]] The torturer immediately uses it on another prisoner just to see if it's working, and the prisoner is immediately incinerated.
* EngagingConversation: Iwata's immediate reaction when he realizes the detective in episode 12 is, in fact, a woman. Also his reaction when meeting Ropponmatsu. Iwata is very quick on the marriage proposals in general.
* EyeCatch: The "Excel Saga" logo on a hardwood background while a brief snippet of "Ai (Chuuseishin)" plays. Characters frequently run in front of the eyecatch as well.
* FanService: Episode 8: "Increase Ratings Week", also several sequences in episode 26, "Going Too Far", which quickly cross into FanDisservice.
* FanServiceWithASmile: Lampshaded in episode 21, when Hyatt and Excel are commissioned to work at a nightclub as waitresses:
-->'''Hyatt''': ''"Um, Senior Excel... is it just me, or does this outfit rather emphasize the breasts?"''
* FiveBadBand: [[spoiler: The ACROSS Five (That Man There, This Man, That Man Over There, That Man Over Here, and This Man Over Here).]]
* {{Flanderization}}: Done deliberately in episode 26, where everyone's primary character traits are dialed UpToEleven [[PlayedForLaughs for the sake of comedy.]]
* {{Flashback}}: Usually subverted for gag value due to whether they really happened, but played straight in episode 24.
* FluffyCloudHeaven: Episode 16.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In episode 22, the calendar says the year is "[[HokutoNoKen 199X]]."
* FreakyFridayFlip: Between Excel and Hyatt in episode 26.
* FreezeFrameBonus: Humorous add-ons in the credits. In addition to the staff and actors, there are funny little blurbs such as "Fun things to make with paper" (spitballs, airplanes, pirate hats, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick very ineffective condoms]]) "Sex!!!! (Subliminal Message)", and comments on the episode ("Sorry, no gags this time"). The ending of Episode 25 had the credits in Spanish, also.
** When you realize that everybody who was knocked unconscious was left to DIE when the ship explodes.
*** Actually comes up quite a bit; the opening credits has at least one, for instance (when Excel falls through the floor and erupts out of it again wrapped in tentacle. The [=ADVidNotes=] underscore this at times, flashing by unreadably fast and necessitating at least one run-through in slow-mo to catch them.
* FridgeLogic: In-universe example: in one scene, Sumiyoshi uses one hand to push his glasses up his nose, while shown in the previous shot with his hands stuck. Watanabe initially wonders where that third hand came from, but immediately drops the question.
* FunnyAfro: Nabeshin [[spoiler: and Pedro and Sandora]].
* GagBoobs: Cosette, who has the body of a little girl and somehow hides her very large breasts under her clothing.
* GainaxEnding: Episode 25 has a pretty normal ending, with the fates of everyone shown during the credits. Episode 26 though, ends with [[spoiler:Hyatt drowning the planet in her blood, Excel crying out to Il Palazzo in the sky for help, and Il Palazzo replying with a thumbs up]].
* GeckoEnding: It had to, since the manga was still ongoing (and would be for another ''twelve years''). They ended up writing their own ending that focused on the continuity they had made for the show. They point out fairly early on that they really had no intention of following the manga anyway, since it is an "experimental" anime.
* GaussianGirl: Every single girl that appears in episode eight.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: In-universe example: the ''PuniPuniPoemy'' ShowWithinAShow is ''very'' popular in America -- Excel and Hyatt are saved from being beaten by gang members when animation cels miraculously fall from the sky, causing the bangers to desperately scramble for them.
* GenericGraffiti: In Episode 17, "Animation U.S.A.!"
* GenkiGirl: Hyatt shows her Genki side when in Excel's body in Episode 26. If Hyatt had a perfect body, she would be ''extremely'' Genki.
* GenreShift: Every episode.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In addition to [[EroticEating her bit with the banana]] in the opening credits, count how many times Hyatt can be seen in the background putting cylindrical objects in her mouth.
