Volume 21 of Excel Saga has Excel and Egala searching for Lord Ilpalazzo while Dr. Shiuji continues to find ways using Ropenmatsu Unit 2 to infiltrate ACROSS. Meanwhile, Iwata gets seriously damaged and while Dr. Shiuji repairs him, his mind transfers first into Ropenmatsu Unit 2's body and then into Excel's body. The volume ends with Lord Ilpalzzo preparing, via pc, to make an announcement for ACROSS while Dr. Shiuji finishes repairs on Iwata and, thanks to Kabapu's intervention, ignores the fact that Iwata's mind entered his precious Ropenmatsu Unit 2.
Overview:
This is the first volume of Excel Saga I have read. Although I had seen the anime series, I knew that it took extreme liberties when it came to characters and plot (or rather, the lack thereof). I knew the manga had more development than the anime and there was more depth and, somewhat, more plot, but didn't know how much of a comparison it would be since the anime is so far out there it only vaguely matches the series at the beginning and deviates from there. I had heard a little from a friend about some of the changes, like the introduction of Egala, but nothing major, so when I began to read Excel Saga volume 21 I had somewhat of an idea what I was getting into, but kept my pre-conceived ideas in reserve until I had a chance to read it.
With that, if Excel Saga volume 21 is anything like the rest of the manga series, it seems to be overall better in comparison to most of the anime in addition to being a strong by itself. With the exception of a few episodes and scenes in the anime, the manga seems to have the upper hand here as it is able to present various types of gags, absurdist humor and other types of comedy, but also do so while developing plot or using more subtle forms of humor. This allows Rikdo Koshi to develop an overall higher quality work that has more lasting appeal.
Koshi's artwork is decent quality, although he frequently reverts to simple chibi forms for the comedic panels. Unfortunately, much of the quality is lost on the English reader. While Viz does not censor the manga, they have dramatically lightened every image so a lot of the shadows that help define shapes and lighting are removed. For artwork like Koshi's which relies heavily on shadows and highlights, this dramatically reduces the overall quality, making his high-quality artwork appear more amateurish. As this is throughout the book I cannot say whether this was intentional to save ink or a copying mistake, but the bottom line remains that it shouldn't happen for the artwork itself – for the title pages and table of contents it isn't so important. Beyond Viz's changes, in many of his higher quality action scenes it can sometimes be hard to see everything going on due to the amount of lines and indention directional blurring, but it didn't seem to get to the point where I had to stop and look at a picture, and those around it, for any unreasonable length of time just to figure out what was going on.
Excel Saga volume 21 is an explosion of humor in the making. The series is underappreciated compared to its anime spinoff and it shouldn't be. Almost anyone who is a fan of the anime should appreciate the manga for it does many of the same things. Those who thought the anime was over the top and pointless should also like it as it has a plot and much better character development.
ComicsOnline gives Excel Saga volume 21 3.5 out of 5 times Iwata shifts bodies.
