Editing Excel Saga (section)

==Reception==
Since its August 2003 release in North America, the manga has been among the 50 top-selling graphic novels on three occasions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/3875.html|title=Top 50 Graphic Novels Actual--October 2003|publisher=ICv2.com|access-date=December 28, 2009|archive-date=June 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611025503/http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/3875.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/4106.html|title=Top 50 Graphic Novels Actual--December 2003|publisher=ICv2.com|access-date=December 28, 2009|archive-date=June 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611025813/http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/4106.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/4432.html|title=Top 100 Graphic Novels Actual--February 2004|publisher=ICv2.com|access-date=December 28, 2009|archive-date=May 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515122637/http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/4432.html|url-status=live}}</ref> <!--Although the 3rd one is top 100, the volume charts inside the top 50-->

The English-language reviews of the ''Excel Saga'' anime were broadly positive and enthusiastic. Mike Crandol of [[Anime News Network]] puts it in the same class as ''[[Airplane!]]'', ''[[National Lampoon Inc|National Lampoon]]'', [[Tex Avery]], and [[Monty Python]], adding that the "combination of character-based humor, outrageous slapstick farce, and a plot that is engaging if only for how weird it is make for a thoroughly enjoyable comedic experience".<ref name="dvd1ann"/> A contrary opinion is expressed by Joel Pearce from DVD Verdict, who says the series is "occasionally clever and funny," but that "much of it is gratingly obnoxious".<ref name="dvdverdict">{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/excelsagacoll.php|title=Review - ''Excel Saga: Imperfect Collection''|last=Pearce|first=Joel|date=September 9, 2004|access-date=June 20, 2006|publisher=DVD Verdict|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061010132501/http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/excelsagacoll.php|archive-date=October 10, 2006 }}</ref> Many reviewers express displeasure with middle and later episodes, saying they were "more of the same," that they had stale humor, that they were tiresome, or even painfully unfunny.<ref name="dvdverdict"/><ref name="dvd5doc">{{cite web|url=http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=4445|title=''Excel Saga'' #5: ''Secrets and Lies'' (2000)|last=Cunningham|first=Joel|publisher=Digitally Obsessed|date=February 24, 2003|access-date=June 3, 2006|archive-date=February 9, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209155158/http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=4445|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="dvd4ann">{{cite news|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/reviews/display.php?id=390|access-date=June 1, 2006|date=January 14, 2001|title=Review - ''Excel Saga'' DVD 4|last=Crandol|first=Mike|work=Anime News Network|archive-date=December 22, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041222002253/http://animenewsnetwork.com/reviews/display.php?id=390|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref name="dvdverdict"/><ref name="dvd4ann"/><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/2003/02/reviews/02/|date= February 2003|last= Arnold|first= Adam|publisher= Animefringe|title= Animefringe Reviews: ''Excel Saga'' Vol.4: ''Doing Whatever It Takes''|access-date= June 12, 2006|archive-date= May 6, 2006|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060506115633/http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/2003/02/reviews/02/|url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="dvd4doc">{{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=January 13, 2001|access-date=June 12, 2006|archive-date=October 9, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061009195836/http://digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=4124|url-status=live}}</ref>

Reviewers also agree that the series suffers from too much filler in its later episodes, with Crandol describing the show as spinning its wheels.<ref name="dvd5ann">{{cite news|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/reviews/display.php?id=442|access-date=June 1, 2006|date=March 10, 2003|title=Review - ''Excel Saga'' DVD 5|last=Crandol|first=Mike|work=Anime News Network|archive-date=April 22, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050422022425/http://animenewsnetwork.com/reviews/display.php?id=442|url-status=live}}</ref> 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".<ref name="dvd6doc">{{cite web|url=http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=4714|title=''Excel Saga'' #6: ''Going Way Too Far'' (2000)|publisher=Digitally Obsessed|date=April 8, 2003|last=Cunningham|first=Joel|access-date=June 3, 2006|archive-date=February 9, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209155337/http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=4714|url-status=live}}</ref>

The series generally receives high marks for technical aspects. Cunningham feels the animation is flat-out gorgeous, but Crandol considers it merely above average. In the latter's opinion, its quality wanes as the series progresses and increasingly relies on [[Super deformed|super-deforming]] the characters for comedic effect.<ref name="dvd4ann"/><ref name="dvd1doc">{{cite web|url=http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=3856|title=''Excel Saga'' #1: ''The Weirdness Begins'' (1999)|publisher=Digitally Obsessed|date=January 14, 2001|last=Cunningham|first=Joel|access-date=June 6, 2003|archive-date=July 15, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030715154950/http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=3856|url-status=live}}</ref> ADV's release earned praise for the quality of the video transfer and the DVD extras (particularly the Vid-Notes).<ref name="dvd1ann"/><ref name="dvd6doc"/> Reviewers especially appreciated the English voice acting: Crandol calls it brilliant, and several note that Calvello and Wolcott were each able to capture [[Kotono Mitsuishi|Mitsuishi's]] Excel.<ref name="dvd1ann"/><ref name="dvd4ann"/><ref name="dvd4doc"/> Pearce, in contrast, found the English cast to be pretty bad and its Excel to be "dental drill shrill".<ref name="dvdverdict" />

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 Rikdo'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."<ref name="akadot">{{cite web|url = http://www.akadot.com/article.php?a=129|title = ''Excel Saga''|publisher = Akadot|date=September 16, 2003|access-date = June 3, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040404172828/http://www.akadot.com/article.php?a=129|archive-date=April 4, 2004}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|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|access-date=June 29, 2003|archive-date=November 11, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041111001302/http://www.comicworldnews.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?column=reviews&page=84|url-status=live}}</ref> A reviewer of the French edition also praises Rikdo's work, noting that it is an "...easy read without problems of clarity".<ref>Full quotation {{in lang|fr}}: "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|access-date=June 8, 2006|archive-date=January 1, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070101210906/http://www.scifi-universe.com/critiques_staff.asp?media_id=9535&muz_id=35|url-status=live}}</ref>