** Hell, at one point on the recap episode, she absentmindedly starts ''licking'' her microphone.
** Then there's her reaction to a ride outside a store:
--->'''Hyatt:''' I've never ridden anything that only goes up and down and in and out before!
** This quote:
--->'''Hyatt:''' Fire a thick, hot one from the back, please!
** In episode 18, Excel reaches into a vending machine's coin return to get some change.
--->'''Hyatt:''' Surely, this is the result of your nightly finger training.
--->'''Excel:''' Oh, please, Ha-chan, it's embarrassing! That wasn't training!
** When Excel and Hyatt are looking after the rock star, we see his silhouette from behind the curtain as he "practices his guitar." Excel swoons.
** Note that anything in episode 26 is NOT an example of this trope, because episode 26 ''did not make it past the radar''.
* GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: Excel does this quite a few times, and always has the stylistic fingerprint swirl.
* GoodAngelBadAngel: In the first episode, Excel's good angel shoots the bad one in cold blood ("The bullet of justice caps evil's ass!") and later in the episode she's arrested for the murder of the bad angel.
* GratuitousEnglish: Used for comedy in Episodes 13 and 17. In episode 17, it's intentionally used by the Americans in the dub.
* HappyEnding: Not counting Episode 26, which is non-canon (its entire existence is a huge joke as to how far the production team could go, hence its title "Going Too Far".)
* HeyItsThatVoice: Also somewhat an ActorAllusion: in the Italian dub, Nabeshin's voice is by Roberto Del Giudice, better known as the one and only voice of LupinIII.
** Also, the voice actress for Excel in the Japanese version is none other than Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice behind such characters as [[SailorMoon Usagi Tsukino]] and [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Misato Katsuragi]].
** I say, that [[TiffanyGrant feisty red-haired woman]] sounds an awful lot like a certain [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion feisty red-haired girl]]!
** In ''OnePiece'', [[TakehitoKoyasu Il Palazzo]] is [[AnIcePerson Aokiji]], Excel is Boa Hancock and Watanabe is Kaku.
*** [[RyotaroOkiayu Watanabe]] is also [[TheStoic Byakuya]] from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''.
** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ganondorf]] is Pedro! [[BigNo NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!]]
** Il Palazzo in the English dub is [[Manga/AzumangaDaioh Chiyo-dad]] and Nabeshin is [[MartianSuccessorNadesico Gai Daigoji.]]
* HighPressureBlood: Parodied in episode 26, as Hyatt coughs up enough blood to drown the entire planet.
* HumongousMecha: Played semi-straight in episode 25: the CoolButInefficient mecha is shaped like a cartoon dinosaur, and it is rather ineffectual in the climactic battle, [[spoiler: but it was just a decoy anyway]].
* HurricaneOfPuns: Excel, frequently. Since they're translated directly instead of trying to change them to an equivalent pun, the odds'n'ends special feature on the DVD, aside from pointing out other things of interest, spends a lot of time explaining how what Excel just said is an elaborate pun in Japanese.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Nabeshin carries all manner of weaponry hidden in his afro, up to and including a bazooka.
-->'''Excel''': Man, that is some '''SERIOUS''' dandruff!
* ImpactSilhouette: Excel and Pedro in the first episode.
-->''WEAR A HELMET AND YOU'LL ALWAYS BE SAFE!''
* IncrediblyLamePun: Runner-up for possibly one of the most cringe-worthy pick up lines in the history of anime, a rock vocalist called [[PunnyName Key]] introduces himself to Excel like this:
-->"My name is Key, I am a key, and would like to be... my keyhole?"
** And for some reason, Excel was completely flattered.
* IndirectKiss: Watanabe is ecstatic that by sharing a soda with Hyatt, he is essentially getting an indirect kiss.
