Excel Saga as an anime is hard to describe besides the zany and random epithets its also just an experiment in questioning what an adaptation can do insofar as it still evokes the spirit of its material. As far as I can tell Rikdo did not really mind the fact that the show took such a strange direction in the sidebars of the manga he seems pleased to hear the seiyuu he seems to incorporate some of the animeonly characters and so tie the canon a bit closer together. That said Excel Saga the manga is trying to do something very different than the show is. Ive heard people describe the manga as a more cynical and sardonic take on everyday life in Fukuoka. Sure it has that element in it. The tone it takes toward the world is not quite nihilistic but arbitrary as though grand forces exist in a cosmic battle that take up and employ people who really just want to get on with life and so have a detached take from the supposed grand scale battles going on. Its the relationship between the cosmic forces that the series really focuses on over the volumes. The premise of the story resets: here we are Hail Il Palazzo Time to do a mission And it always ends up going into a bizarre direction spinning out of control before having to reset itself yet again and try to maintain its sense of purpose alone a side grows restless and loses any meaning at all. By actually witnessing each other Kabapu vs. Palazzo suddenly theres motivation Time to get back to work Why else can there be this endless array of characters losing their memory finding new identities trying another one on for a few volumes gaining and then losing and then gaining their sense of meaning before being reanimated yet again by purpose? Insofar as the forces need you you will lose who you are temporarily be other people present as this or that being then be recalled and not really recall why you did any of it. And even the forces themselves grow kind of bored playing with each other. I suppose that is after all the most cynical part. The past two volumes really up the ante in this respect. Im not sure what to make of other people who make it all the way through this series and love it as I ended up doing. It asks so much of you in accepting its view of the world but in return it gives you something both hilarious and then actually moving if you stick with it.