Excel Saga is based on an absurdist comedy manga series written and illustrated by Rikdo Koshi. The manga was adapted into an anime television series by Victor Entertainment. Directed by Shinichi Watanabe and featuring animation from J.C.Staff, the series premiered on TV Tokyo on October 7, 1999 where it ran until its conclusion on March 30, 2000. Twenty-five of the twenty-six episodes aired, with the final episode being intentionally made too violent and obscene for public broadcast. As such, it was only included in the DVD release of the series.

Setting and Characters:

Excel is the hyperactive protagonist and title character, who approaches her work with abundant determination, but little foresight. Her mission is to further Across' city conquest, but her personal desire is to win Ilpalazzo's affection and praise. Despite being his most senior officer, she frequently finds herself out of the loop or passed over for promotion. Ilpalazzo, in contrast to Excel, is cold, reserved and calculating, but clearly has severe mental problems: he frequently suffers memory loss, hears voices, and sometimes manifests a different persona. He shows very little patience with Excel, frequently endangering her bodily well-being by dropping her down an oubliette (the principal running gag in Excel Saga) or otherwise punishing her (e.g. bazooka, MSG, etc). To accelerate his plans, Ilpalazzo soon hires a second agent, Hyatt, a demure and frail woman with a habit of suddenly dying and reviving in quick succession. Despite this limitation, she soon becomes Ilpalazzo's favourite, but Hyatt seems unaware of his favour and holds her senior in high regard. The two agents of Across keep a dog, named Menchi, as both a pet and "emergency food supply"—but although Excel and Hyatt often plan to “declare a state of emergency” and have Menchi as a meal, they never do so.