* InTheNameOfTheMoon: Parodied in episode 17, and combined with an obvious ShoutOut to ''SailorMoon'' -- "In the name of the Moon, I shall spank you!" ("In the name of the toons, I will punish you!" in the North American dub). If you know that the Japanese voices of Excel and Sailor Moon were [[ActorAllusion performed by the same voice actress]], it's even funnier.
-->'''Excel:''' "I was doing good with this stuff until just a couple years back!"
-->Or, in the dub: "I wanted that role, but they went and did the dub in Canada!" (Note that ''Sailor Moon'' was dubbed in Vancouver, while ''Excel Saga'' was dubbed in Houston)
* IntimateHealing: Parodied in episode 6, when Excel tries to thaw Hyatt from a block of ice with "shared bodily warmth", but winds up nearly killing ''herself'' because there's so much to unfreeze.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Happens to Excel in the anime's "serious" episode, after her [[spoiler:betrayal at the hands of Il Palazzo]].
* LovelyAngels: Excel and Hyatt
* LuckyCharmsTitle: The title of the show (''Excel♥Saga''), and the voice actresses who sing the TitleThemeTune (the Excel♥Girls).
* MaleGaze: Parodied during Matsuya's introduction to the cast. She was not happy about it.
* MoodWhiplash: Episodes 22-25 have less and less slapstick humor and more and more dramatic content; episode 24 is described in the introduction as "gag-free". "Gag-free" is, of course, somewhat relative.
* TheMusical: Episode 26, but only the TheTeaser, wherein Excel says that's what it's going to be, Nabeshin argues that musicals are too expensive ([[NerimaDaikonBrothers hmm...]]), and Hyatt [[DontExplainTheJoke politely points out that they've been singing the entire time]]. All the music that plays during the segment are all short snippets of the music that played ad nauseam over the course of the show.
* MutuallyFictional: Just as ''PuniPuniPoemi'' is a show in the ''Excel Saga'' universe, ''Excel Saga'' is a show within the ''Puni Puni Poemi'' universe.
* NerdGlasses: "Professor" in the "animal story" episode.
* NoAnimalsWereHarmed; Episode 7 had the disclaimer "No Puchuus were killed or injured in the production of this film. Well, okay, maybe we roughed a few of them up a bit. And we did cook and eat two of them, but that was after we finished filming. Does that count?"
* NoFourthWall: The only time there's a fourth wall is if it improves the joke.
* NoSwastikas: Averted in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in the first episode where Excel goes MotorMouth. Her eyes temporarily turn into Swastikas.
* OcularGushers: Pedro's tears, which flow like waterfalls.
* OnceAnEpisode: Rikdo's approval, Il Palazzo sending Excel down a TrapDoor, Pedro's BigNo.
* OneSceneTwoMonologues: In Episode 6, Matsuya asks Dr. Kabapu about their training, while Watanabe mumbles to himself about how crappy a day he's having. Eventually, they both simultaneously complain about their guns looking "[[ShurFineGuns like a toy from a fair booth]]".
** It happens fairly often that Excel monologues in gibberish while other people continue their conversation.
* OpeningScroll: A StarWars parody appears at the start of episode 2.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Parodied. While Excel and Hyatt are on a mission, Il Palazzo is often shown killing time by doing things such as playing dating sims or learning to play guitar.
* OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank: Hyatt floods the entire planet with her blood at the end of episode 26.
* OverlyLongGag: In the bowling episode (episode 9), during the commercial break, Excel is chased by the bowling master's minions... about four times. By the end, they're begging to stop.
** Six, to be exact. In the last one, they had lost her.
* PaperFanOfDoom: Sumiyoshi's weapon of choice while wearing his sentai uniform.
* PreExplosionGlow
* PoliceProcedural: Sent up for laughs in episode 12.
* PoolEpisode: Episode 8, "Increase Ratings Week".
* PragmaticAdaptation: One of the reasons why the anime went for an entirely different storyline was to avoid [[OvertookTheManga Overtaking The Manga]].
