Excel Saga - The Weirdness Has Begun (Vol. 1)
A truck flattens Excel, the heroine of this nutty adventure, in the opening minutes of the first episode. But the Will of the Cosmos insists the main character in a series can't die, and brings her back to life. She becomes the overly enthusiastic follower of Ilpalazzo, the leader of Across, an ideological organization that plans to purify the world. Excel stumbles her way through parodies of everything fromStar WarstoGalaxy Express 999to Japanese dating shows. She adopts a cat as a pet (and possible emergency food source), and little balloons with cats periodically pop up to translate the puns and explain what's being spoofed onscreen.Excel Sagais generally regarded as one of--if notthe--craziest series in the history of anime, and compared to it, the likes ofDragon Halfplays likeKing Lear. Rated 17 Up: Violence, profanity; risqué and gross-out humor.--Charles Solomon