Excel Saga 2
May 10, 2013
Rikdo Koshi – Viz – 2003 – 27 volumes
I started this series towards the end, and I liked it well enough to go back to the beginning. The problem was, I was afraid to read additional volumes of it because the first volume was a bit too nonsensical for my taste. But I had bought the first few together, and I don’t want to read the later volumes that have accumulated without giving the beginning of the series a try again, so I dove in.
I… liked the second volume a lot better! Maybe I was in the mood for it this time more than the last, but the missions that Excel and Hayate did seemed a lot more cohesive in this volume, and the sense of humor has stabilized and just struck me as much funnier. Hayate’s sudden illnesses are much better timed. Doctor Kabapu was very funny. The terrible part-time jobs that they eventually skipped out on and stole food from were good, as was the fact they made the food last too long and it made Excel very sick.
There’s still not much plot to speak of, though it does seem like, somehow, Il Palazzo knows someone is after him, and Doctor Kabapu has organized the Environmental Security Administration to, uh… combat Hayate and Excel. I did like the chapters about that organization forming quite a bit.
As it is still kind of a gag series at this point, I don’t have much to add other than that. The humor was better, the stories seemed more on target, and I can see it’s going somewhere. I loved it, so I’m going to pick up volume 3 now that I’ve got the review for 2 out of the way.
May 11, 2013 at 9:26 am
Yes, vol 2 is an improvement :) And the beginning of the EPIC CONFLICT* between ACROSS and the ESA!
*Conflict may or may not be epic.