Actor Allusion: At one point, Excel parodies Sailor Moon by putting tennis balls in her hair so that she looks like her and copying her In the Name of the Moon speech. The joke here is that Excel is voiced by the same person who voices Sailor Moon. Of course, this joke had to be changed in the dub, where Excel’s voice actor never voiced Sailor Moon.
Excel: I wanted that part, but it was dubbed in Canada!
Cut Song: Two pieces of BGM were scored for the show but never used: "Although I Didn't Get Any Request For This, I Happened to Make It, So Please Use It." and "Will I Ever Use This?" Both pieces were included on the second CD soundtrack, however.
The anime stars two Excel and Hyatt lookalikes named Kobayashi and Mikako, who are played by Yumiko Kobayashi and Mikako Takahashi. Also, Nabeshin.
In the Italian dub, Excel (De Bortoli) and Hyatt (Liberatori) have the same last names as their voice actresses (Federica De Bortoli and Perla Liberatori).
Also, according to her Facebook, Jessica Calvello has a dog that she named Menchi, after the dog Excel keeps as an emergency ration.
Distanced from Current Events: 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 four years before. Firmly steeped into Canon Discontinuity, as the anime ended definitively at 25.
Dyeing for Your Art: Jessica Calvello was Excel's original dub voice for the first thirteen episodes of the series, but due to the character's extreme hyperactive nature (combined with ADV Films' penchant for going way overboard on zany dubs in general), she strained her voice to the point where she was unable to continue performing and was replaced by Larissa Wolcott. Thankfully for a show as nonsensical as Saga, the random voice change pretty much fit the theme.
Excel: [pops out of toilet stall] "It's an Excel Saga Easter Egg!! Well, at least Excel tried to lay an Easter Egg! Uh, Excel kinda made a big mess in here."
Feelies: Each DVD volume except the first came with a feelie, in order: a poster, a sumo game, a make a face game, a board game, and a special postcard.
Follow the Leader: While it was arguably famous for kick-starting the "wacky comedy" genre, it wasn't the first: Earlier in the decade, we had Dragon Half. Although coincidentally, both also have Kotono Mitsuishi voicing the main characters.
Mutually Fictional: Just as Puni Puni☆Poemi is a show in the Excel Saga universe, Excel Saga is a show within the Puni Puni Poemi universe.
The Other Darrin: Excel was so over-the-top that original English VA Jessica Calvello ended up damaging her vocal chords while recording Episode 14, necessitating Larissa Wolcott (an Austin-based actress) to replace her for the rest of the series. Even after that, Calvello was sidelined for several weeks to recuperate, during which time she moved to New York, acting in several dubs there over the next few years. She wouldn't appear in another Texas dub until 2013.
For dub fans, this series is something of an odd duck, as it marks the transition from ADV's original stable of voice actors like Calvello and Spike Spencer to the 2000's-era actor pool they became known for – Rial, Douglas, Hilary Haag, et al.
Miscellaneous:
ADV Films dubbed and initially had the license for the series back in 2002. FUNimation rescued it and re-released it in 2011. Strangely, they did not rescue Puni Puni☆Poemi, even though there are a lot of extras involving it in the DVD release that Funimation kept.
This was one of the earliest series to utilize ADVidNotes – ADV's version of Pop-Up Video where one of the subtitle tracks is taken up with liner notes explaining the more obscure references and gags. Regrettably, they only exist on the original DVD release, as ADV dropped them in their later rerelease (as per their then-policy of deleting extras from most collections), and Funimation's later release could not have them (copyright aside, ADV also held a patent on VidNotes).
This is one of the earliest anime shows to utilize digital coloring over hand-painted cels. This is noted on in Episode 17 ("Animation USA"), in which one of the secondary characters is tasked with a job of hand-painting animation cels to be sold on the black market.