* ThePratfall: Featured in the intro, when Excel steps on a BananaPeel.
* PrecisionFStrike: In the dub (at least in the first half when Jessica Calvello played her) Excel lays down the occasional F-bomb, but usually at a spot where one is expected. For example, at the end of episode 6, Excel and Hyatt pull themselves out of an avalanche.
-->'''Excel''': Umm, Ha-chan?\\
'''Hyatt''': Yes, Senior Excel?\\
'''Excel''': Where the fuck are we?
* PunnyName: Binbō got his name for beanballing (beanball is "binbōru" in Japanese phonetics). It also means "poor" as in "destitute" ([[IronicNickname ironically]], he is actually rich).
** Not so ironic anymore when, at the end of the episode, his butler rushes in and informs him that his family went broke.
* RatingsStunt: Parodied mercilessly in chapter 8, called "Increase Ratings Week".
* RealityWarper: Pedro's flashback of his family in the first episode actually happens at the construction site. Another worker nearly falls to his death because he was suddenly no longer standing on solid ground.
* RebusBubble: Menchi = dog = food.
* RecapEpisode: Two, including an all-Pedro recap, and fourth-wall-free lampshade hanging
* RedStringOfFate: Iwata says him and Watanabe are connected that way, to Watanabe's annoyance.
* RedWireBlueWire: "What? Who puts a bomb in a dating game?"
* ReferenceOverdosed: Each episode in the anime makes tons of references in their effort to parody whatever genre they are mocking.
* RefugeInAudacity: Dr. Shiouji, for example, is able to ''kidnap children via helicopter'' and get away with only a scolding.
* RelaxOVision: Scenes of ocean waves and kittens playing over the sounds of Koshi Rikdo being killed, and scenes of Puchuus goofing around playing over the sounds of Ropponmatsu II violating Excel.
* RepeatCut: ''Excel Surprise Triple Take!'' in episode 7.
* ResetButton: Actually embodied in a character -- The Great Will of the Macrocosm, though the last portion of the series, except for episode 26, does have some semblance of actual continuity.
** One of the biggest differences between the manga and the anime is that this character only exists in the anime. In the manga, the characters actually have to deal with the consequences of their actions.
* {{Roboteching}}
* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: Played for laughs in episode 16: "Take Back Love!", in that the characters in question are also {{Robot Girl}}s, and showed no such emotions in previous (or future) episodes.
* RuleOfCool: Ruthlessly and relentlessly deconstructed. Every little, mundane thing can be made awesome (and so very impractical)!
* RunningGag: Every episode begins with a disclaimer from Koshi Rikdo, absolving himself of responsibility for any genre or content. In the first show he explicitly left all responsibility with his staff, which may be why they chose Excel's first mission to be an assassination of a manga/animation artist named Koshi Rikdo.
** Excel dropped through a trapdoor by Il Palazzo pulling a rope. Lampshaded by Excel every time he pulls a rope that ''doesn't'' open a trapdoor under her, and by a sign on one rope marked 'Obligatory'.
* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:Tetsuko, the iron-masked prisoner]] in episode 3. Parodied because she has plenty of lines before the reveal, which she speaks with a baritone voice.
** Also, she ''keeps'' speaking in that voice after the reveal!
** There was also the detective in episode 12.
* SchizoTech: In the DesertPunk arc, ACROSS is trying to conquer central Japan, and the forces at its disposal include not only legions of Mad Max-ish club-wielding mohawk'd punk-rock-looking goons but also a gigantic flying saucer. Yes, really.
* TheScream: In one episode, Pedro's BigNo morphs into Edvard Munch's painting of the same name.
* ShaggyDogStory: Pedro works very hard so that his wife can live her dream of "Sitting around and doing nothing all day", which she does anyway.
* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/ExcelSaga See here.]]
