{"product_id":"koshi-rikudo-excel-saga-manga","title":"Kōshi Rikudō - Excel Saga Manga","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eACROSS is a secret ideological organization with a grand plan for world domination.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e Its membership consists of the dreamy, imperious Lord Il Palazzo, a leaky basement headquarters, a stray dog named Menchi, and two unpaid teenage interns named Excel and Hyatt. Excel is the engine of the entire operation: hyperactive, fanatically devoted to Il Palazzo, constitutionally incapable of finishing a sentence at normal speed, and catastrophically bad at everything she attempts. Hyatt is ethereally beautiful, unfailingly polite, and dies approximately once per chapter. Together they hold down minimum-wage jobs to fund ACROSS's operations while attempting, repeatedly and unsuccessfully, to conquer the city of Fukuoka as a first step toward global domination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExcel Saga\u003c\/strong\u003e is a gloriously unhinged satirical comedy manga written and illustrated by Kōshi Rikudō, serialized in Shōnen Gahōsha's \u003cem\u003eYoung King OURs\u003c\/em\u003e for fifteen years from 1996 to 2011. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat makes \u003cem\u003eExcel Saga\u003c\/em\u003e remarkable is how thoroughly it evolves across its 27-volume run. The early volumes are pure rapid-fire absurdist comedy with Rikudō taking aim at organized religion, public television, bureaucracy, recession-era Japan, and the manga industry itself with cheerful, scattershot energy. But starting around the midpoint, something unexpected happens: actual serialized plot begins to accumulate. Characters develop. Stakes appear. The comedy never disappears, but it gradually becomes the delivery mechanism for something with genuine emotional weight, and the back half of the series lands punches that the front half makes no promises of delivering. It is one of manga's more unlikely character studies hiding inside one of its most relentless parodies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 26-episode anime adaptation directed by Shinichi Watanabe (Nabeshin); who cast himself as a recurring character and action hero, aired on TV Tokyo in 1999 and is a cult classic of absurdist anime comedy in its own right, though it deliberately diverges from the manga's plot at Rikudō's request. The notorious final episode was intentionally made too obscene for broadcast and aired only on home video. VIZ Media published the complete 27-volume English run between 2003 and 2014.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eOther Notable Works\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKōshi Rikudō:\u003c\/strong\u003e Municipal Force Daitenzin (Excel Saga precursor doujin), Holy Brownie, Arahabaki  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eComparable Peers:\u003c\/strong\u003e Cromartie High School (Deadpan absurdist comedy peer), Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Satirical dark comedy peer), Azumanga Daioh (Surrealist ensemble comedy peer)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSeries Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJapanese Name:\u003c\/strong\u003e エクセル♥サーガ (Ekuseru Sāga) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnglish Title:\u003c\/strong\u003e Excel Saga \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStory \u0026amp; Art:\u003c\/strong\u003e Kōshi Rikudō \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOriginal Publisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Shōnen Gahōsha (Young King OURs) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnglish Publisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e VIZ Media \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRelease Years:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1996–2011 (Japan) \/ 2003–2014 (English) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVolumes:\u003c\/strong\u003e 27 (Complete) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAge Rating:\u003c\/strong\u003e Older Teen (16+) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGenre:\u003c\/strong\u003e Comedy, Parody, Satire, Science Fiction, Seinen\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eComics \u0026amp; manga are assumed VG+ or better unless otherwise noted. No broken spines, no writing, no stickers, and may have light shelf wear. Mid-2000s or earlier manga may have slight yellowing due to the age of the paper. All manga and comics are assumed to be pre-owned.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viz Media","offers":[{"title":"1","offer_id":42994747605077,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2","offer_id":42994748883029,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"3","offer_id":42994748915797,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"4","offer_id":42994748948565,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"5","offer_id":42994749014101,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"6","offer_id":42994749374549,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"7","offer_id":42994749407317,"sku":null,"price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"8","offer_id":42994749440085,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"9","offer_id":42994749472853,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"10","offer_id":42994749505621,"sku":null,"price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"11","offer_id":42994749538389,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12","offer_id":42994749571157,"sku":null,"price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"13","offer_id":42994749603925,"sku":null,"price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"14","offer_id":42994749636693,"sku":null,"price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"15","offer_id":42994749669461,"sku":null,"price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"16","offer_id":42994749702229,"sku":null,"price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"17","offer_id":42994749734997,"sku":null,"price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"18","offer_id":42994749767765,"sku":null,"price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"19","offer_id":42994749800533,"sku":null,"price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"20","offer_id":42994749833301,"sku":null,"price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"21","offer_id":42994749866069,"sku":null,"price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"22","offer_id":42994749898837,"sku":null,"price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"23","offer_id":42994749931605,"sku":null,"price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"24","offer_id":42994749964373,"sku":null,"price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"25","offer_id":42994750128213,"sku":null,"price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"26 (No Free Shipping)","offer_id":42994750160981,"sku":null,"price":189.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"27 - END","offer_id":42994750193749,"sku":null,"price":99.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0565\/7673\/7365\/files\/51WF6GZ6ADL.jpg?v=1789632929","url":"https:\/\/hifilofi.shop\/products\/koshi-rikudo-excel-saga-manga","provider":"HiFi LoFi","version":"1.0","type":"link"}