* ShowWithinAShow: ''PuniPuniPoemi'', which became [[{{Defictionalization}} defictionalized]].
** To make it recursive, ''Excel Saga'' is also a show in the ''PuniPuniPoemi'' universe.
* SolemnEndingTheme: The standard closing theme is a parody of these; the last episode parodies the parody.
* StuffBlowingUp: "Anime is all about stuff blowing up!", according to Nabeshin in episode 26, and Excel in episode 17.
* StuffedInTheFridge: when caught making out with his secretary, the vice-mayor of F City literally tries to hide her in a refrigerator
* StylisticSuck: Rikdo must be forced to approve the episodes; staff are shown complaining about making the show (and frequently exhausted).
* SuddenDownerEnding: The final three minutes of episode 23, all of episode 24 (actually approved as a joke-free episode by Koshi Rikdo), and most of episode 25 are pretty serious, especially in comparison to the rest of the series. Though episode 25 does end on an upbeat note. And of course, episode 26 features a complete SnapBack and the wacky comedy the series is known for, but storywise it's not meant to be canonical.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Pedro's theme.
* TakeThat: "Who puts a [[TokimekiMemorial bomb]] in a DatingSim?"
* TheTokyoFireball: Played straight, oddly enough, in episode 22, though there is a Puchuu-shaped mushroom cloud... and it's Fukuoka, not Tokyo.
* ThirdLineSomeWaiting: The Pedro plot.
* TooKinkyToTorture: "Higher, please!"
* TooHotForTV: Episode 26, by design.
* TooSoon: The Japanese television networks refused to air episode 26 -- as per the director's intention -- and one of the ''many'' reasons for this was that one of the first gags in it is a joke about the Sarin nerve gas attacks in the Tokyo subways just a year or two before. Firmly steeped into CanonDisContinuity, as the anime ended definitively at 25.
* TrainingFromHell: Parodied in episodes 6 and 9.
* TrouserSpace: Excel does it in episode 22. She shoves her hand right down her crotch and pulls out a manga.
* TwinkleInTheSky: Iwata lampshades this when he's the one who gets launched.
* UnexpectedGenreChange: Lampshaded in the Dating Sim parody.
* UnusualEuphemism: "You son of a cat!" used by a dog in the "animal story" episode.
* VisualInnuendo: Episode 21, as the silhouette of Key (a rock vocalist) playing a guitar appears, [[SomethingElseAlsoRises a phallus-shaped shadow pokes out from his side]], turned out to be [[FreudWasRight a part of his guitar]]. It gets worse as his silhouette continues to stroke the guitar in outrageously suggestive positions.
* VisibleSigh
* VisualPun: In the opening, Excel briefly does "the Monkey" after eating a bunch of bananas.
* WallOfText: Turning on the [=ADVidNotes=] (on-screen notes regarding the many, many cultural references and language-based puns that don't translate well) can result in this at times. Given [[WidgetSeries the nature of the beast]], this is unavoidable.
* WaterfallShower: The 22nd episode has Pedro, Sandora and Nabeshin showering under a waterfall.
* WidgetSeries: Note how many times on this very own wiki that ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' is used as the benchmark for how weird an {{Anime}} is.
* WritersSuck: The writers are often shown to be lazy or out of ideas for episodes.
* YaoiFangirl: Excel has a rather...interesting dream involving Ilpalazzo and Key
* YouAreAlreadyDead: Parodied by Excel in episode 23, only it turns the victims into ''DiGiCharat'' plushies.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In episode 24, [[spoiler: Il Palazzo acknowledges that Excel has never been useful and shoots her]].
* YuriGenre: Parodies just about everything about the trope, complete with {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s and [[BlackComedyRape Ropponmatsu II raping Excel]].
** Also lampshaded earlier: "Aren't we just a few lilies ("yuri" can mean both lilies and lesbians) short of a shojo-ai?"
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->''Today's Experiment...Failed''